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APODICTIC
adj. of a proposition; necessarily true or logically certain
It has also been pointed out that the laws in the Old Testament may be classified
as either apodictic in form ("thou shalt…" or "thou shalt not…") or "casuistic"
("when a man…, he shall…").
ASPERITY
n. the quality of being hard to endure, uninviting or formidable
BEATITUDE
n. a state of supreme happiness or blessedness
His face had taken on the expression of imbecile beatitude the religious
sometimes adopt.
CAPRICIOUS
adj. changeable; determined by chance or impulse or whim rather than by
necessity or reason
The capricious bride-to-be has a different church in mind for her wedding every
few days.
CAPTIOUS
adj. tending to find and call attention to faults
CHOLERIC
adj. easily moved to anger
CORNUCOPIA
n. goat's horn filled with grain and flowers and fruit symbolizing prosperity; the
property of being extremely abundant
This is a time of abundance when bird, beast and insect gather to share the
cornucopia.
DENOUEMENT
n. the unraveling of a plot or story; the outcome of a complex sequence of events
DILATORY
adj. slow to act; intended to cause delay
The White House scolds Congress for being dilatory in finding cash for Panama
and Nicaragua.
EKISTICS
n. the study of human settlements
To anybody familiar with the rudiments of ekistics the horrendous traffic jams
were foreseeable.
EXTEMPORE
adj. & adv. with little or no preparation or forethought
FECUNDITY
n. fertility or productiveness
His work has been translated into over twenty languages and is a prime example
of the brilliance and fecundity brought to the English novel by writers who have
landed on these shores.
LUMPEN
adj. relating to a dispossessed social class; a member of the crude and
uneducated lowest class of society; mentally sluggish; misshapen and ponderous
Both families had been transformed from what might be called a lumpen
peasantry into what Marx did call the lumpen proletariat.
The nose was large and lumpen; the hair was stringy and unkempt.
MENDACIOUS
adj. dishonest; given to lying
The loss of confidence which set in after Stalingrad was not least a consequence
of the totally misleading and outrightly mendacious German propaganda which
had preceded the catastrophe.
MEPHISTOPHELIAN
adj. characteristic of a devil; wicked
NUGATORY
adj. having little or no value or importance
OPSIMATH
n. person who begins to learn or study only late in life.
It was strange, yet refreshing, to see the opsimath working diligently in his
study group with piers 50 years his junior.
ORNERY
adj. bad-tempered, irritable, or very difficult and contrary.
Few took any notice of his complaints for he was well known around the village as
the ornery old military man.
OTIOSE
adj. superfluous or redundant (of a word or phrase); indolent; futile or
functionless
PECCADILLO
n. a petty misdeed, sin, offense, or foible
PELLUCID
adj. transparent or clear (physically and metaphorically)
At the end of the garden, the waters of the stream that had risen pellucid at
their source lay curdled.
PERCIPIENT
adj. discerning and quick in perceiving
PHYLOGENY
n. the history or evolutionary development of something (especially a species)
PROLIXITY
n. boring, drawn out verbosity
RUBRIC
n. an established rule, tradition, or custom
There are of course significant political differences between the USA and Italy,
even though both come under the rubric of industrial capitalism.
SARDONIC
adj. humorously mocking, scornful, or cynical
...a sardonic dismissal of the philologists of our time for their joy at capturing
worms and their indifference to the true problems, the urgent problems of life.
SCHADENFREUDE
n. delight taken in another's misfortune
This led to divorce from his wife, who could perhaps be permitted some
Schadenfreude at the fact that Van Den Hauwe's relationship had, perforce,
become platonic.
SEDENTARY
adj. spending much time sitting and taking little exercise
SYBARITE
n. a person devoted to luxuries and sensual pleasures
TELEOLOGY
n. explanation of phenomena in terms of a design or end purpose rather than in
terms of their causes
The teleology of evolution as a goal-seeking activity persists in indefensible form
a hundred years later in the writing of biologists.
TIMOROUS
adj. having a timid or fearful disposition
He had been a quiet, timorous boy until he discovered the excitement of chasing
women.
TRUCULENT
adj. scathingly harsh; ferocious
He still took care to be rude and truculent at school to keep up appearances, but
the old venom had faded.
UNCTUOUS
adj. fatty, oily, or greasy; excessively flattering, suave, or ingratiating
UNGUENT
n. an ointment used to soothe, heal, or lubricate
A delightful unguent jar from Mostagedda carved from ivory in the form of a
hippopotamus argues that the animal attracted favourable attention.
VENIAL
adj. forgivable or pardonable
Half of the thousands of imprisoned debtors had been reduced to their state by
venial errors or innocent misfortune.
VERDANT
adj. green and lush with grass or other rich vegetation
VITRINE
n. a glass cabinet for displaying and protecting delicate items or specimens
The preserved corpse was subsequently recased in the nineteenth century in a glass-
fronted mahogany vitrine.
BOEOTIA — bē.ō.sh(ē).ə
This is my favorite of all time! Would you have guessed the correct pronunciation
of this one if I hadn't included it above?
CREPUSCULE
n. Twilight or, sometimes more generally, a state of half-light.
This one crossed my path as I was reading about a wonderful Broadway
production called The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This hilarious
play, in which audience members participate in an on-stage spelling bee, was
based on an improvisational play called, you guessed it, C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E.
The original play was created by Rebecca Feldman.
EUONYM
n. A name that is well suited, often ironically, to the person or thing it refers to.
And who could forget the enthusiastic, if quirky, performance of Rebecca Sealfon
as she spells this word to become the 1997 Scripps National Spelling Bee
Champion.
GJETOST
n. A dark, sweet cheese, usually made from goat's milk.
With the highly unusual GJ combo making the sound of a Y, this one is an
obvious spelling bee candidate.
David Riddle, a National Senior Spelling Bee champion, is especially familiar with
this word. While attending The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a
comedy Broadway musical, he was one of the four audience members to be called
up on stage to compete in the theatrical Bee.
The word they had to resort to in order to finally send David back to his seat so
they could get on with the play? You guessed it! G-J-E-T-O-S-T.
IRREVOCABILITY
adj. Impossibility of being reversed or undone.
Well, ok, I admit I included that one just so I could show you this video...
LAODICEAN
adj. Unconcerned with religion or politics.
This obscure word, which derives from biblical ridicule leveled at the people of
Laodicea, was the winning word at the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Here's
the winner, Kavya Shivashankar, in action, employing her trademark 'invisible
writing' technique to seal the championship...
NUMNAH
n. The padding, usually sheepskin, placed on a horse's back to cushion the saddle
and avoid chafing.
SARDOODLEDOM
n. A melodramatic or contrived and uncompelling plot.
UINTJIE
n. The edible corm of the 'chestnutty' Iridaceae family of plants.
Spelling it not only sealed the victory, but doing so led bobbyblue to declare
uintjie the hardest word ever spelled over the six-year history of the bee.
SCHADENFREUDE
SHAHD-n-froi-duh –noun satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.
Origin: 1890–95; < German, equivalent to Schaden …
SCHOTTISCHE
Noun - A round dance resembling a slow polka Etymology - German, from the Scottish
word schittisch (meaning Scottish), from Schotte (meaning Scotsman) …
TAOISEACH
From Irish - means a prime minister. Pronounced TEA-shack.