Pronounced: hi-PEA-thruhl, adj Yesterday’s word The word antigodlin means out of line; lopsided; out of whack diagonal Background The origin is uncertain; it supposedly is used in the American south; as far as I know, I’ve never heard anyone use this word. It is thought to come from anti- (against) plus goggling/goggle (to look obliquely).Continue reading “hypaethral”
Author Archives: Richard
antigodlin
Pronounced: an-tih-GOD-lin, adj Note: I’ve never heard this word, but it originates it the American south, so maybe some of you will know it. Yesterday’s word The word orgulous means “proud; haughty” Background The word comes from Anglo-French orguillus. First used This word originally came over in the 1200s, and was used by Shakespeare (inContinue reading “antigodlin”
orgulous
Pronounced: OR-gyuh-luhs, adj Note: Another handy to know; you can call someone this and they won’t know if it’s an insult or not Yesterday’s word The word tourbillion means “a whirlwind or whirlpool” Background This word is fairly well traveled; it came from French tourbillion (whirlwind), but this came from Latin (and you may haveContinue reading “orgulous”
tourbillion
Pronounced: toor-BILL-yuhn, noun Note: It’s not going on a lot of tours… Yesterday’s word The word temporize means: to act to suit the time or occasion : yield to current or dominant opinion to draw out discussions or negotiations so as to gain time Background I was familiar with the second definition (what we termContinue reading “tourbillion”
temporize
Pronounced: TEM-puh-rize, verb Note: This is a “borderline” word; I have run across it and had a sense of the meaning, but wasn’t quite right. Yesterday’s word The word lustrate means “to purify by means of rituals or ceremonies” “To remove undesirable people from an organization, especially in an abrupt or violent manner” Background MyContinue reading “temporize”
lustrate
Pronounced: LUHS-trate, verb Note: When I saw this word, I saw the ‘lus-‘ and thought it had something to do with light… not quite right. Yesterday’s word The word espiègle means “frolicsome; roguish” Background The word comes from the French language, as you might think. It is a corruption of Ulespiegle – the French nameContinue reading “lustrate”
repeat, iterate, reiterate
As a kind of Christmas present, I’m posting this not-quite-a-vocabulary word entry. I know the meaning of all of these words, but there are shades of meaning that I found interesting. The word repeat means to do something again, or to have something happen again. Note that only one recurrence is enough to be aContinue reading “repeat, iterate, reiterate”
resistentialism (example entry)
This is an example of the kind of entries I do. I chose this entry because the background information was particularly interesting to me. I’d appreciate feedback on the layout; I have a lot more options for formatting here than I have on Facebook. Pronounced: rih-zis-TEN-shul-iz-um Type of speech: noun Comment: This word is hardContinue reading “resistentialism (example entry)”
Words Coming 01 Jan
For 2020, I have been posting a word a day on Facebook. For 2021, I am moving my posts to this blog. I may post a sample entry or two before the start date. You can check the About link for information about how this will look. However, because an example is often easiest, IContinue reading “Words Coming 01 Jan”
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 