NOTE: Due to recently (27 June 2019) discovered repetition of a previously used vocabulary word, the offending entry has been replaced with a new word, definition, and example sentence. The original entry is preserved with strikethrough formatting. 1. prolepsis — (1) marshaling counterarguments to a position so they may be refuted in advance “Just because …
Category Archives: Vocabulary
Friday Vocabulary
1. eyot — small island, particularly in a river The raft ran aground upon the small, treeless eyot which lay in the center of the large bend in the river. 2. calcareous — of or like chalk The lizard’s calcareous medication may have added to the constipation of the gecko. 3. halitus — …
Friday Vocabulary
1. coffle — train of beasts, slaves, etc., chained together The coffle of indicted legislators attempted to hold their bound hands before their faces as they were cajoled down the steep marble stairs. 2. toxophilite — a lover or devotee of archery Every tree looks like a bow to the toxophilite. 3. myrmecology …
Friday Vocabulary
1. toast-and-water — water in which toast has been soaked, thought to be cooling and refreshing (also seen as toast-water) I availed myself of some toast-and-water from the pitcher near at hand, attempting to calm my febrile brain and efface the frightening visions. 2. glaucous — pale grey-green or greenish-blue In the crepuscule of …
Friday Vocabulary
1. Comstockery — “censorship because of perceived obscenity or immorality” (George Bernard Shaw) Though named after an anti-smut crusader of the 1870s, Comstockery has a long reach through American culture, as the example of Tipper Gore can attest. 2. poetaster — writer of inferior, insignificant verse The popular anthologies circulating in the United States …
Friday Vocabulary
1. a fortiori — all the more, for an even stronger reason Since she hired a private detective to shadow her husband, then a fortiori she would have no compunction in reading his personal email. 2. dido — bauble, trifle She wore a necklace she had made from a little dido she had found …
Friday Vocabulary
1. prosopopeia — personification (Rhetoric) The walls spoke silently of years of decaying neglect, the persistent prosopopeia of drywall and dust sounding its forlorn dirge for love’s opportunities lost. 2. apodictic — incontestable because demonstrable In spite of her constant allusions to the spiritual basis of life, she seemed always to search for apodictic rules …
Friday Vocabulary
1. sotadic — of erotic or pornographic material (after Sotades, the first known Greek erotic poet) The Victorian Age saw an avid interest in sotadic literature, in spite of (or perhaps because of) the supposedly repressed nature of the period. 2. tribadism — lesbianism The tropes of pornography have little changed since the erotic …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bailiwick — area of expertise or skill “I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you with your cuticular problem,” said the podiatrist. “Not my bailiwick, I’m afraid.” 2. cadge — to obtain through imposition upon one’s generosity or friendship He tried to cadge another drink from his hostess in spite of his …
Friday Vocabulary
1. impervious — not capable of being affected or influenced Like all comic book heroes of the Golden Age, Jack Hardaway was impervious to doubt. 2. impermeable — not allowing fluids to pass through His impermeable cape also protected him from prying eyes and suspicious minds. 3. gangly — awkwardly tall or thin The gangly …