Comments on: Great words... that you actually use

Question: Great words... that you actually use

Metroid Baby — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:24:21 -0800

What are some interesting, uncommon "vocabulary" words that you use regularly or semi-regularly? I have a serviceable but unremarkable vocabulary. I look up unfamiliar words when I come across them and I subscribe to a word-of-the-day email, but I've found that I tend to forget new words if I don't use them in writing or conversation. And as fun as it is to learn new words for trivia's sake, I'd rather learn words that will help me communicate, not just make me look like a smartypants. (Floccinaucinihilipilification is practically worthless, and I see no reason to use defenestrate when "throw out the window" works fine.)

In expanding my own working vocabulary, I've started to wonder what lesser-known words other people find useful, figuring they'd probably be good words for me to know, too. So I'm looking for words that not many people might know, but that you have found worth knowing – words that have successfully made their way from the word-of-the-day lists to your own speech or writing, words that you're glad you've learned.

Thanks in advance!

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:30:25 -0800

Reader's Digest actually has a pretty good monthly feature "It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power" (Increase instead of Enrich maybe?). While Reader's Digest is pretty mediocre in general that column is a great vocabulary expander.

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:34:05 -0800

I use "ostensibly" with embarrassing frequency. Sometimes I even use it correctly.

I'm also fond of 'alacrity' and 'obstreperous'. A good book for improving your vocabulary is Word Power Made Easy.

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:35:21 -0800

I made this list for precisely this purpose. They're words that I might have known in the first place, but wanted to keep track of -- either because I have trouble remembering the definition, or because I don't often think to use them. I went out of my way to exclude any novelty words like "defenestrate" and just stick to words I might actually want to use.

By: box

box — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:38:44 -0800

roman a clef
bildungsroman
portmanteau
chatfilter

By: spaceman_spiff

spaceman_spiff — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:39:04 -0800

I like "insipid". But really, it's more about how you use them, not the words themselves. I talk a lot about representations and models, when I mean "how I think about something". I.e., "my internal representation of that turned out to be all wrong". Some people seem to find it amusing.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:42:22 -0800

Persnickety about your perspicacity overtaking you perspicuity, are you?

By: epersonae

epersonae — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:42:49 -0800

"Churlish" is one of my favorites for describing a particular bad mood, which I didn't think was all that unusual until apologizing to someone recently...who said they had to look it up! I find that happens to me more often than I'd like, which I blame on my teenage fondness for 19th-century literature. ;)

@Jaltcoh: OMG that is an awesome site. I could lose myself in something like that.

By: reebear

reebear — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:44:57 -0800

My friend made me learn 'enervate' because it's so misleading - it sounds like it means "increase energy" but really its definition is closer to "sap" or "deplete energy."

Aside from that, I learned interlocutrix in high school. It's a female participant in a conversation... although strangely Webster's telling me it's not a word, and yet interlocutor, the masculine form, is included. That seems a bit wrong to me!

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:45:31 -0800

@Jaltcoh: OMG that is an awesome site. I could lose myself in something like that.

I often have... :)

By: katemonster

katemonster — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:46:35 -0800

"Schadenfreude.

What's that, some kind of Nazi word?

Yup, it's German for happiness at the misfortune of others.

Happiness at the misfortune of others? That *is* German!"

Seriously, though, I use schadenfreude (and feel it) far more often than I should.

By: scrumtralescent

scrumtralescent — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:58:13 -0800

Esoteric: understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest.

By: le morte de bea arthur

le morte de bea arthur — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:06:10 -0800

dictionary.com has a word of the day section which introduces uncommon words in various contexts. Lambaste, chimera and lionize (the three most recent) are all words I could see myself using if a suitable opportunity were to arise...

By: mccxxiii

mccxxiii — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:08:55 -0800

Using dispositive correctly makes you sound smart.

I always have to look it up.

By: NoraCharles

NoraCharles — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:09:03 -0800

I like capricious. (subject to, led by, or indicative of caprice or whim; erratic)
Plus it's fun to say.

And how you can remember it is that going to Capri would be a very capricious thing to do!

By: mdn

mdn — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:13:11 -0800

The best way to learn new words that you'll actually use is to just read (or converse or go to lectures) a lot, come across words, learn them through context, and start using them without really noticing. I think it's better to just let your vocabulary grow at a slower pace but more organically than to try to infuse it with little nuggets...

although strangely Webster's telling me it's not a word, and yet interlocutor, the masculine form, is included. That seems a bit wrong to me!

a lot of feminine forms of nouns have been dropped (authoress, aviatrix, poetess) while others are on the borderline (comedienne), as it seems unnecessary to determine the sex of the occupation. Also, as women become involved in more occupations, do we make new ones - presidentress? etc. But it is an odd line at this stage, since we still use some quite regularly (actress & waitress are still pretty common)

By: Nelsormensch

Nelsormensch — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:18:42 -0800

Laggard is a fantastic synonym for slow that (at least to me) implies sluggishness due to size or incompetency. I find it describes most bureaucracy quite well, e.g. "My application is still making its way through the laggard machinery of customs and immigration."

By: zeph

zeph — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:23:48 -0800

I quite like bloviate and bibulous (and they go so well together - the more bibulous the evening, the more likely folks will be given to bloviation don't ya know) ... I also occasionally like emetic when I don't want to outright SAY that something "makes me want to hurl" ... all three of those, though, I'd mostly use in a quasi-silly manner - not to try being "impressively wordy" or anything so much as enjoying a bit of amusing effect. Still, quite useful words when the occasion arises.

I also find myself using 'vexing' ALL the time - I don't really consider it a "big word" but it might still count given that it doesn't seem to be used with particular frequency by everyone (and surprisingly enough I HAVE had people ask me what the heck it means before, heh), it just suits so well for me, though - I don't get "pissed off" all that often but I do become vexed!

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:23:51 -0800

I'm guessing you're also sort of aiming for words less often used rather than less known, as words that you wouldn't expect your listener to understand are normally avoided. Even so, it's hard to guess where that line is for a person posting on the internet, so forgive me if I aim too low - you'll probably already know these :)

I find that euphemistically is very useful as a (often slightly humorous) qualifier.

ubiquitous

fungible
(Which often reminds me of the completely unrelated word fecundity, but I don't recall needing that one much so nevermind).

esoteric is useful word, but presumably already part of your standard vocab. However it's fitting, given the question, so I threw it in :-)
(Also fitting is circumlocution)

Also: Anything that Monty Burns says.
Well, apparently not everything - these quotes seem completely devoid of his vocabular awesomeness.

By: Echidna882003

Echidna882003 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:29:03 -0800

Penultimate and antepenultimate.
My 6 yr old daughter uses them as well.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:29:16 -0800

I'm going to suggest something slightly different: Learn a Latin-based language.

You'll find that many words in English which you are looking for have their counterparts in Latin. Since learning Latin itself may not be tempting, it might be better to go out and learn a language such as French or Spanish and take note of how we might say the same things in English.

For example, going with what NoraCharles said above, almost every Spanish-speaking child is scolded by their mother with "No seas tan caprichoso!" which translates as "Don't be so capricious!" Thats what I mean. The word "caprichoso" is common in Spanish. Everybody knows it. But its counterpart in English is a less-common word but knowing it enhances the range of your vocabulary. And certainly it works both ways.

By: typewriter

typewriter — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:31:42 -0800

Also learn more words, and fill the world's rice bowl here.

By: lungtaworld

lungtaworld — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:33:45 -0800

wordie.org is amazing. Thanks for the link :)
I can spend hours here!

By: hjo3

hjo3 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:41:25 -0800

Caveat, jejune
Extricate, delineate
Gravitas, censure

By: wafaa

wafaa — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:42:46 -0800

My two favorite words:

redolent
ennui

By: Mercaptan

Mercaptan — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:48:34 -0800

salient
ignoble
ostensibly
cohesive

By: j-dawg

j-dawg — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:54:19 -0800

I often use obfuscatory, although not with any intention to obfuscate.

Having said that, it's no skin off my neck if others don't know what I mean when I say cutaneous.

While I wouldn't call it a fancy word, I get a cozy feeling when using haimish.

While unneeded for my vocabulary, I enjoy vestigial. (But people would think me unbalanced if I confused that term with vestibular.)

By: gnutron

gnutron — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:04:48 -0800

i am a fan of the term callipygian. that is all.

By: wafaa

wafaa — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:05:51 -0800

By the way, this is great. I'm looking up all the words y'all have contributed, and I'm making notes on the ones that I'm not sure how to use.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:07:03 -0800

I guess "purport". Oh, and "subsequently", as in "we will revisit this matter subsequently". Yes I got it from Deadwood.

By: cr_joe

cr_joe — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:09:24 -0800

Illustrative sounds so crisp and utilitarian. It's one of my favorites.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:10:33 -0800

I second mdn's recommendation of wide reading and vacapinta's of learning a Latin-based language. Also, you will do the world a favor if you learn to use penultimate correctly (it does not mean "really, really ultimate"!).

Aside from that, I learned interlocutrix in high school. It's a female participant in a conversation... although strangely Webster's telling me it's not a word, and yet interlocutor, the masculine form, is included.

That's because it's rare, but it does exist. OED citations:
1860 MRS. W. P. BYRNE Undercurrents I. 27 The man moved from the wall towards his interlocutrix.
1868 Pall Mall G. 28 Mar. 11 His interlocutrix will not have Mrs. Guinevere for the brand-mark of the sex.

The "real" feminine form (the one they give as an entry word), according to the OED, is interlocutress:
1858 HOGG Shelley II. 328, I.. asked.. the fair interlocutresses for some samples of the nightly dialogue.
1880 H. JAMES Mme. de Mauves 105 Longmore felt a revival of interest in his interlocutress.

There's also interlocutrice, but the less said about that, the better.

By: pineapple

pineapple — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:13:06 -0800

Already mentioned: ostensibly, fecund, ubiquitous, schadenfreude, gravitas, salient. I only use "lionize" in MeTa, it would seem (which I'm sure makes some kind of psychological statement about me as a person or MeFite).

Others that I seem to find handy: cocurricular, peccadillo, frisson, soupçon, venerable, askance, curmudgeon, asymptotic, porte-cochere, assuage, denouement, vacillate. Umbrage and its friend, chagrin. Castigate (chasten is good too, but again -- not all that much less showy). Ennui's pal malaise. Salient's pal germane.

These are the words where I often find myself looking for a less-wordy substitute -- only, I can't ever find one that is not pretentious yet has exactly the same nuance. Feel free to make suggestions!

Abattoir and ungulate, we use a lot at home (inside jokes). I'd not likely use them out in public, though.

By: GooseOnTheLoose

GooseOnTheLoose — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:30:25 -0800

Here's my list on wordie. I remember putting "eponysterical" on there, and I also discovered the appropriately autological "sesquipedalian" on that site.

By: 517

517 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:41:07 -0800

albeit

By: Unicorn on the cob

Unicorn on the cob — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:51:33 -0800

corpulence
abscond
canard
indefatigable
concupiscent (this truly is one of my favorite words, ever)
solipsism
mellifluous
glossolalia
aperture
quixotic
and the twins, lugubrious and salubrious.

I second the above enthusiasm about enervate; I love that word.

I wish more would come to mind; I used to be a spelling bee nerd and onomatopoeia was my favorite for a long, long time.

The words above to me sound like mouthfuls of exotic food and have meanings that elevate them beyond the banal; I love the way they feel swirling around my mouth.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:00:19 -0800

My wordie list, although they are not actually words I tend to use. Some of them are not even real words. If you can slip "hypokeimenon" casually into a conversation about pokemon, you are full of win.

My favorite word that might actually be commonly used is abrade or abraded (but not abrasion).

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:14:18 -0800

There's also interlocutrice, but the less said about that, the better.

Yes, well, when you have a large rooster with a lizard-like tail participating in your conversations things can get ugly. They tend to turn you to stone and all.

NOT COCKATRICE-IST

By: lleachie

lleachie — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:28:25 -0800

Exacerbate has to be one of my favorites. I have to say, though, that threads like this exacerbate my tendency to use large words.

By: ctmf

ctmf — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:44:36 -0800

I find that I often start off sentences that are going to contain the word "exacerbate", then I realize that I don't really want to use that word. While correct, it's uncommon enough that everyone will stop paying attention to what I'm saying and go "ooh, exACERbate! good word!". Unfortunately I usually can't think of a better word in the split second before I have to say something lame, like "uh.. makes X even worse."

I also like captious.

By: Sitegeist

Sitegeist — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:51:11 -0800

I also second mdn's advice to learn words organically and vacapinta's suggestion of reinforcement through a second (related) language.

I would caution against learning words in an isolated context such as in this thread. It's very easy to come across as a wanker (Aussie slang) when you're obviously just using words for the sake of using them. You will also probably put your audience off the word rather than turning them on to it if your use comes across as artificial.

I've just read The Bell by Iris Murdoch and she makes fun throughout the novel by having one of her characters overuse a word he has just learnt that word being rebarbative.

By: gcat

gcat — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:05:27 -0800

lubricious

By: winks007

winks007 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:41:18 -0800

extraneous variables!

By: Tesseractive

Tesseractive — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:41:38 -0800

I like the word amalgam. It's technically the word for a compound containing mercury but it and its verb form, amalgamate, are a nice synonym for mixture.

As a note, I cross referenced my GRE vocabulary lists with words that I learned from White Wolf role playing games (Vampire: the Masquerade, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, etc) and there were quite a few. (There's a group of vampires with healing powers called the Salubri, legerdemain and chicanery are fairy powers, etc...) So, to increase your word power, revisit your angsty goth years.

By: ontic

ontic — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:50:08 -0800

Recent fan of "exacerbate" here as well.

But never use a large word where a diminutive one will suffice ;-)

By: lundman

lundman — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:58:22 -0800

elucidate!

But English is my third language, so I do not do so well on the big words :)

By: seawallrunner

seawallrunner — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:17:40 -0800

demur. I love that word. It sounds elegant, and it's a little ancient, but beautiful - like a well upkept antique. I demur to many things, on professional grounds - and sometimes just because I want to.

Another word I like is chthonic but I don't get too many opportunities to use it at work.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:27:20 -0800

I have been thinking about this all day but couldn't come up with any unusual words I actually use but I finally remembered one: ossify. Like my ossified brain.

By: kjs4

kjs4 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:28:43 -0800

I make use of "requisite" and "proverbial" on a fairly regular basis. And I've always had a soft spot for "verbose" as it is what it is.

And nthing the idea to learn a romantic language. My sister said that french was often just long english words with a french accent.

By: mindsound

mindsound — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:42:21 -0800

suppurating

i have an ingrown toenail :(

By: h00py

h00py — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:49:15 -0800

I like the words lugubrious, phlegmatic, unctious, apropos and ingenue.

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:19:52 -0800

Possibly not what you're thinking, but using "retard" in the original sense (especially as relates to engineering, rate of change, etc) is something that few people do because the word can be so offensive when used other ways, but when used like this doesn't raise the hackles like you'd think it would, so it just sounds concise.

(Or would saying something like "cooling this juncture should sufficiently retard the temperature increase that it solves the problem" completely flip your flags, and I'm quite mistaken on this?)

By: kickback

kickback — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:42:21 -0800

this thread has gotten a lot of responses but still seems inchoate to me

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:09:06 -0800

maven

By: Gungho

Gungho — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:17:36 -0800

Craptastic. as in The new Windows Vista feature is craptastic.
Craptacular as in the new Windows Vista Feature is craptacular

My father liked perambulate.
My favorite is anachronistic

By: signal

signal — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:18:58 -0800

Its counterpart in English is a less-common word but knowing it enhances the range of your vocabulary. And certainly it works both ways.
posted by vacapinta

Same here. Many the 'uncommon' word in this thread have a latin origin, and as such sound perfectly ordinary to a Spanish/English speaker.

By: meta_eli

meta_eli — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:39:53 -0800

Craptastic and craptacular are ok, but they got nothing on my all-time favorite word: crapulous. (Which has the added benefit of being a real word...)

crap·u·lous
Etymology: Late Latin crapulosus, from Latin crapula intoxication, from Greek kraipal
Date: 1536
1 : marked by intemperance especially in eating or drinking
2 : sick from excessive indulgence in liquor

It means just what it sounds like!

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:02:37 -0800

Ignominious - public and humiliating: "his defeat was ignominious".

By: Brian James

Brian James — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:08:59 -0800

Asinine! It's fun to say, it makes people giggle, and it's all too often perfectly appropriate. Foolish, or resembling an ass.

By: bryon

bryon — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:14:54 -0800

Mmmmm... obstreperous (from Pastabagel, way back up at the top).

Digress, disingenuous, dilettante, dichotomy, and deucedly are five of my favorites from the fourth letter of the alphabet.

Honestly, the word I find the most use for these days is "fuckwit," a la Bridget Jones. And where I live, at least, it's not overused.

By: oxford blue

oxford blue — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:36:04 -0800

I see no reason to use defenestrate when "throw out the window" works fine.

Than surely many, if not all, of the following words will be of no use to you then. The examples given essentially all replace a phrase, and are equivalent to using defenestrate instead of throw out the window.

However, my concerns about the utility of this thread to you if that is indeed your attitude aside, I should not resist this chance to also establish myself as a fellow lexophile.

I shall adopt the rôle of a castigatory school ma'am:

Whilst you may wish to adopt our inimitable love of words, if your entirely scrofulous attitude does not improve your vituperations shall simply be susurrant, and lack the force majeure you seek. As a result, you may perhaps expose yourself, and by extension those around you, to be mere sciolists. If that happens, will not this endeavor shall made fainéant! Triturate factiously on this while you ponder the other answers. I hope assuming an attitude of great propinquity does not cause you to ignore my words. Fin.

If you are serious about improving your vocab there are a few practices that you must adopt; one, never ignore an unfamiliar word. When you stumble upon a word that you do not know the precise definition of, than either directly go to a dictionary, or note it down for later research (it is in this spirit that I provide no defintions). Languagehat (hopefully he will recover from the grave injury to language I have just committed in the previous paragraph) has frequently demonstrated the application of this practice. Secondly, although perhaps primary in importance, read like the dickens. Read far beyond your traditional comfort zone, and expose yourself to not only legion new words, but different ways of using familiar words.

Good luck! And in terms of parting words "Never use a big word when a diminutive once shall suffice." ;)

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:17:22 -0800

Never use a big word when a diminutive once shall suffice.

I always eschew obfuscation.

By: Oriole Adams

Oriole Adams — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:24:27 -0800

nonplussed
avuncular

By: rocco

rocco — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:25:30 -0800

Fruition
Juxtapose
Hyperbole

By: eritain

eritain — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:05:12 -0800

Consilience: The joining together of formerly separate knowledge into a unified theory.

By: Phalene

Phalene — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:05:54 -0800

Shibboleth. Juxtaposition. Vernacular. Loquacious. Colloquial.

I have many more, though not through any inherent desire to inflict an obfuscation of meaning upon my listeners. I just employ a pretentiously erudite sounding lexicon, and have since I was a child, as a result of congenital Aspergers combined with way too much reading.

By: Effigy2000

Effigy2000 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:02 -0800

I would propound that this thread could easily have become a boondoggle however I am pleased to behold that this has not been the end result. Verily, this virtual ventilation has been most congenial! How gratifying!

By: flutable

flutable — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:24:19 -0800

Schadenfreude.

The best definition for this is ..... "when two BMWs collide"

By: my face your

my face your — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:36:24 -0800

Two words that sound like what they mean and are fun to say, particularly if you roll the Rs:
thrawn; and
carnaptious.

By: phredgreen

phredgreen — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:03:40 -0800

I use nifty, groovy, and smurfy on a fairly regular basis. They tend to get an amused look.

I'll also answer anyone who idly asks how I'm doing with "reasonably well" - it's a great way to get them to actually think about it.

By: Gungho

Gungho — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:22:15 -0800

I always thought Shadenfreude had two meanings. One being distress at another's happiness, and the other being joy over someone else's troubles. Am I wrong?

By: oxford blue

oxford blue — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:14:42 -0800

Via dictionary.app:

schadenfreude |� sh ädYn�froidY| (also Schadenfreude)
noun
pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.
ORIGIN German, from Schaden harm + Freude joy.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:04:22 -0800

Ephemeral and ineffable. If you don't find occasion to use them you aren't living life correctly.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:44:55 -0800

I must again pimp the word "velleity", which means something you want to do, but not quite enough to do it - I'm afraid I could use it all day long.

By: chesty_a_arthur

chesty_a_arthur — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:20:45 -0800

hectoring
discursive

I particularly enjoy identifying someone as having a "hectoring discursive style." In mixed company you get some serious stares, let me tell you.

By: mdn

mdn — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:43:11 -0800

If you can slip "hypokeimenon" casually into a conversation about pokemon, you are full of win.

but it's just a greek word for underlying thing, sometimes translated "subject" though that's hugely oversimplifying. Also it's often spelled (and always pronounced more like) "hupokeimenon" (the greek y/u sound is kind of weird).

I always thought Shadenfreude had two meanings. One being distress at another's happiness, and the other being joy over someone else's troubles. Am I wrong?

I've never come across it except to refer to happiness, specifically that joy felt at another's suffering. But I don't think of it as a neurotic word, as your first definition would imply, but as having a sense of satisfaction about it.

By: signal

signal — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:22:55 -0800

A general word of advice: don't use 'big' words just for the hell of it, to replace other little words. Use big words to say things that you couldn't say at all with little words.

By: desuetude

desuetude — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:31:05 -0800

[points to own moniker as a favorite example]

By: Metroid Baby

Metroid Baby — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:27:13 -0800

Thanks, everyone! I'd forgotten I knew some of these.

Wordie is fantastic and something I'll be returning to a lot in the near future.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:47:32 -0800

I find words that define shapes/spatial relationships to be useful, like crenulated, circumjacent, and asymptotic.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:01:23 -0800

but it's just a greek word for underlying thing, sometimes translated "subject" though that's hugely oversimplifying. Also it's often spelled (and always pronounced more like) "hupokeimenon" (the greek y/u sound is kind of weird).

yes, but it looks kind of like it could be pronounced like pokemon but not quite and it's funny, see? Aw, nevermind.

my hypokeimenons, let me show you them.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:13:51 -0800

I also like tergiversate. Or not.

By: X4ster

X4ster — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:51:29 -0800

Didn't see these favorites of mine listed above;
Ameliorate
Frenetic
Atavism (Atavistic)

By: X4ster

X4ster — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:04:29 -0800

Occupational fields and scientific specialties have their own specialized vocabularies. Among the geology terms I've used are vug and the ever popular orogenic activity.

By: milestogo

milestogo — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:23:53 -0800

I really like throwing around felicitous

exhibiting an agreeably appropriate manner or style; "a felicitous speaker"
marked by good fortune; "a felicitous life"; "a happy outcome"

By: jason's_planet

jason's_planet — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:10:43 -0800

Ephemeral

By: LyzzyBee

LyzzyBee — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:11:44 -0800

Palimpsest and discombobulate(d)

I try to use them at least weekly.

By: pushing paper and bottoming chairs

pushing paper and bottoming chairs — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:25:32 -0800

Bailiwick--I used that word at work, and my 60+ year old coworker was delighted, as it had been ages since he heard that word used in conversation.

By: Septimus

Septimus — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:59:41 -0800

I particularly like the word rebarbative, but I don't use it enough. Imbricate is a word that I overuse. I have been told that only grad students use it, but I've seen it in a lot of books, and once you've gotten in the habit of using it, it's hard to replace. Paucity is a good one, too. I like but am a bit confused by the late Victorian/Edwardian slang word "rum." Does it mean bad, strange, or both or either of those? Also, I heard a professor use "bailiwick" today (see above)-- and shortly thereafter "canard." One last thing, I think it's great to use the word "precalculus" when I should say "ridiculous," as in "why, that's simply precalculus!" The trick is not to emphasize the first syllable at all and put all the stress on the second syllable. Say this in front of a classroom of bored students and see if they even notice.

By: oxford blue

oxford blue — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:53:44 -0800

Imbricate doesn't seem to be a word that lends itself towards overuse.

Reprobate and noisome however...

By: ontic

ontic — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:06:26 -0800

Forgot the other day about "abrogate" as in to "abrogate one's duty" or an "Abrogation of duty".