Thursday Thirteen 167: Vocabulary

Reading an Aaron Elkins novel recently, it occurred to me that I have not done a vocabulary post since the National Spelling Bee back in May. Elkins' books are an excellent means of exercising one's vocab skills, and that's without taking all of the scientific terms into account . Here are a few words encountered in Murder in the Queen's Armes.


1. animadversion [an-uh-mad-vur-zhuhn, -shuhn] noun
a. a critical and usually censorious remark—often used with on.
b. adverse criticism
"The secret letter, of which the Times has managed to obtain a copy, protests Professor Marcus's 'animadversions upon the Society in particular and English archaeology in general.'" (pg 37)

2. bellicose [bel-i-kohs] adjective
favoring or inclined to start quarrels or wars
synonym: belligerent
"All I’m trying to suggest is that the way you’re going about things has gotten the Horizon Foundation and the Wessex Antiquarian Society on your back, and you might want to be just a little less bellicose." (pg 41)

3. pusillanimous [pyoo-suh-lan-uh-muhs] adjective
lacking courage and resolution: marked by contemptible timidity
"Was he so caught up in his strange theory that he didn’t know a yes-man when he saw one—even one as pusillanimous as Frawley?" (pg 41)

4. debacle [dey-bah-kuhl] noun
a: a great disaster
b: a complete collapse or failure: fiasco
"And for still another, Gideon thought, maybe I can show you you're heading for a hell of a debacle, and maybe you'll listen." (pg 42)

5. untenable [uhn-ten-uh-buhl] adjective
a. not able to be defended
"For whatever Nate had unearthed—and if he said it was sensational, it probably was—it could hardly confirm a theory that was untenable to begin with." (pg 42)

6. faience [fahy-ahns, Fr. fa-yahns] noun
earthenware decorated with opaque colored glazes
"Where did those incised geomettric pottery motifs come from? The faience beads?" (pg 40)

7. lugubriously [loo-goo-bree-uhs-lee, -gyoo-] adverb
mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner
"The man sighed lugubriously and stood up." (pg 25)

8. propitious [pruh-pish-uhs] adjective
a. presenting favorable conditions; favorable
b. indicative of favor; auspicious
c. favorably inclined; disposed to bestow favors or forgive
"My informant told me that ten o'clock Thursday morning would be a propitious time to call." (pg 155)

9. dissipation [dis-uh-pey-shuhn] noun
a. the act of dissipating.
b. the state of being dissipated; dispersion; disintegration.
c. a wasting by misuse: the dissipation of a fortune.
d. mental distraction; amusement; diversion.
e. dissolute way of living, esp. excessive drinking of liquor; intemperance.

10. indolent [in-dl-uhnt] adjective
having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful: an indolent person.
"He was about thirty-five, only a few years younger than Nate and Gideon, with longish, curling brown hair, a casual, loose-jointed gait, and an air about him of indolent, somewhat studied dissipation." (pg 44)

11. orotund [awr-uh-tuhnd, ohr-] adjective
a. (of the voice or speech) characterized by strength, fullness, richness, and clearness.
b. (of a style of speaking) pompous or bombastic.
"Did you take the Poundbury calvarium from the Dorchester Museum," he said, sounding to himself very much like Inspector Bagshawe at his most orotund."

12. temporize [tem-puh-rahyz] verb
a. to be indecisive or evasive to gain time or delay acting.
b. to comply with the time or occasion; yield temporarily or ostensibly to prevailing opinion or circumstances.
c. to treat or parley so as to gain time (usually fol. by with).
d. to come to terms (usually fol. by with).
e. to effect a compromise (usually fol. by between).
"You're temporizing. You're trying to keep me out of there because you think I'm mad enough to do something dumb." (pg 219)

13. aggrandize [uh-gran-dahyz, ag-ruhn-dahyz] verb

(used with object) -dized, -diz·ing.
a. to widen in scope; increase in size or intensity; enlarge; extend.
b. to make great or greater in power, wealth, rank, or honor.
c. to make (something) appear greater.
"He perpetrated theft and fraud and God knows what else, all to aggrandize himself and support his vile theory." (pg 154)

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