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
Vocabulary list--#2
Vocabulary list--#3
Vocabulary list--#13
Vocabulary list--#14
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