December 2014 WOTDs

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31 December 2014

Hogmanay

[hog-muh-ney]

noun, Scot.
1. the eve of New Year’s Day.
2. (lowercase) a gift given on Hogmanay.

Origin
1670-1680; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com

Anagram

among hay

30 December 2014

Juggernaut

[juhg-er-nawt, -not]

noun
1. (often lowercase) any large, overpowering, destructive force or object, as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team.
2. (often lowercase) anything requiring blind devotion or cruel sacrifice.
3. Also called Jagannath. an idol of Krishna, at Puri in Orissa, India, annually drawn on an enormous cart under whose wheels devotees are said to have thrown themselves to be crushed.

Origin
Hindi
1630-1640; < Hindi Jagannāth < Sanskrit Jagannātha lord of the world (i.e., the god Vishnu or Krishna), equivalent to jagat world + nātha lord

Related forms
Juggernautish, adjective

Dictionary.com

Anagram

a urgent jug
a grunge jut
jug nut rage

29 December 2014

judicious

[joo-dish-uh s]

adjective
1. using or showing judgment as to action or practical expediency; discreet, prudent, or politic:
judicious use of one’s money.
2. having, exercising, or characterized by good or discriminating judgment; wise, sensible, or well-advised:
a judicious selection of documents.

Origin
French, Italian, Latin
1590-1600; < Latin jūdici (um) judgment (see judge, -ium ) + -ous; compare Italian giudizioso, French judicieux

Related forms
judiciously, adverb
judiciousness, noun
overjudicious, adjective
overjudiciously, adverb
overjudiciousness, noun

Can be confused
judicial, judiciary, judicious (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms
1. See practical. 1, 2. See moderate. 2. rational, reasonable, sober, sound, sagacious, enlightened, considered. Judicious, judicial both refer to a balanced and wise judgment. Judicious implies the possession and use of discerning and discriminating judgment: a judicious use of one’s time. Judicial has connotations of judgments made in a courtroom and refers to a fair and impartial kind of judgment: cool and judicial in examining the facts.

Antonyms
1. imprudent. 2. silly, unreasonable.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for judicious
– You’re very judicious about when and where you distribute that e-mail address.
– Because without judicious planning, an unexpected bestseller can be devastating.
– At the heart of science are judicious observations and measurements.

28 December 2014

polyphony

[puh-lif-uh-nee]

noun
1. Music. polyphonic composition; counterpoint. Comprising of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody.
2. Phonetics. representation of different sounds by the same letter or symbol.

Origin

Greek
1820-1830; < Greek polyphōnía variety of tones. See poly-, -phony

Related forms
polyphonous, adjective
polyphonously, adverb

Dictionary.com

Anagram

phony ploy

27 December 2014

hallow (1)

[hal-oh]

verb (used with object)
1. to make holy; sanctify; consecrate.
2. to honor as holy; consider sacred; venerate:
to hallow a battlefield.

Origin
Middle English, Old English
900, before 900; Middle English hal (o) wen, Old English hālgian (cognate with German heiligen, Old Norse helga), derivative of hālig holy

Related forms
hallower, noun

hallow (2)

[huh-loh]

interjection, noun, verb (used without object), verb (used with object)
1. hallo (to call or answer someone)

Dictionary.com

Anagram

all who

26 December 2014

confute

[kuh n-fyoot]

verb (used with object), confuted, confuting.
1. to prove to be false, invalid, or defective; disprove:
to confute an argument.
2. to prove (a person) to be wrong by argument or proof:
to confute one’s opponent.
3. Obsolete. to bring to naught; confound.

Origin
Latin
1520-1530; < Latin confūtāre to abash, silence, refute, equivalent to con- con- + -fūtāre; cf. refute

Related forms
confutable, adjective
confuter, noun
unconfutable, adjective
unconfuted, adjective
unconfuting, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for confute
– Nothing in this handbook should be used to supersede or confute competently developed site-specific estimates.

Anagram

cue font
cote fun

25 December 2014

festal

[fes-tl]

adjective
1. pertaining to or befitting a feast, festival, holiday, or gala occasion.

Origin

Latin

1470-1480; < Latin fēst (um) feast + -al1

Related forms
festally, adverb
Dictionary.com

Anagram

a felts

24 December 2014

ossuary

[osh-oo-er-ee, os-]

noun, plural ossuaries.
1. a place or receptacle for the bones of the dead.

Also, ossuarium.

Origin
Late Latin
1650-1660; < Late Latin ossuārium, variant of ossārium, equivalent to oss- (stem of os) bone + -ārium -ary

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for ossuary
– Their finds included an ossuary, that is, a large pit with human remains.

Anagram

as yours
says our
a rosy us

23 December 2014

immix

[ih-miks]

verb (used with object), immixed or immixt, immixing.
1. to mix in; mingle.

Origin
Middle English, Latin

1400-1450; back formation from Middle English immixt (e) mixed in < Latin immixtus past participle of immiscēre to blend, equivalent to im- im-1+ mix- (see mix ) + -tus past participle suffix

Dictionary.com

22 December 2014

ocker

[ok-er]

noun
1. an uncultured Australian male.
2. an uncouth, offensive male chauvinist.
adjective
3. of or relating to such a person.
4. typically Australian.

Origin
1960s; after Ocker, a character in an Australian television series

Dictionary.com

21 December 2014

spree

[spree]

noun
1. a lively frolic or outing.
2. a bout or spell of drinking to intoxication; binge; carousal.
3. a period, spell, or bout of indulgence, as of a particular wish, craving, or whim:
an eating spree; a spending spree.
4. a period or outburst of extreme activity: the team’s scoring spree;
no motive for his killing spree.

Origin
1795-1805; origin uncertain

Spree
[shprey]
noun
1. a river in E Germany, flowing N through Berlin to the Havel River. 220 miles (354 km) long.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for spree
– They may live frugally and hoard what they have, or dissipate it in a wild spree.
– Here’s how to turn your next stroll through the woods into a shopping spree.
– It is part horror, part thriller, featuring a couple of hitmen on a mercenary killing spree.

Anagram

peers

20 December 2014

palabra

[pah-lah-vrah]

noun, plural palabras [pah-lah-vrahs] Spanish.

1. a word.
2. speech; talk.

Dictionary.com

Examples
To conquer or die is no theatrical palabra, in these circumstances, but a practical truth and necessity. — Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, 1837

Origin
Palabra came to English from Spanish in the early 1600s.

Anagram

a bar pal

19 December 2014

ossify

[os-uh-fahy]

verb (used with object), ossified, ossifying.
1. to convert into or cause to harden like bone.
verb (used without object), ossified, ossifying.
2. to become bone or harden like bone.
3. to become rigid or inflexible in habits, attitudes, opinions, etc.:
a young man who began to ossify right after college.

Origin

Latin
1705-1715; < Latin ossi- (stem of os) bone + -fy

Related forms

ossifier, noun
unossifying, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for ossify
– Each of the lateral parts begins to ossify from a single center during the eighth week of fetal life.
– His world-views became ossified because he confused fact with opinion.

18 December 2014

eidetic

[ahy-det-ik]

adjective
1. of, relating to, or constituting visual imagery vividly experienced and readily reproducible with great accuracy and in great detail.
2. of or relating to eidos.

Origin

Greek

1920-1925; < Greek eidētikós, equivalent to eîd (os) eidos + -ētikos -etic

Related forms
noneidetic, adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for eidetic
– eidetic images differ from other forms of visual imagery in several important ways.
– His tales were produced with a combination of will, eidetic memory and emotional immaturity.
– Sensory information storage is also known as sensory register, sensory store, and eidetic and echoic memory.

Anagram

iced tie

17 December 2014

salvo (1)

[sal-voh]

noun, plural salvos, salvoes.
1. a simultaneous or successive discharge of artillery, bombs, etc.
2. a round of fire given as a salute.
3. a round of cheers or applause.

Origin
Italian, Latin
1585-1595; earlier salva < Italian ≪ Latin salvē salve3

salvo (2)
[sal-voh]

noun, plural salvos. Archaic.
1. an excuse or quibbling evasion.
2. something to save a person’s reputation or soothe a person’s feelings.

Origin
1635-45; < Latin salvō, ablative of salvus safe, found in legal phrases

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for salvo

– But under salvo or cloudy conditions, you’ve got problems.
– By some measures, the government’s initial salvo was a qualified success.
– Hardly a week goes by without another salvo in the music wars, which have been going on now for years.
– Two new books and a exhibition offer the opening salvo in what will be a continuing barrage.
– Browsing through the pictures shows that this salvo of updates has been a winner.
– The next day, he rushed to get her reaction to the all-star salvo.
– It answers any ill-advised criticism with a salvo of lawsuits.
– It was an early salvo in what would become an endless, thankless, unwinnable war.

Anagram

ovals

16 December 2014

pullulate

[puhl-yuh-leyt]

verb (used without object), pullulated, pullulating.
1. to send forth sprouts, buds, etc.; germinate; sprout.
2. to breed, produce, or create rapidly.
3. to increase rapidly; multiply.
4. to exist abundantly; swarm; teem.
5. to be produced as offspring.

Origin

Latin

1610-1620; < Latin pullulātus (past participle of pullulāre to sprout), derivative of pullulus a sprout, young animal, diminutive of pullus; see pullet

Related forms
pullulation, noun

Anagram

pull a lute

15 December 2014

baleful

[beyl-fuh l]

adjective
1. full of menacing or malign influences; pernicious.
2. Obsolete. wretched; miserable.

Origin

Middle English, Old English

1000, before 1000; Middle English; Old English bealofull. See bale2, -ful

Related forms
balefully, adverb
balefulness, noun

Can be confused
baleful, baneful.

Synonyms
1. harmful, malign, injurious, detrimental; evil, wicked; deadly.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for baleful
– Authenticity now dominates our way of viewing ourselves and our relationships, with baleful consequences.
– The polls corroborate the baleful economic portents.
– But this time the scare is about more than bad mortgage loans and their baleful effect on the credit markets.

Anagram

able flu
lab fuel

14 December 2014

rube

[roob]

noun, Informal.
1. an unsophisticated person from a rural area; hick.

Origin
1895-1900; generic use of Rube; compare earlier use of Reuben in same sense

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for rube
– Except in the southeastern quadrant of the country, bourbon has been shunned as the drink of the rube and the codger.
– The audience broke into indulgent laughter, humoring the rube savant.

13 December 2014

appurtenance

[uh-pur-tn-uh ns]
noun
1. something subordinate to another, more important thing; adjunct; accessory.
2. Law. a right, privilege, or improvement belonging to and passing with a principal property.
3. appurtenances, apparatus; instruments.

Origin
Middle English
1350-1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, equivalent to ap- ap-1+ -purtenance a belonging; see purtenance

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for appurtenance

– But he did have one peculiar appurtenance : around his neck hung high-powered binoculars, painted shiny gold.
– The appurtenance of welcome is fashion and ceremony.
– Access is defined as the ability to walk to the piping and/or appurtenance.

Anagram

canape punter
a pecan punter
a entrance pup
reenact nap up

12 December 2014

disingenuous

adjective

1. lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere:
Her excuse was rather disingenuous.

Origin
1645-1655; dis-1+ ingenuous

Related forms
disingenuously, adverb
disingenuousness, noun
nondisingenuous, adjective
nondisingenuously, adverb
nondisingenuousness, noun

Dictionary.com

Anagram

disguise noun
undoing issue

11 December 2014

ingenuous

[in-jen-yoo-uh s]

adjective
1. free from reserve, restraint, or dissimulation; candid; sincere.
2. artless; innocent; naive.
3. Obsolete. honorable or noble.

Origin
Latin
1590-1600; < Latin ingenuus native, free-born, honorable, frank, equivalent to in- in-2+ gen- (base of gignere; see ingenious ) + -uus deverbal adj. suffix; see -ous

Related forms
ingenuously, adverb
ingenuousness, noun
half-ingenuous, adjective
half-ingenuously, adverb
half-ingenuousness, noun

Can be confused
ingenious, ingenuous (see usage note at ingenious )

Synonyms
1. frank, straightforward, open. 2. guileless.

Usage note
See ingenious.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for ingenuous
– The claim is perhaps cagily ingenuous, by a writer often accused of being too cerebral and cool-hearted.
– Many actors could have been too winsome or ingenuous in the part of such a professional good guy.
– It is impossible not to accept it in the ingenuous spirit in which it was fabricated.

Anagram

ennui go use
use gun ion

10 December 2014

martinet

[mahr-tn-et, mahr-tn-et]

noun
1. a strict disciplinarian, especially a military one.
2. someone who stubbornly adheres to methods or rules.

Origin
1670-1680; after General Jean Martinet (died 1672), French inventor of a system of drill

Related forms
martinetish, adjective
martinetism, noun

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for martinet
– While not slighting the captain’s martinet personality, he gives a performance that is filled with empathetic understanding.
– The reprobate with the heart of gold, or the old-line martinet who resents the incursions of progress.
– It is a triangle romance, with a martinet of a divisional superintendent doing a noble deed during an exciting moment

Anagram

rant item

9 December 2014

supernal

[soo-pur-nl]

adjective
1. being in or belonging to the heaven of divine beings; heavenly, celestial, or divine.
2. lofty; of more than earthly or human excellence, powers, etc.
3. being on high or in the sky or visible heavens.

Origin
Middle French, Latin
1475-1485; < Middle French < Latin supern (us) upper + -ālis -al1

Related forms
supernally, adverb

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for supernal
– This, the supernal power of opium, is not a fact of ancient mysteries and visionary poets alone.

Anagram

spurn ale
lapse run
nap rules

8 December 2014

viand

[vahy-uh nd]

noun
1. an article of food.
2. viands, articles or dishes of food, now usually of a choice or delicate kind.

Origin
Middle English, Middle French, Latin
1350-1400; Middle English viaunde < Middle French viande < Vulgar Latin *vīvanda, for Latin vīvenda things to be lived on, neuter plural gerund of vīvere to live

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for viand
– The conversation was rude and clamorous, but the viands and wine were good.
– They had the same fare as the boys, used the tin dishes, and praised the viands.

Anagram

divan

7 December 2014

ostensible

[o-sten-suh-buh l]

adjective
1. outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended:
an ostensible cheerfulness concealing sadness.
2. apparent, evident, or conspicuous:
the ostensible truth of their theories.

Origin
French, Latin
1720-1730; < French < Latin ostēns (us), variant of ostentus (see ostensive ) + French -ible -ible

Related forms
ostensibly, adverb
nonostensible, adjective
nonostensibly, adverb
unostensible, adjective
unostensibly, adverb

Can be confused
ostensible, ostensive.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for ostensible
– ostensibly preparing for the north, he secretly planned for the south.
– ostensibly, the restrictions are designed to control illegal logging and related activities.
– In both instances, the company is using my personal data ostensibly to better to serve me, but really to make a buck.

Anagram

sensible to
belies tons
besets loins
bile stones
noble site
best noises
bite lesson
tense boils

6 December 2014

odious

[oh-dee-uh s]

adjective
1. deserving or causing hatred; hateful; detestable.
2. highly offensive; repugnant; disgusting.

Origin
Middle English, Latin
1350-1400; Middle English < Latin odiōsus, equivalent to od (ium) hatred, odium + -ōsus -ous

Related forms
odiously, adverb
odiousness, noun
unodious, adjective
unodiously, adverb
unodiousness, noun

Can be confused
malodorous, odious, odoriferous, odorous, smelly, stinky.
odious, odorous.

Synonyms
1. abominable, objectionable, despicable, execrable. See hateful. 2. loathsome, repellent, repulsive.

Antonyms
1. attractive, lovable.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for odious
– She learned the rough work of the household, the odious labors of the kitchen.
– He expected odious solitary scavengers but instead found sophisticated hunters living in complex clans.
– The war would be repulsive because the leader was odious.

Anagram

I do duo

5 December 2014

camoufleur

[kam-uh-flur]

noun

– one who camouflages or is skilled in camouflage, particularly military.

Origin:

French: to disguise

Anagram

a clue forum
coal emu fur

Example:

– A team of camoufleurs was responsible for camouflaging military installations.

4 December 2014

antiquity

[an-tik-wi-tee]

noun, plural antiquities.
1. the quality of being ancient; ancientness:
a bowl of great antiquity.
2. ancient times; former ages:
the splendor of antiquity.
3. the period of history before the Middle Ages.
4. the peoples, nations, tribes, or cultures of ancient times.
5. Usually, antiquities. something belonging to or remaining from ancient times, as monuments, relics, or customs.

Origin
Middle English, Anglo-FrenchLatin
1350-1400; Middle English antiquite < Anglo-French < Latin antīquitās, equivalent to antīqu (us) old (see antique ) + -itās -ity

Related forms
preantiquity, noun, plural preantiquities.
subantiquity, noun, plural subantiquities.
Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for antiquity
– Searching for or removal of any object of antiquity including arrowheads, pottery or other artifacts is prohibited.
– The techniques used in handcrafting silver have changed little since antiquity.
– No other hominin of such antiquity –including Lucy–is as complete as this one.

Anagram

a tiny quit

3 December 2014

coterie

[koh-tuh-ree]

noun
1. a group of people who associate closely.
2. an exclusive group; clique.
3. a group of prairie dogs occupying a communal burrow.

Origin
Medieval Latin
1730-1740; < French, Middle French: an association of tenant farmers < Medieval Latin coter (ius) cotter2+ -ie -y3

Synonyms
1. See circle.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for coterie
– There is always a fun-loving coterie of practical jokers in every club.
– Speak to the significance of your ideas beyond your coterie.
– His reliance on a coterie of compatriots provoked particular irritation.

Anagram

cite roe
eco tier
core tie

2 December 2014

autarky

[aw-tahr-kee]

noun, plural autarkies.
1. the condition of self-sufficiency, especially economic, as applied to a nation.
2. a national policy of economic independence.

Also, autarchy.

Origin
Greek
1610-1620; < Greek autárkeia, equivalent to aut- aut- + arke- suffice + -ia -ia

Related forms
autarkic, autarkical, adjective
autarkically, adverb
autarkist, noun

Dictionary.com

Anagram

a yuk rat

1 December 2014

autarchy

[aw-tahr-kee]

noun, plural autarchies.
1. absolute sovereignty.
2. an autocratic government.
3. autarky.

Origin
Greek
1655-1665; < Greek autarchía self-rule. See aut-, -archy

Related forms
autarchic, autarchical, adjective
autarchically, adverb
autarchist, noun

Dictionary.com

a racy hut

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