deponent
Definition: (noun) A person who testifies or gives a deposition. Synonyms: testifier. Usage: In the taking of legal oaths, for instance, deponents seem to enjoy …
Category: Today’s Word
Today’s Word
dovecote
Definition: (noun) A compartmental structure, often raised on a pole, for housing domesticated pigeons. Synonyms: columbary. Usage: They were not allowed to keep doves themselves, …
interlard
verb tr.: To mix, insert, or intersperse, especially with something extraneous.
pyrexia
Definition: (noun) Fever. Synonyms: febricity, febrility, feverishness. Usage: His pyrexia made the doctors nervous, and they immersed him in a bath of ice water to …
applesauce
noun: Nonsense; lies.
cupidity
Definition: (noun) Excessive desire, especially for wealth. Synonyms: covetousness, avarice. Usage: Their very cupidity was to prove the means of their undoing, in the matter …
grubstake
noun: 1. Funds supplied for launching an enterprise in return for a share of the profits. 2. Money or other assistance provided to sustain someone …
bedeck
Definition: (verb) To adorn or ornament in a showy fashion. Synonyms: bedight, deck. Usage: It was at the dawn of day in the merry Maytime, …
cake eater
noun: 1. A self-indulgent person who leads a life of ease and pleasure. 2. A ladies’ man.
nonstarter
Definition: (noun) An idea, proposal, or candidate with no chance of being accepted or successful. Synonyms: failure, loser. Usage: Many lawmakers are pronouncing the budget …
appanage
noun: 1. An allowance given for the maintenance of a member of a royal family. 2. A perk associated with a job or a position.
wharfage
Definition: (noun) A platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats. Synonyms: pier, dock. …
dungaree
Definition: (noun) A sturdy, often blue denim fabric. Synonyms: jean, denim. Usage: He wore an open jacket, with a splotch of tar on the sleeve, …
scintilla
Definition: (noun) A minute amount; an iota or trace. Synonyms: shred, smidge, smidgeon, tittle, whit. Usage: When the party was over, not a scintilla of …
gnathion
noun: The lowest part of the chin.
hegira
Definition: (noun) A flight to escape danger. Synonyms: exodus. Usage: The oppressed villagers secretly planned a hegira to escape the czar's army. Discuss
uvula
noun: The small, fleshy mass that hangs in the back of the mouth, above the throat.
arboreal
Definition: (adjective) Relating to or resembling a tree. Synonyms: arborical, arborous. Usage: Clayton had erected a frail partition of boughs to divide their arboreal shelter …
canthus
noun: Either of the two corners of the eye, specifically where the upper and lower eyelids meet, known as the inner and outer canthus.
lackey
Definition: (noun) A servile follower. Synonyms: toady, crawler, sycophant. Usage: The archdeacon had in Quasimodo the most submissive slave, the most docile lackey, the most …
atelier
Definition: (noun) A studio especially for an artist or designer. Synonyms: artist's workroom. Usage: Joe and Delia met in an atelier where a number of …
pinna
noun: 1. The outer ear. Also known as auricle. 2. A projecting body part such as a wing, feather, or fin. 3. A leaflet or …
commissariat
Definition: (noun) A stock or supply of foods. Synonyms: provisions, viands, victuals, provender. Usage: During the war with Spain he was employed in the commissariat …
hallux
noun: The big toe. More generally, the innermost digit on the hind foot of animals.
vesicle
Definition: (noun) A small sac or cyst, especially one containing fluid. Synonyms: cyst. Usage: All living things have much in common, in their chemical composition, …
gazebo
Definition: (noun) A freestanding, roofed, usually open-sided structure providing a shady resting place. Synonyms: summerhouse. Usage: There was a gazebo about a quarter-mile away from …
fiat
Definition: (noun) A legally binding command or decision entered on the court record (as if issued by a court or judge). Synonyms: decree, edict, rescript, …
catkin
Definition: (noun) A usually dense, cylindrical, often drooping cluster of unisexual apetalous flowers found in willows, birches, and oaks. Synonyms: ament. Usage: Walking some forty …
nipcheese
noun: 1. A miser. 2. A ship’s purser (an official in charge of money matters).
subspecies
Definition: (noun) A taxonomic group that is a division of a species; usually arises as a consequence of geographical isolation within a species. Synonyms: race. …
lackwit
noun: One who lacks intelligence. adjective: Lacking intelligence.
jalopy
Definition: (noun) An old, dilapidated motor vehicle, especially an automobile. Synonyms: heap, bus. Usage: The jalopy didn't even make it to the junkyard, breaking into …
tractable
Definition: (adjective) Easily managed or controlled; governable. Synonyms: manipulable. Usage: I felt him become suddenly tractable again like an animal, like a good-tempered horse when …
presentiment
Definition: (noun) A sense that something is about to occur; a premonition. Synonyms: boding, foreboding, premonition. Usage: We've gone and lost your father's flat, Diana, …
tower of Babel
noun: 1. A scene of noise or confusion. 2. An ambitious or impractical plan.
compunction
Definition: (noun) A strong uneasiness caused by a sense of guilt. Synonyms: remorse, self-reproach. Usage: This child had taken and lost her treasured amethyst brooch …
Rechabite
noun: 1. One who abstains from intoxicating drinks. 2. One who lives in tents.
quietude
Definition: (noun) A state of peace and quiet. Synonyms: tranquility, quietness. Usage: Who can tell how scenes of peace and quietude sink into the minds …
Sodom
noun: A place considered to be full of wickedness and sin.
lentigo
Definition: (noun) A small, flat, pigmented spot on the skin. Synonyms: freckle. Usage: The dermatologist advised the patient to keep an eye on the large …