{"id":4554,"date":"2024-05-10T11:35:37","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T18:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=4554"},"modified":"2024-05-10T11:35:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T18:35:37","slug":"friday-vocabulary-297","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/?p=4554","title":{"rendered":"Friday Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. peripeteia<\/strong> \u2014 sudden turn of events, reversal of fortune, crisis<\/p>\n

However, the thoughtful <\/em>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of the classic Greek drama (as, for example, the drastic return of Neoptolemus to his normal open disposition) has been replaced by a poor pallid counterfeit, and every moviegoer knows that the dramatic scenes of failed plans and stratagems of The Avengers, e.g., are only a preface to the ultimate, inevitable, and\u2014to be frank\u2014quite boring triumph of the supposed heroes.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. diuturnity<\/strong> \u2014 state of lasting for a very long time<\/p>\n

What hand, through long mornings and nights of <\/em>diuturnity, carved with mild feathered strokes these monuments of rock and packed earth through which we now floated on our rafts in awestruck wonder?<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. hieratic<\/strong> \u2014 of or related to priests, esp. those of Ancient Egypt; of or related to a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing; severely formal, overly styled<\/p>\n

As we went deeper into the cave, the <\/em>hieratic illustrations suffered a decline, as if the deep and secret meanings of the bizarre images had been forgotten, so that only the shells and forms remained, debased figures lacking the strength of the earlier icons, as the underlying mysteries became more and more distant to this devolving culture.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. putto<\/strong> \u2014 representation of a cherub (sometimes winged) in Renaissance and Baroque art<\/p>\n

The chalice featured an embossed representation of Venus, flanked on either side by tiny <\/em>putti holding a ribbon about her head.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. putrid<\/strong> \u2014 rotting, decomposing, esp. with a bad smell; vile, morally loathsome<\/p>\n

“If you must descend further into study of these <\/em>putrid philosophies, I will thank you to leave my house!”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. conjury<\/strong> \u2014 conjuration, magic, witchcraft; an act of the same<\/p>\n

So simply did he assuage the bank manager’s concerns that the entire visit seemed sheer <\/em>conjury, especially as the manager had had his hand almost on his phone to call the authorities when first we arrived.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. cachalot<\/strong> \u2014 sperm whale<\/p>\n

Only the rich reward of the ambergris and spermaceti would induce the fishing of the mighty <\/em>cachalot, so fierce and huge are these mighty whales.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. league<\/strong> \u2014 unit of distance of varying measure in different places or times, usu. calculated as roughly 3 miles<\/p>\n

Exhausted though we were, Ronnie allowed us only a brief respite, though we’d already traveled twenty <\/em>leagues since daybreak.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. inchmeal<\/strong> \u2014 extremely slowly, by inches, little by little<\/p>\n

I drew the curtain aside <\/em>inchmeal, not daring to awaken the sleeper before I was ready to pounce.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10. melioration<\/strong> \u2014 [archaic<\/em>] amelioration, something which makes a thing better<\/p>\n

The estate benefited from his hard work and the many <\/em>meliorations he had set on course during the lord’s long absence.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bonus Vocabulary<\/h4>\n

(British informal)<\/p>\n

go spare<\/strong> \u2014 to become angry<\/p>\n

“I dunno just how it happened, only that he’d <\/em>go spare when I told him he was being made redundant, so I thought, y’know, if maybe he had a few pints first the news would go down easier.”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. peripeteia \u2014 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 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Friday Vocabulary”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[112,69],"class_list":["post-4554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-bonus-word","tag-vocabulary","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4554"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4556,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4554\/revisions\/4556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatedguesswork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}