Words

A list of interesting words:

  • ablution (n): (literary or humorous, usually in the plural) Washing oneself; bathing, cleaning oneself up. [from 17th c.]
  • acme (n): The top or highest point; pinnacle; culmination
  • apotheosis (n): The fact or action of becoming a god; deification
  • Casus belli (n): An act seen as justifying or causing a war.
  • diffidence (n): The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement.
  • ebullient (a): overflowing with fervor, enthusiasm, or excitement; high-spirited
  • ersatz (a): being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation
  • fungible (a): Able to be substituted for something of equal value.
  • hegemony (n): /həˈdʒɛm.ə.ni/ Domination, influence, or authority over another, especially by one political group over a society or by one nation over others
  • hoosegow (n): slang synonym for ‘jail’. From Latin American Spanish juzgao, variant of standard Spanish juzgado. Alteration of pronunciation and spelling by law of Hobson-Jobson.
  • jawbone (v): the use of public appeals (as by a president) to influence the actions especially of business and labor leaders; broadly: the use of spoken persuasion
  • nadir (n): the lowest point; point of greatest adversity or despair.
  • nonplussed (a): Bewildered; unsure how to respond. Perplexed.
  • nympholepsy (n): nympholepsy: a frenzy of emotion, as for something unattainable.
  • opprobrium (n): Disgrace arising from exceedingly shameful conduct; ignominy.
  • praxis (n): practice: translating an idea into action; “a hard theory to put into practice”; “differences between theory and praxis of communism”
  • pusillanimous (a): Showing ignoble cowardice, or contemptible timidity
  • raconteur (n): A storyteller, especially a person noted for telling stories with skill and wit.
  • Panglossian (n): characterized by or given to extreme optimism, esp. in the face of unrelieved hardship or adversity.
  • porcine (a): resembling swine; hoggish; piggish.
  • presage (n): a presentiment or foreboding.
  • sanguine (a): cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident: a sanguine disposition; sanguine expectations.
  • saturnine (a): sluggish in temperament; gloomy; taciturn.
  • Schadenfreude (n): /ˈʃɑːdənfrɔɪdə/ taking joy in other people’s trouble
  • solipsism (n): self-absorption, an unawareness of the views or needs of others.
  • skullduggery (n): activities intended to deceive; a con or hoax
  • vertiginous (a): whirling; spinning; rotary: vertiginous currents of air.