Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: FAS-choo-us, adj Notes: I know a similar word (fatuous), but not this one Yesterday’s word The word benison means “blessing; benediction” First usage Our word is old; it came into English in the early 1300s Background / Comments Our word shares the same background as “benediction”: it comes form the Latin word benedicere (toContinue reading “fastuous”

Pronounced: BEH-nuh-suhn, noun Notes: I’ve never run across this word, but I hope to remember it and use it on occasion Yesterday’s word The word torpid means First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments Once again, I am familiar with the first definition, but the second and thirdContinue reading “benison”

Pronounced: TORE-pid, adj Notes: I was somewhat familiar with the word, but not completely Yesterday’s word The word visceral means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I am most familiar with the first definition; it is used in this sense for something felt “deep down”, and it turnsContinue reading “torpid”

Pronounced: VIH-suh-ruhl, adj Notes: I’ve certainly run across this word, but found that I could not define it to my satisfaction Yesterday’s word The word bathos means “an abrupt descent from lofty or sublime to the commonplace; anticlimax” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments Our word looks likeContinue reading “visceral”

Pronounced: BAY-thas (alt: BAY-thos), noun Notes: I think I’ve heard or read this word, but did not know the meaning Yesterday’s word The word subreption is “the act of obtaining something (such as a prize or reward) by concealing pertinent facts” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / CommentsContinue reading “bathos”

Pronounced: sub-REP-shun, noun Notes: This word comes from my reading Yesterday’s word The word farrago means “a confused mixture” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments As I noted yesterday, I’ve been mispronouncing this word; I thought it was “FAIR-uh-go”. I have read the word and had an ideaContinue reading “subreption”

Pronounced: fuh-RAH-go, noun Notes: I did not pronounce this word right, but I was close to the meaning Yesterday’s word The word nescience means “lack of knowledge or awareness; ignorance” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I did not properly parse this word; for some reason, IContinue reading “farrago”

Pronounced: NEH-shuns (alt: NEH-shunts; alt-2: NEH-she-uns; alt-3: NEH-she-unts), noun Notes: I believe I’ve run across this word, but I didn’t know the meaning of it Yesterday’s word The word rechauffe means First usage Our word came into English in the late 1700s Background / Comments I love the idea of referring to leftovers as rechauffe;Continue reading “nescience”

Pronounced: ray-show-FAY, noun Notes: A fun word to slip into conversation Yesterday’s word The word raddled means First usage Our word came into English in the late 1600s Background / Comments As you can see from the definitions above, the first one is about the same as the word “rattled”. Our word is the (much)Continue reading “rechauffe”

Pronounced: RAH-duhld, adj Notes: Very interesting word; do you know it? Yesterday’s word The word gratulate means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments So, which is older – gratulate or congratulate? It turns out that congratulate is slightly older (by about 20 years). Our word comes from theContinue reading “raddled”