Word of the Day: unusual words you may not have heard of

[Omits]

I came across a couple of words I'm not familiar with recently, and thought it might be fun to have a thread showcasing perhaps less common words.

Here's my first:

magniloquent

using high-flown or bombastic language.

So, a synonym of bombastic.

 

[Omits]

Mostly I would call this more simply "junk at the bottom of the screen."

Could it be dialogue text?

 

[Omits]

Trichotillomania. Very useable in a novel.

 

[Parson]

Could it be dialogue text?

I don't think so. In Windows on the original settings you have a list of one click programs (a lot of which Windows prefers you use), programs that are open, and the blasted Bing search box an the bottom of the screen.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Plastography: The art of forging handwriting.
Pavonated: Blue like a peacock.

 

[THX1138]

I have seen this one used many times here on Chrons, but never looked it up. So, new to me but not for many of you.

Doggerel: or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning.

 

[THX1138]

Macaroni: nonsense; foolishness.
Sabbulonarium: gravel pit.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Quiddity. The essence or substance of a thing.

 

[Parson]

Here's a word I discovered while playing Wordle. I think I'm going to use it!

Snash: insolence; impertinence. intransitive verb. 2. to use abusive language; speak disrespectfully.

His rant was a bunch of snash. I didn't pay any attention.

 

[Mgellis]

Enthymeme
A syllogism with one or more parts removed. Also, one of the master tools of human civilization.

 

[THX1138]

Enthymeme
A syllogism with one or more parts removed. Also, one of the master tools of human civilization.

Welcome to Chrons!

 

[thaddeus6th]

Catachresis - using a word in an incorrect way.

 

[pogopossum]

Writing a review elsewhere, I thought to look up descriptors of works of a less than positive nature. Most of these are not new or rare, but I found them enjoyable:

Codswallop
Drool
Twaddle
Claptrap
Tosh
Bunombe
Piffle
Asininity
Blarney
Fiddle-faddle
Crapola
Malarkey
Flapdoodle

New (to me) were:

Taradiddle
Blatherskite &
Fatuity

There were more, but those were the most fun.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Octothorpe is another word for the pound sign, number sign, or hashmark.
Lemniscate or lambiscate is a term for what's commonly called the infinity symbol.

 

[Renè Williams]

Numinous -I legit thought this was a made up word the first time i saw it

 

[Montero]

@Brian G Turner magniloquent I came across in Dorothy Sayers, describing her detective, Lord Peter Wimsey all wound up and spouting poetry and I have loved it for years
@pogopossum that is a great list. I've always loved Taradiddle since singing Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe - one of the songs has the chorus of "taradiddle, taradiddle, tol-lol-lay".

A word my mother found in a dictionary many years ago that we both loved was "brontophile" - someone who loves thunder - technically I am more of a brontophobe, really.

 

[Renè Williams]

@Brian G Turner magniloquent I came across in Dorothy Sayers, describing her detective, Lord Peter Wimsey all wound up and spouting poetry and I have loved it for years
@pogopossum that is a great list. I've always loved Taradiddle since singing Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe - one of the songs has the chorus of "taradiddle, taradiddle, tol-lol-lay".

A word my mother found in a dictionary many years ago that we both loved was "brontophile" - someone who loves thunder - technically I am more of a brontophobe, really.

Brontophile Brute just became my new favorite way of saying hard headed

 

[Wayne Mack]

Tmesis - Inserting a word inside another, for example, abso-freaking-lutely. Definition of TMESIS

 

[Parson]

I listened to a podcast this morning (Shortwave -- an NPR science podcast) and learned that trees play a role in the formation of clouds. I would not have guessed this.

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

Lovecraftian Words
I have been reading a lot of Lovecraft recently (as evidenced in my October 75 words), and there were a few words I either sort of knew what they meant, or had no clue at all. Here are some of them and their meanings.

Some common ones.
Gambrel roof
is a symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep.

Cyclopean
of or relating to a style of stone construction marked typically by the use of large irregular blocks without mortar

Stygian
1. Gloomy and dark.
2. Infernal; hellish.
3. Of or relating to the river Styx.

And some more

Archaean
any member of the Archaea, a domain of prokaryotic microorganisms, distinguished from bacteria on molecular phylogenetic grounds and often found in hostile environments, such as volcanic vents and hot springs

Conterminous
1. Having a common boundary; bordering; contiguous.
2. Meeting at the ends; without an intervening gap:

Crotala
A percussion instrument of ancient Greece and Rome resembling a pair of clappers or castanets
A type of castanet, often used in religious dances in ancient Greece

Desiderate
To wish or long for
To wish to have or see happen.

Glibber
1. Readily fluent, often thoughtlessly, superficially, or insincerely so.
2. Easy or unconstrained, as actions or manners.

Marmoreal
Of or like marble
Resembling marble, as in smoothness, whiteness, or hardness.

Ophidian
Belonging or pertaining to the suborder Ophidia (Serpentes), comprising the snakes.

Palimpsest
1. A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely scraped off or erased and often legible.
2. An object or area that has extensive evidence of or layers showing activity or use.

Tenebrous
Dark; gloomy; obscure.


And some for which I could not find a definition
Meep

Is Meep A Real Word?

It could be a Muppet, a Road Runner, or maybe even you—if you're trying to be cutesy or playful, as this term suggests.

www.dictionary.com

Pshent
not found. possible misspelling of Pschent
the crown of the pharaohs
the double crown worn by ancient Egyptian kings, symbolic of dominion over Upper and Lower Egypt, which had previously been separate kingdoms

Used to refer to a pshent of stars. He used it about four times within about two pages, and then never again.

Scyptic
Not an actual word, but...

Scyptic responses

A while back , I got interested in the word "scyptic." I decided that it probably owes its existence to a misprint of the word "cryptic" in ...

blogicaster.blogspot.com