Category: Today’s Word

Today’s Word

wastrel

Definition: (noun) One who wastes, especially one who wastes money; an idler or a loafer. Synonyms: prodigal, profligate. Usage: Despite his parents' best efforts to …

trepidation

Definition: (noun) A state of alarm or dread. Synonyms: apprehension. Usage: With trepidation, the children approached the haunted house. Discuss

excoriate

Definition: (verb) To censure strongly. Synonyms: abrade, condemn, denounce. Usage: The newspaper printed an editorial that excoriated the administration for its inaction. Discuss

grovel

Definition: (verb) To lie or creep in a prostrate position, as in subservience or humility. Synonyms: cower, cringe, fawn. Usage: The prisoners groveled before the …

pompous

Definition: (adjective) Characterized by excessive self-esteem or exaggerated dignity. Synonyms: overblown, grandiloquent, portentous. Usage: He read the proclamation aloud in a pompous voice, although nobody …

meridian

noun: 1. A line connecting the North Pole to the South Pole or a circle passing through the two poles. 2. Midday. 3. The highest …

gallimaufry

Definition: (noun) A jumble; a hodgepodge. Synonyms: patchwork, melange, ragbag. Usage: Inside the chest, he found a gaudy gallimaufry of old dresses, feathers, and sequins. …

tryst

Definition: (noun) An agreement, as between lovers, to meet at a certain time and place. Synonyms: assignation, rendezvous. Usage: They tried to keep their weekly …

yealing

noun: Someone who is the same age as oneself.

prolix

Definition: (adjective) Tediously prolonged; tending to speak or write at excessive length. Synonyms: voluble, wordy. Usage: She was engaged in editing a prolix manuscript, trying …

hermitage

Definition: (noun) The habitation of a hermit or group of hermits. Synonyms: abbey, monastery, retreat. Usage: He spent two years in his hermitage near the …

circumlocution

Definition: (noun) The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language. Synonyms: ambage, periphrasis, evasion. Usage: He is long-winded and prone to circumlocution in his public …

lobe

Definition: (noun) A rounded projection, especially an anatomical part. Synonyms: projection. Usage: She fastened her earrings, three brilliant pendants that glistened most beautifully, through the …

paywall

noun: A system of restricting access to online content or services, making them accessible only upon payment.

acquihire

noun: The purchase of a company for its talent rather than its products or services. verb tr.: To buy a company in this manner.

phalanx

Definition: (noun) A compact or close-knit body of people. Synonyms: crowd, unit. Usage: The party members disagreed on many topics, but when it came to …

listicle

noun: An article or other piece of writing structured in the form of a list.

parochial

Definition: (adjective) Narrowly restricted in scope or outlook. Synonyms: insular. Usage: After moving to a big city, she had little patience for what she considered …

omnishambles

noun: A situation that is a complete mess, especially when resulting from mismanagement.

vertiginous

Definition: (adjective) Having or causing a whirling sensation. Synonyms: whirling, dizzy. Usage: At the end of the trail, they still faced a vertiginous climb up …

pendent

Definition: (adjective) Hanging down; projecting. Synonyms: dangling, overhanging, suspended. Usage: An examination of the cave revealed nothing but hundreds of sleeping bats pendent from the …

clickbait

noun: A sensationalized, often misleading, headline that is designed to entice users to click on a hyperlink.

inspissate

Definition: (verb) To undergo thickening or cause to thicken, as by boiling or evaporation. Synonyms: condense, thicken. Usage: The recipe then instructed the cook to …

pleonastic

Definition: (adjective) Characterized by the repetition of the same sense in different words. Synonyms: redundant, tautological. Usage: "A true fact" and "a free gift" are …

diaphanous

Definition: (adjective) Of such fine texture as to be transparent or translucent. Synonyms: filmy, gauzy, sheer, vaporous. Usage: She wore a hat with a diaphanous …

aggiornamento

noun: A process of modernization or bringing up to date.

seminal

Definition: (adjective) Highly influential in an original way; constituting or providing a basis for further development. Synonyms: germinal, originative. Usage: He prepared a speech describing …

marcescence

noun: The retention of dead leaves, etc., as opposed to shedding.

cudgel

Definition: (noun) A short heavy stick. Synonyms: bastinado, club. Usage: She woke up with her head hurting as though it had been hit with a …

yestereve

noun: Yesterday evening. adverb: During yesterday evening.

ostentatious

Definition: (adjective) Intended to attract notice and impress others. Synonyms: pretentious, showy. Usage: His ostentatious displays of wealth did nothing to impress his neighbors, who …

epistemology

noun: The study of knowledge, especially its nature, origin, limits, validity, etc.

bathos

Definition: (noun) Insincere or grossly sentimental pathos. Synonyms: mawkishness. Usage: The opera's conclusion was emotional to the point of bathos, with the soprano dying heroically …

typomania

noun: 1. An obsession with typography. 2. An obsession with typology or symbolism. 3. An obsession with getting published.

dilettante

Definition: (noun) A dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge. Synonyms: sciolist. Usage: He claimed to be serious about his paintings, but he …

manuscribe

verb tr.: 1. To write by hand. 2. To autograph.

hieratic

Definition: (adjective) Of or associated with sacred persons or offices. Synonyms: priestly, sacerdotal. Usage: The laws did not apply to the hieratic class, whose members …