compunction \kuhm-PUHNK-shuhn\ (noun) - 1 : Anxiety or deep unease proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain. 2 : A sting of conscience or a twinge of uneasiness; a qualm; a scruple.

"However, he died intestate: I was his heir-at-law, and I felt a certain compunction in taking his money -- he would so have disliked my ...Read more

punctilio \punk-TIL-ee-oh\ (noun) - 1 : A fine point of exactness in conduct, ceremony, or procedure. 2 : Strictness or exactness in the observance of formalities; as, "the punctilios of a public ceremony."

"He said, that people of birth stood a little too much upon punctilio; as people of value also did." -- Samuel Richardson. 'Clarissa: ...Read more

satiety \suh-TY-uh-tee\ (noun) - The state of being full or gratified to or beyond the point of satisfaction.

"His hungry eyes looked with a hitherto unknown, amazed satiety. More than that: here hunger was satiety and satiety, hunger." -- Harry Steinhauer, 'The Heretic of Soana'

Satiety is from Latin satietas, from satis, "enough."

apogee \AP-uh-jee\ (noun) - 1 : The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth. 2 : The farthest or highest point; culmination.

"He had suggested that perhaps a human life was a simple parabola in which one never knew when the apogee -- the highest, most sublime ...Read more

vivify \VIV-uh-fy\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To endue with life; to make alive; to animate. 2 : To make more lively or intense.

"Words realize nothing, vivify nothing to you, unless you have suffered in your own person the thing, which the words try to describe." -- Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days

Vivify comes from French vivifier, ...Read more

voluptuary \vuh-LUHP-choo-er-ee\ (noun) - A person devoted to luxury and the gratification of sensual appetites; a sensualist.

(adjective) - Voluptuous; luxurious.

"The hackneyed voluptuary is like the jaded epicure, the mere listlessness of whose appetite becomes at length a sufficient penalty for having made it the principle object of his ...Read more

pandemic \pan-DEM-ik\ (adjective) - Affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic.

(noun) - A pandemic disease.

"Once a pandemic is upon you, the prime focus has to be for you to extricate yourself from any urban areas or areas of high population density." -- Alex Haynes, 'The Apocalypse Handbook'

Pandemic ultimately ...Read more

microcosm \MY-kruh-koz-uhm\ (noun) - 1. A little world. 2 : A smaller, representative system having analogies to a larger system.

"You live in your microcosm and I live in mine, but you'd like to believe that because your microcosm produces a regular check it's more valid than mine." -- Charlotte Vale Allen, 'Dream Train'

Microcosm comes from ...Read more

sporadic \spuh-RAD-ik\ (adjective) - Occurring singly, or occasionally, or in scattered instances.

"During my lectures, my pacing could appear sporadic to the students. If I looked sporadic, I would be perceived as being sporadic." -- Christopher Scott, 'Protege'

Sporadic derives from Medieval Latin sporadicus, scattered, from Greek sporadikos...Read more

Hogmanay \hog-muh-NAY; HOG-muh-nay\ (noun) - The name, in Scotland, for New Year's Eve, on which children go about singing and asking for gifts; also, a gift, cake, or treat given on New Year's Eve.

"The bells were almost lost in the raucous bonhomie of the Hogmanay dance." -- Val McDermid, 'The Distant Echo'

The origin of the word Hogmanay is...Read more

crapulous \KRAP-yuh-lus\ (adjective) - 1 : Suffering the effects of, or derived from, or suggestive of gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous stomach. 2 : Marked by gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous old reprobate.

"His place in the parlour at the George, his absence from church, his old, crapulous,...Read more

avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\ (noun) - 1 : Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams). 2 : Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois.

"The Yemeni eased his avoirdupois upon the leather chair at his desk, cracked his knuckles, and typed in a rapid ...Read more

euphonious \yoo-FOH-nee-uhs\ (adjective) - Pleasing or sweet in sound; smooth-sounding.

"At twelve-zero-zero Greewich time I had already been introduced to the Director of the British Museum, whose euphonious and idiotic name was something like Sir Silage Corn." -- Venedikt Erofeev, 'Moscow to the End of the Line'

Euphonious comes from Greek ...Read more

termagant \TUR-muh-guhnt\ (noun) - A scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; a shrew.

(adjective) - Overbearing; shrewish; scolding.

"For you are the witch Magrit, the horrid harridan, the repulsive termagant, the fustigant fury, the execrable harpy, the verminous virago, the loathsome she-wolf." -- Eric Flint, 'Forward the Mage'

Termagant ...Read more

contradistinction \kon-truh-dis-TINK-shuhn\ (noun) - Distinction by contrast; as, "sculpture in contradistinction to painting."

"The balloon, for the twenty-two days of its existence, offered the possibility, in its randomness, of mislocation of the self, in contradistinction to the grid of precise, rectangular pathways under our feet." -- by ...Read more

palimpsest \PAL-imp-sest\ (noun) - 1 : A manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible. 2 : An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface.

"A palimpsest obscures what lies beneath. To build Pakistan it ...Read more

constitutional \kon-stih-TOO-shuhn-uhl; -TYOO-\ (noun) - A walk taken for one's health.

"A wise physician does not simply give a tonic for a diseased limb, or a high fever; the patient might be dead before the constitutional remedy could become effective." -- Charles Waddell Chesnutt, 'The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories'

A constitutional ...Read more

acrid \AK-rid\ (adjective) - 1 : Sharp and harsh, or bitter to the taste or smell; pungent. 2 : Caustic in language or tone; bitter.

"It sizzled and sparked, and sent its acrid odor up everyone's nostrils; Jennifer thought of hellfire." -- Richard Janssen, 'The Evil I Do'

Acrid comes from Latin acer, "sharp."

inveigh \in-VAY\ (intransitive verb) - To rail (against some person or thing); to protest strongly or attack with harsh and bitter language -- usually with "against."

"I could inveigh against someone who denied his Jewishness, who played at being a goy." -- Michael Brodsky, 'Detour'

Inveigh is from Latin invehi, "to attack with words," passive...Read more

When I discussed grammar and usage on a rather zany and offbeat radio talk show program a while back, several listeners telephoned with erudite, scholarly questions such as, "What's a nice guy like you doing on a show like this?"

Well, I couldn't answer that one, but questions from other listeners did raise some fascinating linguistic issues....Read more