Thursday Thirteen 251: Spelling Bee/Time Machine

This week is the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC. There were 278 spellers who qualified this year, including the youngest speller ever to appear at the event at age 6 (she went out in round two on Wednesday). The preliminaries were held Wednesday morning, with semifinals being held Thursday morning on ESPN2, and finals Thursday night on ESPN. Check your local listings for times if interested in watching the event.

Since I am currently reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, I thought I would get you in the spelling bee mood with a few vocabulary words from this classic science fiction novel. These are taken from the first half of the book.

precipitous [pri-sip-i-tuhs] adjective

extremely or impassably steep: precipitous mountain trails.

precocious [pri-koh-shuhs] adjective

unusually advanced or mature in development, especially mental development: a precocious child.

expound [ik-spound] verb (used with object)

1. to set forth or state in detail: to expound theories.

2. to explain; interpret.

recondite [rek-uhn-dahyt, ri-kon-dahyt] adjective

1. dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter: a recondite treatise.

2. beyond ordinary knowledge or understanding; esoteric: recondite principles.

3. little known; obscure: a recondite fact.

connubial [kuh-noo-bee-uhl, -nyoo-] adjective

of marriage or wedlock; matrimonial; conjugal: connubial love.

etiolate [ee-tee-uh-leyt] etiolated, etiolating. verb (used with object)

1. to cause (a plant) to whiten or grow pale by excluding light: to etiolate celery.

2. to cause to become weakened or sickly; drain of color or vigor.

halitus [hal-i-tuhs] noun, plural: halituses. 

breath; exhalation; vapor.

monomania [mon-uh-mey-nee-uh, -meyn-yuh] noun

1. (no longer in technical use) a psychosis characterized by thoughts confined to one idea or group of ideas.

2. an inordinate or obsessive zeal for or interest in a single thing, idea, subject, or the like.

cicerone [sis-uh-roh-nee, chich-uh-; It. chee-che-raw-ne] noun, plural: cicerones

a person who conducts sightseers; guide.

stolid [stol-id] adjective

not easily stirred or moved mentally; unemotional; impassive.

stanch [stawnch, stanch, stahnch] verb (used with object)

1. to stop the flow of (a liquid, especially blood).

2. to stop the flow of blood or other liquid from (a wound, leak, etc.).

3. Archaic. to check, allay, or extinguish.

putrefaction [pyoo-truh-fak-shuhn] noun  

1. the act or process of putrefying; the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter by bacteria and fungi that results in obnoxiously odorous products; rotting.

2. the state of being putrefied; decay.

frugivorous [frü-jiv-ə-rəs] adjective

feeding on fruit; a frugivorous people. 

Read a Teaser Tuesday excerpt HERE.

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