Category: Today’s Word

Today’s Word

susurrant

adjective: Whispering or rustling.

argus-eyed

Definition: (adjective) Carefully observant or attentive; on the lookout for possible danger. Synonyms: open-eyed, vigilant, wakeful. Usage: I prefer to be good because it is …

winsome

adjective: Pleasing or charming, especially in a childlike or innocent manner.

singsong

Definition: (adjective) Uttered in a monotonous cadence or rhythm as in chanting. Synonyms: chantlike, intoned. Usage: The art of his reading was supposed to lie …

renunciatory

adjective: Relating to giving up, renouncing, or rejecting.

faint-hearted

Definition: (adjective) Lacking conviction or boldness or courage. Synonyms: timid. Usage: Crupp…became within a few days so faint-hearted, that rather than encounter my aunt upon …

caries

Definition: (noun) Soft decayed area in a tooth; progressive decay can lead to the death of a tooth. Synonyms: tooth decay, cavity. Usage: Failure to …

ill-fated

Definition: (adjective) Marked by or promising bad fortune. Synonyms: ill-omened, ill-starred, unlucky, doomed. Usage: Freed after months of captivity, the aid workers are relieved to …

quodlibetary

adjective: Relating to a discussion or debate involving subtle or hypothetical points. noun: 1. One who takes part in such a discussion. 2. One who …

chirpy

Definition: (adjective) Characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness. Synonyms: perky, buoyant. Usage: You're very chirpy today—have you won the lottery or something? Discuss

mix-up

Definition: (noun) A mistake that results from taking one thing to be another. Synonyms: confusion. Usage: Due to a mix-up over travel arrangements, I missed …

squashy

Definition: (adjective) (Of soil) soft and watery. Synonyms: boggy, marshy, miry, mucky, muddy, quaggy, sloughy, soggy, swampy, waterlogged, sloppy. Usage: The grass began to get …

questionary

noun: 1. A list of questions: a questionnaire. 2. One who asks questions. adjective: 1. Inquisitive. 2. Having or relating to questions.

quondam

Definition: (adjective) Belonging to some prior time. Synonyms: erstwhile, one-time, sometime, former, old. Usage: The employers' associations, that had helped the captains of industry to …

elucidatory

adjective: Serving to clarify or explain.

greave

Definition: (noun) Armor plate that protects legs below the knee. Synonyms: jambeau. Usage: They then stripped him of a jacket that he wore over his …

heinous

Definition: (adjective) Grossly wicked or reprehensible; abominable. Synonyms: flagitious. Usage: Abusing an animal is a heinous act. Discuss

ingest

Definition: (verb) To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption. Synonyms: consume, have, take in. Usage: Chocolate can be lethal to …

piepowder

noun: A traveler, especially a traveling merchant.

unicity

noun: The quality of being the only one of its kind: uniqueness or oneness.

moonshine

Definition: (noun) Whiskey illegally distilled from a corn mash. Synonyms: bootleg, corn liquor. Usage: I drank too much moonshine last night, and now I have …

lustration

noun: 1. An act of purification by means of rituals. 2. The purging of those associated with crimes committed under an earlier regime.

malign

Definition: (verb) Speak unfavorably about. Synonyms: badmouth, drag through the mud, traduce. Usage: He is always maligning his wife when she is not around, telling …

monopolylogue

noun: A performance in which one person plays multiple characters, typically all of them.

windlass

noun: A device for lifting or hauling, using a rope or cable wound around a cylinder. verb tr.: To extract, lift, or bring forth with …

lenity

Definition: (noun) Mercifulness as a consequence of being lenient or tolerant. Synonyms: lenience, mildness. Usage: I promise to show all the lenity in my power; …

somber

Definition: (adjective) Grave or even gloomy in character. Synonyms: melancholy. Usage: The Colonel, with little sense of humor and of the fitness of things, related …

stoicism

Definition: (noun) An indifference to pleasure or pain. Synonyms: stolidness. Usage: With the stoicism of the brutes who had raised him he endured his suffering …

pecksniff

noun: A hypocritical person who pretends to have high moral principles.

wordless

Definition: (adjective) Expressed without speech. Synonyms: mute, unspoken, tongueless. Usage: Never a hearty breakfaster, he had found himself under the influence of her wordless disapproval …

repletion

Definition: (noun) The state of being satisfactorily full and unable to take on more. Synonyms: satiation, satiety. Usage: Then Tarzan and Sheeta feasted to repletion. …

Turveydrop

noun: One who poses as a model of deportment: the way in which one conducts oneself.

gentility

Definition: (noun) Elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression. Synonyms: breeding, genteelness. Usage: She was ladylike, too, after the manner of the feminine …

Podsnap

noun: A smug, self-satisfied person.

top-notch

Definition: (adjective) Of the highest quality. Synonyms: A-one, ace, crack, first-rate, super, tiptop, tops. Usage: Everyone wants a top-notch specialist when it comes to laser …

cold-blooded

Definition: (adjective) Without compunction or human feeling. Synonyms: inhuman, insensate, cold. Usage: These callous, cold-blooded killers butchered six people. Discuss