Word of the Day Archive
January 2008
- Zeitgeist: the spirit of the time.
- faineant: doing nothing; idle; also, a do-nothing.
- arcanum: a secret; a mystery.
- obdurate: hardened in feelings or in wrongdoing; unyielding.
- lacuna: a blank space; a missing part.
- friable: easily crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder.
- scrabble: to scrape or scratch with the hands or feet.
- mimetic: imitative.
- pertinacious: holding obstinately to a belief, purpose or design; also, stubbornly persistent.
- remonstrate: to present and urge reasons in opposition.
- imprimatur: approval or sanction.
- raillery: good-humored banter or teasing repartee.
- supplicate: to make a humble and earnest petition.
- primogeniture: the state of being the firstborn; also, an exclusive right of inheritance that belongs to the eldest son.
- inculcate: to teach and impress by frequent repetition or instruction.
- nonagenarian: someone whose age is in the nineties.
- upbraid: to scold or criticize harshly.
- stoic: indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; also, one who is stoic.
- quietus: final acquittance, as from debt; also, rest; death.
- adventitious: added extrinsically; not essentially inherent.
- callow: immature.
- permeate: to spread or diffuse through.
- effusive: excessively demonstrative.
- nolens volens: whether unwilling or willing.
- disheveled: in loose disorder; disarranged.
- caterwaul: to make a harsh cry or screech.
- indelible: incapable of being removed or erased.
- neophyte: a novice.
- sylvan: pertaining to woods or forests.
- canorous: melodious; musical.
- irascible: easily provoked to anger.
