Words I Like

A compilation of words I like and their definitions. Visit the source.

Abridged (adjective)

1. Shortened or condensed especially by the omission of words or passages.

Acrimonious (adjective)

1. Angry and bitter.
2. Biting or rancorous especially in feeling, language, or manner.

Anodyne (adjective)

1. Capable of soothing or eliminating pain.
2. Not likely to offend or arouse tensions. Also used as a noun to describe something that soothes, calms, or comforts.

Arete (noun)

1. Virtue, excellence.
2. Concept in ancient Greek thought that, in its most basic sense, refers to ‘excellence’ of any kind—especially a person or thing’s “full realization of potential or inherent function.” The term may also refer to excellence in “moral virtue.”
3. AKA ἀρετή.

Asunder (adverb)

1. Into separate parts or pieces.
2. Apart from each other wither in position or in direction.

Axiom (noun)

1. A self-evident or universally recognized truth; a maxim.
2. An established rule, principle, or law.
3. A self-evident principle or one that is accepted as true without proof as the basis for argument; a postulate.

Axiomatic (adjective)

1. Of, relating to, or resembling an axiom; self-evident.

Cogitation (noun)

1. The action of thinking deeply about something. Example: “Sorry, did I interrupt your cogitation?”
2. The act of thinking very carefully about a subject, or the thoughts themselves.

Colophon (noun)

1. An inscription at the end of a book or manuscript usually with facts about its production.
2. An identifying mark used by a printer or a publisher.

Contrivance (noun)

1. The use of skill to bring something about or create something. Example: “The requirements of the system, by happy chance and some contrivance, can be summed up in an acronym.”
2. A device, especially in literary or artistic composition, which gives a sense of artificiality.

Defenestration (noun)

1. A throwing of a person or thing out of a window.
2. A usually swift dismissal or expulsion (as from a political party or office).

Diacritic (noun)

1. A mark near or through an orthographic or phonetic character or combination of characters indicating a phonetic value different from that given the unmarked or otherwise marked element.
2. A glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph.

Diligence (noun)

1. Careful and persistent work or effort.
2. Steady, earnest, and energetic effort.
3. Care; heed; caution; heedfulness.
4. A public stage-coach: usually with reference to France, but also applied to such stage-coaches elsewhere.

Dinghy (noun)

1. A small open boat carried or towed as a tender, lifeboat, or pleasure craft by a larger boat.
2. A small rowboat or motorboat.
3. An inflatable rubber life raft.

Dogfooding (slang)

• From Wikipedia: Eating your own dog food or “dogfooding” is the practice of using one’s own products or services.

Excoriate (verb)

1. Censure or criticize severely. (Formal description)
2. To criticize (something) harshly.
3. Damage or remove part of the surface of the skin. (Medical definition)

Engender (verb)

1. To cause to exist or to develop. Example: “Policies that have engendered controversy.”

Expediency (noun)

1. Appropriateness to the purpose at hand.
2. Adherence to self-serving means.

Flotsam (noun)

1. The wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating on or washed up by the sea.

Forestall (noun)

1. To delay, hinder, or prevent (an event, for example) by taking action beforehand: synonym: prevent.
2. To delay, hinder, or prevent (someone) from doing something by taking action beforehand.
3. To prevent or hinder normal sales in (a market), as by buying up merchandise.

Frumpy / Frumpish (slang)

1. Dull or plain.
2. Prim and sedate.

Furphy (slang)

1. (slang) a rumour, or an erroneous or improbable story.
2. A rumour or story, especially one that is untrue or absurd.
3. Australian slang for an erroneous or improbable story that is claimed to be factual.

Glib (adjectives)

1. Performed with a natural, offhand ease.
2. Given to or characterized by fluency of speech or writing that often suggests insincerity, superficiality, or a lack of concern.

Grok (transitive verb)

1. To understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with.
2. To empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment.
3. Neologism coined by American writer Robert A. Heinlein for his 1961 science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land.

Halcyon (noun)

1. A kingfisher, especially one of the genus Halcyon.
2. A fabled bird, identified with the kingfisher, that was supposed to have had the power to calm the wind and the waves while it nested on the sea during the winter solstice.

Humdinger (noun)

1. A striking or extraordinary person or thing.

Idiom (noun)

1. An expression in the usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (such as up in the air for “undecided”) or in its grammatically atypical use of words (such as give way).

Idiomatic (adjective)

1. Of, relating to, or conforming to idiom.
2. Peculiar to a particular group, individual, or style.

Innocuous (adjectives)

1. Producing no injury, harmless.
2. Not likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility.

Inoculation (slang)

1. To introduce immunologically active material (such as an antibody or antigen) into especially in order to treat or prevent a disease.
2. To introduce (something, such as a microorganism) into a suitable situation for growth.

Insipid (adjectives)

1. Lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate, or challenge.
2. Lacking taste or savor.

Jaunt (noun)

1. A short trip or excursion, usually for pleasure; an outing.

Jetsam (noun)

1. Unwanted material or goods that have been thrown overboard from a ship and washed ashore, especially material that has been discarded to lighten the vessel.

Logy (slang)

1. Characterized by lethargy; sluggish.

Lozenge (noun)

1. A small, medicated candy intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to lubricate and soothe irritated tissues of the throat.
2. A four-sided planar figure with a diamondlike shape; a rhombus that is not a square.
3. Something having this shape, especially a heraldic device.

Palliate (verb)

1. To reduce the violence of (a disease).
2. To cover by excuses and apologies.
3. To moderate the intensity of.

Paratelic (adjective)

1. Applied to the mental orientation of a person who has a fun loving attitude to a situation and seeks excitement. A paratelic state of mind is activity orientated and pleasure seeking. See also reversal theory. Compare telic.

Prehensile (adjective)

1. Adapted for seizing or grasping especially by wrapping around. (prehensile tail)
2. Gifted with mental grasp or moral or aesthetic perception.

Risible (adjective)

1. Relating to laughter or used in eliciting laughter.
2. Eliciting laughter, ludicrous.
3. Capable of laughing or inclined to laugh.

Rue (noun)

1. Any of various aromatic woody herbs or shrubs of the genus Ruta of the Mediterranean region and western Asia, especially the ornamental R. graveolens, having bipinnately compound leaves that yield an acrid volatile oil formerly used in medicine.
2. Any of various other plants having similar foliage, such as meadow rue.
3. Sorrow; regret.

Sleuth (noun)

1. Detective.
2. To act as a detective.
3. To search for information.

Succinct (adjective)

1. Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words; concise and terse.
2. Encircled as if by a girdle; girded.

Sycophant (noun)

1. A person who attempts to gain advantage by flattering influential people or behaving in a servile manner.

Torpor (noun)

1. A state of mental or physical inactivity or insensibility.
2. Lethargy; apathy. synonym: lethargy.
3. The dormant, inactive state of a hibernating or estivating animal.

Unabashed (adjective)

1. Not disconcerted or embarrassed; poised.
2. Not concealed or disguised; obvious.

Vie (verb)

1. To strive for superiority; contend, compete.