paragon \PAIR-uh-gon; -guhn\ (noun) - A model of excellence or perfection; as, "a paragon of beauty; a paragon of eloquence."

"Old Roland, that paragon of acceptable standards, viewed the world with a thoroughly jaundiced, nearly blind eye." -- Samara Al-Darraji , 'Eclipse'

Paragon comes from Middle French, from Old Italian paragone, literally...Read more

camarilla \kam-uh-RIL-uh; -REE-yuh\ (noun) - A group of secret and often scheming advisers, as of a king; a cabal or clique.

"Few faulted the president for the problems during his tenure, instead choosing to blame the camarilla of closely held advisors which were a holdover from his days as a senator."

Camarilla comes from Spanish, literally, ...Read more

landloper \LAND-lo-puhr\ (noun) - A wanderer; vagabond; vagrant ; also landlouper and landleaper

"Through a series of games and dreamlike fantasies, the dynamic of the lead character's struggle between good and evil established him as both an intellectual landloper and a truth-seeker."

From Dutch landlooper (landrunner), from land + lopen ...Read more

iota \eye-OH-tuh\ (noun) - 1 : The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to the English i. 2 : A very small quantity or degree; a jot; a bit.

"A brilliant negotiator, James had not moderated his demands one iota in seven years."

Iota is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet. The word jot also derives from iota.

inveigle \in-VAY-guhl; -VEE-\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To persuade by ingenuity or flattery; to entice. 2 : To obtain by ingenuity or flattery.

"Once a soft touch for those who inveigled her into sparing them her change, Jhenna began to cross the road, begging for some change in her circumstances."

Inveigle comes from Anglo-French enveogler, ...Read more

redivivus \red-uh-VY-vuhs; -VEE-\ (adjective) - Living again; brought back to life; revived; restored.

"'He can't be redivivus if he's never died,' Diotallevi said. 'Sure he's not Ahasuerus, the wandering Jew?'" -- Umberto Eco, 'Foccault's Pendulum'

Redivivus comes from Latin, from the prefix red-, re-, "again" + vivus, "alive."

tutelary \TOO-tuh-lair-ee; TYOO-\ (adjective) - Having the guardianship or charge of protecting a person or a thing; guardian; protecting; as, "tutelary goddesses."

"But there is a tutelary deity for misers, and by a chain of unforeseen circumstances that tutelary deity was so ordering matters that the purchase-money of his extortionate bargian...Read more

virtu \vuhr-TOO; vir-\ (noun) - 1 : love of or taste for fine objects of art. 2 : Productions of art (especially fine antiques). 3 : Artistic quality.

'In the latter case, the new emblem held no personality or virtu until it had participated in noteworthy feats and so acquired status.' -- Jack Vance, 'Planet of Adventure'

Virtu comes from ...Read more

quietus \kwy-EE-tuhs\ (noun) - 1 : A final stroke that settles something. 2 : Discharge from life; death. 3 : A release from a duty or debt.

"The irony was, as Lucinda saw it, that her family's curse would provide its own quietus and lead her to the peace she had so desperately sought."

Short for Middle English quietus est (he is quit), a ...Read more

concinnity \kuhn-SIN-uh-tee\ (noun) - 1 : Internal harmony or fitness in the adaptation of parts to a whole or to each other. 2 : Studied elegance of design or arrangement -- used chiefly of literary style. 3 : An instance of concinnity.

"To the exact extent that she imposes on language the phantasms of her mind, she dismisses the presence of ...Read more

Zeitgeist \TSYT-guyst; ZYT-guyst\ (noun) - [Often capitalized] The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time.

"Yet being a man, as I say, with his hair a little stirred by a Zeitgeist that made for change, Gates did at times display a disposition towards developments." -- Herbert...Read more

parlous \PAR-luhs\ (adjective) - Attended with peril; fraught with danger; hazardous.

"It was a parlous time in the schoolyard, when preppies and goths vied brutally for supremacy."

Parlous derives from Old French perillous, perilleus, from Latin periculosus, adjective form of periculum, "peril, danger, hazard."

pule \PYOOL\ (intransitive verb) - To whimper; to whine.

"Darla's fretting and puling over her missing feline were such that she was banished to the furthest, most sound-proofed room in the domicile."

Pule is perhaps from French piauler, "to whine, to pule," ultimately of imitative origin.

clerisy \KLER-i-see\ (noun) - The well-educated class; the literati; the intelligentsia.

"While Terry fancied himself one of the clerisy, his friends thought of him as nothing so much as a know-it-all and blowhard."

From German Klerisei (clergy), from Medieval Latin clericia, from Late Latin clericus (cleric), from Greek klerikos (belonging to...Read more

nonplus \non-PLUS, NON-plus\ (verb tr.) - To put at a loss for what to do, think, or say; perplex. (noun) 0 -A state of perplexity or bewilderment.

"The Native-American Navajo Code Talkers used a code created with their native language to nonplus the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II."

From Latin non plus (no more).

temerarious \tem-uh-RAIR-ee-uhs\ (adjective) - Recklessly or presumptuously daring; rash.

"I have confessed myself a temerarious theologian, and in that passage from boyhood to manhood I ranged widely in my search for some permanently satisfying Truth." -- H. G. Wells, The New Machiavelli

Temerarious comes from Latin temerarius, "rash," from ...Read more

small beer \small beer\ (noun) - 1 : Weak beer. 2 : Insignificant matters; something of little importance.

(adjective) - 1 : Unimportant; trivial.

"While Mary was concerned that they would be considered insignificant posers by the 'old money' in their neighborhood, Hugh considered that small beer as their house was one of the most ...Read more

pernicious \pur-NISH-uhs\ (adjective) - Causing great harm; deadly; wicked.

"After his visit to management's floor, Dave came to the conclusion that the bulk of them were the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the Earth."

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ...Read more

humblebrag \HUM-behl-brag\ (verb) - A moniker for the false humility exhibited by celebrities and other people on Twitter, Facebook, or other forms of social media.

"It only took Franklin a day or two to realize that Lady Gaga's Twitter feed contained little more than humblebrag and not the concise insight that he was hoping for.

Term coined ...Read more