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Sometimes new words can be a lot of fun. This glossary contains three types of fun words: words that are unusually specific and therefore perfect for certain situations, like specious (seeming good or sound at first but lacking real merit) and apolaustic (wholly devoted to the seeking of enjoyment); words that are simply fun to say, like absquatulate (flee, make off; abscond) and quidnunc (a busybody or a gossip); and, my favorite, words for things you never knew there were words for, like omphalopsychite (one who contemplates his navel) and nothosonomia (the act of calling someone a bastard).
- absquatulate
- flee, make off; abscond.
- agelast
- one who never laughs.
- aglet
- the plastic tip on the end of a shoelace.
- agrestic
- characteristic of the country, rustic; also, unpolished or uncouth.
- akimbo
- of the arms, with the hands on the hips and elbows bent outward. "He stood akimbo and surveyed the wreckage."
- anadromous
- of fish, migrating up rivers from the sea to spawn in fresh water.
- anile
- like a doddering, foolish old woman.
- anserine
- goose-like; also, silly, foolish, or stupid.
- anthropophagy
- cannibalism.
- apolaustic
- wholly devoted to the seeking of enjoyment.
- arcadian
- idyllically pastoral, simple, or untroubled.
- avuncular
- of or pertaining to an uncle; also, uncle-like.
- barratry
- the offense of frequently stirring up lawsuits or quarrels; also, in maritime law, fraud or gross criminal negligence by a captain or crew at the expense of a ship's owner or of the owner of a ship's cargo.
- bastinado
- torture by beating on the soles of the feet.
- bezonian
- a scoundrel.
- bibcock
- a faucet that is bent downward
- bibliobibuli
- those who read too much.
- biffy
- a toilet or outhouse.
- bodewash
- dried buffalo dung, used as fuel for fire.
- boeotian
- stupid, dull, obtuse; also, such a person.
- bolus
- a large medicinal pill; also, a mass of chewed food.
- boondoggle
- an unnecessary activity or wasteful expenditure.
- borborygmic
- pertaining to the rumbling of one's stomach or intestines.
- bosky
- having an abundance of trees or shrubbery.
- brobdingnagian
- enormous, immense.
- brummagem
- cheap and showy but inferior and worthless.
- buccal
- of or pertaining to the cheek or the mouth.
- bugaboo
- something that causes baseless fear or worry; also, a false belief used to intimidate.
- bumf
- toilet paper; also, worthless paperwork, literature, or junk mail.
- callipygian
- having shapely buttocks. See also: steatopygic.
- captious
- apt to raise objections to trivial faults or defects; given to fault-finding; difficult to please.
- caryatid
- a draped female figure supporting an entablature.
- caseifaction
- the act of turning into cheese.
- cataglottism
- kissing with the tongue.
- cerumen
- earwax.
- chatoyant
- changing in luster or color, as cat's eyes.
- chiaroscuro
- distribution of light and shade in a picture
- chthonic
- dwelling in the underworld.
- cicisbeo
- a male escort or lover of a married woman.
- collation
- a light meal.
- contumelious
- insolently abusive and humiliating.
- corrigendum
- a mistake to be corrected, especially an error in a printed book.
- corybantic
- frenzied or agitated.
- crapulous
- given to, characterized by, or suffering from gross excess in eating and drinking.
- cynosure
- a center of attraction or admiration.
- dandle
- to dance (a child) on one's knees; the action taken by a dandler.
- deasil
- clockwise. See also: widdershins.
- defenestrate
- to throw out of a window
- dendrochronology
- the study of growth rings on trees.
- dipsomania
- uncontrollable craving for alcohol.
- discalced
- barefooted.
- doddle
- something easy or requiring little effort.
- donnybrook
- a brawl or heated public dispute.
- dottle
- the plug of unburned tobacco left in a pipe after smoking.
- draggle
- make wet and dirty by dragging on the ground.
- duff
- decaying matter in a forest
- ecdysiast
- stripper.
- edacious
- devouring, consuming, voracious.
- eesome
- pleasing to the eye.
- emollient
- characteristic of that which softens or soothes the skin.
- enantiodromic
- characteristic of something that has become its opposite.
- energumen
- one who is possessed by a demonic entity.
- epeolatry
- worship of words.
- epigone
- an undistinguished imitator or descendant of an illustrious person or family.
- eructation
- belching; also, discharge of a volcano.
- esprit d'escalier
- a remark that occurs to someone later, after it should have been said (often a witty retort that occurs after the moment to use it has passed).
- estivate
- to spend the summer.
- esurient
- hungry.
- evancalous
- pleasant to embrace.
- expiscate
- to learn through laborious investigation.
- exsanguinate
- to drain blood from.
- factotum
- employee or assistant who does just about everything.
- fantods
- a state of nervous irritability; the fidgets; the willies. "Waiting for this semester's report card is giving me the fantods."
- fernticle
- freckle.
- fescue
- a small stick used to point out letters to a child learning to read.
- flews
- the pendulous corners of the upper lip of certain dogs, such as the bloodhound.
- floccinaucinihilipilification
- the categorizing of something as worthless.
- flummery
- meaningless chatter; also, deceptive language.
- footle
- to talk or act foolishly; to waste time.
- foudroyant
- dazzling, flashing; also, thunderous, noisy.
- friable
- easily crumbled; crumbly.
- frisson
- an emotional thrill; a shudder of emotion.
- frowzy
- ill-smelling, musty; also, slovenly, unkempt.
- fugacious
- fleeting, transitory; difficult to capture.
- funambulist
- a tightrope walker
- gallimaufry
- jumble or medley; hodgepodge.
- geck
- a dupe.
- genuflect
- bend the knee and lower the body, especially in reverence.
- gleek
- to joke or jest.
- gobbledygook
- windy gibberish or jargon.
- gorbellied
- corpulent.
- gormless
- dull, stupid, clumsy.
- gound
- the gunk that collects in the corners of the eyes during sleep.
- gowpen
- two hands placed together to form a bowl-shape; also, the amount that can be contained in a pair of cupped hands.
- graustark
- an imaginary place of high romance.
- grimthorpe
- remodel or restore an old building without proper grounding or knowledge of its authentic character or without exercising care to remain faithful to its original quality and uniqueness; after Baron Grimthorpe, English lawyer and architect, restorer of St. Alban's cathedral.
- hallux
- big toe.
- hangdog
- shamefaced, browbeaten, or intimidated.
- hebdomadal
- weekly.
- hircine
- goat-like; also, lustful.
- hirple
- to hobble or walk lamely.
- hornswoggle
- bamboozle, deceive.
- hoyden
- a boisterous, carefree girl; a tomboy.
- infucate
- to apply cosmetics.
- inglenook
- a nook by a fireplace.
- insouciant
- blithely unconcerned.
- insufflate
- to blow on or breathe into.
- izzat
- honor, prestige, reputation.
- jillick
- to skip a stone across water.
- jocoserious
- combining serious and humorous matters.
- jugulate
- to slit the throat.
- kalopsia
- the delusion that things are more beautiful than they really are.
- katzenjammer
- a loud, discordant noise; also, a hangover; also, a state of depression or bewilderment.
- kibitz
- to look on and offer unsolicited, meddlesome advice; to make wisecracks when others are trying to work or speak seriously.
- kickshaw
- a trinket or bauble; a culinary delicacy.
- lambent
- softly radiant; of a light or flame, playing on a surface without burning it; also, dealing lightly and gracefully with a subject of discussion.
- lapidate
- to stone to death.
- latrinalia
- graffiti found in restrooms.
- legerdemain
- slight of hand; magic tricks.
- liripipe
- a long scarf or cord attached to and hanging from a hood.
- ludic
- characterized by playfulness.
- macerate
- to make or become soft by steeping in a liquid; also, to waste away by fasting.
- madefy
- moisten.
- maffick
- to rejoice with an extravagant and boisterous public celebration.
- malinger
- pretend to be ill in order to avoid work or shirk duty.
- marmoreal
- resembling marble.
- mawkish
- excessively or feebly sentimental; also, having a faint, sickly taste.
- meldrop
- a drop of mucus at the end of the nose.
- mendacious
- telling lies, especially habitually; untruthful.
- miasma
- a noxious atmosphere or influence; unpleasant or unwholesome air.
- misprision
- neglect or wrongful action committed by a public official.
- moiety
- about half of something.
- monomania
- obsession with one idea or interest.
- moonglade
- the bright reflection of the moon on a body of water.
- mordant
- bitingly sarcastic.
- mosh
- to engage in uninhibited, frenzied activities with others near the stage at a rock concert. See also: mosh pit.
- mosh pit
- the place near the stage at a rock concert where moshing occurs. See also: mosh.
- mulct
- to take money from, by taxation or by trickery.
- mundungus
- stinky tobacco.
- myrmidon
- an unscrupulously faithful follower; henchman.
- napiform
- resembling a turnip.
- neologist
- one who makes up new words.
- nidify
- to build a nest.
- noctambulist
- a sleepwalker; somnambulist.
- nosocomephrenia
- depression due to a prolonged hospital stay.
- nothosonomia
- the act of calling someone a bastard.
- nudiustertian
- pertaining to the day before yesterday.
- nyctalopia
- night blindness.
- obdormition
- numbness caused by pressure on a nerve, as when one's foot is "asleep."
- obnubilate
- cloud over, darken, or obscure.
- ochlocracy
- mob rule.
- octothorpe
- the '#' symbol; also, "octothorp."
- omphalopsychite
- one who contemplates his navel. See also: omphaloskepsis.
- omphaloskepsis
- contemplation of one's navel. See also: omphalopsychite.
- opsimath
- one who begins to learn late in life.
- ort
- a scrap of food left after a meal is completed.
- osculate
- kiss.
- ovoviviparous
- producing eggs that hatch within the female's body without obtaining nourishment from it.
- oxter
- armpit.
- pandiculation
- the stretching that accompanies yawning.
- panjandrum
- a pompous official or pretender; also, the mock title of a self-important person.
- pantaloon
- a man's close-fitting garment for the hips and legs, worn especially in the 19th century
- pate
- top of the head, usually a bald head.
- penny-farthing
- an old-fashioned kind of bicycle with a huge front wheel.
- penultimate
- next to last.
- perendinate
- to put off until the day after tomorrow; also, to keep postponing from day to day.
- peripatetic
- going from place to place; itinerant.
- philtrum
- the vertical groove between the nose and upper lip.
- picaresque
- of fiction, dealing with the adventures of a rogue.
- pilose
- covered with hair.
- pilpul
- a nitpicking, unproductive argument.
- pinguid
- fat; also, greasy.
- placebo
- a harmless substance given as medicine, usually to humor a patient.
- poetaster
- an inferior poet.
- popinjay
- a talkative and conceited person.
- popliteal
- of or pertaining to the back of the knee.
- preponderate
- to surpass others in numbers, intensity, force, or prowess.
- prescind
- turn aside.
- psithurism
- a low whispering sound, such as the rustle of leaves.
- puckeroo
- useless, broken.
- pulchritude
- attractiveness.
- purulent
- containing, consisting of, or discharging pus.
- pusillanimous
- timid, faint-hearted, or cowardly.
- quidnunc
- a busybody or a gossip.
- quincunx
- the pattern of five objects arranged such that four of the five objects form a square, while the fifth is positioned in the middle. "The dots on the '5' side of a die are arranged in a quincunx."
- quisquilious
- like rubbish; trashy, worthless.
- raconteur
- one skilled in telling stories.
- rebarbative
- causing aversion or irritation.
- recension
- an editorial revision of a literary work.
- recidivist
- one who continually commits crime and seems incurable of criminal tendencies.
- recrudesce
- of a disease, sore, or hostile feeling, to break out again.
- renitent
- resistant to pressure.
- retroussé
- turned up at the tip, especially a nose.
- rhabdomantist
- one who practices divination by means of a rod to locate underground water; a dowser.
- riant
- smiling.
- sanguinary
- bloodthirsty; murderous.
- sanguine
- cheerfully confident or optimistic; also, having a healthy, reddish color.
- saturnine
- characteristic of a person having a gloomy or forbidding appearance.
- scuttlebutt
- gossip.
- seersucker
- a light, thin fabric, such as cotton or rayon, with a crinkled surface and a usually striped pattern.
- serendipity
- the faculty of accidentally making happy, unexpected discoveries.
- sericate
- silky.
- simous
- having a very flat or snub nose, with the end turned up.
- skosh
- a small amount; a tad.
- smithereens
- fragments or splintered pieces.
- snollygoster
- a shrewd, unprincipled person.
- sockdolager
- a conclusive blow or remark; also, something outstanding.
- somnambulist
- a sleepwalker; noctambulist.
- spanghew
- to cause a frog or toad to fly up in the air.
- spartle
- to move the body or limbs in a sprawling or struggling manner.
- specious
- seeming good or sound at first but lacking real merit.
- squabash
- to crush with criticism.
- squidger
- the huge disc, or wink, used to propel other winks in the game of Tiddly-Winks.
- squiffed
- intoxicated.
- steatopygic
- having fat buttocks. See also: callipygian.
- sternutation
- the act of sneezing; also, a sneeze.
- stymie
- to thwart, stump, or obstruct.
- subderisorious
- ridiculing in moderation.
- subfusc
- drab, dusty.
- suppurate
- to form pus; to fester.
- susurration
- whispering, murmuring, or rustling.
- sycophant
- one who attempts to gain a personal advantage by servile flattery.
- tantalolagnia
- arousal caused by teasing.
- tantivy
- a headlong dash or rapid gallop; also, characteristic of one in a tantivy; also, the blare of a trumpet or horn. "The man was running tantivy after the thief."
- tauromachy
- the art of bullfighting.
- tenebrific
- producing darkness; obscuring.
- tergiversate
- to turn one's back on one's party or cause; also, to make evasive statements or equivocate.
- termagant
- a shrewish, bullying woman.
- thewy
- muscled, brawny.
- tintinnabulous
- of or relating to bells or the ringing of bells.
- tizzy
- a state of nervous excitement or confusion; a dither.
- tohubohu
- a state of chaos, disorder, and confusion.
- tonsure
- the shaving of the head of those entering certain priesthoods or monastic orders; also, the part of the head left bare after such a shaving.
- tragus
- the little flap of cartilage that projects over the hole in one's ear.
- trollop
- a promiscuous woman.
- twee
- affectedly cute or quaint; overly precious or nice.
- ultra-crepidarian
- giving opinions or criticism beyond one's own range of experience.
- ululate
- lament loudly and shrilly; wail.
- umbrage
- the feeling of being offended.
- undulate
- sway in place.
- uvula
- the thing that hangs down in the back of one's throat.
- vermiculate
- having wavy, wormlike lines or motion; sinuous, tortuous.
- vexillologist
- one who studies flags.
- vicarious
- characteristic of feelings or emotions felt or shared imaginatively through the feelings or emotions of another person.
- vicissitude
- a change of circumstances affecting one's life.
- walla-walla
- the unintelligible sound made by many people talking at once.
- welter
- wriggle, writhe.
- whelm
- to cover or engulf completely, usually with disastrous effect.
- whinge
- complain fretfully, whine.
- widdershins
- counterclockwise; also, in a contrary direction. Same as "withershins." See also: deasil.
- withershins
- See: widdershins.