• LAVA Moderator: Mysterier

Words of the Day

and off topic (and for the pure enjoyment of the english language): if ever you have a chance to use a word with the letter Z in it, by all means, embrace it. hardly ever do we use Z words, its nice to appreciate the letter when its used in your vocabulary.

okay thats all /end crazy brian ;)

I prefer the non-Americanised spellings =D.



bacchanalian
[ˌbækəˈneɪlɪən]
adj
1. characterized by or involving drunken revelry
2. (Myth & Legend / Classical Myth & Legend) (often capital) of or relating to the orgiastic rites associated with Bacchus


vapid
[ˈvæpɪd]
adj.
1. Lacking liveliness, animation, or interest; dull: vapid conversation.
2. Lacking taste, zest, or flavor; flat: vapid beer.



defenestrate

tr.v. de·fen·es·trat·ed, de·fen·es·trat·ing, de·fen·es·trates
To throw out of a window.
 
SO ===> Words

:D

good concept. hard to learn so many words per day though, for me at least.
 
OMG "vapid" and "defenestrate" are two of my favorite words :D

Threatening to defenestrate someone is always amusing... =D
 
This is great thread! I love etymology and words. I'm big reader, so one of my favorite things about the internet is that I can access pronunciation. When you grow up in a house in which reading is frowned upon (damn book-larnin' never got no one nowhere!), and get all your words from books you don't have the faintest clue how to pronounce certain words, ie. "bogan."

How the hell do you guys pronounce that word? I've only heard it pronounced by that loathsome blonde racist bitch. You know, that chk-chk-BOOM! whore.

ps. Sorry about any spelling errors. Keyboard's fucked up. No space bar and no first letter of the alphabet. Copy paste. Copy paste.

pss. Jesus motherfucking christ, that was a lot of work. (No exclamation marks or double-u's either.) Fuck.
 
Please keep this in SO! It gets far more attention that way (with all due respect to Words forum). I think Words has enough, err, words as-is.

Some words I like (Copypasta from dictionary.com):

Listless [list-lis]

–adjective
having or showing little or no interest in anything; languid; spiritless; indifferent: a listless mood; a listless handshake.

Origin:
1400–50; late ME lystles

---

And speaking of... another favourite:

Languid [lang-gwid]

–adjective
1.
lacking in vigor or vitality; slack or slow: a languid manner.
2.
lacking in spirit or interest; listless; indifferent.
3.
drooping or flagging from weakness or fatigue; faint.

Origin:
1590–1600; < L languidus faint.

----

It IS rather silly that this site uses "languid" to define listless, and uses "listless" to define languid, when the difference between the two becomes very discernible when taken in context...

I won't be using this site again.
 
convoluted - complicated; intricately involved
"i know this process is very convoluted, but its the only way to work around our business system."

A beautiful and very useful word. If you search under my username I will be surprised if you don't find that I have used it more than once posting here...
 
defenestrate

tr.v. de·fen·es·trat·ed, de·fen·es·trat·ing, de·fen·es·trates
To throw out of a window.
damn you, that was the first word i thought of!


perspicacious

– adjective

1. having keen mental perception and understanding; discerning: to exhibit perspicacious judgment.

2. Archaic. having keen vision.

- Synonyms

perceptive, acute, shrewd, penetrating.
 
tautological

au·tol·o·gy Show Spelled[taw-tol-uh-jee]
–noun,plural-gies.

  1. needless repetition of an idea, esp. in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness, as in “widow woman.”
  2. an instance of such repetition.
  3. Logic.
    • a compound propositional form all of whose instances are true, as “A or not A.”
    • an instance of such a form, as “This candidate will win or will not win.”


because CB made me look it up.
 
I love words! Some of my favourites from recent use-

lo·qua·cious [loh-kwey-shuhs] (also verbose meaning essentially the same)
–adjective
1.talking or tending to talk much or freely; talkative; chattering; babbling; garrulous: a loquacious dinner guest.
2.characterized by excessive talk; wordy: easily the most loquacious play of the season.

pneu·mo·no·ul·tra·mi·cro·scop·ic·sil·i·co·vol·ca·no·co·ni·o·sis 
–noun
an obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language


ex·hume   [ig-zoom, -zyoom, eks-hyoom]
-verb (used with object),-humed, -hum·ing.
1.to dig (something buried, esp. a dead body) out of the earth; disinter.
2.to revive or restore after neglect or a period of forgetting; bring to light: to exhume a literary reputation; to exhume old letters.


vex·a·tious   [vek-sey-shuhs]
–adjective
1.causing vexation; troublesome; annoying: a vexatious situation.
2.Law. (of legal actions) instituted without sufficient grounds and serving only to cause annoyance to the defendant.
3.disorderly; confused; troubled.

e·gre·gious [ih-gree-juhs, -jee-uhs]
–adjective
1.extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant: an egregious mistake; an egregious liar.
2.Archaic. distinguished or eminent.
 
hoary
/ˈhɔri, ˈhoʊri/ Show Spelled[hawr-ee, hohr-ee]
–adjective,hoar·i·er, hoar·i·est.
1. gray or white with age: an old dog with a hoary muzzle.
2. ancient or venerable: hoary myths.
3. tedious from familiarity; stale
 
vex·a·tious   [vek-sey-shuhs]
–adjective
1.causing vexation; troublesome; annoying: a vexatious situation.
2.Law. (of legal actions) instituted without sufficient grounds and serving only to cause annoyance to the defendant.
3.disorderly; confused; troubled.
one of my favourites!

the UK Highway Code states that it's acceptable to undertake someone on the inside lane on the highway, as long as it's not done vexatiously. i fucking love that. :D

(therefore that gives me carte blanche to do so in a non-vexatious manner, of course. ;))
 
pneu·mo·no·ul·tra·mi·cro·scop·ic·sil·i·co·vol·ca·no·co·ni·o·sis 
–noun
an obscure term ostensibly referring to a lung disease caused by silica dust, sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language

As far as I am aware, the longest word in the English language, NOT including medical terminology, is:

antidisestablishmentarianism
–noun
opposition to the withdrawal of state support or recognition from an established church (especially the Anglican Church in 19th-century England).
 
The only problem with antidisestablishmentarianism is that you can add prefixes like non- that actually make it a longer word!

There are far longer words that derive from a chemical context as well as medical context, but you are I believe correct in that antidisestablishmentarianism is the longest non-technical (kind of... I really dunno where I'm going with this...) word...

For today:


rig·ma·role
[rig-muh-rohl]
–noun
1. an elaborate or complicated procedure: to go through the rigmarole of a formal dinner.
2. confused, incoherent, foolish, or meaningless talk.


as·sid·u·ous [uh-sij-oo-uhs]
–adjective
1. constant; unremitting: assiduous reading.
2. constant in application or effort; working diligently at a task; persevering; industrious; attentive: an assiduous student.


phrontistery

-noun
an establishment for study and learning (sometimes including modern universities)

an·tith·e·sis
   /ænˈtɪθəsɪs/ [an-tith-uh-sis]
-noun
1.
opposition; contrast: the antithesis of right and wrong.
2.
the direct opposite (usually fol. by of or to): Her behavior was the very antithesis of cowardly.
3.
Rhetoric.
a.
the placing of a sentence or one of its parts against another to which it is opposed to form a balanced contrast of ideas, as in “Give me liberty or give me death.”
b.
the second sentence or part thus set in opposition, as “or give me death.”
 
Last edited:
apotheosis (n.): The process of elevation to divine status, roughly syn. with deification; typically used ironically these days. Also means the "perfect example".

sangfroid (n.): Lit. from the French for "cold blood"; supreme calm under stressful conditions.

^
Note, this is pronounced sahn-frwa, not sang-froyd. I'm saying that because I've made that mistake before. ;)
 
I lie, I'll use dictionary.com once again because I'm too lazy :p

Sere
O.E. sear "dried up, withered," from P.Gmc. *sauzas (cf. M.L.G. sor, Du. zoor), from PIE base *saus- (cf. Skt. susyati "dries, withers;" O.Pers. uka- "dry" (adj.), "land" (n.); Avestan huka- "dry;" L. sudus "dry"). A good word now relegated to bad poetry. Related to sear. Sere month was an old name for "August."

---

Littoral
1656, from L. littoralis "of or belonging to the seashore," from litus (gen. litoris) "seashore" (cf. Lido), of unknown origin. The noun is first recorded 1828, from It. littorale, originally an adj., from L. littoralis.
 
AHHHHH thread necromancy. I sometimes break out the ol' syzygy...

Definition of SYZYGY
: the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system
 
I'd add onomatopoeia but it doesn't sound right... :D
1. the formation of words whose sound is imitative of the sound of the noise or action designated, such as hiss, buzz, and bang
2. the use of such words for poetic or rhetorical effect
 
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