January 2012
1 post
2 tags
100: Scintillating
Adjective.
Animated; vivacious; effervescent;witty; brilliantly clever.
-dictionary.com
“I knew that my interview would go over well due to my scintillating personality and astoundingly good looks, but I still had a nervous knot in my stomach as I walked through the glass office doors.”
June 2011
1 post
99: Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
Adjective.
An obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language.
-Dictionary.com
“Eugene’s vacation to an active volcano garnered him some breath-taking photos as well as a medical diagnosis of the lung condition pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”
December 2010
2 posts
98: Hirsute
Adjective.
Hairy, shaggy.
-Dictionary.com
“The hirsute couch was evidence of the woman’s nine cats.”
97: Ineluctable
Adjective.
Incapable of being evaded, inescapable.
-Dictionary.com
“Not wanting to miss a moment of the lesson, the enthusiastic student avoided going to the bathroom for as long as possible, but eventually nature forced her to take an ineluctable trip to a toilet.”
November 2010
3 posts
96: Truckle
Verb.
To submit or yield obsequiously or tamely.
-Dictionary.com
“If I were to be judged my appearance, one might think that I would truckle easily in a wrestling match, but I am secretly equipped with muscles of steel and the endurance of one hundred years.”
95: Pièce de Résistance
Noun.
The principal or most outstanding item in a series or creative artist’s work
-Dictionary.com
“The painter worked in feverish excitement through the night, dancing his brush across the canvas and wiping sweat from his brow until the first rays of the morning sun crossed his newly finished pièce de résistance.”
94: Peccadillo
Noun.
A very minor or slight sin or offense; a trifling fault.
-Dictionary.com
“While I consider a speeding ticket a horrible and monstrous offense, people who have broken more impressive laws would consider it a mere peccadillo.”
October 2010
1 post
2 tags
93: Obsequie
Noun.
A funeral rite or ceremony.
-Dictionary.com
“His loved ones were forced to endure a litany of obsequies throughout Matt’s funeral, including the reading of a list of the 250 things Matt held dear to his heart.”
September 2010
4 posts
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2 tags
92: Paean
Noun.
Any song of praise, joy, or triumph.
-Dictionary.com
After Matt fought his way into Mordor, killed the Mountain Trolls, and rescued the queen, King Scottsworth could not do anything but proclaim paeans and throw parades in his name.
2 tags
91: Prognosticate
Verb.
To forecast or predict (something future) from present indications or signs; Prophesy.
-Dictionary.com
“My local weatherman seems to be no better at prognosticating the weather than he is at keeping me awake while I prepare for work on Mondays.”
90: Caterwaul
Verb.
To utter long wailing cries, as cats in rutting time; To utter a similar sound, howl or screech; To quarrel like cats.
-Dictionary.com
“Matthew could not help but let out a horrid caterwaul after witnessing the death of his beloved pet pig at the hands of the butcher.”
89: Slipshod
Adjective.
Done poorly or too quickly; slapdash.
-Wiktionary.com
“I knew that my slipshod vocabulary sentences would not earn me a top-notch grade, but I hardly had time to scribble them down, let alone correct them.”
August 2010
6 posts
88: Truculent
Adjective.
Fierce; cruel; brutally harsh; vitriolic; scathing.
-Dictionary.com
“Lucille was taken aback by the truculent words that her teammates had to offer after she scored a goal for the opposite team, and ran off the field in tears.”
87: Prolix
Adjective.
Extended to great, unnecessary, or tedious length; long and wordy; given to speaking or writing at great or tedious length.
-dictionary.com
“I found my summer reading project to be unbearably boring due to the prolix paragraphs that stretched for pages; I therefore ended up skimming most of the tedious book.”
86: Bewail
Verb.
To express deap sorrow for; lament; express grief.
-Dictionary.com
“At the funeral, I peered at Fernando with suspicion, who sat composed as his siblings bewailed the murder of their mother.”
2 tags
85: Pedagogy
Noun.
The art, science, or profession of teaching.
-Merriam-webster.com
“I had expected my math class to be boring, but my teacher’s successful style of pedagogy made it not only very interesting, but also useful.”
2 tags
84: Antidisestablishmentarianism
Noun.
Opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church, esp. the Anglican Church in 19th-century England.
-Dictionary.com
“Judith’s bout of antidisestablishmentarianism had drawn her to join a club opposing the separation of church and state.”
July 2010
4 posts
2 tags
83: Ad Hominem
Adjective.
Appealing to one’s prejudices, emotions, or special interests rather than to one’s intellect or reason; Attacking an opponent’s character rather than answering his argument.
-Dictionary.com
“The councilwoman’s political opponent was so inferior to all the other candidates that all she could do was give tactless ad hominem speeches about them.”
2 tags
82: Dither
Verb.
To be uncertain or unable to make a decision about doing something; to do something nervously.
-Wiktionary.com
“I am finding it difficult not to dither over choosing a college; in contrast, my friends have all calmly made their decisions.”
2 tags
81: Synonymous
Adjective.
Having the character of synonyms or a synonym; equivalent in meaning; expressing or implying the same idea.
-Dictionary.com
“The local drug lord had the town in such a panic that his name had become synonymous with terror.”
2 tags
80: Newfangled
Adjective.
Of a new kind or fashion; Fond of or given to novelty.
-Dictionary.com
“Little Stevie was already addicted to the newfangled video games that his grandmother had just bought him for his birthday.”
June 2010
5 posts
2 tags
79: Quiddity
Noun.
Whatever makes something the type that it is; a trifling point.
-Merriam-webster.com
“During our trip to the mall I was only able to distinguish my sister in the river of customers by her quiddities: her flowing orange hair and striking green eyes.”
2 tags
78: Equivocate
Verb.
To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or to avoid committing oneself to anything definite.
-Dictionary.com
“In order to prevent myself from being forced to take part in activities with my childish cousins, I constantly equivocate the details of my daily activities.”
77: Vernacular
Noun.
The language of a people; everyday speech, including colloquialisms; language unique to a particular group of people.
-Wiktionary.com
“I had noticed that my neighbor’s manner of speaking was slightly different from the local vernacular, and this only added to my suspicions that she was actually an alien from Pluto.”
2 tags
76: Delineate
Verb.
To draw or trace the outline of, sketch out; To represent pictorially, depict; To depict in words or gestures, describe.
-Thefreedictionary.com
“Josephina struggled to hold back tears as she attempted to delineate the gruesome details of the apparent murder of all the fish in her aquarium to the police officers.”
2 tags
75: Abscond
Verb.
To depart secretly and hide oneself.
-Merriam-Webster.com
“Julius attempted to quickly abscond himself from the situation at hand, but he was unable to leave without attracting the attention of all his coworkers, who were anxious to know why he was wearing a sombrero.”
May 2010
13 posts
2 tags
74: Lacuna
Noun.
A blank space; a missing part; a gap.
-Dictionary.com
“Mrs. Gibbons was appalled that Jeremy left a large lacuna in his research paper, which indicated that he hadn’t even proofread it once.”
73: Penultimate
Adjective.
Coming next-to-last in a sequence.
-Wkitionary.com
“When required to show a project in class, I always strive to be the penultimate presenter because it gives me the maximum time to prepare while neglecting to leave the last impression on the teacher.”
2 tags
72: Baleful
Adjective.
Full of menacing or malign influences; pernicious.
-Dictionary.com
“Xavier knew well of Mr. Jabbar’s baleful intentions, and decided to reschedule his class rather than be subjected to a semester of torture.”
2 tags
71: Threap
Verb.
To scold; To contradict.
-TheFreeDictionary.com
“Phil could not help but threap his son Matthew after he found that he had spent the past hour trying to lick his elbow instead of doing his homework.”
2 tags
70: Williwaw
Noun.
A violent squall that blows in near-polar latitudes, as in the Strait of Magellan, alaska, and the Aleutian Islands.
-Dictionary.com
“The northern Alaskan research team was taken completely by surprise by the williwaw, which forced them to seek immediate shelter to avoid the harsh wind chill.”
69: Anastrophe
Noun.
Unusual word order, often involving an inversion of the usual pattern of the sentence.
-Wiktionary.com
“My favorite character in the Star Wars series was Yoda, whose unusual anastrophes were extremely amusing and easy to imitate.”
2 tags
68: Roister
Verb.
To act in a swaggering, boisterous, or uproarious manner; to revel noisily or without restraint.
-Dictionary.com
“The children at the orphanage began to roister after their caretakers forgot about them during their lunch break, and soon every child was wailing and running about the building haphazardly.”
67: Sockdolager
Noun.
A hard hit, a knockout or finishing blow.
-Wiktionary.com
“Very few people predicted that I would win the fight, so there was a gasp throughout the circle of spectators when I, a one hundred and thirty pound girl, delivered a sockdolager that knocked my football-playing opponent out cold.”
2 tags
66: Prevaricate
Verb.
To speak falsely or misleadingly; deliberately misstate or create an incorrect impression; lie.
-Dictionary.com
“Judy could do nothing but prevaricate with silly excuses to prevent Matt from learning about her long-lived affair with Clarence.”
2 tags
65: Vociferous
Adjective.
Crying out noisily; clamorous.
-Dictionary.com
“My brother’s son is quite a vociferous child; he is constantly making his presence known in some (usually loud) way or another”.
2 tags
64: Smarmy
Adjective.
Excessively or unctuously flattering, ingratiating, servile.
-Dictionary.com
“Jeffery’s friends considered his smarmy attitude to be almost a little too flattering, as he was extremely quick to please others and always had a compliment ready.”
2 tags
63: Filiopietistic
Adjective.
Of or pertaining to reverence of forebears or tradition, esp. if carried to excess.
-Dictionary.com
“The family’s filiopietistic values prevented them from having much in common with their neighbors and from living a modern lifestyle.
2 tags
62: Voracious
Adjective.
Craving or consuming large quantities of food; exceedingly eager or avid.
-Dictionary.com
“I had an unusually voracious appetite after arriving home that afternoon, so I made hash browns sprinkled with paprika and garlic powder.
April 2010
18 posts
2 tags
61: Clandestine
Adjective.
Held in or conducted with secrecy; surreptitious.
-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary.
“Even though we spelled out our society’s acronym with toilet paper on the school lawn, nobody suspected us of the prank; our clandestine organization of mischief was completely unknown to them.”
2 tags
60: Vituperation
Noun.
Verbal abuse or castigation; violent denunciation or condemnation.
-Dictionary.com
“Steven’s vituperation towards Matthew was so constant and despicable that Matthew eventually transferred to another school rather than stay and endure the torture.”
2 tags
59: Ailurophile
Noun.
A cat-lover.
-Wiktionary.com
“Young ailurophiles must be careful, for they could unknowingly blossom into the infamous ‘cat lady’ who haunts many a neighborhood with her brood of unusually foul-tempered felines.”
2 tags
58: Deipnosophist
Noun.
A person who is an adept conversationalist at table.
-Dictionary.com
“My father, an avid deipnosophist, often engaged in heated and lengthy discussions with anyone who happened to be having dinner with our family that night.”
2 tags
57: Cimmerian
Adjective.
Very dark; gloomy.
-Dictionary.com
“The cimmerian caves were extremely foreboding to the passengers of the downed airplane, though they preferred the looming darkness greatly over the almost hurricane-force winds outside.”
56: Commove
Verb.
To cause to move with force or violence; agitate; disturb; to rouse strong feelings in; excite.
-TheFreeDictionary.com
“The intrepid young couple was commoved greatly when their most intimate moment was interrupted by their angry parents.”
2 tags
55: Peregrinate
Verb.
To travel from place to place, or from one country to another, especially on foot; hence, to sojourn in foreign countries.
-Wiktionary.com
“The college student’s plan to backpack through all of Europe had sounded like a wonderful idea when he was still at home in his dorm, but once he actually started to peregrinate through the continent, he realized that he was better suited...
2 tags
54: Lacuna
Noun.
A blank space or missing part.
-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
“While rearranging my bookshelf, I managed to clear a small space free of books; therefore, I immediately rushed to the nearest bookstore to fill the unsightly lacuna.”
2 tags
53: Elixir
Noun.
A sweetened aromatic solution of alcohol and water, serving as a vehicle for medicine; A substance or medicine believed to have the power to cure all ills; An underlying principle.
-Thefreedictionary.com
“After taking a large gulp of the supposed elixir, King Reginaldo quickly realized that what he thought would give him everlasting life was actually a potent acid.”
2 tags
52: Expostulate
Verb.
To reason earnestly with someone against something that person intends to do or has done; remonstrate.
-Dictionary.com
“Julia tried to expostulate Matt’s use of a 12-gauge shotgun while hunting deer, insisting that his significantly less powerful hunting rifle would do the trick just as well.”