1. holism — theory or system asserting that the whole is greater than the parts From this youthful belief in a spiritual and psychological holism he moved to an even more radical reductionism, preaching that all so-called ‘elevated states’ stemmed from a combination of a mere three substances found within brain chemistry. 2. pig …
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Friday Vocabulary
1. equipollent — of equal power; logically equivalent The first mistake in Wilber’s reasoning came when he declared that this negation was equipollent with absence, whereas even a schoolchild could have told him that not getting dessert was not the same as getting nothing at all. 2. misease — [archaic] misery, discomfort, suffering The …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bdellium — fragrant gum resin; the plant producing this resin We are told that manna was the color of bdellium, which can be found in several shades similar to those of amber, though in plant form it is a greenish white berry. 2. pteruge — protective strip of leather or stiffened linen, used …
Friday Vocabulary
1. scantling — small piece of wood, usu. used for studs etc.; blocks of wood of a given size; [nautical] framing timber of a vessel Finally we found the missing doubloon, covered in pitch and hidden in the scantlings just aft of the bilge. 2. pygarg — food animal, perhaps a species of antelope …
Friday Vocabulary
1. temerarious — reckless, rash, heedless On the other hand, as a result of his temerarious purchase of Dogecoin he’s now a multi-billionaire. 2. shawm — medieval double-reed woodwind with a conical shape For the nonce we made merry, dancing to the strains of the sackbuts, shawms, and pipes. 3. brassie (also brassey) …
Friday Vocabulary
1. matrix — womb, uterus That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that opens the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD’s. [Exodus 13:12 (KJV)] 2. hederated — decorated or crowned with ivy Under new management, however, the intriguing hederated adornment …
Friday Vocabulary
1. agita — irritation, upset, anxiety; indigestion Me? I lose it completely—but Hélène doesn’t let the agita get to her at all. 2. hobeler (also hobbler) — light horseman, retainer who supplied his own hobby (a small horse or pony) All told we were able to assemble four score men-at-arms and sixty hobelers, with …
Friday Vocabulary
1. bleb — vesicle, blister; bubble of air in fluid But the original insight was confirmed only when scientists inspected the steam blebs of ancient lava flows beneath the microscope. 2. assort — to distribute like things according to type Our first day in the creaking house found us assorting the heaps of material …
Friday Vocabulary
1. excursive — digressive What was supposed to have been a pithy précis turned into an excursive epic under the weight of his overheavy pen, topping two hundred pages of turbid prose. 2. peterman — [slang] safecracker Though once he was renowned as a peterman of the first water, today he is as honest …
Friday Vocabulary
1. tegument — covering; integument He stood haughtily above the field, his bronzed and polished armor a bright protective tegument over the doomed flesh within. 2. quiff — lock or curl of hair hanging over the forehead My eyes kept straying to the oiled quiff of his dark hair which he affected in some …