Word - 185

ELYSIAN \ih-LIZH-un\ adjective, often capitalized

1 : of or relating to Elysium

*2 : blissful, delightful

Example sentence:

"The summer, in some climates, makes possible to man a sort of Elysian life." (Henry David Thoreau, Walden)

Did you know?

In classical mythology Elysium, also known as the Elysian Fields, was the paradise reserved for the heroes immortalized by the gods. Ancient Greek poets imagined it as the abode of the blessed after death. The first known use of the place-name as a word for a blissful state enjoyed by mere mortals is found in Shakespeare's Henry V. Following the Bard, many other writers over the centuries have used "Elysium," as well as "Elysian Fields," to refer to paradisiacal places or states. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was the first to summon "Elysian" as an adjective for the blissful quality emanating from such places.

Word - 184

LOOLYGAG \LAH-lee-gag\ verb

: to spend time idly, aimlessly, or foolishly

: dawdle

Example sentence:

"Please stop lollygagging around and get ready for school," pleaded Mom.

Did you know?

You certainly didn't want to be known as a "lollygagger" at the beginning of the 20th century. Back then, "lollygag" was slang for "fooling around" (sexually, that is). That sense of "lollygag" was in use as long ago as 1868, and it probably originated as an alteration of the older (and more dawdlingly innocent) "lallygag." Nowadays, "lollygag" doesn't usually carry such naughty connotations, but back in 1946, one Navy captain considered lollygagging enough of a problem to issue this stern warning: "Lovemaking and lollygagging are hereby strictly forbidden.... The holding of hands, osculation and constant embracing of WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service], corpsmen or civilians and sailors or any combination of male and female personnel is a violation of naval discipline...."

Word - 183

TOCSIN \TOCK-sin\ noun

1 : an alarm bell or the ringing of it

*2 : a warning signal

Example sentence:
A coalition of parents was sounding the tocsin for the school music program -- if voters didn't approve a tax increase, the program was sure to be axed.

Did you know?

Although it has occasionally been spelled like its homonym "toxin," "tocsin" has nothing to do with poison. Rather, it is related through French, and ultimately Latin, to the English words "touch" and "signal." "Tocsin" long referred to the ringing of church bells to signal events of importance to local villagers, including dangerous events such as attacks. Its use was eventually broadened to cover anything that signals danger or trouble.

Word - 182

APHORISM \AF-uh-riz-um\ noun

1 : a concise statement of a principle

*2 : a terse formulation of a truth or sentiment

: adage

Example sentence:

Through his work as a radio broadcaster, Ted has entertained countless listeners with his feel-good stories and his pithy, down-home aphorisms.

Did you know?

"Aphorism" was originally used in the world of medicine. Credit Hippocrates, the Greek physician regarded as the father of modern medicine, with influencing our use of the word. He used "aphorismos" (a Greek ancestor of "aphorism" meaning "definition" or "aphorism") in titling a book outlining his principles on the diagnosis and treatment of disease. That volume offered many examples that helped to define aphorism, beginning with the statement that starts the book's introduction: "Life is short, Art long, Occasion sudden and dangerous, Experience deceitful, and Judgment difficult." English speakers originally used the term mainly in the realm of the physical sciences, but eventually broadened its use to cover principles in other fields.

Word - 181

FRIGORIFIC \frig-uh-RIFF-ik\ adjective

: causing cold

: chilling

Example sentence:

Jamie shivered as she faced the frigorific blast of wind blowing off the lake.

Did you know?

The chill in "frigorific" comes from "frigus," the Latin word for "frost" or "cold." ("Frigorific" is derived from Latin "frigorificus," the adjective form of "frigus.") "Frigus" has provided us with other icy words as well. It is the source of "refrigerate" ("to keep cold"), and also of the combining form "frigo-" ("cold") and the noun "frigorimeter" ("a thermometer designed for low temperatures"), both of which are primarily scientific and somewhat rare. "Frigus" is also related to the ancestors of "frigid" ("intensely cold"). "Frigorific" is a relatively unusual word and is used considerably less often than its relatives "refrigerate" and "frigid."

Word - 180

ZANY \ZAY-nee\ noun

1 : a subordinate clown or acrobat in old comedies who mimics ludicrously the tricks of the principal

2 : one who acts the buffoon to amuse others

*3 : a foolish, eccentric, or crazy person

Example sentence:

My brother's friends are an unpredictable bunch of zanies.

Did you know?

Zanies have been theatrical buffoons since the heyday of the Italian commedia dell'arte, which introduced those knavish clowns. The Italian "zanni" was a stock servant character, often an intelligent and proud valet with abundant common sense, a love of practical jokes, and a tendency to be quarrelsome, cowardly, envious, vindictive, and treacherous. Zanni, the Italian name for the character, comes from a dialect nickname for Giovanni, the Italian form of John. The character quickly spread throughout European theater circles, inspiring such familiar characters as Pierrot and Harlequin, and by the late 1500s an anglicized version of the noun "zany" was introduced to English-speaking audiences by no less a playwright than William Shakespeare (in Love's Labour's Lost).

Word - 179

FRIEZE \FREEZ\ noun

1 : the part of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice

2 : a sculptured or richly ornamented band (as on a building or piece of furniture)

*3 : a band, line, or series suggesting a frieze

Example sentence:
"The house commands a hilltop and is forbidding, imposing, but softened with a frieze of beautiful American elms." (Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary)

Did you know?

Today's word is not the only "frieze" in English. The other "frieze" refers to a kind of heavy wool fabric. Both of the "frieze" homographs derive from French, but each entered that language through a different channel. The woolen homograph is from the Middle Dutch word "vriese," which also refers to coarse wool. The "frieze" that we are featuring as our word today is from the Latin word "frisium," meaning "embroidered cloth." That word evolved from "phrygium" and "Phrygia," the name of an ancient country of Asia Minor whose people excelled in metalwork, wood carving, and (unsurprisingly) embroidery. That embroidery lineage influenced the use of "frieze" for the middle division of an entablature, which commonly has a decorated surface resembling embroidered cloth.

Word - 178

TREPID \TREP-id\ adjective

: timorous, fearful

Example sentence:
After dark, the less trepid among us would venture as far as the front porch of the empty house, where the smallest creak would send us screaming.

Did you know?

Don't be afraid to use "trepid." After all, it has been in the English language for more than 350 years -- longer, by 30 years, than its antonym "intrepid." "Trepid" (from Latin "trepidus," meaning "alarmed" or "agitated") isn't used as much as "intrepid," but it can be a good word at times. Bill Kaufman, for example, found a use for it in a May 7, 2000 Newsday article, in which an aquarium volunteer is "asked if she is perhaps a little trepid about swimming with sharks in a 12-foot deep, 120,000 gallon tank." (Her fearless reply: "Not really.") The more intrepid among you might even consider using "trepidate" for "to tremble with fear" and "trepidant," meaning "timid" or "trembling." These are uncommon words, granted, but they haven't breathed their last.

Word - 177

YOKEL \YOH-kul\ noun

: a naive or gullible inhabitant of a rural area or small town

Example sentence:
"I was trying to get off the subway," complained Amy, "but some befuddled yokels were blocking the door, trying to figure out if this was their stop."

Did you know?

The origins of "yokel" are uncertain, but it might have come from the dialectal English word "yokel," meaning "green woodpecker." Other words for supposedly naive country folk are "chawbacon" (from "chaw," meaning "chew," and "bacon"), "hayseed" (which has obvious connections to country life), and "clodhopper" (indicating a clumsy, heavy-footed rustic). But city slickers don't always have the last word: rural folk have had their share of labels for city-dwellers too. One simple example from current use is the often disparaging use of the adjective "citified." A more colorful (albeit historical) example is "cockney," which literally means "cock's egg," or more broadly "misshapen egg." In the past, this word often designated a spoiled or foppish townsman -- as opposed to the sturdy countryman, that is.

Word - 176

MEANDER \mee-AN-der\ verb

*1 : to follow a winding or intricate course

2 : to wander aimlessly or casually without urgent destination

: ramble

Example sentence:
As we meandered through the underground maze, we stumbled upon a pile of stones that appeared to mark a burial site.

Did you know?

"Roam," "ramble," and "meander" all mean to move about from place to place without a plan or definite purpose, but each suggests wandering in a unique way. "Roam" refers to carefree wandering over a wide area often for pleasure (as in, "I roamed over the hills for hours"). "Ramble" stresses carelessness and indifference to one’s course or objective (for instance, "the speaker rambled on without ever coming to the point"). "Meander," which comes from Greek "Maiandros," an old name for a river in Asia Minor, implies a winding course and lazy movement, and it is still sometimes associated with rivers (as in, "the river meandered through the town"). "Meander" can also be used as a noun meaning "a winding path."

Word - 175

XERIC \ZEER-ik\ adjective

: characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture

Example sentence:
Many cacti have thick, succulent stems that can store enough water to allow them to survive even in xeric habitats.

Did you know?

By the late 1800s, botanists were using the terms "xerophyte" and "xerophytic" for plants that were well adapted for survival in dry environments. But some felt the need of a more generic word that included both animals and plants. In 1926 that group proposed using "xeric" (derived from "xeros," the Greek word for "dry") as a more generalized term for either flora or fauna. They further suggested that "xerophytic ... be entirely abandoned as useless and misleading." Not everyone liked the idea. In fact, the Ecological Society of America stated that "xeric" was "not desirable," preferring terms such as "arid." Others declared that "xeric" should refer only to habitats, not to organisms. Scientists used it anyway, and by the 1940s "xeric" was well documented in scientific literature.

Word - 174

NATIVITY \nuh-TIH-vuh-tee\ noun

*1 : the process or circumstances of being born; especially capitalized : the birth of Jesus

2 : a horoscope at or of the time of one's birth

3 : the place of origin

Example sentence:
On Christmas morning, church bells joyously pealed a reminder that the day marked the anniversary of the Nativity.

Did you know?

"Nativity" is one of many words born of the Latin verb "nasci," which means "to be born." The gestation of the word was a long one. "Nasci" developed in Latin into "nativitas," meaning "birth," which passed through Middle French as "nativite" before entering English in the 14th century. "Nativity" has many siblings and cousins in our language; other terms of the lineage of "nasci" include "cognate," "innate," "nascent," "native," and "renaissance."

Word - 173

SCAPEGRACE \SKAYP-grayss\ noun

: an incorrigible rascal

Example sentence:
Joanna was at a loss for ways to help her teenage brother, a scapegrace who always found himself in trouble with the police.

Did you know?

At first glance, you might think "scapegrace" has something in common with "scapegoat," our word for a person who takes the blame for someone else's mistake or calamity. Indeed, the words do share a common source -- the verb "scape," a variant of "escape" that was once far more common than it is today. "Scapegrace," which first appeared in English in the mid-18th century (over 200 years after "scapegoat"), arrived at its meaning through its literal interpretation as "one who has escaped the grace of God." (Two now-obsolete words based on a similar notion are "scape-thrift," meaning "spendthrift," and "want-grace," a synonym of "scapegrace.") In ornithological circles, "scapegrace" can also refer to a loon with a red throat, but this sense is rare.

Word - 172

VIDELICET \vuh-DEH-luh-set\ adverb

: that is to say

: namely

Example sentence:
The restaurant is famous for several dishes: videlicet, arroz con pollo, olla podrida, and carne asada.

Did you know?

The abbreviation of "videlicet" is "viz," and people often wonder how the "z" got there. There is no "z" in the word's Latin roots, "videre" ("to see") and "licet" ("it is permitted"). As it turns out, the "z" in "viz" originally wasn't a "z" at all. It was a symbol that looked like a "z" and that was used in medieval manuscripts to indicate the contraction of Latin words ending in "-et." When the symbol was carried into English, it was converted into the more familiar "z."

Word - 171

CONCILIATARY \kun-SILL-yuh-tor-ee\ adjective

: tending to win over from a state of hostility or distrust

: intended to gain the goodwill or favor of someone

Example sentence:
As the irate customer yelled, the manager adopted a soothing, conciliatory tone and promised that the situation would be remedied.

Did you know?

If you are "conciliatory" towards someone, you're trying to win them over to your side. The verb "conciliate" was borrowed into English in the mid-16th century and descends from the Latin verb "conciliare," meaning "to assemble, unite, or win over." "Conciliare," in turn, comes from Latin "concilium," meaning "assembly" or "council." "Conciliatory," which appeared in English a bit later in the 16th century, traces back to "conciliare" by way of the Latin adjective "conciliatorius." Another word that has "conciliare" as a root is "reconcile," the earliest meaning of which is "to restore to friendship or harmony."

Word- 170

WISENHEIMER \WYE-zun-hye-mer\ noun

: smart aleck

Example sentence:
"Everybody's a comedian," quipped Lisa, unperturbed, when some wisenheimer in the back row interrupted her speech with a clever comment.

Did you know?

We wouldn't joke around about the origin of this witty word. In the early 20th century, someone had the smart idea to combine the adjective "wise" (one sense of which means "insolent, smart-alecky, or fresh") with "-enheimer," playing on the pattern of family names such as "Oppenheimer" and "Guggenheimer." Of course, "wisenheimer" isn't the only “wise-" word for someone who jokes around. There's also "wiseacre," "wisecracker," "wise guy," and "wisehead." All of these jokesters are fond of making "wisecracks."

Word - 169

UNDULANT \UN-juh-lunt\ adjective

1 : rising and falling in waves

*2 : having a wavy form, outline, or surface

Example sentence:
The undulant foothills gradually give way to the craggy highlands for which Scotland is celebrated.

Did you know?

"Unda," Latin for "wave," ripples through the history of words such as "abound," "inundate," "redound," "surround," and, of course, "undulant," which first showed up in print in English around 1822. (The adjective "undulate," a synonym of "undulant," is almost 200 years older but rarely used today. The far more common verb "undulate" has several meanings including "to form or move in waves.") The meaning of "undulant" is broad enough to describe both a dancer’s hips and a disease marked by a fever that continually waxes and wanes.

Word - 168

SIMULACRUM \sim-yuh-LAK-rum\ noun

1 : image, representation

*2 : an insubstantial form or semblance of something : trace

Example sentence:
The magazine is still in publication, but, since the change in ownership, it is but a simulacrum of its former self.

Did you know?

It's not a figment of your imagination; there is a similarity between "simulacrum" and "simulate." Both of those English words derive from "simulare," a Latin verb meaning "to copy, represent, or feign." In its earliest English uses, "simulacrum" named something that provided an image or representation (as, for instance, a portrait, marble statue, or wax figure representing a person). Perhaps because a simulacrum, no matter how skillfully done, is not the real thing, the word gained an extended sense emphasizing the superficiality or insubstantiality of a thing.

Word - 167

BIFURCATE \BYE-fer-kayt\ verb

: to divide or cause to divide into two branches or parts

Example sentence:

The proposed restructuring would bifurcate the company.

Did you know?

Yogi Berra, the baseball great who was noted for his head-scratching quotes, is purported to have said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi's advice might not offer much help when making tough decisions in life, but perhaps it will help you remember today's word, "bifurcate." A road that bifurcates splits in two like the one in Yogi's adage. Other things can bifurcate as well, such as an organization that splits into two factions. "Bifurcate" derives from the Latin "bifurcus," meaning "two-pronged," a combination of the prefix "bi-" ("two") and the noun "furca" ("fork"). "Furca," as you can probably tell, gave us our word "fork."

Word - 166

KICKSHAW \KICK-shaw\ noun

1 : a fancy dish

*2 : a showy trifle

Example sentence:
The shop was filled with refrigerator magnets, back-scratchers, snow globes, and other kickshaws, all adorned with images of smiling pigs.

Did you know?

"Kickshaw" began its career in the late 16th century as a borrowing from the French "quelque chose" -- literally, "something." In line with the French pronunciation of the day, the "l" was dropped and the word was anglicized as "kickshaws" or "kickshoes." English speakers soon lost all consciousness of the word's French origin and, by taking "kickshaws" as plural, created the new singular noun "kickshaw."

Word - 165

REMORA \rih-MOR-uh\ noun

*1 : any of various marine fishes that have a suction disk on the head by means of which they cling especially to other fishes

2 : hindrance, drag

Example sentence:
Remoras feed on parasites culled from their host's skin and scraps from their host's meals.

Did you know?

Also known as "shark suckers" or "suckerfish," remoras are long, thin, dark fishes that are distributed throughout the world in warm seas. Ancient sailors believed remoras had the power to slow or even stop a ship by attaching themselves to it; the name "remora," which means "delay" in Latin, arose from this ancient superstition. The poor remora's reputation isn’t much better today. Even though remoras don't harm their hosts, they are popularly thought of as unwanted guests who get a free ride and a free meal by way of the efforts of others. It is therefore common to see "remora" used metaphorically in such contexts as "hungry paparazzi who attach themselves like remoras to celebrities."

Word - 164

PRELAPSARIAN \pree-lap-SAIR-ee-un\ adjective

: characteristic of or belonging to the time or state before the fall of humankind

Example sentence:
In the afternoon we walked through the idyllic gardens, noting their prelapsarian charm.

Did you know?

"Prelapsarian" is the latest creation in the "lapsarian" family, which is etymologically related to Latin "lapsus," meaning "slip" or "fall." "Supralapsarian" is the firstborn, appearing in 1633 as a word for someone who held the belief that people were predestined to either eternal life or eternal death before the Creation and the Fall (the event in the Bible when Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden of Eden because they had sinned against God). Next in line is "sublapsarian," which refers to a person who adhered to the view that God foresaw and permitted the Fall and after the Fall decreed predestination to eternal life as a means of saving some of the human race. That word first appears in 1656 and was followed by its synonym, "infralapsarian," in distant 1731. "Postlapsarian," meaning "of, relating to, or characteristic of the time or state after the Fall," appeared two years later, and "prelapsarian" was delayed until 1879.

Word - 163

TOUCHSTONE \TUTCH-stohn\ noun

1 : a test or criterion for determining the quality or genuineness of a thing
*2 : a fundamental or quintessential part or feature

Example sentence:
The band was a touchstone of the grunge music scene in the 1990s.

Did you know?

Our example sentence uses "touchstone" in its most recently acquired sense: "a fundamental part." The earlier sense, "a criterion for quality" (as in "I Love Lucy is often seen as a touchstone for comparison with today's TV comedy shows"), provides a better clue to the original meaning of "touchstone," however. The "criterion" sense, which goes back more than 470 years, alludes to a method of testing the purity of a sample of gold. The sample was rubbed on a piece of dark quartz or jasper -- the "touchstone." The mark it made was compared to adjacent rubbings on the touchstone from gold of known purity. This method has proved accurate enough that touchstones are still used by jewelers today.

Word - 162

QUAGGY \KWAGG-ee\ adjective

*1 : marshy
2 : flabby

Example sentence:
"The alluring creeks and guts that cut through the quaggy archipelago are littered with too much manmade detritus." (The Baltimore Sun, August 20, 2006)

Did you know?

"Quaggy" is related to "quagmire," a word for a patch of wet land that feels soft underfoot, but etymologists are not sure where the first half of the latter word originates. Some have suggested that "quag" might be imitative, echoing the soft, mushy sound that wet ground makes when you walk on it. Both "quagmire" and the shorter noun "quag" first appeared in English in the 1580s, while "quaggy," which can describe land as well as other things lacking firmness, appeared about thirty years later.

Word - 161

HEBETUDE \HEB-uh-tood\ noun

: lethargy, dullness

Example sentence:
The hebetude and ennui displayed by such bright students was just one sign that they were not being sufficiently challenged in their classes.

Did you know?

"Hebetude" usually suggests mental dullness, often marked by laziness or torpor. As such, it was a good word for one Queenslander correspondent, who wrote in a letter to the editor of the Weekend Australian of "an epidemic of hebetude among young people who ... are placing too great a reliance on electronic devices to do their thinking and remembering." "Hebetude" comes from Late Latin "hebetudo," which means pretty much the same thing as our word. It is also closely related to the Latin word for "dull" -- "hebes," which has extended meanings such as "obtuse," "doltish," and "stupid." Other "hebe-" words in English include "hebetudinous" ("marked by hebetude") and "hebetate" ("to make dull").

Word - 160

EXCULPATE \EK-skull-payt\ verb

: to clear from alleged fault or guilt

Example sentence:
The lawyer claimed to have recently discovered evidence that would exculpate her client.

Did you know?

You need not take the blame if you're unfamiliar with the origins of "exculpate," but there's a hint in this sentence. The word, which was adopted in the late 17th century from Medieval Latin "exculpatus," traces back to the Latin noun "culpa," meaning "blame." Some other descendants of "culpa" in English include "culpable" ("meriting condemnation or blame") and "inculpate" ("incriminate"), as well as the considerably rarer "culpatory" ("accusing") and "disculpate" (a synonym of "exculpate"). You may also be familiar with the borrowed Latin phrase "mea culpa," which translates directly as "through my fault" and is used in English to mean "a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error."

Word - 159

LOTHARIO \loh-THAIR-ee-oh\ noun

: a man whose chief interest is seducing women

Example sentence:
Marie denounced her ex-boyfriend as a conniving lothario who liked to play the field but who had no interest in making a real commitment.

Did you know?

"Lothario" comes from The Fair Penitent (1703), a tragedy by Nicholas Rowe. In the play, Lothario is a notorious seducer, extremely attractive but beneath his charming exterior a haughty and unfeeling scoundrel. He seduces Calista, an unfaithful wife and later the fair penitent of the title. After the play was published, the character of Lothario became a stock figure in English literature. For example, Samuel Richardson modeled the character of Lovelace on Lothario in his 1748 novel Clarissa. As the character became well known, his name became progressively more generic, and since the 18th century the word "lothario" has been used for a foppish, unscrupulous rake.

Word - 158

DERELICT \DAIR-uh-likt\ adjective

1 : abandoned especially by the owner or occupant
: run-down

*2 : lacking a sense of duty
: negligent

Example sentence:
In letting the children stay up late into the night watching television, the babysitter was derelict in her duty.

Did you know?

The Latin verb "relinquere" left behind a few English derivatives. This word, itself meaning "to leave behind," is the root of our "derelict." Something derelict has been left behind, or at least appears that way. In another sense, someone derelict leaves behind or neglects his or her duties or obligations. Another descendent of "relinquere" is "relinquish," meaning "to leave behind," "to give up," or "to release." "Relic" is another example of a word that ultimately comes from "relinquere." "Relics," in the original sense of the term, referred to things treasured for their association with a saint or martyr -- that is, objects saints and martyrs had left behind.

Word - 157

CARPACCIO \kar-PAH-chee-oh\ noun

: thinly sliced raw meat or fish served with a sauce -- often used postpositively

Example sentence:
"Though the menu is large, stick with the steaks and the beef carpaccio at this sleek, airy restaurant." (The San Francisco Chronicle, July 31, 2008)

Did you know?

Carpaccio is not the only dish named after a person, though its name might have the most artful origin. Created in 1950 by Venetian restaurateur Giuseppe Cipriani, carpaccio is named after Vittore Carpaccio, the Renaissance painter. Cipriani created the dish for the Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo, who had been under doctor's orders to avoid cooked meats. According to Cipriani's memoir, he chose to name the dish after Carpaccio because the red in the beef matched the colors found in Carpaccio's paintings. Recently, some restaurants have begun using the term for similarly prepared non-meat dishes (such as pear carpaccio).

Word - 156

OFFICINAL \uh-FISS-uh-nul\ adjective

: tending or used to cure disease or relieve pain
: medicinal

Example sentence:
The officinal properties of the plant, recently discovered in the Amazon rain forest, are still being studied.

Did you know?

"Officinal" is a word applied in medicine to plants and herbs that are used in medicinal preparations. In the 19th century, it was the standard word used by the United States Pharmacopeia to refer to the drugs, chemicals, and medicinal preparations that they recognized, but in 1893 it was replaced by "official" in this context. Despite this supersession, you still can find a healthy dose of "officinal" in the pharmaceutical field, where it is used today as a word describing preparations that are regularly kept in stock at pharmacies. "Officinal" was derived from the Medieval Latin noun "officina," a word for the storeroom of a monastery in which provisions and medicines were kept. In Latin, "officina" means "workshop."

Word - 155

JURISPRUDENCE \joor-us-PROO-dunss\ noun

1 : the science or philosophy of law
2 *a : a system or body of law
b : the course of court decisions
3 : a department of law

Example sentence:
A basic premise of American jurisprudence is that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Did you know?

"For a farewell to our jurisprudent, I wish unto him the gladsome light of jurisprudence...." With this valedictory to English jurist Sir Thomas Littleton, another jurist, Sir Edward Coke, welcomed two new words into English. In 1628, his "jurisprudence" meant "knowledge of or skill in law," a now archaic sense that reflects the literal meaning of the word. "Jurisprudence" goes back to Latin "prudentia juris" (literally "skill in law"), from which was derived the Late Latin formation "jurisprudentia," and subsequently our word. The noun "jurisprudent" means "one skilled in law" -- in other words, "a jurist." There's also "jurisprude," a 20th-century back-formation created from "jurisprudence" with influence from "prude." It means "one who makes ostentatious show of jurisprudential learning."

Word - 154

GOLEM \GOH-lum\ noun

1 : an artificial being in Hebrew folklore endowed with life
*2 : someone or something resembling a golem

Example sentence:
With the flick of a switch, the scientist brought life to his creation, then watched with awe as the golem rose from the table.

Did you know?

The Hebrew ancestor of the word "golem" meant "shapeless mass," and the original golems started as lumps of clay that were formed into figures and brought to life by means of a charm or a combination of letters forming a sacred word. In the Middle Ages, golems were thought to be the perfect servants; their only fault was that they were sometimes too literal or mechanical in fulfilling their masters' orders. In the 16th century, the golem was thought of as a protector of the Jews in times of persecution. But by the late 1800s, "golem" had acquired a less friendly second sense, referring to a man-made monster that inspired many of the back-from-the-dead creations of classic horror fiction.

Word - 153

INEFFABLE \in-EFF-uh-bul\ adjective

1 *a : incapable of being expressed in words : indescribable b : unspeakable
2 : not to be uttered : taboo

Example sentence:
Ed felt an ineffable joy at the sight of his son walking toward him from the plane.

Did you know?

"Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains. The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness," wrote Frederick Douglass in his autobiography. Reading Douglass's words, it's easy to see that "ineffable" means "indescribable" or "unspeakable." And when we break down the word to its Latin roots, it's easy to see how those meanings came about. "Ineffable" comes from "ineffabilis," which joins the prefix "in-," meaning "not," with the adjective "effabilis," meaning "capable of being expressed." "Effabilis" comes from "effari" ("to speak out"), which in turn comes from "ex-" and "fari" ("to speak").

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DRAGOON \druh-GOON\ verb

1 : to subjugate or persecute by harsh use of troops
*2 : to force into submission or compliance especially by violent measures

Example sentence:
Boys of all ages were taken from their families and dragooned into fighting for the rebel armies.

Did you know?

A dragoon was a mounted European infantryman of the 17th and 18th centuries armed with a firearm called by the same name. No arm-twisting should be needed to get you to believe that the firearm's name, which came to English from French, is derived from its semblance to a fire-breathing dragon when fired. History has recorded the dragonish nature of the dragoons who persecuted the French Protestants in the 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIV. The persecution by means of the dragoons led to the use of the word "dragoon" as a verb.

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PROLIX \proh-LIKS\ adjective

1 : unduly prolonged or drawn out : too long
*2 : marked by or using an excess of words

Example sentence:
Legal writing is not always prolix; after all, the word "brief" refers to a legal document, and most judges demand that briefs be brief.

Did you know?

There's no way to talk about "prolix" without being redundant, verbose, and wordy. That's because the word is a synonym of all of those long-winded terms. Of those words, "prolix" is the one most likely to suggest unreasonable and tedious dwelling on details. It derives from "prolixus," a Latin term meaning "extended" or "copious." "Prolixus" originated from a combination of the prefix "pro-" (which means "forward") and the past participle of "liquere," a verb meaning "to be fluid." True to that history, something that is prolix flows on and on.

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ALIENIST \AY-lee-uh-nist\ noun

: psychiatrist

Example sentence:

Julius Wagner von Jauregg was a gifted alienist and neurologist who was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Did you know?

"Alienist" looks and sounds like it should mean "someone who studies aliens," and in fact "alienist" and "alien" are related -- both are ultimately derived from the Latin word "alius," meaning "other." In the case of "alienist," the etymological trail leads from Latin to French, where the adjective "aliene" ("insane") gave rise to the noun "alieniste," referring to a doctor who treats the insane. "Alienist" first appeared in print in English in 1864. It was preceded by the other "alius" descendants, "alien" (14th century) and "alienate" (used as a verb since the early 16th century). "Alienist" is much rarer than "psychiatrist" these days, but at one time it was the preferred term.

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TENACIOUS \tuh-NAY-shus\ adjective

1 a : not easily pulled apart : cohesive

b : tending to adhere or cling especially to another substance

2 *a : persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired

b : retaining knowledge easily

Example sentence:

Eugene's tenacious auditioning finally paid off when he landed the part of Romeo in the upcoming Shakespeare festival.

Did you know?

For all of its nearly 400 years, "tenacious" has adhered closely to its Latin antecedent: "tenax," an adjective meaning "tending to hold fast." Almost from the first, "tenacious" could suggest either literal adhesion or figurative stick-to-itiveness. Sticker burrs are tenacious, and so are athletes who don't let defeat get them down. We use "tenacious" of a good memory, too -- one that has a better than average capacity to hold information. But you can also have too much of a good thing. The addition in Latin of the prefix "per-" ("thoroughly") to "tenax" led to the English word "pertinacious," meaning "perversely persistent." You might use "pertinacious" for the likes of rumors and telemarketers, for example.

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DOMICILE \DAH-muh-syle or DOH-muh-syle\ noun

*1 : a dwelling place : place of residence : home

2 a : a person's fixed, permanent, and principal home for legal purposes

b : the place where a corporation is actually or officially established

Example sentence:

"One evening Tess and Clare were obliged to sit indoors keeping house, all the other occupants of the domicile being away." (Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles)

Did you know?

"Domicile" traces to Latin "domus," meaning "home," and English speakers have been using it as a word for "home" since at least the 15th century. In the eyes of the law, a domicile can also be a legal residence, the address from which one registers to vote, licenses a car, and pays income tax. Wealthy people may have several homes in which they live at different times of the year, but only one of their homes can be their official domicile for all legal purposes.

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CHAWBACON \CHAW-bay-kun\ noun

: bumpkin, hick

Example sentence:

Larry has been living in the city for almost a year, but he's still as much of a chawbacon as the day he left the farm.

Did you know?

"Chaw" is an alteration of "chew" that is still used in some English dialects, especially in rural areas. Cured pork, or bacon, was a staple of some rural folks' diets in the past. Since the 16th century, "chaw" has been combined with "bacon" to create a ludicrous name for an uncultured yokel. Over the centuries, the word has lent its delicious dialect flavor to a wide range of publications, but it has become less common in recent decades. Today, city dwellers are as likely as country folk to chow down on bacon, and the word "chawbacon" isn't often on the lips of either group.

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ACCENTUATE \ak-SEN-shu-wayt\ verb

: accent, emphasize; also : intensify

Example sentence:
Job-seekers are encouraged to accentuate their most valuable skills and experience, and to downplay any gaps in their work history.

Did you know?

When you "accentuate" something, you put an "accent" (or emphasis) on it. So it will come as no surprise to learn that etymologists have traced "accentuate" back to "accentus," the Latin word for "accent." "Accentus," in turn, combines the prefix "ad-" with "cantus," meaning "song." Other descendants of "accentus" in English include "accent" itself, as well as "accentual" ("of, relating to, or characterized by accent").

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HYPAETHRAL \hye-PEETH-rul\ adjective

*1 : having a roofless central space
2 : open to the sky

Example sentence:
During our tour of Egypt, we visited the hypaethral temple of Philae, which was dismantled and relocated after the construction of a dam caused its original site to be submersed.

Did you know?

Ancient Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius used the Latin word "hypaethrus" to describe temples in which the "cella" (the part of the temple housing an image of the deity) was wholly or partially uncovered. "Hypaethrus" is a word sculpted from the Greek prefix "hypo-," meaning "under or beneath," and the Greek word "aither," meaning "air or heaven." In the late-18th century, English classicists adopted the remodeled form "hypaethral" in their writings of ancient architecture. Another adjective that they occasionally employed is "cleithral," which designates temples having roofed central spaces. ("Cleithral" comes from "kleithra," the Greek word for "lattice.")

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LITANY \LIH-tuh-nee\ noun

1 : a prayer consisting of a series of invocations and supplications by the leader with alternate responses by the congregation
2 a : a resonant or repetitive chant
*b : a usually lengthy recitation or enumeration
c : a sizable series or set

Example sentence:
The student offered the usual litany of excuses for being late.

Did you know?

"Litany" came to English through Anglo-French and Late Latin, and ultimately from the Greek word "litaneia," meaning "entreaty." A "litany" refers literally to a type of prayer in which a series of lines are spoken alternately by a leader and a congregation. Recent decades have seen the development of three figurative senses. The chant-like quality of a literal litany led to the "repetitive chant" sense. Next, the repetitious nature of the original litany led to the "lengthy recitation" sense. Finally, the "lengthy recitation" sense led to the meaning "a sizable series or set."

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RETICENT \RET-uh-sunt\ adj

*1 : inclined to be silent or uncommunicative in speech : reserved
2 : restrained in expression, presentation, or appearance
3 : reluctant

Example sentence:
Unlike the chatty, gregarious protagonists of his novel, the author is quite reticent in public.

Did you know?

"Reticent" first appeared about 170 years ago, but the "reluctant" sense of "reticent" is a mid-20th century introduction. Though it is now well-established, this newer sense bothers some people, particularly because it has veered away from the word's Latin origins -- "reticent" is from the verb "reticere," meaning "to keep silent." But there is some sense in the way the newer meaning developed. We first tended to use the "reluctant" sense of "reticent" when the context was speech (as in "reticent to talk about her past"), thus keeping the word close to its "silent" sense. Eventually, however, exclusive association with speech was abandoned. Now one can be "reticent" to do anything.

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LODE STAR \LOHD-star\ noun

: one that serves as an inspiration, model, or guide

Example sentence:
When she started her own business, Melinda used her father's motto -- "Trust your instincts" -- as her lodestar.

Did you know?

The literal, albeit archaic, meaning of "lodestar" is "a star that leads or guides; especially : the North Star." (The first half of the word derives from the Middle English word "lode," meaning "course.") Both the literal and the figurative sense ("an inspiration or guide") date back to the 14th century, the time of Geoffrey Chaucer. The literal sense fell out of use in the 17th century, and so, for a while, did the figurative sense -- but it appeared again 170 years later, when Sir Walter Scott used it in his 1813 poem The Bridal of Triermain.

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ONUS \OH-nuss\ noun

*1 : burden
2 : a disagreeable necessity : obligation
3 : blame

Example sentence:
Everyone else on the overworked staff was relieved when the onus of handling the new project fell to Cindy.

Did you know?

Understanding the etymology of "onus" is not at all burdensome; it's as simple as knowing that English borrowed the word -- spelling, meaning, and all -- from Latin in the 17th century. We can also add that it's a distant relative of the Sanskrit word for "cart" (a vehicle that carries a burden). English isn't exactly loaded with derivatives of Latin "onus," but the root did give us "onerous" ("troublesome") and "exonerate" ("to clear from accusation or blame" -- thus, "to unburden"). Additionally, our legal language has "onus probandi," which is often shortened to "onus." It means "burden of proof" -- that is, the obligation of proving a disputed assertion in a court of law.

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NON SEQUITUR \NAHN-SEK-wuh-ter\ noun

1 : an inference that does not follow from the premises

*2 : a statement (as a response) that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said

Example sentence:

The professor's lecture was a jumble of non sequiturs and irrelevant observations.

Did you know?

In Latin, "non sequitur" means "it does not follow." The phrase was borrowed into English in the 1500s by people who made a formal study of logic. For them it meant a conclusion that does not follow from the statements that lead to it. But we now use "non sequitur" for any kind of statement that seems to come out of the blue. The Latin verb "sequi" ("to follow") has actually led the way for a number of English words. A "sequel" follows the original novel, film, or television show. Someone "obsequious" follows another about, flattering and fawning. And an action is often followed by its "consequence."

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GRAVID \GRAV-id\ adjective

*1 : pregnant

2 : distended with or full of eggs

Example sentence:
"The film is about the world of mixed martial arts, a subject gravid with possibilities." (Allen Barra, The New York Sun, April 29, 2008)

Did you know?

"Gravid" comes from Latin "gravis," meaning "heavy." It can refer to a female who is literally pregnant, and it also has the figurative meanings of "pregnant": "full or teeming" and "meaningful." Thus, a writer may be gravid with ideas as she sits down to write; a cloud may be gravid with rain; or a speaker may make a gravid pause before announcing his remarkable findings.

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DEPORTMENT \dih-PORT-munt\ noun

: the manner in which one conducts oneself : behavior

Example sentence:

The school expects students to dress in proper attire and maintain a respectful level of deportment throughout the day.

Did you know?

"Deportment" evolved from the verb "deport," meaning "to behave especially in accord with a code," which in turn came to us through Middle French from Latin "deportare," meaning "to carry away." (You may also know "deport" as a verb meaning "to send out of the country"; that sense is newer and is derived directly from Latin "deportare.") "Deportment" can simply refer to one's demeanor, or it can refer to behavior formed by breeding or training and often conforming to conventional rules of propriety: "Are you not gratified that I am so rapidly gaining correct ideas of female propriety and sedate deportment?" wrote 17-year-old Emily Dickinson to her brother Austin.

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BLITHESOME \BLYTHE-sum\ adjective

: gay, merry

Example sentence:
In The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day, Mark Twain's Laura, who had been struck by love, wondered why she had never before noticed "how blithesome the world was."

Did you know?

"Blithesome" comes from "blithe," a word that has been a part of English since before the 12th century. "Blithe" can mean "casual" and "heedless" as well as "joyful" and "lighthearted," but "blithesome" obviously makes use of only the "joyful, lighthearted" sense. "Blithesome" didn't show up in print in English until 1724, and is now relatively uncommon, but you'll find it in the works of such authors as Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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PREHENSION \pree-HEN-shun\ noun

*1 : the act of taking hold, seizing, or grasping

2 : mental understanding : comprehension

3 : apprehension by the senses

Example sentence:
The new surgery claims to offer an increase in hand prehension and successful use of the hand after a nerve transplant.

Did you know?

It's easy to grasp the origins of "prehension" -- it descends from the Latin verb "prehendere," which means "to seize" or "to grasp." Other descendants of "prehendere" in English include "apprehend," "comprehend" ("to grasp the nature or significance of"), "prehensile" ("adapted for seizing or grasping"), "prison," "reprise," and "reprisal." Even the English word "get" comes to us from the same ancient root that led to the Latin "prehendere."

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EFFIGY \EFF-uh-jee\ noun

: an image or representation especially of a person; especially : a crude figure representing a hated person

Example sentence:
A giant effigy is set ablaze at the climax of the annual Burning Man festival in Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

Did you know?

An earlier sense of "effigy" is "a likeness of a person shaped out of stone or other materials," so it’s not surprising to learn that "effigy" derives from the Latin verb "fingere," which means "to shape." "Fingere" is the common ancestor of a number of other English nouns that name things you can shape. A "fiction" is a story you shape with your imagination. "Figments" are shaped by the imagination, too; they're something you imagine or make up. A "figure" can be a numeral, a shape, or a picture that you shape as you draw or write.

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DISABUSE \diss-uh-BYOOZ\ verb

: to free from error, fallacy, or misconception

Example sentence:
After several months of hard work, Adam was thoroughly disabused of any notion that starting his own business would be an easy endeavor.

Did you know?

We know the verb "abuse" as a word meaning "to misuse," "to mistreat," or "to revile." But when "disabuse" first appeared in the early 17th century, there was a sense of "abuse," now obsolete, that meant "to deceive." Sir Francis Bacon used that sense, for example, when he wrote in 1605, "You are much abused if you think your virtue can withstand the King's power." The prefix "dis-" has the sense of undoing the effect of a verb, so it's not surprising that "disabuse" means "to undeceive." English speakers didn't come up with the idea of joining "dis-" to "abuse" all on their own, however. It was the French who first appended their prefix "des-" to their verb "abuser." English "disabuse" is modeled after French "desabuser."

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CIRCUMSPECT \SER-kum-spekt\ adjective

: careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences

: prudent

Example sentence:
"Indications are that school boards, uncertain of what voters will do, have been more circumspect in drafting budgets." (The Star-Ledger [Newark, New Jersey], April 7, 2008)

Did you know?

"Circumspect," "cautious," "wary," and "chary" all imply looking before you leap, but each puts a unique spin on being careful in the face of risk or danger. "Circumspect," which descends from Latin "circum-" ("around") and "specere" ("to look"), implies the surveying of all possible consequences before acting or deciding (as in "he is circumspect in business dealings"). "Cautious" suggests fear of danger and the exercise of forethought that it prompts (as in "a cautious driver"). "Wary" emphasizes suspiciousness and alertness in sensing danger and cunning in escaping it (as in "keep a wary eye on the competition"). "Chary" implies a cautious reluctance to give, act, or speak freely (as in "she is chary of signing papers without reading them first").

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BATTUE \bat-TOO\ noun

: the beating of woods and bushes to flush game; also

: a hunt in which this procedure is used

Example sentence:
During the battue, rabbits scampered out of the bushes where they had been hiding and toward the open field.

Did you know?

The battue is a technique practiced by hunters in order to give them a clean shot at their targets. The hunters' assistants (or sometimes the hunters themselves) rap sticks against trees and bushes in order to scare animals out of the woods and into open space. The practice appears to have originated in France, which is probably why the word "battue," which debuted in English in the early 19th century, derives from the feminine past participle of the French verb "battre," meaning "to beat." Although some hunting traditionalists decried the practice as either cruel or unsportsmanlike when it began, the battue survives today, as does the word for it.

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PANTHEON \PAN-thee-ahn\ noun

1 : a temple dedicated to all the gods; also : the gods of a people

*2 : a group of illustrious persons

Example sentence:
With his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the former player joined a pantheon of legends from the sport.

Did you know?

Some of the earliest uses of this word in the English language refer to that most famous Pantheon, the circular domed temple built in Rome more than 19 centuries ago (and still standing). We can easily identify the origins of the temple's name, which the Romans borrowed from the Greek word for a temple honoring all their gods. That Greek word, "pantheion," combines "pan-" ("all") and "theos" ("god"). Later on, in English, "all the gods" was used to mean just that -- a pantheon could be a collective of gods (as "the Egyptian pantheon"). We stop short of worshiping outstanding men and women as actual gods, of course, but nevertheless, in the 19th century we also began using "pantheon" as a word for any eminent company of the highly venerated.

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CABOTAGE \KAB-uh-tahzh\ noun

1 : trade or transport in coastal waters or airspace or between two points within a country

*2 : the right to engage in coastal trade or transport

Example sentence:

Some assert that the problem would be resolved if the government would simply relax restrictions on cabotage.

Did you know?

Coastlines were once so important to the French that they came up with a verb to name the act of sailing along a coast: "caboter." That verb gave rise to the French noun "cabotage," which named trade or transport along a coast. In the 16th century, the French legally limited their lucrative coastal trade, declaring that only French ships could trade in French ports. They called the right to conduct such trading "cabotage" too. Other nations soon embraced both the concept of trade restrictions and the French name for trading rights, and expanded the idea to inland trade as well. Later, English speakers also applied "cabotage" to the rights that allowed domestic airlines to travel within national boundaries but that prevented foreign carriers from doing so.

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JETTISON \JET-uh-sun\ verb

1 : to throw (goods) overboard to lighten a ship or aircraft in distress

*2 : discard

Example sentence:
When they realized their plan was not going to work, the committee jettisoned the idea and thought up a new one.

Did you know?

"Jettison" comes from the Anglo-French noun "geteson," meaning "action of throwing," and is ultimately from the Latin verb "jactare," meaning "to throw." The noun "jettison" ("a voluntary sacrifice of cargo to lighten a ship's load in time of distress") entered English in the 15th century; the verb has been with us since the 19th century. The noun is also the source of the word "jetsam" ("jettisoned goods"), which is often paired with "flotsam"("floating wreckage"). These days you don’t have to be on a sinking ship to jettison something. In addition to literally "throwing overboard," "jettison" means simply "to get rid of." You might jettison some old magazines that are cluttering your house. Or you might make a plan but jettison it at the last minute, as in our example sentence.

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SEDENTARY \SED-un-tair-ee\ adjective

1 : not migratory : settled

*2 : doing or requiring much sitting

3 : not physically active

4: permanently attached

Example sentence:

Jerry worried that he was becoming physically unfit after taking a sedentary desk job.

Did you know?

English speakers borrowed "sedentary" in the late 16th century from Middle French "sedentaire," which in turn derives from Latin "sedentarius." "Sedentarius," which means "of one that sits," is from the present participle of the verb "sedere," meaning "to sit." Other descendants of "sedere" in English include "dissident,", "insidious," "preside," "reside," and "subsidy." "Sedere" is also the base of the rare word "sedens," a noun meaning "a person who remains a resident of the place or region of his birth."

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CONUNDRUM \kuh-NUN-drum\ noun

1 : a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun

2 a : a question or problem having only a conjectural answer

*b : an intricate and difficult problem

Example sentence:
Ideally, students in an ethics class are encouraged to really wrestle with moral conundrums.

Did you know?

The exact origin of "conundrum" isn't known with certainty. What is known is that the word has been in use since the early 1600s, and that it had various spellings, such as "conimbrum," "quonundrum," "conuncrum," and "quadundrum," before the current spelling was finally established sometime in the mid-17th century. One theory of origin suggests that the word was coined as a parody of Latin by students at Oxford University, where it appears to have enjoyed particular popularity in its "word play" or "pun" sense. While the prevalent sense in this century is that of the seemingly unanswerable question or problem, frequently applied to heady dilemmas involving ethics, sociology, or economics, the word is sometimes so loosely applied to anything enigmatic as to be synonymous with "puzzle" or "mystery."

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FASTIDIOUS \fas-TID-ee-us\ adjective

1 : having high and often unpredictable standards

*2 : showing a meticulous or demanding attitude

Example sentence:
These designer handbags are beautiful and have clearly been made with fastidious attention to detail.

Did you know?

There's nothing offensive about fastidious workmanship, and yet the word "fastidious" traces to the Latin noun "fastidium," meaning "aversion" or "disgust." "Fastidium" itself is probably a combination of the Latin words "fastus," meaning "arrogance," and "taedium," meaning "irksomeness" or "disgust." ("Taedium" also gave us our "tedium.") In keeping with its Latin roots, "fastidious" once meant "haughty," "disgusting," and "disgusted," although those uses are now archaic or obsolete. The word came to be applied to someone who is squeamish or overly difficult to please, and later, to work which reflects a demanding or precise attitude.

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UMAMI \oo-MAH-mee\ noun

: a taste sensation that is meaty or savory and is produced by several amino acids and nucleotides (as glutamate and aspartate)

Example sentence:
"Vegetarian dishes are usually difficult to meld with big red wines unless the dish includes umami, from ingredients such as intensely flavored mushrooms…." (The San Francisco Chronicle, August 22, 2008)

Did you know?

A Japanese scientist was the first to discover the savory taste of the amino acid glutamic acid, which was found to occur in soup stocks made with seaweed. This fifth basic taste -- alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter -- was named "umami," meaning "savoriness" in Japanese. Umami can be experienced in foods such as mushrooms, anchovies, and mature cheeses, as well as in foods enhanced with monosodium glutamate, or MSG, a sodium salt derived from glutamic acid.

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FORAY \FOR-ay\ noun

1 : a sudden or irregular invasion or attack for war or spoils : raid

*2 : a brief excursion or attempt especially outside one's accustomed sphere

Example sentence:

The book marks the novelist's first foray into nonfiction.

Did you know?

"Foray" comes from Middle English "forrayen" and probably traces back to an Anglo-French word that meant "raider" or "forager." It's related to the word "forage," which usually means "to wander in search of food or forage." A "foray," in its earliest sense, was a raid for plunder. Relatively recently, "foray" began to take on a broader meaning. In a sense, a "foray" is still a trip into a foreign territory. These days, though, looting and plundering needn't be involved in a "foray." When you take a "foray," you dabble in an area, occupation, or pastime that's new to you.

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EXTRICATE \EK-struh-kayt\ verb

1 : to distinguish from a related thing

*2 : to free or remove from an entanglement or difficulty

Example sentence:
Joe looked for a way to extricate himself gracefully from the long and tedious conversation with his chatty colleague.

Did you know?

It can take an ample amount of dexterity -- manual, verbal, or mental -- to free yourself from a tangled situation. This can be seen in "extricate," a word derived from Latin "extricatus," which combines the prefix "ex-" ("out of") with the noun "tricae," meaning "trifles or perplexities." (The resemblance of "tricae" to our word "trick" is no illusion; it's an ancestor.) While a number of words (such as "disentangle") share with "extricate" the meaning of "to free from difficulty," "extricate" suggests the act of doing so with care and ingenuity, as in "Through months of careful budgeting, he was able to extricate himself from his financial burdens."

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VELD \VELT\ noun

: a grassland especially of southern Africa usually with scattered shrubs or trees

Example sentence:
"Less than 200 years ago, thousands upon thousands of quaggas roamed the grassy veld of southern Africa." (Sharon Begley, Newsweek, June 18, 1984)

Did you know?

"Veld" (also spelled "veldt") comes from Afrikaans, the language of the Afrikaners, the descendants of the Dutch and Huguenot people who settled in southern Africa in the 17th century. Literally, "veld" means "field," and is akin to "feld," the Old English predecessor of "field." English speakers adopted the Africa-specific sense of "veld" in the 19th century. "Veld" refers to open country in southern Africa. Different regions of "veld" are distinguished by their elevations. There is the Highveld, the Lowveld, and the Middle Veld, each with different geographical characteristics. Another term associated with "veld" is "kopje" (or "koppie" -- both are pronounced \KAH-pee\). This word came to English from Afrikaans (and ultimately from a Dutch word meaning "small head" or "cup") and refers to a small hill, particularly one on the African veld.

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GAUCHE \GOHSH\ adjective

*1 : lacking social experience or grace; also : not tactful : crude

2 : crudely made or done

Example sentence:

"I can't believe she'd be so gauche as to ask you how much money you earn," Courtney huffed.

Did you know?

"Gauche" is one of several words that come from old suspicions or negative associations surrounding the left side and use of the left hand. In French, "gauche" literally means "left," and it has the extended meanings "awkward" and "clumsy." Presumably these meanings came about because left-handed people could appear awkward trying to manage in a right-handed world -- or perhaps because right-handed people appear awkward when they try to use their left hand. In fact, "awkward" itself comes from the Middle English "awke," meaning "turned the wrong way" or "left-handed." On the other hand, "adroit" and "dexterity" have their roots in words meaning "right" or "on the right side."

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PARRY \PAIR-ee\ verb

1 : to ward off a weapon or blow

*2 : to evade especially by an adroit answer

Example sentence:
The senator effectively parried all Beverly's questions about his dubious financial affairs.

Did you know?
"Parry" (which is used in fencing, among other applications) probably comes from "parez," a form of the French verb "parer," meaning "to guard or ward off." Its history can be compared with that of two other English words: "parapet" and "parasol." Those two terms go back to an Italian word ("parare") that means "to shield or guard." (A parapet shields soldiers and a parasol wards off the sun.) All three -- "parry," "parapet," and "parasol" -- can ultimately be traced to the Latin "parare," meaning "to prepare." And they're not alone. Other descendants of the Latin term include "apparatus," "disparate," "emperor," and even "prepare."

Word - 119

CHIROPTERAN \kye-RAHP-tuh-run\ noun

: any of an order of night-flying mammals with forelimbs modified to form wings
: bat

Example sentence:
The vampire hunters were greeted by swarms of chiropterans as they entered Dracula's castle.

Did you know?

"Chiroptera" is the name of the order of the only mammal capable of true flight, the bat. The name is influenced by the hand-like wings of bats, which are formed from four elongated "fingers" covered by a cutaneous membrane. It is based on the Greek words for "hand," "cheir," and "wing," "pteron." "Cheir" also had a hand in the formation of the word "surgery," which is ultimately derived from the ancient word "cheirourgos," meaning "doing by hand." "Pteron" is widely used in technical names of flying insects. It's also the ancestor of a well-known, common word: "helicopter," which joins "pteron" with Greek "heliko," meaning "spiral."

Word - 118

SUPERFICIES \soo-per-FISH-eez\ noun

1 : a surface of a body or a region of space

*2 : the external aspects or appearance of a thing

Example sentence:

Although there have been changes in the superficies of our lives, many of the human dilemmas faced by our ancestors are still quite recognizable.

Did you know?

Look below the surface of "superficies" and "surface" and you'll find the very same Latin roots: "super-," meaning "on top," and "facies," meaning "face" or "aspect." English speakers plucked "superficies" right from Latin -- it means "surface" in that language. Our word "surface" came to us by way of Middle French, where "sur-" (which comes from "super" and also means "on top") was combined with "face" (meaning "face"; from "facies"). We added "surface" to our crop of borrowed words around 1600, and the first known use of “superficies” is from 1530. One tricky thing to keep in mind about "superficies" is that it can be singular (even though it ends in an "s"!) or plural. There is no "superficie" or "superficy."

Word - 117

ELDRITCH \EL-dritch\ adjective

: weird, eerie

Example sentence:
Christina accompanied her ghost story by playing a recording filled with creaks, howls, and other eldritch sound effects.

Did you know?

"Curse," "cobweb," "witch," "ghost," and even "Halloween" -- all of these potentially spooky words have roots in Old English. "Eldritch," also, comes from a time when otherworldly beings were commonly thought to inhabit the earth. The word is about 500 years old and believed to have come from Middle English "elfriche," meaning "fairyland." The two components of "elfriche" -- "elf" and "riche" -- come from the Old English "aelf" and "rice" (words which meant, literally, "elf kingdom"). Robert Louis Stevenson wasn't scared of "eldritch." He used the term in his novel Kidnapped: "'The curse on him and his house, byre and stable, man, guest, and master, wife, miss, or bairn -- black, black be their fall!' --The woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch sing-song, turned with a skip, and was gone."

Word - 116

MANTICORE \MAN-tih-kor\ noun

: a legendary animal with the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a dragon or scorpion

Example sentence:
The book, a collection of fantastic tales, has on its cover a vivid illustration of a wild-eyed manticore chasing a hunter.

Did you know?

A mythical creature of ancient fables, the manticore keeps company with the better-known unicorn, dragon, and griffin. Descriptions of the manticore's features sometimes differ (some accounts mention porcupine quills or poisonous spikes, for example; others depict the tail as having a serpent's head), but the animal is by all accounts a dreadful beast. The word "manticore" came to English through Greek and Latin, and is probably ultimately of Iranian origin. Etymologists think it is related to an Old Persian word for "man-eater."

Word - 115

MUCKRAKE \MUCK-rayk\ verb

: to search out and publicly expose real or apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business

Example sentence:
Arn is an aggressive reporter, never afraid to ask difficult questions, hound evasive sources, or muckrake when things appear suspect.

Did you know?

The noun "muckrake" (literally, a rake for "muck," i.e., manure) rose out of the dung heap and into the realm of literary metaphor in 1684. That's when John Bunyan used it in Pilgrim's Progress to represent man's preoccupation with earthly things. "The Man with the Muckrake," he wrote, "could look no way but downward." In a 1906 speech, Teddy Roosevelt recalled Bunyan's words while railing against journalists he thought focused too much on exposing corruption in business and government. Roosevelt called them "the men with the muck-rakes" and implied that they needed to learn "when to stop raking the muck, and to look upward." Investigative reporters weren't insulted; they adopted the term "muckraker" as a badge of honor. And soon English speakers were using the verb "muckrake" for the practice of exposing misconduct.

Word - 114

WHEREWITHAL \WAIR-with-awl\ noun

: means, resources; specifically : money

Example sentence:

If I had the wherewithal, I'd buy that empty lot next door and put in a garden.

Did you know?

"Wherewithal" has been with us in one form or another since the 16th century. It comes from "where" and "withal" (meaning "with"), and it has been used as a conjunction meaning "with or by means of which" and as a pronoun meaning "that with or by which." These days, however, it is almost always used as a noun referring to the means or resources one has at one's disposal -- especially financial resources, that is, money.

Word - 113

EXOTERIC \ek-suh-TAIR-ik\

*1 : suitable to be imparted to the public

2 : belonging to the outer or less initiate circle

3 : external

Example sentence:

As a specialist writing for a broader audience, Annette faces the challenge of producing an exoteric synthesis of complex information.

Did you know?

"Exoteric" derives from Latin "exotericus," which is itself from Greek "exoterikus," meaning "external," and ultimately from "exo," meaning "outside." "Exo" has a number of offspring in English, including "exotic," "exonerate," "exorbitant," and the combining form "exo-" or "ex-" (as in "exoskeleton" and "exobiology"). The antonym of "exoteric" is "esoteric," meaning "designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone"; it descends from the Greek word for "within," "eso."

Word -112

SCOFFLAW \SKAHFF-law\ noun

: a contemptuous law violator

Example sentence:

The governor's office set up a database listing the names of scofflaws who hadn't paid their traffic fines.

Did you know?

In 1924, a wealthy Massachusetts Prohibitionist named Delcevare King sponsored a contest in which he asked participants to coin an appropriate word to mean "a lawless drinker." King sought a word that would cast violators of Prohibition laws in a light of shame. Two respondents came up independently with the winning word: "scofflaw," formed by combining the verb "scoff" and the noun "law." Henry Dale and Kate Butler, also of Massachusetts, split King's $200 prize. Improbably, despite some early scoffing from language critics, "scofflaw" managed to pick up steam in English and expand to a meaning that went beyond its Prohibition roots, referring to one who violates any law, not just laws related to drinking.

Word- 111

LACUNA \luh-KOO-nuh\ noun

*1 : a blank space or a missing part : gap

2 : a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure

Example sentence:
The newly discovered Civil War documents filled many lacunae in the museum's archives.

Did you know?

Exploring the etymology of "lacuna" involves taking a plunge into the pit -- or maybe a leap into the "lacus" (that's the Latin word for "lake"). Latin speakers modified "lacus" into "lacuna," and used it to mean "pit," "cleft," or "pool." English speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century. Another English word that traces its origin to "lacuna" is "lagoon," which came to us by way of Italian and French.

Word - 110

SHUNPIKE \SHUN-pyke\ noun

: a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighway

Example sentence:
When people request directions to our house, I ask them if they prefer to take the turnpike or the shunpike.

Did you know?

America's love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less-traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. So the word "shunpike," too, must be a 20th-century phenomenon, right? Nope. Toll roads have actually existed for centuries (the word "turnpike" has meant "tollgate" since at least 1678). In fact, toll roads were quite common in 19th-century America, and "shunpike" has been describing side roads since the middle of that century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory.

Word - 109

AGGRESS \uh-GRESS\ verb

: to commit aggression : to act

Example sentence:
Certain indicators, such as irritability, can indicate an animal's likelihood to aggress.

Did you know?

"Aggress" and its more familiar relatives, "aggression" and "aggressive," derive from the Latin verb "aggredi," meaning "to approach, attack, or undertake." When "aggress" was first used in English in the 16th century, it meant "to approach," but that use is now obsolete. The current meaning of the word has been with us since the early 18th century. Back then, the noun "aggress" ("an attack") appeared occasionally as well, but time has relegated that use to obsolescence, too.

Word - 108

CONGLOBATE \kahn-GLOH-bayt\ verb

: to form into a round compact mass

Example sentence:
Jack alternately conglobated and flattened the bit of clay as he talked.

Did you know?

"Conglobate" descends from the Latin verb "conglobare," which in turn comes from the prefix "con-" (meaning "with" or "together") and "globus" (meaning "globe"). "Conglobare" also means "to form into a ball," and in the 16th century it gave us the word "conglobe," of the same meaning. A century after "conglobe" first appeared in print, its cousin "conglobate" arrived on the scene. You may be wondering if the word "glob" is a relative too. "Glob" isn't linked directly to "conglobate," but it does have a possible link to "globe." Etymologists think that "glob" might have originated as a blend of "globe" and "blob."

Word - 107

CLOCHARD \kloh-SHAR\ noun

: tramp, vagrant

Example sentence:

"He lives on the Pont Neuf, the oldest and most beautiful bridge in Paris, which has become a secret home to clochards ... while closed for extensive repairs." (Vincent Canby, The New York Times, October 6, 1992)

Did you know?

Why such a fancy French word for a bum? The truth of the matter is, nine times out of ten, you will find "clochard" used for not just any bum, but a French bum -- even more specifically, a Parisian bum. And, sometimes, it's even a certain type of Parisian bum -- a type that has been romanticized in literature and is part of the local color. Nevertheless, as "francais" as this word (which comes from the French verb "clocher," meaning "to limp") may seem, its regular appearance in English sources since 1937 makes it an English word, too.

Word - 106

GENIUS \JEEN-yus\ noun

*1 : a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude

2 : extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity

3 : a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially : a person with a very high IQ

Example sentence:
Those children have a genius for getting into trouble!

Did you know?

The belief system of the ancient Romans included spirits that were somewhere in between gods and humans and were thought to accompany each person through life as a protector. The Latin name for this spirit was "genius," which came from the verb "gignere," meaning "to beget." This sense of "attendant spirit" was first borrowed into English in the early 16th century. Part of such a spirit's role was to protect a person's moral character, and from that idea an extended sense developed in the 16th century meaning "an identifying character." In time, that meaning was extended to cover a special ability for doing something, and eventually "genius" acquired senses referring particularly to "very great intelligence" and "people of great intelligence."

Word - 105

CASTIGATE \KASS-tuh-gayt\ verb

: to subject to severe punishment, reproof, or criticism

Example sentence:

Before sentencing, the judge angrily castigated the two young defendants for their malicious act of vandalism.

Did you know?

"Castigate" has a synonym in "chastise" -- both verbs mean to punish or to censure someone. Fittingly, both words derive from the same root: the Latin "castigare," formed from the words for "pure" ("castus") and "to drive" ("agere"). ("Castus" also gave us the noun "caste," meaning "social class or rank.") Another verb derived from "castigare" is "chasten," which can also mean "to discipline by punishment" but more commonly means "to subdue or make humble" (as in "chastened by his foolish error"). "Castigate" is the youngest of the three verbs in English, dating from the early 17th century, some three centuries after "chasten" and "chastise."

Word - 104

PALMARY \PAL-muh-ree\ adj

: outstanding, best

Example sentence:

Louis Pasteur is best known for originating pasteurization, but he also made palmary contributions in the field of immunology, including finding a vaccination for anthrax.

Did you know?

English speakers have been using "palmary" since the 1600s, and its history stretches back even further than that. It was the ancient Romans who first used their "palmarius" to describe someone or something extraordinary. "Palmarius" literally translates as "deserving the palm." But what does that mean exactly? Was it inspired by palms of hands coming together in applause? That would be a good guess, but the direct inspiration for "palmarius" was the palm leaf given to a victor in a sports competition. That other palm, the one on the hand, is loosely related. The Romans thought the palm tree's leaves resembled an outstretched palm of the hand; they thus used their word "palma" for both meanings, just as we do with "palm" in English.

Word - 103

FACETIOUS \fuh-SEE-shuss\ adjective

*1 : joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish

2 : meant to be humorous or funny : not serious

Example sentence:
Gwen was being facetious when she used the word "classy" to describe Bill's brightly colored necktie.

Did you know?

"Facetious" came to English from the Middle French word "facetieux," which traces to the Latin word "facetia," meaning "jest." "Facetia" seems to have made only one other lasting contribution to the English language: "facetiae," meaning "witty or humorous writings or sayings." "Facetiae," which comes from the plural of "facetia" and is pronounced fuh-SEE-shee-ee or fuh-SEE-shee-eye, is a far less common word than "facetious," but it does show up occasionally. For example, in a letter to the editor published in the Seattle Times, August 26, 1995, a reader used the following words to describe a column written by the humorist Dave Barry: "Hey, it's a HUMOR column, based entirely upon facetiae."

Word - 102

KOINE \koy-NAY\ noun

1 capitalized : the Greek language commonly spoken and written in eastern Mediterranean countries in the Hellenistic and Roman periods

*2 : a dialect or language of a region that has become the common or standard language of a larger area

Example sentence:

Koines inevitably developed in the early British colonies as different dialects converged.

Did you know?

Koine, which means "common" or "shared" in Greek, was the language spoken in the eastern Mediterranean countries from the 4th century B.C. until the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (mid-6th century A.D.). In linguistics, the word "koine" is applied to a language developed from contact between dialects of the same language over a large region. Basically, a koine adopts those grammatical and lexical elements from the dialects of the region that are easily recognized by most area speakers and dispenses with those that are not.