Wordless Wednesday 252: Too Many Vowels

(Scrabble Express game . . . granted I was winning, but still.
A few consonants would have been nice.)

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Wordless Wednesday

Thursday Thirteen 417: Spelling Bee

This week is the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. I confess, I had completely forgotten about the bee this year until Tuesday night. Good thing I had a day to whip something up!

This year's competition started with 285 spellers, including the first 6-year-old to ever appear in the bee, and has been whittled down to 48 competing today. Due to the previous two years ending in ties, The Bee has made changes to the final round. If it comes down to two spellers trading off words, instead of each having to spell ten words correctly, there may be twenty-five words. Also, if it appears the words are too easy, they will switch to a harder word list. The finals will air on ESPN tonight at 7CT/8ET.

The following words are drawn from the classic novel Villette, by Charlotte Bronte, which I read last November for a group read and greatly enjoyed. I have an excellent B&N classic edition on my Nook that has lovely hyperlinked footnotes. The Nook also has a function that shows you a list of words you looked up in a particular book—which proved quite useful in writing up this post. The difficulty lie in narrowing it down to only thirteen words.







01. rubicund ([roo-bi-kuhnd] adjective); ruddy
Her complexion was fresh and sanguine, not too rubicund; her eye, blue and serene.


02. catalepsy ([kat-l-ep-see] noun); a trancelike state marked by loss of voluntary motion in which the limbs remain in whatever position they are placed . . .
And in catalepsy and a dead trance, I studiously held the quick of my nature.


03. quell (kwel, trans verb); 1: to thoroughly overwhelm and reduce to submission or passivity 2: quiet, pacify
He quelled, he kept down when he could; and when he could not, he fumed like a bottled storm.


04. cicerone ([sis-uh-roh-nee] noun); 1: a guide who conducts sightseers 2: mentor; tutor
Dr. Bretton was a cicerone after my own heart; he would take me betimes, ere the galleries were filled, leave me there for two or three hours, and call for me when his own engagements were discharged.


05. actuate ([ak-choo-eyt] trans. verb); to move to action
She is not actuated by malevolence, but sheer heedless folly.


06. recondite ([rek-uh n-dahyt, ri-kon-dahyt] adjective); 1: hidden from sight: concealed 2: difficult or impossible for one of ordinary understanding or knowledge to comprehend: deep 3: of, relating to, or dealing with something little known or obscure
The rest sat on me easily; pedigree, social position, and recondite intellectual acquisition occupied about the same space and place in my interests and thoughts.


07. brusquerie ([broo s-kuh-ree] noun); abruptness of manner
Never hitherto had I felt seriously disposed to resent his brusqueries, or freeze before his fierceness; what he had said to-night, however, I considered unwarranted: my extreme disapprobation of the proceeding must be marked, however slightly.


08. chariness ([chair-ee-nis] noun); 1: the quality or state of being chary: caution 2: carefully preserved state: integrity
“Is it?” I said, with a tone and manner whose consummate chariness and frostiness I could not but applaud.


09. prodigal ([prod-i-guh l] adjective); 1: characterized by profuse or wasteful expenditure; lavish 2: recklessly spendthrift 3: yielding abundantly: luxuriant
M. Emanuel was not a man to write books; but I have heard him lavish, with careless, unconscious prodigality, such mental wealth as books seldom boast; his mind was indeed my library, and whenever it was opened to me, I entered bliss.


10. punctilious ([puhngk-til-ee-uh s] adjective); marked by or concerned about precise accordance with the details of codes or conventions
Be sure to insist on seeing Madame Walravens herself, and giving the basket into her own hands, in order that there may be no mistake, for she is rather a punctilious personage.


11. importunity ([im-pawr-too-ni-tee] noun); 1: the quality or state of being importunate 2: an importunate request or demand
Tired, I suppose with her importunity, he threw down his spade, approached, and pushed the door ajar.


12. rive ([rahyv] verb); 1a: to wrench open or tear apart or to pieces; rend 1b: to split with force or violence 2a: to divide into pieces 2b: fracture
What should I do; oh! what should I do; when all my life’s hope was thus torn by the roots out of my riven, outraged heart?


13. umbrageous ([uhm-brey-juh s] adjective); 1a: affording shade 1b: spotted with shadows 2: inclined to take offense easily
I saw three persons . . . sitting on one seat, under a low-spreading and umbrageous tree, in the grounds of the palace at Bois l’Etang.



I hope you have found a word or two here to add to your own vocabulary. Happy spelling, and happy reading!



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ETA 5/31: Oh, the irony! Despite changes made this year, it still ended in a tie -- for a third consecutive year.

Thursday Thirteen 375: Spelling Bee

I meant to post this one last week, but — alas! — time and schedule did not allow for finishing it in time. Last Wednesday and Thursday was the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. There were 285 participants in this year’s bee, with 103 of them making their first trip. Though the majority of spellers come from the U.S. and its territories, this year’s contestants also came from the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.

For a second year in a row, this year’s championship was awarded to co-winners, Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam, both eighth graders. Vanya's older sister, Kavya, was the 2009 National Spelling Bee champion.

Here are some words recently encountered in my reading, with sources cited.


01. mordant: [mawr-dnt] adjective
biting and caustic in thought, manner or style: incisive
* Worthy treated him to a brief, mordant glance. (Curses! by Aaron Elkins)

02. iniquity: [ih-nik-wi-tee] noun
1: gross injustice: wickedness 2: a wicked act or thing: sin
* It was to remain locked and off limits, a kind of shrine to iniquity. (Curses! by Aaron Elkins)

03. fecund: [fee-kuhnd, -kuh nd, fek-uhnd, -uh nd] adjective
fruitful in offspring or vegetation: prolific (syn: fertile)
* After a millennium of perfect preservation, five years of exposure to the fecund air of Yucatan had turned what had once seemed like glittering cascades of ice into nasty excrescences. (Curses! by Aaron Elkins)

04. propitiate: [pruh-pish-ee-eyt] trans, verb
to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of: appease: conciliate (syn: pacify)
* "Terrific,” Gideon said. “Maybe he’ll tell her what we have to do to propitiate the gods." (Curses! by Aaron Elkins)

05. cogent: [koh-juh nt] adjective
1: having power to compel or constrain. 2a: Appealing forcibly to the mind or reason 2b: pertinent, relevant (syn: valid)
* Abe’s theory about the curse was simple and cogent. (Curses! by Aaron Elkins)

06. ineradicable: [in-i-rad-i-kuh-buh l] adjective
incapable of being eradicated.
* Of all the surfaces on all the two hundred and six bones in the human body it is there, in that hidden and private place, that the signs of age and degeneration are most clearly and ineradicably engraved, decade by slow decade. (Curses! by Aaron Elkins)

07. equinoctial: [ee-kwuh-nok-shuh l, ek-wuh-] adjective
1: relating to an equinox or to a state or the time of equal day and night 2: relating to the region or climate on or near the equator 3: relating to the time when the sun passes an equinoctial point.
* It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. (Five Orange Pips by Arthur Conan Doyle)

08. brougham: [broo-uh m, broom, broh-uh m] noun
a light closed horse-drawn carriage with the driver outside in front.
* "Yes,” he continued, glancing out the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of beauties."
(A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle)

09. propound: [pruh-pound] trans. verb
to offer for discussion or consideration
* "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one." (The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor by Arthur Conan Doyle)

10. hamartia: [hah-mahr-tee-uh] noun
Def: (literature) the flaw in character which leads to the downfall of the protagonist in a tragedy
* But of course there is always a hamartia and yours is that oh, my God, even though you HAD FREAKING CANCER you give money to a company in exchange for the chance to acquire YET MORE CANCER.
(The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene)

11. aqueous: [ey-kwee-uh s, ak-wee-] adjective
of, related to, or resembling water
* I nodded and sank into an aqueous sleep.
(The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene)

12. spicule: [spik-yool] noun
1: a slender pointed usually hard body 2: a spike-like short-lived prominence appearing close to the chromosphere of the solar atmosphere.
* The pitted facial scars from a barrage of two-hundred-mile-an-hour ice spicules and the limp caused by the loss of three toes to frostbite had added to his allure . . . (Icy Clutches by Aaron Elkins)

13. mélange: [mey-lahnzh, -lahnj] noun
: a mixture often of incongruous elements.
* This dubious and high-flown mélange had come from a “Voyages” program on “communication science,” which his producer had talked him into doing a year or so ago. (Icy Clutches by Aaron Elkins)


Did you recognize any of these words? How many were new to you?


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Thursday Thirteen 334: Spelling Bee

It is time once again for the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, taking place this week in Washington, DC. 281 young spellers, age 8 to 15, are competing in this year's event.

Back in January, I featured The Hound of the Baskervilles for a Teaser Tuesday post. Someone commented that they had learned a new word that day, which had me planning to use words from the novel for a T13 post. Due to one thing or another — one topic or another — it kept getting put off. With the spelling bee going on this week, I feel I can no longer delay. So, here are thirteen vocabulary words, with examples taken direct from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic mystery.


1. ferrule [fer-uhl, -ool] noun
a ring or cap, usually of metal, put around the end of a post, cane, or the like, to prevent splitting.

The thick iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it.


2. asperity [uh-sper-i-tee] noun
harshness or sharpness of tone, temper, or manner; severity; acrimony:

"May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?" asked Holmes with some asperity.


3. dyspnoea or dyspnea [dɪsp-ni-ə] noun
difficulty in breathing or in catching the breath

. . . it was explained that that is a symptom which is not unusual in cases of dyspnoea and death from cardiac exhaustion.


4. toff [tof] noun, British Informal
a stylishly dressed, fashionable person, especially one who is or wants to be considered a member of the upper class.

He was dressed like a toff, and he had a black beard, cut square at the end, and a pale face.


5. baulk [bawk] noun
Architecture: a roughly squared heavy timber beam

It was a fine apartment in which we found ourselves, large, lofty, and heavily raftered with huge baulks of age-blackened oak.


6. moor [moor] noun
1. a tract of open, peaty, wasteland, often overgrown with heath, common in high latitudes and altitudes where drainage is poor; heath.
2. a tract of land preserved for game.

". . . I counsel you by way of caution to forbear from crossing the moor in those dark hours when the powers of evil are exalted."


7. tor [tawr] noun
a rocky pinnacle; a peak of a bare or rocky mountain or hill.

There, outlined as black as an ebony statue on that shining background, I saw the figure of a man upon the tor.


8. disapprobation [dis-ap-ruh-bey-shuhn] noun
disapproval; condemnation

. . . I have more than once caught a look of the strongest disapprobation in his face when Sir Henry has been paying some attention to his sister.


9. distrait [dih-strey; French dees-tre] adjective
inattentive because of distracting worries, fears, etc.; absent-minded.

He is silent and distrait. His nerves have been strangely shaken by that sound upon the moor.


10. écarté [ey-kahr-tey; British ey-kahr-tey; French ey-kar-tey] noun
a card game for two players, played with 32 cards and king high

Mortimer had stayed to dinner, and he and the baronet played écarté afterwards.


11. pannikin [pan-i-kin] noun, Chiefly British
a small pan or metal cup.

. . . I saw, as my eyes became accustomed to the checkered light, a pannikin and a half-full bottle of spirits standing in the corner.


12. morass [muh-ras] noun
1. a tract of low, soft, wet ground. 2. a marsh or bog. 3. marshy ground.

There was no chance of finding footsteps in the mire, for the rising mud oozed swiftly in upon them, but as we at last reached firmer ground beyond the morass we all looked eagerly for them.


13. specious [spee-shuhs] adjective
apparently good or right though lacking real merit; superficially pleasing or plausible

He then, by a specious argument, prevented her from going, and so had the chance for which he had waited.



The spelling bee finals are Thursday evening on ESPN, at 8e/7c.


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Thursday Thirteen 290: Spelling Bee

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is this week in Washington DC, and you know what that means—time to add a few new words to your vocabulary! All words and examples featured in today's post are taken from the vintage mystery novel

The Window at the White Cat by Mary Roberts Rinehart, which was originally published in 1961, and teased here in March.

There are 42 semifinalists this year, out of a pool of 280 contestants. If you'd like to follow The Bee, the semifinals are on ESPN2 Thursday at 2pm eastern time. The finals will air Thursday night on ESPN at 8pm eastern time. Personally, I wish they'd bring the finals back to Prime Time. These kids work hard and deserve to have a wider audience.

1. facetiously [fuh-see-shuhs] adjective
1. not meant to be taken seriously or literally: a facetious remark.
2. amusing; humorous.

Ex: “You heard a goblin quadrille. First couple forward and back,“ I said facetiously.


2. stolid [stol-id] adjective
not easily stirred or moved mentally; unemotional; impassive.

Ex: Her stolid face was not even intelligent, certainly not cunning.


3. prepossessing [pree-puh-zes-ing] adjective
that impresses favorably; engaging or attractive

Ex: Wardrop was a man of perhaps twenty-seven, as tall as I, although not so heavy, with direct blue eyes and fair hair; altogether a manly and prepossessing sort of fellow.


4. ulster [uhl-ster] noun
(lowercase) a long, loose, heavy overcoat, originally of Irish frieze, now also of any of various other woolen cloths.

Ex: Once a man turned the corner and came toward me, his head down, his long ulster flapping around his legs.


5. obtruded [uhb-trood] verb, [obtruded, obtruding: verb used with object]
to thrust forward, especially unduly; intrude.

Ex: I tried to forget the queer events of the night, but the throbbing of my head kept me awake, and through it all one question obtruded itself—who had unlocked the front door and left it open?


6. precipitate [pri-sip-i-teyt] verb
1. to hasten the occurrence of; bring about prematurely, hastily, or suddenly: to precipitate an international crisis.
2. to cast down headlong; fling or hurl down.
3. to cast, plunge, or send, especially violently or abruptly

Ex: The gate I stood in was evidently the entrance to its yard, and in fact, some uncomfortable movement of mine just then struck the latch, and almost precipitated me backward by its sudden opening.


7. profanation [prof-uh-ney-shuhn] noun
the act of profaning; desecration; defilement; debasement.

Ex: To turn loose that mob of half-drunken men in such a place seemed profanation.


8. untenable [uhn-ten-uh-buhl] adjective
incapable of being defended, as an argument, thesis, etc.; indefensible.

Ex: Everything that had gone before pointed to a position so untenable that suicide seemed its natural and inevitable result.


9. sepulchral [suh-puhl-kruhl] adjective [sepulchrally, adverb]
1. of, pertaining to, or serving as a tomb.
2. of or pertaining to burial.
3. proper to or suggestive of a tomb; funereal or dismal.
4. hollow and deep: sepulchral tones.

Ex: He had not gone to bed, and we filed into his library sepulchrally.


10. pugnacious [puhg-ney-shuhs] adjective [pugnacity, noun]
inclined to quarrel or fight readily; quarrelsome; belligerent; combative.

Ex: He was rather stocky in build, and the pugnacity of his features did not hide the shrewdness of his eyes.


11. scarehead [skair-hed] noun
a headline in exceptionally large type.

Ex: "If then he makes a scarehead of it, and gets in three columns of space and as many photographs, it is his just reward."


12. opportune [op-er-toon, -tyoon] adjective
1. appropriate, favorable, or suitable: an opportune phrase for the occasion.
2. occurring or coming at an appropriate time; well-timed: an opportune warning.

Ex: By good luck, we found one unlocked and not entirely closed; it shrieked hideously as we pried it up, but an opportune clap of thunder covered the sound.


13. malefactor [mal-uh-fak-ter] noun
1. a person who violates the law; criminal.
2. a person who does harm or evil, especially toward another.

Ex: “I felt all the nervous dread of a real malefactor. . .”



How many words did you recognize? Any new-to-you words you particularly liked?



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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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Thursday Thirteen 239: Vocabulary--A Tale of Two Cities, Pt 2

In last week’s post, I shared several words encountered in a recent reading of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, which I quite enjoyed. Here are thirteen more words for your edification.






gamut [gam-uht] nounThe entire scale or range.
USAGE: …The sounders of three-fourths of the notes in the whole gamut of Crime, were put to Death.

reversionary [ri-vur-zhuh-ner-ee, -shuh-] adjective
of, pertaining to, or involving a reversion.
USAGE: Having thus given his parent God speed, young Jerry seated himself on the stool, entered on his reversionary interest in the straw his father had been chewing, and cogitated.

pernicious [per-nish-uhs] adjective
1. causing insidious harm or ruin; ruinous; injurious; hurtful: pernicious teachings; a pernicious lie.
2. deadly; fatal: a pernicious disease.
3. Obsolete: evil; wicked.
USAGE: That, the proof would go back five years, and would show the prisoner already engaged in these pernicious missions, within a few weeks before the date of the very first action fought between the British troops and the Americans.

asseveration [uh-sev-uh-rey-shuhn] noun
1. the act of asseverating (to declare earnestly or solemnly; affirm positively; aver).
2. an emphatic assertion.
USAGE: …in the name of everything he could think of with a round turn on it, and on the faith of his solemn asseveration that he already considered the prisoner as good as dead and gone.

compeer [kuhm-peer, kom-peer] noun
1. an equal in rank, ability, accomplishment, etc.; peer; colleague.
2. close friend; comrade.
USAGE: The learned profession of the law was certainly not behind any other learned profession in its Bacchanalian propensities; neither was Mr Stryver, already fast shouldering his way to a large and lucrative practice, behind his compeers in this particular, any more than in the drier parts of the legal race.

deprecatory [dep-ri-kuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] adjective
1. of the nature of or expressing disapproval, protest, or depreciation.
2. apologetic; making apology
USAGE: With a deprecatory grunt, the jackal again complied.


apostrophise [uh-pos-truh-fahyz] verb (used with object) (also: apostrophize)
To address.
USAGE: But it’s not worth your while to apostrophise me, or the air, about it; what you want to do, you do.

bark [bahrk] noun (also: barque)
1. Nautical. a sailing vessel having three or more masts, square-rigged on all but the aftermost mast, which is fore-and-aft-rigged.
2. Literary. a boat or sailing vessel.
USAGE: There ought to have been a tranquil bark in such an anchorage, and there was.

imputation [im-pyoo-tey-shuhn] noun
An attribution, as of fault or crime; accusation.
USAGE: I say, when you began it, it was hard enough; not that I have any fault to find with Doctor Manette, except that he is not worthy of such a daughter, which is no imputation on him, for it was not to be expected that anybody should be, under any circumstances.

perforce [per-fawrs, -fohrs] adverb
Of necessity; necessarily; by force of circumstance.
USAGE: Yes, Monseigneur had slowly found that vulgar embarrassments crept into his affairs, both private and public; and he had, as to both classes of affairs, allied himself perforce with a Farmer-General.

vaunted [vawn-tid, vahn-] adjective
Praised boastfully or excessively
USAGE: As for the roof he vaunted, he might have found that shutting out the sky in a new way—to wit, for ever, from the eyes of the bodies into which its lead was fired, out of the barrels of a hundred thousand muskets.

affable [af-uh-buhl] adjective
Showing warmth and friendliness; benign; pleasant
adverb: affably
USAGE: Bestowing a word of promise here and a smile there, a whisper on one happy slave and a wave of the hand on another, Monseigneur affably passed through his rooms to the remote region of the Circumference of Truth.

obsequious [uhb-see-kwee-uhs] adjective
1. characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning.
2. servilely compliant or deferential.
3. obedient; dutiful.
USAGE: Monsieur Gabelle was the Postmaster, and some other taxing functionary united; he had come out with great obsequiousness to assist at this examination, and had held the examined by the drapery of his arm in an official manner.


I hope that you recognized at least a few of these words, or found one or two you might like to add to your own vocabulary.


Find more Thursday Thirteen participants here.

Thursday Thirteen 238: Vocabulary--A Tale of Two Cities, Pt 1

As I have averred in previous posts, reading the classics is an excellent way of expanding one’s vocabulary. Here are a few of the many great words I noted during a recent reading of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. If you have not read this book, I highly recommend it. I admit that it was a little slow-going in the beginning, but by the middle of the novel I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough and stayed up all night to finish it. Examples of usage are taken from the novel.

hardihood [hahr-dee-hood] noun
1. Boldness or daring; courage; Audacity or impudence.
USAGE: If any one of the three had had the hardihood to propose to another to walk on a little ahead…

adjuration [aj-uh-rey-shuhn] noun
1. An earnest request; entreaty.
2. A solemn or desperate urging or counseling:

blunderbuss [bluhn-der-buhs] noun
A short musket of wide bore with expanded muzzle to scatter shot, bullets, or slugs at close range.
USAGE: With this hurried adjuration, he cocked his blunderbuss, and stood on the offensive.

fain [feyn] adjective
Archaic: constrained; obliged.
USAGE: His message perplexed his mind to that degree that he was fain, several times, to take off his hat to scratch his head.

offal [aw-fuhl, of-uhl] noun
The parts of a butchered animal that are considered inedible by human beings; carrion.
USAGE: Hunger stared down from the smokeless chimneys, and started up from the filthy street that had no offal, among its refuse, of anything to eat.

atomy [at-uh-mee] noun, plural -mies.
1. An atom; mote.

porringer [pawr-in-jer, por-] noun
A low dish or cup, often with a handle, from which soup, porridge, or the like is eaten.
USAGE: Hunger was shred into atomies in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.

predicate [v. pred-i-keyt] verb, -cated
To proclaim; declare; affirm; assert.
USAGE: There was a character about Madame Defarge, from which one might have predicated that she did not often make mistakes against herself in any of the reckonings over which she presided.

provender [prov-uhn-der] noun
Food; provisions.
USAGE: Monsieur Defarge put this provender, and the lamp he carried, on the shoemaker’s bench (there was nothing else in the garret but a pallet bed), and he and Mr. Lorry roused the captive, and assisted him to his feet.

postilion [poh-stil-yuhn, po-] noun
a person who rides the left horse of the leading or only pair of horses drawing a carriage.
USAGE: The postilion cracked his whip, and they clattered away under the feeble over-swinging lamps.

incumbent [in-kuhm-buhnt] adjective
Obligatory (often followed by on or upon)
USAGE: But, by this time she trembled under such strong emotion, and her face expressed such deep anxiety, and, above all, such dread and terror, that Mr. Lorry felt it incumbent on him to speak a word or two of reassurance.

incommodious [in-kuh-moh-dee-uhs] adjective
Inconvenient, as not affording sufficient space or room; uncomfortable:
USAGE: It was very small, very dark, very ugly, very incommodious.

immolate [im-uh-leyt] verb
To sacrifice.
USAGE: That, he had been the prisoner’s friend, but, at once in an auspicious and an evil hour detecting his infamy, had resolved to immolate the traitor he could no longer cherish in his bosom, on the sacred altar of his country.


How many did you recognize? Are there any that you particularly liked?


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Thursday Thirteen 223: S and S Vocab

As mentioned in previous posts, reading the classics is an excellent way to increase and test your vocabulary. Here are a few of the great words I took note of during a recent reading of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. We'll begin with the obvious choice of the title words and, because there are so many different volumes, I will note chapters instead of page numbers for examples quoted from the book.





1. sense [sens] noun
sound practical intelligence: He has no sense.

2. sensibility [sen-suh-bil-i-tee] noun, plural -ties.
capacity for sensation or feeling; responsiveness or susceptibility to sensory stimuli.

3. devolve [dih-volv] verb (used with object)
to transfer or delegate (a duty, responsibility, etc.) to or upon another; pass on.
"The son, a steady, respectable young man, was amply provided for by the fortune of his mother, which had been large, and half of which devolved on him on his coming of age." (ch. 1)

4. indecorous [in-dek-er-uhs, in-di-kawr-uhs, -kohr-] adjective
violating generally accepted standards of good taste or propriety; unseemly.
"...and he finally resolved, that it would be absolutely unnecessary, if not highly indecourous, to do more for the widow and children of his father, than such kind of neighborly acts as his own wife pointed out." (ch 2)

5. diffident [dif-i-duhnt] adjective
lacking confidence in one's own ability, worth, or fitness; timid; shy. Reserved in manner or conduct.
"He was too diffident to do justice to himself; but when his natural shyness was overcome, his behaviour gave every indication of an open, affectionate heart." (ch 3)

6. approbation [ap-ruh-bey-shuhn] noun
approval; commendation: official approval or sanction.
"Marianne was affraid of offending, and said no more on the subject; but the kind of approbation which Elinor described as excited in him by the drawings of other people, was far from the rapturous delight, which, in her opinion, could alone be called taste." (ch 4)

7. inquietude [in-kwahy-i-tood, -tyood] noun
restlessness or uneasiness; disquietude.
"A doubt of her regard, supposing him to feel it, need not give him more than inquietude." (ch 4)

8. incommode [in-kuh-mohd] verb (used with object), -mod•ed, -mod•ing.
to inconvenience or discomfort; disturb; trouble.
"No sooner was her answer dispatched, than Mrs Dashwood indulged herself in the pleasure of announcing to her son-in-law* and his wife that she was provided with a house, and should incomomde them no longer..." (ch 5)
(* son-in-law used here actually means stepson)

9. demesne [dih-meyn, -meen] noun
land belonging to and adjoining a manor house; estate.
"A small green court was the whole of its demesne in front; and a neat wicket gate admitted them into it." (ch 6)

10. unaffected [uhn-uh-fek-tid] adjective
1. free from affectation; sincere; genuine.
2. unpretentious, as a personality or literary style.
"The Miss Dashwoods were young, pretty, and unaffected." (ch 7)

11. raillery [rey-luh-ree] noun, plural -ler•ies.
good-humored ridicule; banter.
"Marianne was vexed at it for her sister's sake, and turned her eyes towards Elinor, to see how she bore these attacks, with an earnestness which gave Elinor far more pain than could arise from such common-place raillery as Mrs Jenning's." (ch 7)

12. insipid [in-sip-id] adjective
without distinctive, interesting, or stimulating qualities; vapid: an insipid personality.
"...but the cold insipidity of Lady Middleton was so particularly repulsive that in comparison of it the gravity of Colonel Brnadon, and even the boisterous mirth of Sir John and his mother-in-law, was interesting." (ch7)

13. exigence [ek-si-juhns] noun
1. The need, demand, or requirement intrinsic to a circumstance, condition, etc.: the exigences of city life.
2. a case or situation that demands prompt action or remedy; emergency.
"One consolation, however, remained for them, to which the exigence of the moment gave more than usual propriety..." (ch 9)


These examples are from just the first 30 pages or so of the novel. Obviously, I could do an entire second post devoted to the vocabulary of this book—and I might do just that in the next few weeks.

Your turn: Pick any word from the list above and write your own sentence.

Read the Teaser Tuesday excerpt here.

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Thursday Thirteen 218: Vocabulary, Dracula Style

As you saw in last week’s post, I recently read Dracula by Bram Stoker. One thing that is true about the classics is that they are terrific vocabulary builders. Here for all those heading back to school, or who have kids returning, I offer thirteen of dozens of great words from Dracula. Examples and page numbers are from the “Enriched Classic” edition pictured at right, published by Pocket Books (Oct 2003).



1. cerebrate, verb intransitive: to use one’s brain; think (noun: cerebration)
“It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, unconscious cerebration!” (pg 87)

2. adduce, verb transitive: to give as a reason or proof; cite as an example
“There is no evidence to adduce; and whether or not the man himself committed the murders there is now none to say.” (pg 106)

3. slewed, verb transitive (also, slued): to turn or swing around, as on a pivot or fixed point.
“I slewed round a little, so as to see Lucy well without seeming to stare at her, and saw that she was in a half-dreamy state, with an odd look on her face that I could not quite make out…” (pg 116)

4. quondam, adjective: that was at one time; former
“The animal itself was as peaceful and well-behaved as that father of all picture-wolves, Red Riding Hood’s quondam friend, whilst seeking her confidence in masquerade.” (pg 170)

5. stertorous, adjective: loud, raspy, labored breathing, or snoring, caused by obstructed respiratory passages.
“There was no need to think them dead, for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the room left no doubt as to their condition.” (pg 177)

6. polyandrist, noun: a woman having two or more husbands at the same time
“If so that, then what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist…” (pg 211)

7. callous, adjective: lacking pity, mercy, etc; unfeeling
“With a careless motion, she flung to the ground, callous as a devil, the child that up to now she had clutched strenuously to her breast, growling over it as a dog growls over a bone.” (pg 253)

8. militate, verb intransitive: to be directed (against); operate or work (against to, rarely, for): said of facts, evidence, actions, etc. [You’ll see this used a lot in legal briefs, or movies and programs about lawyers.]
“As he saw that the very excess of his emotion was militating against him, by restoring us more to our old relations, he became still more demonstrative.” (pg 295)

9. lugubrious, adjective: very sad or mournful, esp. in a way that seems exaggerated or ridiculous.
“The dogs dashed on, but at the threshold suddenly stopped and snarled, and then, simultaneously lifting their noses, began to howl in most lugubrious fashion.” (pg 302)

10. implacable, adjective: 1. that cannot be appeased or pacified; relentless; inexorable. 2. (Rare) that cannot be eased, lessened or allayed. SYN: inflexible
“Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at all.” (pg 306)

11. arrogate, verb transitive: 1. to claim or seize without right; appropriate (to oneself) arrogantly 2. to ascribe or attribute without reason
“Far be it from me to arrogate to myself the attributes of the Deity.” (pg 321)

12. vivify, verb transitive: 1. to give life to; make come to life; animate 2. to make more lively, active, striking, etc. (noun: vivification)
“There have been volcanoes, some of whose openings still send out waters of strange properties, and gases that kill or make to vivify.” (pg 382)

13. laconic, adjective: brief or terse in speech or expression; using few words; SYN: concise
“Dr Van Helsing is laconic; he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well to make the exchange of horses.” (pg 430)



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Thursday Thirteen 204: Spelling Bee

IT’S TIME FOR THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE!

The Scripps National Spelling Bee takes place this week in Washington, DC, with 275 young spellers competing. I'm extremely disappointed I won't get to watch the finals this year, which have been moved to cable. Grrr... For those who are able to watch, here are a few words to get you in the mood...


01. incommodious [in-kuh-MOH-dee-uhs], adjective: Inconvenient, as not affording sufficient space or room; uncomfortable

Some poets have seen death's offer in many forms and accepted the outcome but ignored incommodious invitations.
-- Lesley Choyce, Dance the Rocks Ashore

02. autodidact [aw-toh-DY-dakt] noun: One who is self-taught.

He is our ultimate autodidact, a man who made himself from nothing into a lawyer, a legislator—a president.
--Kevin Baker, "Log Cabin Values", New York Times, April 2, 2000

03. irenic [eye-REN-ik; -REE-nik], adjective: Tending to promote peace; conciliatory.

While this left him at odds with older ecclesiastics of a more irenic disposition such as Archbishop Murray of Dublin (1768- 1852), he found an ally in John Mchale (1791-1881).
--W. J. McCormack, Patrick Gillan, The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture

04. wistful [WIST-ful] adjective:
1: full of yearning or desire tinged with melancholy; also: inspiring such yearning
2: musingly sad: pensive

"So,” said Wood, at long last, jerking Harry from a wistful fantasy about what he could be eating for breakfast at this very moment up at the castle.
-- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

05. philippic [fi-lip-ik] noun: any speech or discourse of bitter denunciation.

I pulled at his sleeve, and we were followed up the sidewalk by a philippic on our family’s moral degeneration...
--Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

06. irascible [ih-RASS-uh-buhl] adjective: Prone to anger; easily provoked to anger; hot-tempered.

His father was an irascible and boastful bully, a heavy drinker and a gambler.
--Robin Waterfield, Prophet: The Life and Times of Kahlil Gibran

07. interdict [n. in-ter-dikt; v. in-ter-dikt] noun: any prohibitory act or decree of a court or an administrative officer.
–verb (used with object): to forbid; prohibit.

What Jem did was something I’d do as a matter of course had I not been under Atticus’s interdict, which I assumed included not fighting horrible old ladies.
--Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

08. oppugn [uh-PYOON], verb:
1. To assail by criticism, argument, or action.
2. To call in question; dispute.

I do not wish to oppugn the character of Miss Goodrich by bearing false witness in regard to her activities.
--Jeffrey D. Marshall, The Inquest

09. rectitude [rek-ti-tood, -tyood] noun: rightness of principle or conduct; moral virtue

In later years, I sometimes wondered exactly what made Jem do it, what made him break the bonds of “You just be a gentleman, son,” and the phase of self-conscious rectitude he had recently entered.
--Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

10. deleterious [del-uh-TEER-ee-us] adjective: harmful often in a subtle or unexpected way

Marguerite is convinced that violent television programs will have a deleterious effect on her children, so she carefully monitors what they watch.

11. vociferate \voh-SIF-uh-reyt\, verb:
To speak or cry out loudly or noisily; shout; bawl.

He replied audibly enough, in a fashion which made my companion vociferate, more clamorously than before, that a wide distinction might be drawn between saints like himself and sinners like his master.
--Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

12. nonplus [non-PLUHS], transitive verb: To cause to be at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; to confound; to perplex; to bewilder.

I told him that to many people she is one of the best sculptors alive, but he seemed nonplussed by the thought.
--Jed Perl, Eyewitness: Reports from an Art World in Crisis

13. epigamic [ep-i-GAM-ik], adjective: Attracting the opposite sex, as the colors of certain birds.

But now the epigamic urgings travel beyond their periphery, kneading painfully against my heart and lungs and brain.
--Jim Thompson , Now and on Earth


Watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Semi-finals: Thursday, June 2; ESPN, 10am EDT
Finals: Thursday June 2; ESPN, 8:30pm EDT



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Thursday Thirteen 188: Vocabulary

Since we have not done this in a few months, how about a few new vocabulary words? And yes, there may be a test at the end. ;-)

1. ambisinister [am-bi-SIN-uh-ster], adjective:
Clumsy or unskillful with both hands.
Pray your surgeon is not ambisinister.

2. ligneous [LIG-nee-uhs] adjective:
Having the texture or appearance of wood.
"With Boris Johnson lumbering onto the Queen Vic set recently (and 'lumber' is the only appropriate word for his sturdily ligneous performance) ..."

3. chatoyant [shuh-TOI-uhnt], adjective:
Having changeable lustre; twinkling.
Its chatoyant, iridescent colors suggest the fancy that it might have had its birth in the crystallization of some magnificent aurora.

4. glabrous [GLAY-brus] adjective
smooth; especially: having a surface without hairs or projections
Unlike the fuzzy peach, the nectarine has a glabrous skin.

5. mansuetude [MAN-swi-tood], noun:
Mildness; gentleness.
You are safe, dear old man, you are safe, temporarily, in the mansuetude of our care...

6. concupiscible [kon-KYOO-pi-suh-buhl], adjective:
Worthy of being desired.
And possibly, gentle reader, with such a temptation–so would'st thou; for never did thy eyes behold, or thy concupiscence covet anything in this world, more concupiscible than widow Wadman. (The life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne)

7. remonstrate [ri-MON-strayt, REM-uhn-] verb intr.:
To reason or plead in protest.
He felt the need to remonstrate with the vigour of an innocent man sentenced to hang.

8. spirituel [spir-i-choo-EL], adjective:
1. Showing or having a refined and graceful mind or wit.
2. Light and airy in movement; ethereal.
Some said, yes, and that the youth was really gifted and spirituel, with a vein of quiet, caustic humor, most amusing; others–and I half incline to this notion– pronounced him dull and uninteresting. (The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly)

9. fain [FEYN], adverb:
Gladly; willingly.
I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown; –yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets; –and, as I told you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it. (Julius Caesar, Shakespeare)

10. execrate [EK-si-krayt]
verb tr.: To detest, denounce, or curse.
The prima ballerina was equally adored or execrated my thousands.

11. lollop [LOL-uhp], verb:
To move forward with a bounding, drooping motion.
A lolloping dog accompanied the boy as he traversed the field.

12. cacoethes [kak-oh-EE-theez], noun:
An irresistible urge; mania.
We must talk, think, and live up to the spirit of the times, and write up to it too, if that cacoethes be upon us, or else we are nought. (Barchester Towers, Anthony Trollope)

13. vulpine [VUHL-pahyn], adjective:
1. Cunning or crafty.
2. Of or resembling a fox.
McCone was aware of what was happening, and his leaning posture became more and more vulpine. (The Running Man)


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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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Thursday Thirteen 156: Spelling Bee

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is taking place in Washington, DC this week. Finals air on ABC this Friday night (8 EDT/7 CDT). This year's event features 273 spellers ranging in age from 8 to 15. The youngest speller, Vanya Shivashankar, is sister to the 2009 champion, Kavya Shivashankar. You know what Spelling Bee week means—it's time to ramp up your vocabulary!

1. goad \GOHD\, verb:
To prick or drive with, or as if with, a goad; prod; incite. To goad into action.

2. oleaginous \oh-lee-AJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective:
a. Having the nature or qualities of oil.
b. Unctuous; fawning; smarmy.
She pulled away from the oleaginous politician.

3. omnific \om-NIF-ik\, adjective:
Creating all things; having unlimited powers of creation.
(Omnific also occurs as omnificent and ominificence, a noun.) An author is omnific, the master of his (or her) universe.

4. scarper \SKAHR-puhr\, verb intr.
To flee, especially without paying one's bills. To scarper off.

5. cerebrate \SER-uh-brayt\ verb tr., intr.
To use the mind: to think, reason.

6. vellicate \VEL-i-kayt\ verb tr., intr.
a. To twitch or to cause to twitch.
b. To pluck, nip, irritate, etc.

7. malapert \MAL-uh-purt\, adjective:
Unbecomingly bold or saucy.
Had it not been for the account of some malapert agent...

noun:
A malapert person.

8. suspire \suh-SPAHY-uhr\, verb:
To utter with long, sighing breaths.

9. habitué \huh-BICH-oo-ey\, noun:
One who frequents a particular place, especially a place offering a specific pleasurable activity.

10. susurration \sus ə rā'shən\, noun
A soft, whispering or rustling sound; a murmur. The susurration of leaves.

11. costive \kaw-stiv\, adjective
a. suffering from constipation; constipated.
b. slow in action or in expressing ideas, opinions, etc. (This was the sense used in the book in which I encountered this word)
c. Obsolete. stingy; tight-fisted.

12. qui vive \kee-VEEV\ noun
alert, lookout. Newspaper copy editors must always be on the qui vive for factual as well as grammatical errors.

13. poniard [pon-yerd], noun
1. a small, slender dagger.

–verb (used with object)
2. to stab with a poniard.





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Thursday Thirteen 129: Vocabulary--1984

While recently reading 1984, I noted that this book has some great vocabulary words in it. Without further ado, here are thirteen plucked out of the book to add to your roster of words. Examples of usage are taken direct from the novel.




1. anodyne (adj): relieving or lessening pain; soothing
eg: "It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant."

2. etiolate (vt): 1. to cause to be pale and unhealthy 2. to deprive of strength, weaken
eg: "Already, on the walk from the station, the May sunshine had made him feel dirty and etiolated, a creature of indoors, with the sooty dust of London in the pores of his skin."

3. persiflage (noun): 1. a light, frivolous style of writing or speaking 2. such talk or writing
eg: "When he spoke of murder, suicide, venereal disease, amputated limbs, and altered faces, it was with a faint air of persiflage."

4. spurious (adj): not true or genuine; false, counterfeit
eg: "In his capacity as administrator, it is often necessary for a member of the Inner Party to know that this or that item of war news is untruthful, and he may often be aware that the entire war is spurious and either not happening or is being waged for purposes quite other than the declared ones..."

5. diminution (noun): a diminishing or being diminished; lessening; decrease
eg: "And even technological progress only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty."

6. execrate (vt): 1. orig., to call down evil upon; curse 2. to speak abusively or contemptuously of; denounce scathingly 3. to loathe; detest; abhor
eg: "The citizen of Oceania is not allowed to know anything of the tenets of the other two philosophies, but he is taught to execrate them as barbarous outrages upon morality and common sense."

7. expropriate (vt): 1. to take (land, property, etc) from its owner, esp: to take for public use or in the public interest, as by right of eminent domain 2. to transfer (property) from another to oneself 3. to deprive of ownership; dispossess
eg: "It has always been assumed that if the capitalist class were expropriated, Socialism must follow."

8. inimical (adj): 1. like an enemy; hostile 2. in opposition; adverse; unfavorable
eg: "It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction."

9. pedant (noun): 1. a person who puts unnecessary stress on minor or trivial points of learning 2. a narrow-minded teacher who insists on exact adherence to a set of arbitrary rules (pedantic, adj)
eg: "A sort of intellectual warmth, the joy of the pedant who has found out some useless fact, shone through the dirt and scrubby hair."

10. inviolate (adj): not violated; kept sacred or unbroken
eg: "Now he had retreated a step further: in the mind he had surrendered, but he had hoped to keep the inner heart inviolate."

11. abstruse (adj): hard to understand; deep; recondite
eg: "But there were other days when they settled down to their work almost eagerly, making a tremendous show of entering up their minutes and drafting long memoranda which were never finished--when the argument as what they were supposedly arguing about grew extraordinarily involved and abstruse..."

12. sinecure (noun): any office or position providing an income or other advantage but requiring little or no work
eg: "He even had a job, a sinecure, more highly paid than his old job had been."

13. premonitory (adj): forewarning; foreboding
eg: "A sort of premonitory tremor, a fear of he was not certain what, had passed through Winston as soon as he caught his first glimpse of the cage."


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Thursday Thirteen 109: Spelling Bee

The 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee got under way Wednesday in Washington DC. Here are a few fun words to test or add to your vocabulary.


1. bombinate \BOM-buh-nayt\ intransitive verb: To buzz; to hum; to drone.

2. senescent \si-NES-uhnt\ adjective: Growing old; aging.

3. pseudandry \su-DAN-dree\ noun: The use of a male name as a pseudonym by a woman. (The opposite is pseudogyny where a man takes a woman's name as a pseudonym.)

4. lugubrious \lu-GOO-bree-us; -GYOO-\ adjective: Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner.

5. oneiric \oh-NYE-rik\ adjective: of or relating to dreams: dreamy

6. epistemic \ep-uh-STEE-mik\ adjective: of or relating to knowledge or knowing: cognitive

7. nescience \NESH-uhn(t)s; NESH-ee-uhn(t)s\ noun: Lack of knowledge or awareness; ignorance.

8. exorable \EK-suhr-uh-buhl\ adjective: Capable of being persuaded or moved.

9. gainly \GAYN-lee\ adjective: Graceful; dexterous.

10. chirography \kye-RAH-gruh-fee\ noun: handwriting, penmanship; Calligraphy

11. munificent \myoo-NIF-i-suhnt\ adjective: Very liberal in giving or bestowing; very generous; lavish.

12. outré \oo-TRAY\ adjective: Unconventional; eccentric; bizarre.

13. lickerish \LIK-uh-rish\ adjective: greedy, desirous; lecherous

You can watch the semifinals Thursday morning on ESPN (10 ET/9 CT) and the finals Thursday evening on ABC (8 ET/7 CT).

LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Janice Seagraves * Ella Drake * Elise Logan * Mary Quast
Adelle Laudan * Alice Audrey * Stephanie Adkins * Lanie Fuller
Hazel * Shelley Munro * Ms Menozzi * Carleen
Jennifer McKenzie * RJ LeBeau * Jamie Babette * Paige Tyler
Debra Kayn * Storyteller

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things.

Thursday Thirteen 108: Frontier Words

Today I'm talking about a vocabulary building method we used in my tenth grade TAG (advanced) English class, “frontier words.” This is a method those writers amongst us may find useful. Parents and anyone seeking to strengthen their vocabulary may also find this of interest.


Understanding that no two people have the same vocabulary, “frontier words” seeks to strengthen the individual vocabulary.

Each week, students were to come to class with ten new vocabulary cards (index cards), the words culled from your own reading during the week.

Frontier words are those words that either you recognize but do not know, or words with which you are partially familiar (meaning, you think you know what it means but are not sure).

Though words were supposed to be culled from our regular reading during the week — books or newspapers — friends and I often randomly flipped through the dictionary when our lists fell a bit short. Hey, the better your vocabulary, the fewer unfamiliar words you encounter!

Word are written on one side of the card, the definition and example of usage (the sentence in which you found it) on the back. Write your own sentence if it helps you more easily remember the word.

Every Friday we paired off and tested each other on our words from that week. Not just spelling, but definition. You had to know those words!

In addition to that week’s vocabulary words, you were also tested on three to five random words pulled from your entire card stack. This meant you had to regularly review all of your words. If you are using this tool on your own, regularly shuffling and studying your cards will work in much the same way.

This practice came in handy senior year in high school, at the end of the first week of French V. I’m sure you could have heard our collective groan on the other side of the world when Madame V. gave us a list of 184 verbs to learn over the weekend. I only wish I were kidding. See samples at right.

I am also not kidding when I tell you that 95% of the class (those of us who also had English together for four years) showed up the following Monday with our own handmade vocabulary cards — which both surprised and impressed Madame V. Apparently, we were the first class to do so in all the years she'd been handing out this assignment. What can I say? We were special that way. *g*

I don't know what became of the English vocab cards—probably tossed them at the end of sophomore year—but I still have all of my French vocab cards. I added to that original stack of 184 throughout the year and took them off to college with me.

There is no age limit to frontier words — it is a tool anyone can use to improve vocabulary, no matter how young or old. Parents can use it during both the summer and school year as a means to entice kids to keep learning and retain what they learn. Make looking up new words a game, and encourage them to use their new words regularly. Once you learn a new word, you own it forever.

Having had the process of writing down and looking up unfamiliar words ingrained in me over the course of a year, I still practice it today. I don't jot them down on little vocabulary cards any more, but I do write them down in my journal, and will go back and look them over from time to time. The process of writing out the definition helps commit the word to memory.

A few words I have looked up so far this year include: peroration, benignant, penumbra, diffident, picara.

LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

RJ Lebeau * Stephanie Adkins * Elise Logan * Adelle Laudan
Alice Audrey * Janice Seagraves * Nicholas * Hootin' Anni
Shelley Munro * Ms Menozzi * Ella Drake
I Am Harriet * Inez Kelley * Carmen Shirkey * Paige Tyler
Jamie Babette * Mary Quast * Jennifer McKenzie * Brenda ND

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things.