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").

Word - 152

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.

Word - 151

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.

Word - 150

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.

Word - 149

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.

Word - 148

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.

word - 147

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.

Word - 146

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").

Word - 145

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.")

Word - 144

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."

Word - 143

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.

Word - 142

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.