Category: Today’s Word

Today’s Word

invertebrate

Definition: (adjective) Lacking a backbone or spinal column; not vertebrate. Synonyms: spineless. Usage: The sixth grade class groaned in unison as the students learned that …

floorwalker

Definition: (noun) An employee of a department store who supervises sales personnel and assists customers. Synonyms: shopwalker. Usage: Although Bill thoroughly enjoyed the raise associated …

impermanent

Definition: (adjective) Not lasting or durable; not permanent. Synonyms: temporary. Usage: After weeks of carefully constructing the beautiful sand mandala, the Tibetan monks quietly swept …

amiable

adjective: Pleasant; friendly.

cathexis

Definition: (noun) Concentration of emotional energy on an object or idea. Synonyms: charge. Usage: Freud thought of cathexis as a psychic analog of an electrical …

degage

Definition: (adjective) Showing lack of emotional involvement. Synonyms: detached, uninvolved. Usage: Mrs. Smith was not easily impressed by excuses, and she adopted a degage pose …

craven

Definition: (adjective) Characterized by abject fear; cowardly. Synonyms: recreant. Usage: The cowardly shopkeeper angered the revolutionaries with his craven proposal to raise the white flag …

balsam

1. Something that soothes or heals. 2. An aromatic resinous substance from certain trees and plants. 3. A preparation, for example an ointment, made with …

apportionment

Definition: (noun) The act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan. Synonyms: parceling, assignation, allocation, allotment. Usage: The apportionment of seats …

pustulate

Definition: (adjective) Blemished by imperfections of the skin. Synonyms: acned, pimpled. Usage: She tormented her brother about his pustulate complexion until she herself developed a …

drollery

Definition: (noun) A quaint and amusing jest. Synonyms: waggery. Usage: We filed into the parlor for some entertainment from Uncle Jones, who was known for …

hyaline

adjective: Like glass: transparent or translucent. noun: A substance that is transparent or translucent.

conniption

Definition: (noun) A fit of violent emotion, such as anger or panic. Synonyms: fit, tantrum, scene. Usage: When he discovered that his soup was only …

salvific

adjective: Having the power to save or redeem.

fulsome

Definition: (adjective) Unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech. Synonyms: unctuous, buttery, oleaginous, smarmy, oily. Usage: His introduction contained such fulsome flattery …

coterminous

adjective: 1. Having the same or coincident boundaries. 2. Meeting at the ends. 3. Contained within the same boundaries. 4. Having the same scope, meaning, …

cudbear

Definition: (noun) A purplish-red dye derived from certain lichens. Synonyms: archil, orchil. Usage: The monks secured a small sample of cudbear to see if it …

hellion

Definition: (noun) A mischievous, troublesome, or unruly person. Synonyms: devil, heller. Usage: He chased the young hellions out of his yard, but the boys had …

perdition

Definition: (noun) The abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment. Synonyms: Hell, infernal region, nether region, Inferno. Usage: She …

pinafore

Definition: (noun) A sleeveless garment similar to an apron, worn especially by small girls as a dress or an overdress. Synonyms: jumper, pinny. Usage: Dolly …

penury

Definition: (noun) Extreme want or poverty; destitution. Synonyms: indigence, pauperism, beggary, need. Usage: Fyne did not know what it might mean to be suddenly reduced …

dumbwaiter

Definition: (noun) A small elevator used to convey food (or other goods) from one floor of a building to another. Synonyms: food elevator. Usage: The …

dandiprat

noun: 1. An inconsequential person. 2. A person of small stature. 3. A child.

gaberlunzie

noun: A wandering beggar, especially one who is licensed.

spillway

Definition: (noun) A channel for an overflow of water, as from a reservoir. Synonyms: wasteweir, spill. Usage: The workers cleared the debris from the spillway …

pejorist

noun: A person who believes that the world is getting worse.

pandemonium

Definition: (noun) A state of extreme confusion and disorder. Synonyms: bedlam, chaos, topsy-turvydom. Usage: Instantly the avenue was a pandemonium of clashing blades, cursing warriors, …

perp

noun: One who commits a crime or is accused of committing one.

marionette

Definition: (noun) A jointed puppet manipulated from above by strings or wires attached to its limbs. Synonyms: puppet. Usage: They appeared to me clear-cut and …

apodal

Definition: (adjective) Having no limbs, feet, or footlike appendages. Synonyms: apodous. Usage: Eels are apodal and well adapted for wriggling in the mud, through the …

parapraxis

Definition: (noun) A minor error, such as a slip of the tongue, thought to reveal a repressed motive. Synonyms: slip-up, miscue, slip. Usage: She thought …

Aunt Sally

noun: 1. An object of criticism 2. Someone of something set up as an easy target for criticism in order to deflect it from others.

juggernaut

Definition: (noun) An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path. Synonyms: steamroller. Usage: It touched the ground just as …

flash Harry

noun: A man who dresses and behaves in a vulgar, showy, or pretentious manner.

discernible

Definition: (adjective) Capable of being seen or noticed. Synonyms: evident, observable. Usage: Monkeys scampered about the deserted ruins, and gaily plumaged birds flitted in and …

nervous Nelly

noun: One who is unusually nervous, timid, or fearful.