Vocabulary list--#15

POSP's stringer Tim has provided the last list of vocabulary words for 2012.

acephalous

ey-SEF-uh-luhs

adjective

1. Without a leader or ruler.
2. Also, acephalic Zoology. headless; lacking a distinct head.


agape

ah-GAH-pey

noun

1. Unselfish love of one person for another without sexual implications.
2. The love of Christians for other persons, corresponding to the love of God for humankind.


alexipharmic

uh-lek-suh-FAHR-mik

adjective

1. Warding off poisoning or infection; anecdotal; prophylactic.
2. An alexipharmic agent, especially an internal antidote.


amygdaliform

uh-MIG-duh-luh-fawrm

adjective

Shaped like an almond


anacoluthon

an-uh-kuh-LOO-thon

noun

1. A construction involving a break in grammatical sequence, as It makes me so—I just get angry.
2. An instance of anacoluthia.


biblioklept

BIB-lee-uh-klept

noun

A person who steals books.


campestral

kam-PESS-trul

adjective

Of or relating to fields or open country, rural.


cantrip

KAHN-trip

noun

1. Chiefly Scot. A magic spell; trick by sorcery.
2. Chiefly British. Artful shamming meant to deceive.


cathexis

kuh-THEK-sis

noun

Investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea.


climacteric

klahy-mak-TER-ik

noun

1. A critical period.
2. Physiology: a period of decrease of reproductive capacity in men and women, culminating, in women, in the menopause.
3. A year in which important changes in health, fortune, etc., are held by some theories to occur, as one's sixty-third year.
4. The period of maximum respiration in a fruit, during which it becomes fully ripened.


crasis

KREY-sis

noun

Composition; constitution; makeup.


demiurge

DEM-ee-erj

noun

One that is an autonomous creative force or decisive power.


disbosom

dis-BOOZ-uhm

verb

To reveal; confess.


eidolon

ahy-DOH-luhn

noun

1. A phantom; apparition.
2. An ideal.


enigmatic

en-ig-mat-ik

adjective

Of, relatic to, or resembling an enigma, mysterious.


eponymous

e-pon-a-mous

adjective

1. Of a person being the person after whom a literary work, film,etc, is named: the eponymous heroine in the film of Jane Eyre.
2. Of a literary work, film, etc. named after its central characteror creator: the Stooges' eponymous debut album.


fainaigue 

fuh-NEYG

verb

1. To shirk; evade work or responsibility.
2. To renege at cards.


fulgurant

FUHL-gyer-uhnt

adjective

Flashing like lightning.


garniture

GAHR-nih-cher

noun

1. Embellishment, trimming.
2. A set of decorative objects (as vases, urns, or clocks).


gorgonize

GOR-guh-nyze

verb

To have a paralyzing or mesmerizing effect on, stupefy, petrify.


hortative

HOR-tuh-tiv

adjective

Giving exhortation, serving to advise or warn.


immure

ih-MYOOR

verb

1a. To enclose within or as if within walls.
1b. Imprison.
2. To build into a wall; especially, to entomb in a wall.


lenticular  

len-TIK-yuh-ler

adjective

1. Having the shape of a double-convex lens.
2. Of or relating to a lens.
3. Provided with or utilizing lenticules.


maieutic

may-YOO-tik

adjective

Relating to or resembling the Socratic method of eliciting new ideas from another.


malison

MAL-uh-sun

noun

Curse, malediction.


mawkish

MAW-kish

adjective

1. Having a weak often unpleasant taste.
2. Marked by sickly sentimentality, sad or romantic in a foolish or exaggerated way.


mucro

MYOO-kroh

noun

A short point projecting abruptly, as at the end of a leaf.


nictitate

NIK-ti-teyt

verb

To wink.


ninnyhammer

nin-nee-ham-mer

noun

A simpleton;a foolish person.


numen

NOO-mun

noun

A spiritual force or influence often identified with a natural object, phenomenon, or place.


nuncupative

nun-cu-pa-tive

adjective

Spoken rather than written, oral.


obdurate

AHB-duh-rut

adjective

1a. Stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing.
1b. Hardened in feelings.
2. Resistant to persuasion or softening influences.


parturient

pahr-TOOR-ee-uhnt

adjective

1. Bearing or about to bear young; travailing.
2. Pertaining to parturition.
3. Bringing forth or about to produce something, as an idea.


potvaliancy

POT-val-yuhn-see

noun
Brave only as a result of being drunk.


ratiocination

rat-ee-oh-suh-NAY-shun

noun

1. The process of exact thinking, reasoning.
2. A reasoned train of thought.


scumble

SKUM-bul

verb

1a. To make (as color or a painting) less brilliant by covering with a thin coat of opaque or semiopaque color applied with a nearly dry brush.
1b, To apply (a color) in this manner.
2. To soften the lines or colors of (a drawing) by rubbing lightly.


sederunt

suh-DEER-unt

noun

A prolonged sitting (as for discussion).


sequacious

sih-KWAY-shus

adjective

Intellectually servile.


tartar

TAHR-ter

noun

1. Often capitalized, a person of irritable or violent temper.
2. One that proves to be unexpectedly formidable.


teratoid

TER-uh-toid

adjective

Resembling a monster.


zeugma

ZOOG-muh

noun

The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way, as in to wage war and peace or On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.

Vocabulary list--#1

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Vocabulary list--#11 

Vocabulary list--#12

Vocabulary list--#13

Vocabulary list--#14