Category: Today’s Word

Today’s Word

ascription

Definition: (noun) Assigning some quality or character to a person or thing. Synonyms: attribution. Usage: The ascription to me of honors I had not earned …

insouciance

Definition: (noun) Blithe lack of concern; nonchalance. Synonyms: carefreeness, lightheartedness, lightsomeness. Usage: He replied with characteristic insouciance, "So what?" Discuss

claptrap

Definition: (noun) Pompous or pretentious talk or writing. Synonyms: blah, bombast, fustian, rant. Usage: He talks a lot of pretentious claptrap and rarely gets down …

philippize

verb intr.: To behave, especially to speak or write, as if corruptly influenced.

fabricate

Definition: (verb) Make up something artificial or untrue. Synonyms: cook up, invent, manufacture. Usage: Did Harold really wrestle a bear, or did he fabricate the …

Midas-eared

adjective: 1. Having poor judgment. 2. Having inability to appreciate something.

infest

Definition: (verb) To inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious. Synonyms: overrun. Usage: During the year that …

Socratic irony

noun: A profession of ignorance in a discussion in order to elicit clarity on a topic and expose misconception held by another.

denude

Definition: (verb) To divest of covering; make bare. Synonyms: strip. Usage: Rake in hand, Flora set out to denude her lawn of fallen leaves. Discuss

lowlife

Definition: (noun) A person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible. Synonyms: dirty dog, git, puke, rotter, scum bag, skunk, so-and-so, stinker, bum, crumb, …

forgo

Definition: (verb) Do without or cease to hold or adhere to. Synonyms: foreswear, waive, dispense with, relinquish. Usage: The tortures of the accused did not …

Achilles’ heel

noun: A seemingly small but critical weakness in an otherwise strong position.

windpipe

Definition: (noun) Membranous tube with cartilaginous rings that conveys inhaled air from the larynx to the bronchi. Synonyms: trachea. Usage: Poisonous vapors … crept like …

herm

noun: A square pillar topped with a bust.

illusionist

Definition: (noun) Someone who performs magic tricks to amuse an audience. Synonyms: conjurer, magician, prestidigitator. Usage: The illusionist snapped his fingers and was suddenly holding …

philippic

noun: A bitter condemnation, usually in a speech.

nuptial

Definition: (adjective) Of or relating to a wedding. Synonyms: bridal, spousal. Usage: My fiancé was less than thrilled when I suggested that we write our …

Midas touch

noun: The ability to easily make anything profitable.

Socratic method

noun: A method of teaching in which, instead of giving the answer, the teacher guides students to it by asking them a series of questions.

empower

Definition: (verb) Give or delegate power or authority to. Synonyms: authorize. Usage: The army is now empowered to operate on a shoot-to-kill basis. Discuss

verdure

Definition: (noun) The lush appearance of flourishing vegetation. Synonyms: greenness. Usage: Midsummer eve had come, bringing deep verdure to the forest, and roses in her …

charisma

noun: A personal charm or appeal that inspires devotion, loyalty, enthusiasm, etc.

pestle

Definition: (noun) A heavy tool of stone or iron (usually with a flat base and a handle) that is used to grind and mix material …

gutta

noun: 1. A drop. 2. One of a series of ornaments, typically in the shape of a truncated cone on buildings (in the Doric order …

anteroom

Definition: (noun) A large entrance or reception room or area. Synonyms: foyer, lobby, vestibule, hall. Usage: The butler had me wait in the anteroom while …

stratum

noun: A layer of something, as rock, tissue, people at an economic level, etc.

hookah

Definition: (noun) An oriental tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled by passing through water. Synonyms: …

ala

noun: A wing or a winglike part, such as a bone, a petal of a flower, a small room opening into a larger room, a …

immerse

Definition: (verb) Devote (oneself) fully to. Synonyms: engross, engulf, steep, soak up, absorb, plunge. Usage: I swear I will immerse myself in my studies and …

stigma

noun: 1. A mark of shame or infamy. 2. A birthmark or scar. 3. An identifying mark of a disease. 4. The tip of the …

multitudinous

Definition: (adjective) Too numerous to be counted. Synonyms: innumerable, myriad, numberless, uncounted, unnumbered, countless, infinite. Usage: Here, along the lines of multitudinous houses, up one …

dewy-eyed

Definition: (adjective) Naive, innocent, or trusting, especially in a romantic or childlike way. Synonyms: childlike, simple. Usage: I knew that if I ever told her …

unlooked-for

Definition: (adjective) Not anticipated. Synonyms: out of the blue, unforeseen. Usage: These unlooked-for blows have shaken me terribly, and these strange calamities have quite broken …

shoehorn

verb tr.: To force something into an insufficient or unsuitable space. noun: A tool to help slide one’s heel into a shoe.

sufferable

Definition: (adjective) Capable of being borne though unpleasant. Synonyms: bearable, endurable, supportable. Usage: He winced as he felt the bump on his head, but he …

vamp

noun: 1. The front upper part of a shoe. 2. Something patched up or improvised. 3. A short, introductory musical passage, usually improvised, repeated several …

ameliorate

Definition: (verb) To make better. Synonyms: improve, amend. Usage: I sought to improve her manners and ameliorate her general tone. Discuss

old shoe

noun: Something or someone comfortably familiar, especially in an unpretentious manner.