Knowledge

/

ArcaMax

Today's Word "wraith"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

wraith \RAYTH\ (noun) - 1 : An apparition of a living person seen before death; hence, an apparition; a specter; a ghost. 2 : A shadowy or insubstantial form, appearance, or representation of something.

"I could almost believe that it was the wraith of Hendrika doomed to keep an eternal watch over the bones of the woman her jealous rage had ...Read more

Today's Word "cadre"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

cadre \KAD-ree; -ray; KAH-dray; -druh\ (noun) - 1 : A core or nucleus of trained or otherwise qualified personnel around which an organization is formed. 2 : A tightly knit and trained group of dedicated members active in promoting the interests of a revolutionary party. 3 : A member of such a group. 4 : A framework upon which a larger entity ...Read more

Today's Word "matutinal"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

matutinal \muh-TOOT-n-uhl\, adjective) - Relating to or occurring in the morning; early.

"You must make a little excursion one of these fine spring days...Some morning, the earlier the better. But I dare say your habits are not very matutinal, Signora?" -- Thomas Adolphus Trollope, 'A Siren'

Matutinal is from Late Latin matutinalis, from Latin...Read more

Today's Word "visage"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

visage \VIZ-ij\ (noun) - 1 : The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. 2 : Look; appearance; aspect.

"The waiter, a faceless and fawning creature whose visage was lost in the clouds of smoke that eddied, now here, now nervously there, suggested the 'speciality' of the 'house'..." -- Gilbert ...Read more

Today's Word "algorithm"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

algorithm \AL-guh-RITH-uhm\ (noun) - A step-by-step procedure for solving a problem in a finite number of steps that often involves repetition of an operation.

"Their latest innovation involved some kind of complex algorithm that made the eyes of anyone with an IQ of less than 200 glaze over with incomprehension but was reckoned by the company ...Read more

Today's Word "practicable"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

practicable \PRAK-tik-uh-buhl\ (adjective) - 1 : Capable of being done, accomplished, or put into practice; feasible; as, "a practicable method; a practicable aim." 2 : Capable of being used; usable.

"We changed, and I had not made up my mind, and still reflected for my comfort that it would be quite practicable to get down and walk back, when ...Read more

Today's Word "supercilious"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

supercilious \soo-puhr-SIL-ee-uhs\ (adjective) - Disdainfully arrogant; haughty.

"I could have gladly booted the bloke there and then, but mother was already heaping her praise and approval on the supercilious pillock, so my opinion was not asked and the trousers were duly purchased." -- Eddy Vee, ' The Teddy Boy on the Trolley Bus'

...Read more

Today's Word "sui generis"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

sui generis \soo-eye-JEN-ur-us; soo-ee-\ (adjective) - Being the only example of its kind; constituting a class of its own; unique.

"It was indeed when, after groping your way up the long dark spiral staircase that climbs between the thick walls of the steeple, you at last emerged on one of the two lofty platforms, flooded with light and air, ...Read more

Today's Word "tete-a-tete"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

tete-a-tete \TAYT-uh-TAYT; TET-uh-TET\ (adjective) - Private; confidential; familiar.

(noun) - 1 : A private conversation between two people. 2 : A short sofa intended to accommodate two persons.

"There was a phone in her office, but she wasn't near brave enough to hang around having a tete-a- tete with a corpse while she waited for the police...Read more

Today's Word "robustious"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

robustious \roh-BUHS-chuhs\ (adjective) - 1 : Boisterous; vigorous. 2 : Coarse; rough; crude.

"Four girls and four boys he had, robustious little heathens, every one of them, as he said himself." -- Marilynne Robinson, 'Gilead'

Robustious derives from Latin robustus, "oaken, hence strong, powerful, firm," from robur, "oak."

Today's Word "explicate"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

explicate \EK-spluh-kayt\ (transitive verb) - To explain; to clear of difficulties or obscurity.

"Every day I would come home from the office to find him waiting and he would stay until dinnertime. During that time I would read and explicate a German introduction to philosphy to him. In return he would instruct me on the Yuishikiron, the ...Read more

Today's Word "cant"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

cant \KANT\ (noun) - 1 : The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation. 2 : The use of religious phraseology without understanding or sincerity. 3 : Empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; insincere talk; hypocrisy. 4 : A whining manner of speaking, especially of beggars.

"In spite of all his gnomic cant he ...Read more

Today's Word "beneficence"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

beneficence \buh-NEFF-i-suhns\ (noun) - 1 : The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity. 2 : A charitable gift or act.

"He was one day engaged with Mrs. Allworthy in a discourse on charity: in which the captain, with great learning, proved to Mr. Allworthy, that the word charity in Scripture nowhere means beneficence or ...Read more

Today's Word "inchoate"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

inchoate \in-KOH-it\, (adjective) - 1 : In an initial or early stage; just begun. 2 : Imperfectly formed or formulated.

"He was not articulate, and was unable to put into words the inchoate ambitions inside him." -- Robert Daley, 'The Dangerous Edge'

Inchoate comes from the past participle of Latin inchoare, alteration of incohare, "to begin."

Today's Word "votary"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

votary \VOH-tuh-ree\ (noun) - 1. One who is devoted, given, or addicted to some particular pursuit, subject, study, or way of life. 2 : A devoted admirer. 3 : A devout adherent of a religion or cult. 4 : A dedicated believer or advocate.

"A priestess led a young man out onto the sunken floor, pulling him with a chain fixed to the manacles on ...Read more

Today's Word "sempiternal"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

sempiternal \sem-pih-TUR-nuhl\ (adjective) - Of never ending duration; having beginning but no end; everlasting; endless.

"Repetition had become a comfort in her antiquity; the well-worn phrases, unfinished business, grandstand view, made her feel solid, unchanging, sempiternal, instead of the creature of cracks and absences she knew herself to...Read more

Today's Word "onus"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

onus \OH-nuhs\ (noun) - 1 : A burden; an obligation; a disagreeable necessity. 2 : a: A stigma. b: Blame. 3 : The burden of proof.

"The engineer was not as much fun to be with as he once was, and she thought that it might be the terrible onus of repairing the engines that weighed upon him." -- Michael Flynn, 'The Wreck of the River of Stars

...Read more

Today's Word "bruit"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

bruit \BROOT\ (transitive verb) - To report; to noise abroad.

"You can come to me or refrain from doing so... provided that your distraction ceases hereafter. I ask only that you do not bruit this matter about, either way." -- Piers Anthony, 'Key to Havoc'

Bruit comes from Old French, from the past participle of bruire, "to roar."

Today's Word "virago"

Knowledge / Vocabulary /

virago \vuh-RAH-go; vuh-RAY-go\ (noun) - 1 : A woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage. 2 : A woman regarded as loud, scolding, ill-tempered, quarrelsome, or overbearing.

"For you are the witch Magrit, the horrid harridan, the repulsive termagant, the fustigant fury, the lamia rampant, the execrable harpy, the verminous virago, ...Read more

History Is a 'Foible' Agreed Upon

Knowledge / The Word Guy /

History repeats itself. After reading these sentences, taken from high school students' history papers and sent to me by teachers, let's hope not.

1. During the Glorious Revolution, Parliament decided to take power away from the thrown. (And soon the king had been overthrown.) 2. The Constitution tried to achieve parody among the states. (...Read more

 

Comics

Spectickles Gary Markstein Gary McCoy Herb and Jamaal BC Carpe Diem