1. peripeteia — sudden turn of events, reversal of fortune, crisis However, the thoughtful peripeteia of the classic Greek drama (as, for example, the drastic return of Neoptolemus to his normal open disposition) has been replaced by a poor pallid counterfeit, and every moviegoer knows that the dramatic scenes of failed plans and stratagems of …
Tag Archives: bonus word
Friday Vocabulary
1. sennit (also sinnet) — braided straw or grass used for small crafts or hats Soon he replaced this rude headgear with a wide sennit hat shaped much like the latest fashions he’d seen in London, although with a wider brim. 2. cit — derogatory term for citizen or city folk We tried not …
Friday Vocabulary
1. ferine — feral, untamed, of or related to the state of animals existing in nature Not all ferine creatures exhibit such maternal love, but many do. 2. latitudinarian — tolerant, allowing great latitude in attitude (esp. of religious principles); lax, lacking necessary rigidity in views Of course, the allowances of these latitudinarian directives …
Friday Vocabulary
1. pongo — [British slang] soldier; [obsolete] large ape, as an orangutan or gorilla “I’m not about to let some bloody pongo wheedle his way into Lucy’s affections!” 2. perennial — perpetual, enduring; [biology] of a plant with a life cycle lasting over two years; recurrent Usually Garland found the perennial vigor and enthusiasm …
Friday Vocabulary
1. choler — anger, ire, irritability Nothing could raise Ira’s choler so much as the suavity of robots. 2. cat — [UK slang] to vomit “Sorry I almost catted back there,” Timothy said in his oh-so-serious voice, “but the news took me somewhat by surprise.” 3. cannikin (also canikin or canakin) — small …
Friday Vocabulary
1. trotter — animal that trots; foot of an animal (esp. sheep or pig) used as food Harqma, a spicy stew of lamb trotters, is a delicious Ramadan dish. 2. taphonomy — study of processes affecting living tissues after death, esp. with regards to fossilization Shriver was an expert in forensic taphonomy, and had …
Friday Vocabulary
1. undulate — to move in a wavelike manner; to look like a wave Keith dropped to the dance floor to do The Worm, and proceeded to undulate as if he had never seen Dune, Part Two. 2. thermotaxic — of or related to biological heat regulation Petey shivered in thermotaxic response to the …
Friday Vocabulary
1. thirl — to pierce, to drill To signify his acceptance by the tribe they thirled a hole through his right nostril, and he ever after wore there a ring of gold as a token of that day. 2. sallow — of pale sickly yellow color, esp. of skin Since last I had seen …
Friday Vocabulary
1. polysemy — quality of word, sign, phrase, or concept having multiple (often similar) meanings Translation is made even more difficult, of course, by the ingrained polysemy present in every human language—with the possible exeception of some artificial, invented tongues. 2. hymeneal — of marriage; of the hymen Not until he saw the overtaut …
Friday Vocabulary
1. infandous — of that which should not be told; odious in the extreme, horrid I shuddered and steeled myself once more to descend those irregular stairs and enter the wretched basement where Jeremiah had spent the last days of his tortured life, to gaze once more upon the infandous figures in the charcoal drawings …