Abstract Nonsense

A Living Log of Lexical Learnings

This is a living document in which I collect new words I encounter in my reading and daily life. All definitions herein are from the Oxford Dictionary of English unless otherwise stated.

A

anadiplosis: wikitionary, the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause: Mine be thy love, and thy love's use their treasure.

antimetabole: wiktionary, the technique of repeating a phrase while reversing the order of certain elements or its grammatical structure, as a form of juxtaposition: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

autological: wiktionary, of a word, possessing the property it describes.: The word polysyllabic is autological, but the word monosyllabic is not.

apricity: the warmth of the sun in winter: Thursday dawned with grudging apricity.

anfractuous: sinuous or circuitous: the line of gold extends and becomes anfractuous.

abstemious: indulging only very moderately in something, especially food and drink: ‘We only had a bottle.’ ‘Very abstemious of you.’

acausal: not governed or operating by the laws of cause and effect.

adduce: cite as evidence: a number of factors are adduced to explain the situation

agist: take in and feed (livestock) for payment: the dairy farmer might wish to agist lambs after the cows are housed for the winter

ambit: the scope, extent, or bounds of something: a full discussion of this complex issue was beyond the ambit of one book

anhedonia: inability to feel pleasure in activities that are usually considered to be pleasurable.

annexure: a supplement or appendix to a written document: the annexure of the technical proposal

annunciate: announce (something).

anodyne: not likely to cause offence or disagreement and somewhat dull: anodyne music

antedate: precede in time; come before (something) in date: a civilization that antedated the Roman Empire

antediluvian: of or belonging to the time before the biblical Flood: gigantic bones of antediluvian animals

antediluvian: ridiculously old-fashioned: they maintain antediluvian sex-role stereotypes

antimacassar: a piece of cloth put over the back of a chair to protect it from grease and dirt or as an ornament.

Antipodean: a person from Australia or New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere): a brisk Antipodean, she moved with speed and efficiency

apophenia: the erroneous perception of patterns or correlations in random or unconnected phenomena, events, and data: conspiracy theories can result from apophenia— seeing a nefarious pattern in random or disconnected incidents

apophthegm: a concise saying or maxim; an aphorism: the apophthegm ‘tomorrow is another day’

aposiopesis: the device of suddenly breaking off in speech: in coping with the unsaid and unsayable, oral history is impelled towards aposiopesis

appurtenance: an accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living: the appurtenances of consumer culture

arcology: an ideal integrated city contained within a massive vertical structure, allowing maximum conservation of the surrounding environment.

argent: silver; silvery white: the argent moon

argot: the jargon or slang of a particular group or class: teenage argot

argument: a summary of the subject matter of a book.

aspartame: a very sweet substance used as an artificial sweetener, chiefly in low-calorie products. It is a derivative of aspartic acid and phenylalanine.

asperity: harshness of tone or manner: he pointed this out with some asperity

asperity: harsh qualities or conditions: the asperities of a harsh and divided society

aubade: a poem or piece of music appropriate to the dawn or early morning.

avoirdupois: a system of weights based on a pound of 16 ounces or 7,000 grains, widely used in English-speaking countries.

avoirdupois: weight; heaviness: she was putting on the avoirdupois like nobody's business

B

ballonet: wiktionary, Any of several small balloons, inside a dirigible, that can be inflated or deflated to control buoyancy during flight.

borborygmus: a rumbling or gurgling noise made by the movement of fluid and gas in the intestines

bailiwick: one's sphere of operations or area of interest: after the war, the Middle East remained his bailiwick

baize: a coarse, typically green woollen material resembling felt, used especially for covering pool, snooker, and billiard tables: he had a great love of snooker and won several awards for his ability on the baize

bantling: a young child.

bascule: a type of bridge with a section which can be raised and lowered using counterweights.

bathos: (especially in a literary work) an effect of anticlimax created by an unintentional lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous: his epic poem has passages of almost embarrassing bathos

bawd: a woman in charge of a brothel.

bijou: (especially of a house or flat) small and elegant: a bijou residence

bijou: a jewel or trinket.

boodle: money, especially that gained or spent illegally or improperly: he's spending tons of boodle

bordello: a brothel.

boreal: of the north or northern regions.

borstal: a custodial institution for young offenders.

boustrophedon: from right to left and from left to right in alternate lines: in some examples the composition of pages is such that they must be read boustrophedon

brio: vigour or vivacity of style or performance.: she told her story with some brio

bromide: a trite statement that is intended to soothe or placate: feel-good bromides create the illusion of problem-solving

brut: (of sparkling wine) unsweetened; very dry.

burr: (loosely) a regional accent: a soft Scottish burr

burr: the coronet of a deer's antler.

burr: a persistent source of irritation.

C

clbuttic: wiktionary, A type of error in which some bowdlerizing software garbles words by replacing objectionable words that occur within a word with tamer alternatives.

corflute: wiktionary, A sign made of corrugated plastic, especially for electioneering.

cunctatory: wiktionary, delaying; procrastinating

cacoethes: an urge to do something inadvisable

crepuscular: resembling or relating to twilight: a kind of crepuscular glow | the drama unfolds in a crepuscular gloom.

conurbation: an extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of a central city: the major conurbations of London and Birmingham.

corrigendum: a thing to be corrected, typically an error in a printed book: the 1980-84 cumulation contains corrigenda which are not included in the annual volumes.

cabochon: a gem that has been polished but not faceted: two big ruby cabochons

calque: originate or function as a loan translation of: ‘it goes without saying’ is calqued on French ‘cela va sans dire’

calumny: the making of false and defamatory statements about someone in order to damage their reputation; slander: a bitter struggle marked by calumny and litigation

canard: an unfounded rumour or story: the old canard that LA is a cultural wasteland

cartouche: a carved tablet or drawing representing a scroll with rolled-up ends, used ornamentally or bearing an inscription.

cartouche: an ornate frame around a design or inscription: a coat of arms in a cartouche

castellan: the governor of a castle.

catarrh: excessive discharge or build-up of mucus in the nose or throat, associated with inflammation of the mucous membrane.

ceteris paribus: with other conditions remaining the same; other things being equal: shorter hours of labour will, ceteris paribus, reduce the volume of output

chiaroscuro: the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.

chiasmus: a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order.

chicanery: the use of deception or subterfuge to achieve one's purpose: storylines packed with political chicanery

chyron: an electronically generated caption superimposed on a television or cinema screen.

cingulum: a curved bundle of nerve fibres in each hemisphere of the brain.

clangour: a continuous loud banging or ringing sound: he went deaf because of the clangour of the steam hammers

codicil: an addition or supplement that explains, modifies, or revokes a will or part of one: Francis has remembered him in a codicil to this will

comity: an association of nations for their mutual benefit.

conch: the roof of a semicircular apse, shaped like half a dome.

confabulate: engage in conversation; talk: she could be heard on the telephone confabulating with someone

confabulate: fabricate imaginary experiences as compensation for loss of memory: she has lapses in attention and concentration—she may be confabulating a little

conniption: a fit of rage or hysterics: his client was having conniptions on the phone

conspecific: (of animals or plants) belonging to the same species.

conterminous: sharing a common boundary: the forty-eight conterminous United States

conterminous: having the same area, context, or meaning: a genealogy conterminous with the history of the USA

coolth: pleasantly low temperature: the coolth of the evening

coolth: the quality of being fashionable: the pinnacle of 1960s coolth

coot: a foolish or eccentric person, in particular an old man.

copacetic: in excellent order: he said to tell you everything is copacetic

coprolalia: the involuntary and repetitive use of obscene language, as a symptom of certain neurological or mental conditions.

corbel: a projection jutting out from a wall to support a structure above it.

corniche: a road cut into the edge of a cliff, especially one running along a coast.

corrigendum: a thing to be corrected, typically an error in a printed book: the 1980-84 cumulation contains corrigenda which are not included in the annual volumes

cortège: a solemn procession, especially for a funeral: a funeral cortège

coxswain: the person who steers a ship's boat, racing boat, or other boat.

credentialism: belief in or reliance on academic or other formal qualifications as the best measure of a person's intelligence or ability to do a particular job: credentialism is to a large degree responsible for people assuming that they need a degree

crepuscular: resembling or relating to twilight: a kind of crepuscular glow

crotchet: a perverse or unfounded belief or notion: the natural crotchets of inveterate bachelors

cruck: either of a pair of curved timbers extending from ground level to the transverse beam or ridge of a roof and forming a structure frame in a medieval timber-framed house: a cruck barn

cynosure: a person or thing that is the centre of attention or admiration: Kirk was the cynosure of all eyes

D

deipnosophist: wiktionary, A master of the art of dining, particularly learned conversation in the manner of Athenaeus's characters.

dactyl: a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or (in Greek and Latin) one long syllable followed by two short syllables.

dactyl: a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables or (in Greek and Latin) one long syllable followed by two short syllables.

debonair: confident, stylish, and charming (typically used of a man): all the men looked debonair and handsome in white tie and tails

defilade: the protection of forces against enemy observation or gunfire.

deicide: the killing of a god: the urge to destroy civilizations or commit deicide

demesne: the lands of an estate: a levy of one tenth on property in the royal demesne

demesne: possession of real property in one's own right.

demonym: a noun used to denote the natives or inhabitants of a particular country, state, city, etc.: he struggled for the correct demonym for the people of Manchester

desideratum: something that is needed or wanted: integrity was a desideratum

dexter: on or towards the right-hand side (in a coat of arms, from the bearer's point of view, i.e. the left as it is depicted).

diaphanous: (especially of fabric) light, delicate, and translucent: a diaphanous dress of pale gold

diktat: an order or decree imposed by someone in power without popular consent: a diktat from the Bundestag

dissimulate: conceal or disguise (one's thoughts, feelings, or character): a country gentleman who dissimulates his wealth beneath ragged pullovers

diurnal: of or resulting from the daily rotation of the earth: diurnal aberration

divagate: stray or digress: Yeats divagated into Virgil's territory only once

dyspeptic: having indigestion or a consequent air of irritable bad temper.

E

eleemosynary: relating to or dependent on charity; charitable

entasis: a slight convex curve in the shaft of a column, introduced to correct the visual illusion of concavity produced by a straight shaft.

effete: affected and overly refined: effete trendies from art college

efflorescence: rapid growth or development: the state is enjoying an incomparable cultural efflorescence

egad: expressing surprise, anger, or affirmation.

elegiac: wistfully mournful: she watched repeat serials, fixed on their moody and elegiac characterization

elision: the process of joining together or merging things, especially abstract ideas: unease at the elision of so many vital questions

encyclical: a papal letter sent to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.

enjambement: (in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza: he uses enjambment less than many poets

ennead: a group or set of nine.

epigram: a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way: a Wildean epigram

epigram: a short poem, especially a satirical one, with a witty or ingenious ending.

ersatz: (of a product) made or used as a substitute, typically an inferior one, for something else: ersatz coffee

eructate: emit stomach gas noisily through the mouth; belch: he frequently eructates without cause

escheat: the reversion of property to the state, or (in feudal law) to a lord, on the owner's dying without legal heirs: the Crown's right of escheat was lost

etiolate: make (a plant) pale through lack of light: the seedling had been etiolated by having been grown in darkness

F

frustum: the portion of a cone or pyramid which remains after its upper part has been cut off by a plane parallel to its base, or which is intercepted between two such planes.

factotum: an employee who does all kinds of work: he was employed as the general factotum

fettle: condition: Marguerite was in fine fettle

fidus Achates: a faithful friend or devoted follower: accompanied by three guides and his fidus Achates, Bruce set out

fink: an unpleasant or contemptible person.

fink: fail to do something promised or expected: administration officials had finked out

fink: cease to function: your immune system begins finking out and you get sick

floccinaucinihilipilification: the action or habit of estimating something as worthless: my new book is more than just a 400-page exercise in floccinaucinihilipilification.

foley: relating to or concerned with the addition of recorded sound effects after the shooting of a film: a foley artist

fossick: rummage; search: he spent years fossicking through documents

frontispiece: an illustration facing the title page of a book.

funicular: (of a railway, especially one on a mountainside) operating by cable with ascending and descending cars counterbalanced.

funicular: relating to a rope or its tension.

fustian: pompous or pretentious speech or writing: a smokescreen of fustian and fantasy

G

gasconade: extravagant boasting

gabion: a basket or container filled with earth, stones, or other material and used in civil engineering works or (formerly) fortifications.

garnet: a precious stone consisting of a deep red vitreous silicate mineral: garnet ring

garrulous: excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters: a garrulous cab driver

gelid: icy; extremely cold: the gelid pond

genuflect: lower one's body briefly by bending one knee to the ground, typically in worship or as a sign of respect: she genuflected and crossed herself

gerund: a verb form which functions as a noun, in Latin ending in -ndum (declinable), in English ending in -ing (e.g. asking in do you mind my asking you?).

gestalt: an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.

glissade: slide down a steep slope of snow or ice with the support of an ice axe: we wobbled down the line of ascent, glissading when we could

gloaming: twilight; dusk: hundreds of lights are already shimmering in the gloaming

gofer: a person who runs errands, especially on a film set or in an office; a dogsbody: he had worked his way from a gofer in the front office to general manager

grandiloquence: pompous or extravagant language, style, or manner, especially that intended to impress: he avoided sentimentality and grandiloquence

graticule: a network of lines representing meridians and parallels, on which a map or plan can be represented.

grike: a fissure separating blocks or clints in a limestone pavement.

grimoire: a book of magic spells and invocations.

guardant: (especially of an animal) depicted with the body sideways and the face towards the viewer: three lions passant guardant

gules: red, as a heraldic tincture: sword and long cross gules

H

heterological: wiktionary, Of a word, not describing itself.

hebdomadal: weekly (used especially of organizations that meet weekly): Oxford University's Hebdomadal Council.

hapax legomenon: a term of which only one instance of use is recorded.

hauteur: proud haughtiness of manner: she swept into the room with formidable hauteur

headword: a word that begins a separate entry in a dictionary or other reference work: the volume has 1,800 pages containing 30,000 headwords

hie: go quickly: I hied down to New Orleans

hirsute: hairy: their hirsute chests

I

illeism: wikitionary, the practice of (excessively) referring to oneself in the third person.

iliac: relating to the ilium or the nearby regions of the lower body: the iliac artery

imago: an unconscious idealized mental image of someone, especially a parent, which influences a person's behaviour.

impecunious: having little or no money: a titled but impecunious family

impost: the top course of a pillar that supports an arch.

inchoate: just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary: a still inchoate democracy

inchoate: confused or incoherent: inchoate proletarian protest

incipient: beginning to happen or develop: he could feel incipient anger building up

ineluctable: unable to be resisted or avoided; inescapable: the ineluctable facts of history

ingénue: an innocent or unsophisticated young woman, especially in a play or film: she is not some starry-eyed young ingénue

insoluble: impossible to solve: the problem is not insoluble

insouciant: showing a casual lack of concern: an insouciant shrug

intarsia: a method of knitting with a number of colours, in which a separate length or ball of yarn is used for each area of colour (as opposed to different yarns being carried at the back of the work): an intarsia design

internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict: the region's history of savage internecine warfare

inveigle: persuade (someone) to do something by means of deception or flattery: we cannot inveigle him into putting pen to paper

J

jejune: naive, simplistic, and superficial: their entirely predictable and usually jejune opinions.

jejune: (of ideas or writings) dry and uninteresting.

K

Künstlerroman: wikitionary, a novel whose central character is an artist of any kind, and which shows his or her development from childhood to maturity.

kismet: destiny; fate: what chance did I stand against kismet?

kitsch: considered to be in poor taste but appreciated in an ironic or knowing way: the front room is stuffed with kitsch knick-knacks, little glass and gilt ornaments

L

legerdemain: wikitionary, Sleight of hand; magic trickery

lucubration: writing or study: after sixteen years' lucubration he produced this account.

lacuna: an unfilled space; a gap: the journal has filled a lacuna in Middle Eastern studies

lacuna: a missing portion in a book or manuscript.

lading: the action of loading a ship with cargo.

lambent: (of light or fire) glowing, gleaming, or flickering with a soft radiance: the magical, lambent light of the north

langued: having the tongue of a specified tincture.

latterly: in the later stages of something, especially of a person's life: he worked on the paper for fifty years, latterly as its political editor

leal: loyal and honest: his leal duty to the King

limpid: (of a liquid) completely clear and transparent: the limpid waters of the Caribbean

limpid: (of a person's eyes) unclouded; clear: the limpid grey eyes gazed trustfully at her

lipogram: a composition from which the writer systematically omits a certain letter or certain letters of the alphabet.

literati: well-educated people who are interested in literature.

littoral: a region lying along a shore: irrigated regions of the Mediterranean littoral

loam: a fertile soil of clay and sand containing humus.

longueur: a tedious passage in a book, piece of music, etc.: its brilliant comedy passages do not cancel out the occasional longueurs

Lothario: a man who behaves selfishly and irresponsibly in his sexual relationships with women: they are seduced by a handsome Lothario who gains control of their financial affairs

lucubration: writing or study: after sixteen years' lucubration he produced this account

lucubration: a learned or pedantic piece of writing: it was natural enough to return the compliment by endorsing his newest lucubrations

lugubrious: looking or sounding sad and dismal: his face looked even more lugubrious than usual

M

Mamihlapinatapai: wikitionary, a look that without words is shared by two people who want to initiate something, but that neither will start

mono no aware: wikitionary, Japanese, a wistful awareness of the impermanence or transience of things.

mono no aware: wikitionary, Japanese, a wistful awareness of the impermanence or transience of things.

machicolation: (in medieval fortifications) an opening between the supporting corbels of a projecting parapet or the vault of a gate, through which stones or burning objects could be dropped on attackers: the castle retains the earliest surviving stone machicolations in Britain

maisonette: a set of rooms for living in, typically on two storeys of a larger building and having a separate entrance.

malapropism: the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with an amusing effect (e.g. ‘dance a flamingo’ instead of flamenco): he's always been prone to gaffes and malapropisms

malinger: pretend to be ill in order to escape duty or work: while some thought I was malingering, they couldn't see the pain I dealt with

manumit: release from slavery; set free: old Angus had never manumitted a single slave

marmoreal: made of or compared to marble: the marmoreal skin took on the flush of colour

melisma: a group of notes sung to one syllable of text: the melismas of plainchant

mellifluous: (of a sound) pleasingly smooth and musical to hear: her low mellifluous voice

mendicant: of or denoting one of the religious orders that originally relied solely on alms: a mendicant friar

meretricious: apparently attractive but having no real value: meretricious souvenirs for the tourist trade

microfiche: a flat piece of film containing microphotographs of the pages of a newspaper, catalogue, or other document: the journal is available as a microfiche

mien: a person's appearance or manner, especially as an indication of their character or mood: he has a cautious, academic mien

milieu: a person's social environment: Gregory came from the same aristocratic milieu as Sidonius

mondegreen: a misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of the lyrics of a song.

mountebank: a person who deceives others, especially in order to trick them out of their money; a charlatan: he was a mountebank who exploited his followers

munificent: characterized by or displaying great generosity: a munificent bequest

N

noumenon: (in Kantian philosophy) a thing as it is in itself, as distinct from a thing as it is knowable by the senses through phenomenal attributes.

nugatory: of no value or importance: a nugatory and pointless observation

numinous: having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating or suggesting the presence of a divinity: the strange, numinous beauty of this ancient landmark

O

omphalos: wikitionary, The theological proposition that the world was created with certain indicia of a history which had not actually occurred (such as the humans who had never been connected to umbilical cords being created with navels).

omphalos: wikitionary, The theological proposition that the world was created with certain indicia of a history which had not actually occurred (such as the humans who had never been connected to umbilical cords being created with navels).

obloquy: disgrace, especially that brought about by public condemnation: conduct to which no more obloquy could reasonably attach

obstreperous: noisy and difficult to control: the boy is cocky and obstreperous

occidental: relating to the countries of the West: modern occidental society

P

proligerous: wikitionary, Productive, generative; prolific.

pabulum: bland or insipid intellectual matter, entertainment, etc..

propitious: giving or indicating a good chance of success; favourable: the timing for such a meeting seemed propitious.

proliferous: (of a plant) producing buds or side shoots from a flower or other terminal part.

prolepsis: the representation of a thing as existing before it actually does or did so, as in he was a dead man when he entered. Compare with analepsis: the destruction of the Vendôme Column and his part in it are foreshadowed in moments of haunting prolepsis.

palimpsest: a manuscript or piece of writing material on which later writing has been superimposed on effaced earlier writing.

palimpsest: something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form: Sutton Place is a palimpsest of the taste of successive owners

palter: equivocate or prevaricate in action or speech: if you palter or double in your answers, I will have thee hung alive in an iron chain

panegyrize: speak or write in praise of; eulogize: it has been admired and panegyrized as beautiful, eloquent, grand, and sublime

pareidolia: the perception of apparently significant patterns or recognizable images, especially faces, in random or accidental arrangements of shapes and lines: there could be a mysterious stone coffin on Mars, or, more likely, it's just the latest example of pareidolia

parlous: full of danger or uncertainty; precarious: the parlous state of the economy

parvenu: a person of humble origin who has gained wealth, influence, or celebrity: the political inexperience of a parvenu

passel: a large group of people or things: a passel of journalists

patois: the dialect of a particular region, especially one with low status in relation to the standard language of the country: the nurse talked to me in a patois that even Italians would have had difficulty in understanding

peculate: embezzle or steal (money, especially public funds): the people accused them of having peculated the public money

pellucid: translucently clear: mountains reflected in the pellucid waters

pellucid: easily understood; lucid: he writes, as always, in pellucid prose

pellucid: (of music or other sound) clear and pure in tone: his pellucid singing tone

pennon: a tapering flag on a ship.

percipient: (especially in philosophy or with reference to psychic phenomena) a person who is able to perceive things.

perdition: complete and utter ruin: she used her last banknote to buy herself a square meal before perdition

peregrination: a journey, especially a long or meandering one: she kept Aunt Ilsa company on her peregrinations

personalty: a person's personal property.

perspicacious: having a ready insight into and understanding of things: it offers quite a few facts to the perspicacious reporter

petard: a kind of firework that explodes with a sharp report.

petard: have one's plans to cause trouble for others backfire on one.

phlegmatic: (of a person) having an unemotional and stolidly calm disposition: the phlegmatic British character

pillion: a seat for a passenger behind a motorcyclist.

pleonasm: the use of more words than are necessary to convey meaning (e.g. see with one's eyes), either as a fault of style or for emphasis.

poesy: the art or composition of poetry: the genius of poesy

polygenesis: the hypothetical origination of language or of a surname from a number of independent sources in different places at different times.

poseur: a person who behaves affectedly in order to impress others; a poser.

praxis: practice, as distinguished from theory: modern political praxis is now thoroughly permeated with a productivist ethos

precis: a summary or abstract of a text or speech.

prelapsarian: characteristic of the time before the Fall of Man; innocent and unspoilt: a prelapsarian Eden of astonishing plenitude

prelate: a bishop or other high ecclesiastical dignitary.

prolix: (of speech or writing) using or containing too many words; tediously lengthy: he found the narrative too prolix and discursive

protean: able to do many different things; versatile: protean thinkers who scan the horizons of work and society

pseud: intellectually pretentious or affected: to seek inspiration in literature or folklore is to risk being pilloried as pseud

psithurism: the sound of whispering or rustling: there is the susurration of water in the streams and rivers and the psithurism of the wind in the trees

pugilist: a boxer, especially a professional one.

pugilistic: aggressive or combative: the pugilistic tone he adopted was often reactive

pulchritudinous: beautiful: Dan gazed admiringly at the pulchritudinous brunette

purl: (of a stream or river) flow with a swirling motion and babbling sound: large stones stood blackly in the water, making it purl as it rolled around them

Q

quisling: a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force occupying their country: he had the Quisling owner of the factory arrested

quotidian: ordinary or everyday; mundane: his story is an achingly human one, mired in quotidian details

R

rabona: an action in which a player strikes the ball with their kicking leg crossed behind the other leg, typically so as to be able to play the ball instantly with their stronger foot or to deceive an opposing player: this game will forever be remembered for Lamela's stupendous rabona

raiment: clothing: ladies clothed in raiment bedecked with jewels

ramekin: a small dish for baking and serving an individual portion of food.

ratiocinate: form judgements by a process of logic; reason: a tendency to ratiocinate in isolation

repêchage: (in rowing and other sports) a contest in which the best-placed of those who failed to win heats compete for a place in the final.

rescission: the revocation, cancellation, or repeal of a law, order, or agreement: the plaintiff agreed to the rescission of the agreement

resile: abandon a position or a course of action: can he resile from the agreement?

revanchism: a policy of seeking to retaliate, especially to recover lost territory: a recipe for deep future resentment, revanchism and renewed conflict.

rime: frost formed on cold objects by the rapid freezing of water vapour in cloud or fog.

ruche: a frill or pleat of fabric as decoration on a garment or soft furnishing: a white mini dress with ruche detailing

S

saldo: wikitionary, balance (the difference between credit and debit of an account)

spifflicate: treat roughly or severely; destroy: the mosquito was spifflicated.

suborn: bribe or otherwise induce (someone) to commit an unlawful act such as perjury: he was accused of conspiring to suborn witnesses.

suppurate: undergo the formation of pus; fester.

sequelae: a condition which is the consequence of a previous disease or injury: the long-term sequelae of infection.

supererogation: the performance of more work than duty requires: to maximize profits is for management not an optional exercise or a work of supererogation.

sabermetrics: the application of statistical analysis to baseball records, especially in order to evaluate and compare the performance of individual players.

saccade: a rapid movement of the eye between fixation points.

saltire: a diagonal cross as a heraldic ordinary.

sartorial: relating to tailoring, clothes, or style of dress: sartorial elegance

saturnine: (of a person or their manner) gloomy: a saturnine temperament

sedulous: (of a person or action) showing dedication and diligence: he watched himself with the most sedulous care

selvedge: an edge produced on woven fabric during manufacture that prevents it from unravelling.

selvedge: a zone of altered rock, especially volcanic glass, at the edge of a rock mass.

seraglio: a Turkish or Ottoman palace, especially the Sultan's court and government offices at Constantinople.

seriatim: taking one subject after another in regular order; point by point: it is proposed to deal with these matters seriatim

simpatico: (of a person) likeable and easy to get on with: the inspector was a charming man, so simpatico

sinecure: a position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit: political sinecures for the supporters of ministers

solecism: a grammatical mistake in speech or writing.

solecism: a breach of good manners; an instance of incorrect behaviour.

somnambulant: resembling or characteristic of a sleepwalker; sluggish: a somnambulant stroll

speciesism: the assumption of human superiority leading to the exploitation of animals.

statant: (of an animal) standing with all four paws on the ground.

stevedore: a person employed at a dock to load and unload ships.

stultifying: tending to stifle enthusiasm, initiative, or freedom of action: the stultifying conformity of provincial life

suasion: persuasion as opposed to force or compulsion: the clearing banks found the use of both moral suasion and direct controls particularly irksome

surcease: relief or consolation: drugs are taken to provide surcease from intolerable psychic pain

susurration: whispering or rustling: the susurration of the river

svelte: (of a person) slender and elegant: she was svelte and sophisticated

syllepsis: a figure of speech in which a word is applied to two others of which it grammatically suits only one (e.g. neither they nor it is working).

synecdoche: a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in England lost by six wickets (meaning ‘the English cricket team’).

T

tricolon: wikitionary, In rhetoric, a sentence with three clearly defined parts of equal length, usually independent clauses.: I came, I saw, I conquered

tmesis: the separation of parts of a compound word by an intervening word or words, used mainly in informal speech for emphasis: can't find it any-blooming-where

tendentious: expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view, especially a controversial one: a tendentious reading of history

thole: endure (something) without complaint or resistance; tolerate: if there's one thing I can't thole it's a lie

tipple: drink alcohol, especially habitually: those who liked to tipple and gamble

tipple: rain heavily: it was tippling down with rain

tontine: an annuity shared by subscribers to a loan or common fund, the shares increasing as subscribers die until the last survivor enjoys the whole income.

topiary: the art or practice of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes: a specialist in topiary art

torse: a wreath.

transom: a strengthening crossbar, in particular one set above a window or door.

transom: offered or sent without prior agreement; unsolicited: the editors receive about ten manuscripts a week over the transom

trenchant: vigorous or incisive in expression or style: the White Paper makes trenchant criticisms of health authorities

trepan: a trephine (hole saw) used by surgeons for perforating the skull.

tribology: the study of friction, wear, lubrication, and the design of bearings; the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion.

U

ultracrepidarian: a person who expresses opinions on matters outside the scope of their knowledge or expertise: most patients are ultracrepidarians when it comes to medicine.

unctuous: excessively flattering or ingratiating; oily: as I turned away an unctuous salesman appeared

uxorious: having or showing a great or excessive fondness for one's wife: he had always impressed me as home-loving and uxorious

V

viridescent: greenish or becoming green: viridescent vegetation.

vambrace: a piece of armour for the arm, especially the forearm.

velleity: a wish or inclination not strong enough to lead to action: the notion intrigued me, but remained a velleity

verdigris: a bright bluish-green encrustation or patina formed on copper or brass by atmospheric oxidation, consisting of basic copper carbonate.

vexillology: the study of flags.

vigorish: an excessive rate of interest on a loan, typically one from an illegal moneylender.

viscera: the internal organs in the main cavities of the body, especially those in the abdomen, e.g. the intestines.

vituperative: bitter and abusive: a vituperative outburst

volte-face: an abrupt and complete reversal of attitude, opinion, or position: a remarkable volte-face on taxes

W

widdershins: in a direction contrary to the sun's course, considered as unlucky; anticlockwise: she danced widdershins around him

wold: (in Britain) a piece of high, open uncultivated land or moor: the Lincolnshire Wolds

wonted: habitual; usual: the place had sunk back into its wonted quiet

Z

zeugma: a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses (e.g. John and his driving licence expired last week).


Page last updated: 2025-08-17