magniloquent \mag-NIL-uh-kwent\ (adjective) - Lofty or grandiose in speech or expression; using a high-flown style of discourse; bombastic.

"Although Napoleon presented himself as 'the Enlightenment embodied, bringing ...Read More

countervail \kown-tur-VAYL\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To act against with equal force, power, or effect; to counteract. 2 : To compensate for; to offset; to furnish or serve as an equivalent to.

(intransitive verb) - To ...Read More

eructation \ih-ruhk-TAY-shuhn\ (noun) - The act of belching; a belch.

"Ignatius belched, the gassy eructations echoing between the walls of the alley." -- John Kennedy Toole, 'A Confederacy of Dunces'

Eructation comes ...Read More

contravene \kon-truh-VEEN\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To act or be counter to; to violate. 2 : To oppose in argument; to contradict.

"In 1620 most people considered the likelihood of reversing the seasons inside a building ...Read More

agon \AH-gahn; ah-GOHN\ (noun) - A struggle or contest; conflict; especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a literary work.

"Conflicts about moral claims are part of what it means to be human, and a political ...Read More

discomfit \dis-KUHM-fit; dis-kuhm-FIT\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To make uneasy or perplexed, or to put into a state of embarrassment; to disconcert; to upset. 2 : To thwart; to frustrate the plans of. 3 : (Archaic) To ...Read More