Words Worth Knowing

As the winter months begin to dissipate, we can finally emerge into daylight again.

Most of us spend a lot of our time reading over the winter, and it is interesting to see various words that we can understand by context, but perhaps couldn’t exactly define a particular word.

Here are a few to define from a wintertime’s worth of books, that aren’t utilized often, and are worth knowing:

Eremition:  the act of gradually disappearing, or distancing oneself from others, as opposed to making a dramatic exit. The move necessitated our eremition from our parental grasp.

Inchoate:  An adjective that describes the beginning or formative part of a relationship, thing, or event; not yet complete. The United States was yet inchoate for years after the revolution ended.

Feculant:  an adjective that means grimy, dirty, or muddy. The feculent hound was unaware of his unwelcome presence in the formerly clean kitchen.

Polemic:  Both a noun and adjective, the word denotes a highly critical essay or expressed idea that attacks a person, idea, or institution. The author’s polemic against the governmental stance on safety standards puts many at risk.

Viridity:  The state of being naïve or innocent. It’s not fair to take advantage of the viridity of youth.

Peroration: A tedious, and often pompous, long speech. The verb form of this noun is perorate. We left after an hour of listening to the senator’s exhausting peroration. 

Postprandial:  The adjective that describes the period of time after a heavy meal, usually dinnertime. For our postprandial delight, a game of parcheesi was offered before dessert.

Apotheosis: A noun that describes a culmination, or apogee, of an event or state of being. The Battle of Chancellorsville proved to be Robert E. Lee’s apotheosis of the Civil War.

Enervate:  A verb that means to weaken something or someone. The crumbling foundation proved to be the final issue to fatally enervate the old building.

Palliative: An adjective that describes the act of making something less terrible or evil than it is. The verb form is to palliate. He made a valiant, and palliative, attempt to lessen the terrible blow of the accident.

Depredation: The destruction, ravaging, or laying waste to a city or battlefield. The town of Gettysburg was in a state of utter depredation for many months after the famous battle.

Ineffable: An adjective that describes a feeling for something or someone too great or amazing to be expressed in words. The love for Robert E. Lee by his troops is something that is ineffable.

Cockade:  A decorative rosette or tied ribbon on a uniform to show loyalty to a household, group, or political cause. The staff wore colorful cockades on their lapels during the gala.

Sophistry:  The act of deceptive reasoning with the blatant intent of leading others astray. It is not surprising that the majority of the populace has grown weary of the sophistry of politicians.

Nugatory:  An adjective that is defined as having little or no value or consequence. The old coins proved to be of nugatory importance.

Pullulate: A verb that means to germinate or sprout. The tomato seeds will not be able to pullulate in this excessive rain.

It is both interesting and satisfying to never know all the words, and to learn more each day in the discovery of new ones – and rediscovering the old ones. 

Pass them along.