Category Archives: word

Pronounced: path-uh-FOE-bee-uh, noun Notes: So many of the phobia words are oddball that I wasn’t sure… maybe a fear of losing one’s way (path?) – it’s not that. My vocabulary must be improving since the time I added this word to the list… I figured it out this time, but apparently, I didn’t know it.Continue reading “pathophobia”

Pronounced: woo-shoo Notes: Where I found this word shows both syllables accented, which seems pointless (it’s the same as neither being accented). I immediately thought of something (I’ll talk about it tomorrow), but wasn’t sure of the meaning. Yesterday’s word The word oldspeak means “normal English usage, as opposed to propagandist, euphemistic, or obfuscatory language”.Continue reading “wushu”

Pronounced: (as you think: “old” and “speak”) Notes: I haven’t heard this word, but I have heard a similar word Yesterday’s word The word acephalous means lacking a head or having the head reduced lacking a governing head or chief Background / Comments As I noted, I should have thought a bit more about thisContinue reading “oldspeak”

Pronounced: ay-SEH-fuh-lush, adj Notes: (The initial syllable is a long “a”). This is a word I should have been able to figure out, and I was annoyed with myself for not doing so. Yesterday’s word The word assize refers to “a session of court or a verdict or an inquiry made at such a session”Continue reading “acephalous”

Pronounced: uh-SIZE, noun Notes: From my reading, I see this word capitalized and pluralized (Assizes), but I only had a general idea of the meaning. Research into this word provided good insight (more tomorrow) Yesterday’s word A toxophilite is “a person fond of or expert at archery” Background / Comments This word is a bitContinue reading “assize”

Pronounced: tahk-SAH-fuh-lite, noun Notes: I know of at least one recent high-school graduate who should know this word… do you? Yesterday’s word An unperson is “a person regarded as nonexistent” Background / Comments This comes from George Orwell’s book “1984”; he coined this word as a noun. A much more common synonym is nonperson. FirstContinue reading “toxophilite”

Pronounced: UHN-puhr-suhn, noun Notes: I thought that this word was a verb; nonetheless, I was close to the meaning (however, I did not know the background) Yesterday’s word The word manqué means “short of or frustrated in the fulfillment of one’s aspirations or talents” Background / Comments This word is usually used post-positively (that is,Continue reading “unperson”

Pronounced: mah(n)-KAY, adj (the ‘n’ is barely pronounced) Notes: I wish I’d known this word; there are people I’ve met over the course of my life that this word fits well. Yesterday’s word In addition to the usual plant/food meanings, the word cabbage can mean, as a noun: money, especially in the form of billsContinue reading “manqué”

Pronounced: KAB-ij, noun/verb Notes: I don’t mean the plant or the food; it has other meanings that surprised me. Do you know them? Yesterday’s word The word plenipotentiary means invested with full power of or relating to a person invested fully to transact any business Background / Comments The word derives from two Latin roots:Continue reading “cabbage”

Pronounced: pleh-nuh-puh-TEN-shuh-ree (also pleh-nuh-puh-TEN-shree), adj Notes: Today’s word is long, but I’ve run across it in reading Yesterday’s word The word baragnosis means “loss of the ability to sense weight” Background / Comments Even after reading the definition, I’m was uncertain of what it meant: did it mean unaware of one’s own weight? (the sampleContinue reading “plenipotentiary”