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
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