June 2009
18 posts
mottle
noun • 1) a spot or blotch of color. 2) a pattern or coloring of mottle. [plant mottle images] #infsum: “C.T. has crossed his arms casually; their triceps’ flesh is webbed with mottle in the air-conditioned sunlight.”
Jun 29th
13 notes
words wholly unrelated
genius & ingenious: The former from gignere (to be born). The latter from ingenium (clever). sacrilegious & religious: The former from sacra legere (to purloin sacred objects). The latter from religare (to bind).
Jun 29th
74 notes
caliginous
adjective • /kuh-LIJ-uh-nuhs/ • dark; misty; gloomy.
Jun 25th
62 notes
abligurition
noun • (obsolete) Extravagant spending on food and drink.
Jun 22nd
97 notes
concupiscence
noun • /kənˈkjupɪsəns/ a strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust. In Christian theology, selfish human desire for an object, person, or experience. ORIGIN: Late Latin concupīscentia, from Latin concupīscere (to desire strongly)
Jun 20th
111 notes
chthonic
adjective • /θɑ.nɪk/ • off or relating to the underworld; infernal.
Jun 18th
45 notes
pharyngeal
adjective • 1) of or pertaining to the pharynx. 2) articulated with the pharynx, a term usually describing a consonant which is articulated by the rear area of the tongue being raised to below the region between the uvula and the pharyngeal wall. The term cannot apply to a plosive or stop consonant. (phonetics)
Jun 17th
7 notes
agnate
adjective • related or akin through males or on the father’s side
Jun 16th
5 notes
wlate
noun • to loathe to the point of nausea
Jun 16th
89 notes
holm
noun • a small island in a river or estuary
Jun 15th
23 notes
50 most looked-up words on NYTimes.com →
via bmichael: sui generis solipsistic louche laconic saturnine antediluvian epistemological shibboleths penury sumptuary schadenfreude peripatetic abstruse parlous enervating adenoidal feckless solipsism ersatz fealty sanguine sartorial hagiography pandemic hagiographic dauphin antebellum paroxysm risible interlocutor swine apotheosis comity Atreus banal ...
Jun 12th
178 notes
distrait
adjective • /di-STRAY/ • inattentive, especially because of anxiety
Jun 9th
61 notes
Wordnik (Beta) →
An information-rich dictionary featuring aggregated definitions, synonyms/antonyms and example sentences; frequency statistics, twitter uses, flickr images, Scrabble values, and so on. For example, the entry for cow.
Jun 8th
35 notes
kenspeckle
adjective • easily recognized; distinctive or conspicuous.
Jun 6th
26 notes
meatspace
noun • real life or the physical world, as opposed to cyberspace.
Jun 5th
71 notes
onomatomania
noun • /ˌän-ə-ˌmat-ə-ˈmā-nē-ə/ • 1) frustration at being unable to think of an appropriate word. 2) an obsession with or extreme love of a particular word. ORIGIN: Greek ὂνομα, name + μανία, madness
Jun 3rd
343 notes
velleity
noun • /vəˈliədi/ or /vɛˈliədi/ • a mere wish not strong enough to lead to action ORIGIN: medieval Latin velleitas, from Latin velle ‘to wish.’
Jun 3rd
145 notes
anthimeria →
In rhetoric, anthimeria, traditionally and more properly called antimeria (from the Greek: ἀντί, antí, “against, opposite” and μέρος, méros, “part”), is the use of a word as if it were a member of a different word class (part of speech); typically, the use of a noun as if it were a verb.
Jun 2nd
25 notes