Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: lat-ih-TOOD-n-ar-ee-uhn, adj/noun Notes: Something to do with surveying? (nope) Yesterday’s word The word plangent means having a loud reverberating sound having an expressive and especially plaintive quality First usage The word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments If you notice the meanings, they are not very close to each other,Continue reading “latitudinarian”

Pronounced: PLAN-juhnt, adj Notes: This looks like a compressed form of Plantagenet, but it’s not Yesterday’s word The word olid means “foul-smelling” First usage The word goes back to the late 1600s. Background / Comments The word is from Latin olere (to smell). It’s amazing that such a useful short word is not more frequentlyContinue reading “plangent”

Pronounced: OH-lid, adj Notes: Another new word for me Yesterday’s word The word anabasis is a going or marching up; advance; especially a military advance a difficult and dangerous military retreat First usage The word came into English in the early 1700s Background / Comments Strange definitions; practically opposites. The word comes from Greek –Continue reading “olid”

Pronounced: uh-NAH-buh-suhs, noun Notes: Even after attempting to analyze this word, I didn’t have any idea of the meaning Yesterday’s word The word roland means “someone who is an equal match for another”. First usage The word came into English in 1525 Background / Comments Our word comes from the proper name Roland, who wasContinue reading “anabasis”

Pronounced: ROH-lund, noun Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, but didn’t know the word Yesterday’s word The word embonpoint is “plumpness of a person; stoutness” First usage The word goes back to the 1600s Background / Comments I ran across this word years ago when I was in high school or early college.Continue reading “roland”

Pronounced: ah(n)-bo(n)-PWAH(n), noun Notes: The parentheses above mean that the ‘n’ sound is very lightly pronounced. I find this a hard word to guess; one either knows it or doesn’t know it. Before I knew the word, it looked like it might be related to embroidery (’emb-‘) or needlepoint (-‘point’). Yesterday’s word The word euhemerismContinue reading “embonpoint”

Pronounced: you-HEE-muh-riz-um, noun (alternatively, the second syllable could be ‘HEM’) Notes: When I glance at this word, I keep seeing ‘euphemism’, but this is not that word Yesterday’s phrase The phrase infra dig means “being beneath one’s dignity; undignified” First usage This word showed up in the early 1800s Background / Comments I’ve never runContinue reading “euhemerism”

Pronounced: IN-fruh-DIG, adj Notes: This is a phrase I’ve not run across before Yesterday’s word The word adonize means “to make more attractive; to spruce up” First usage This came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I’ve heard of Adonis – a beautiful youth in Greek mythology, and I know that ‘adonis’Continue reading “infra dig”

Pronounced: AD-uh-nize, verb Notes: This is another word that made me feel foolish; I didn’t know it when I saw it, but when I read the background, I realized that I should have known it. Yesterday’s word The word illative means “of, relating to, or expressing an inference or conclusion” (the word “therefore” is anContinue reading “adonize”

Pronounced: ILL-uh-tihv (alt ih-LAY-tihv), adj Notes: I ran across this word in my reading, but didn’t know it Yesterday’s word The word bogart means to hog or take more than the fair share of something to bully, act touch, or to be belligerent First usage This word came into usage in the 1960s Background /Continue reading “illative”