Vocabulary list--#3

anacoluthia

an-uh-kuh-LOO-thee-uh

noun

Lack of grammatical sequence or coherence, especially in a sentence.

anile

ay-nail

adjective

1. Old-womanish, like a crone, feeble from age or feeble-minded: the feminine counterpart of senile, which originally referred only to old men.
2. Fearful and overly cautious.

alterity

awl-TAIR-uh-tee

noun

Otherness; specifically: The quality or state of being radically alien to the conscious self or a particular cultural orientation.

boustrophedon

boo-struh-FEE-dahn

noun

The writing of alternate lines in opposite directions (as from left to right and from right to left).

brumal

BROO-muhl

adjective

Of winter.

cachinnate

KAK-uh-neyt

verb

To laugh loudly or immoderately.

caliginous

kuh-LIJ-uh-nuhs

adjective

Misty, dim, dark.

chrestomathy

kreh-STAH-muh-thee

noun

1. A selection of passages used to help learn a language
2. A volume of selected passages or stories of an author.

congeries

kahn-je-rees

noun

A disparate if not disheveled collection of things, a confused mass of dissimilar objects.

contubernal

ken-tu-ber-nal

noun

1. Sharing the same tent.
2. Living together with someone or sharing a companionship or, as a noun, a member of such a companionship.

couchant

KOU-chuhnt

adjective

1. Lying down, crouching, reclining.
2. Heraldry. (Of an animal) represented as lying on its stomach with its hind legs and forelegs pointed forward.

crapulous

KRAP-yuh-lus

adjective

1. Marked by intemperance especially in eating or drinking.
2. Sick from excessive indulgence in liquor.

demotic

dih-MOT-ik

adjective

1. Of or pertaining to the common people, popular.
2. Of or pertaining to the ordinary, everyday, current form of a language, vernacular.
3. Of, pertaining to, or noting the simplified form of hieratic writing used in ancient Egypt between 700 b.c. and a.d. 500.

ecotone

EE-kuh-tohn

noun

A transition area between two adjacent ecological communities.

ekphrasis

EK-fruh-sis

noun

A literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art.

esoteric

e-se-ter-ik

adjective

1. That is known only by a small, exclusive group of insiders or "in" people.
2. Confined to a clique or small closed group of people.

fletcherize

FLECH-uh-rahyz

verb

To chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

farouche

fa-ROOSH

adjective

1. Sullenly unsociable or shy.
2. Fierce.

fossick

FAH-sik

verb

1 Australian & New Zealand: To search for gold or gemstones typically by picking over abandoned workings.
2 Chiefly Australian & New Zealand; a: To search about; RUMMAGE and b: To search for by or as if by rummaging; ferret out.

funicular

fye-nik-ye-ler

adjective

1. Rope-like or having a cord, rope, or cable.
2. Operated on or by a cable.
3. Related to a funiculus: the umbilical cord (also called afunis in medicine), the spinal cord, or any bundle of nerve fibers.

heuristic

hyoo-RIS-tik

adjective

1. Serving to indicate or point out; stimulating interest as a means of furthering investigation.
2. Encouraging a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error.
3. Of, pertaining to, or based on experimentation, evaluation, or trial-and-error methods.
4. Denoting a rule of thumb for solving a problem without the exhaustive application of an algorithm.

idioglossia

id-ee-uh-GLOS-ee-uh

noun

1. A private form of speech invented by one child or by children who are in close contact, as twins.
2. A pathological condition in which a person's speech is so severely distorted that it is unintelligible.

imago

ih-MAH-goh

noun

1. An idealized concept of a loved one, formed in childhood and retained unaltered in adult life.
2. Entomology, an adult insect.

incunabulum

in-kyoo-NAB-yuh-luhm

noun

1. The earliest stages or first traces of anything.
2. Extant copies of books produced in the earliest stages (before 1501) of printing from movable type.

ineffable

in-EF-uh-buhl

adjective

1. Incapable of being expressed in words; unspeakable; unutterable; indescribable.
2. Not to be uttered; taboo.

jactation

jak-TEY-shuhn

noun

1. A restless tossing of the body.
2. Boasting; bragging.

jejune

jih-JOON

adjective

1. Lacking nutritive value.
2. Devoid of significance or interest; dull.
3. Juvenile, puerile.

kenspeckle

KEN-spek-uhl

adjective

Conspicuous; easily seen or recognized.

kvetch

KVECH

adjective

To complain habitually.

laconic

luh-KAH-nik

adjective

Using or involving the use of a minimum of words, oncise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious.

lucifugous

loo-see-FOO-guhs

adjective

Avoiding light.

lupine

LOO-pahyn

adjective

1. Savage; ravenous; predatory.
2. Pertaining to or resembling the wolf.

mithridate

MITH-ri-deyt

noun

A confection believed to contain an antidote to every poison.

mussitate

MUHS-i-teyt

verb

To silently move the lips in simulation of audible speech.

nacreous

NEY-kree-uhs

adjective

Resembling nacre (mother-of-pearl); lustrous; pearly.

nepenthe

ni-PEN-thee

noun

1. A drug or drink, or the plant yielding it, mentioned by ancient writers as having the power to bring forgetfulness of sorrow or trouble.
2. Anything inducing a pleasurable sensation of forgetfulness, especially of sorrow or trouble.

numinous

NOO-muh-nus

adjective

1. Supernatural, mysterious.
2. Filled with a sense of the presence of divinity, holy.
3. Appealing to the higher emotions or to the aesthetic sense, spiritual.

omphaloskepsis

ahm-fe-le-skep-sis

noun

1. The contemplation of the navel as part of meditation.
2. Self-absorption, egocentrism.
3. Inertia, lack of activity or motivation.

omnium-gatherum

ahm-nee-um-GA-thuh-rum

noun

A miscellaneous collection (as of things or persons).

orthoepy

awr-THOH-uh-pee

noun

1. The study of correct pronunciation.
2. The study of the relationship between the pronunciation of words and their orthography.

philter

FIL-ter

noun

1. A magic potion for any purpose.
2. A potion, charm, or drug supposed to cause the person taking it to fall in love, usually with some specific person.

paladin

PAL-uh-din

noun

1. A trusted military leader (as for a medieval prince).
2. A leading champion of a cause.

palingenesis

pal-in-JEN-uh-sis

noun

1. Rebirth, regeneration.
2. In biology, embryonic development that reproduces the ancestral features of the species.
3. Baptism in the Christian faith.
4. The doctrine of transmigration of souls.

panurgic

paen-er-jik

adjective

Having multiple skills, able and willing to carry out a variety of tasks requiring different sets of skills.

parlay

PAHR-lay

verb

1. To bet in a parlay.
2. To exploit successfully, to increase or otherwise transform into something of much greater value.

plangent

PLAN-junt

adjective

1. Having a loud reverberating sound.
2. Having an expressive and especially plaintive quality.

quiddity

kwid-a-tee

noun

1. The essence or real nature of a thing, that which makes a thing what it is.
2. Something trivial, unimportant, a quibble.

raconteur

ra-kahn-TER

noun

A person who excels in telling anecdotes.

prosopography

pros-uh-POG-ruh-fee

noun

1. A description of a person's appearance, career, personality, etc.
2. A study of a collection of persons or characters, esp. their appearances, careers, personalities, etc., within a historical, literary, or social context.

risible

RIZZ-uh-bul

adjective

1. A: Capable of laughing; b: Disposed to laugh.
2. Arousing or provoking laughter, especially laughable.
3. Associated with, relating to, or used in laughter.

saccade

sa-KAHD

noun

1. The movement of the eye when it makes a sudden change, as in reading.
2. The act of checking a horse quickly with a single strong pull of the reins.

satori

suh-TOHR-ee

noun

In Zen Buddhism, the state of sudden indescribable intuitive enlightenment.

Sisyphean

sis-uh-FEE-un

adjective

Of, relating to, or suggestive of the labors of Sisyphus; specifically, requiring continual and often ineffective effort.

susurrous

soo-SUR-us

adjective

Full of whispering sounds.

tu quoque

TOO-KWOH-kwee

noun

A retort charging an adversary with being or doing what he or she criticizes in others.

ululate

ULL-yuh-layt

verb

Howl, wail.

vagary

VAY-guh-ree

noun

An erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion.

veridical

vuh-RID-ih-kul

adjective

1. Truthful, veracious.
2. Not illusory, genuine.

vulpine

VUL-pine

adjective

1. Of, relating to, or resembling a fox.
2. Foxy, crafty.

zetetic

zeh-TEH-tic

adjective

Proceeding by inquiry, investigating.


Special thanks to POSP stringer Tim Ray for the compilation.


Vocabulary list--#1

Vocabulary list--#2