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 among costume jewelry at the church rummage sale.
3. tinnitus — a ringing in the ears
His enjoyment of piano concertos was sullied by his constant tinnitus, an unfortunate consequence of a mispent youth and too many Scorpions concerts.
4. interstice — a small space between things
Our son found almost twelve dollars worth of change in the interstices of the couch.
5. panchreston — an explanation which attempts to cover all possibilities in a situation, but which is too generalized to be of practical use
Joel always managed to strike out with women by following explicitly the panchrestron of his older brother’s dating advice.
6. fervid — passionate or zealous
Despite my fervid attempts to make her see reason, the meter maid gave me a parking ticket anyway.
7. clinamen — the unpredictable swerve of atoms, in the philosophy of Lucretius
Free will was posited to derive from the clinamen by Lucretius, and this unexpected and unpredictable behavior has become the cornerstone of many other critical theories ranging from literature to psychology.
8. puce — dark or brownish purple
He still bore the signs of the beating, though his puce bruises had faded to a sickly green.
9. antiphrasis — use of a word in the opposite sense of its usual meaning
“How wonderful to see you,” Marcia greeted her ex-husband’s girlfriend, the ironic antiphrasis unnoticed as usual by the blonde high school dropout.
10. defray — pay costs or expenses
Herbert looked upon his theft of test answers as simply a means to defray his tuition.