1. allotropic — existing (of an element) in multiple physical forms Carbon is rightfully known for both the multitude and the variety of its allotropic forms, which include diamonds, graphite, charcoal, glassy carbon, and even such modern derivations as buckyballs and nanotubes. 2. exiguous — scanty, meager The physician’s actual treatment was so exiguous …
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Friday Vocabulary
1. incorporeity — quality of being incorporeal, lack of material existence Proofs of the incorporeity of his supposed evidence only seem to have confirmed in him an almost mystical credence in the tyrant’s lies. 2. circumverbalistic — of the design or creation of crossword puzzles; of the solving of crossword puzzles Braithwaithe proved the …
Friday Vocabulary
1. paleography — study of writing and the evolution of writing systems You should not be led by the failure of paleography to divine an unanswerable argument for Hand D in the Sir Thomas More manuscript as Shakepeare’s to conclude that the science has no basis in fact, as it has shown many and storied …
Friday Vocabulary
1. spathe — large bract enclosing the flower bundle or spadix of some plants The beautiful white flower of the peace lily is actually the spathe of the plant, which encloses the yellow spadix of the true flowers. 2. purdah — curtain screening women from sight of men or strangers; system of secluding women …
Friday Vocabulary
1. geas — magically inflicted obligation I must leave you now, for my bowels have cast a geas upon me, and I must away to the bathroom to fulfill its terrible duty. 2. precentor — one who leads choir or congregation in singing Everyone has noticed the much-diminished vigor of the choir since Simon …
Friday Vocabulary
1. recruit — to refresh, to reinvigorate, to restore the health of Perry has gone with Aunt Emily to the island estate, where the beautiful grounds and pleasant clime will, D.V., recruit his mind and spirit, so addled by the frights he saw in the late unpleasantness. 2. biotope — region of ecological uniformity …
Friday Vocabulary
1. targe — [archaic] buckler, small shield Any doubts I had about the value of Kenwyth’s targe were erased when I saw the bowman knock two skirmishers to the ground with the small shield, with hardly a pause in his shooting. 2. heriot — feudal tribute of equipment or chattel The young knight, to …
Friday Vocabulary
1. perfuse — to besprinkle, to overspread (as with moisture or color); to pour through or over, to diffuse through; [medicine] to circulate through blood vessels or lymphatic system Cunegonde’s cheeks were perfused with a rosy glow, though whether from joy or from our strenuous exertions I could not tell. 2. volplane — to …
Friday Vocabulary
1. po-faced — [British] humorless, over-serious, disapproving Alain’s attempts at defusing the tense standoff between the two culinary students only elicited a po-faced shake of the head from Chef Arnie. 2. auscultation — diagnosis through listening to bodily sounds, usually with a stethoscope Though the pulse diagnosis of Chinese medicine has been compared with …
Friday Vocabulary
1. otic — of the ear Despite the advocates’ claims, ear candles are ineffective and dangerous, and could result in hot wax falling into the otic canal. 2. refrangible — capable of being refracted Though red light was known even in the time of Newton to be the least refrangible of the visible spectrum, …