Vocabulary Words

Welcome to the word archives. Feel free to browse my collection of vocabulary words:

Viewer Note: All words in red are considered archaic, so please do not use them in regular writing for school. You can still use them in your own writing though. :razz:

6/19/09
Gabby: Talkative (yeah, lots of talkative words)
Adjective

6/18/09
Loquacious: Talkative
Part of speech: Adjective [loquaciously=adverb]

Garrulous: Annoyingly loquacious
Part of speech: Adjective
Note: This word has a very negative connotation.

5/12/08
Galvanically: (Adverb) Suddenly and remarkably
Sentence: While the sentry was keeping watch, the flimsy fountain galvanically exploded, shooting water into a large torrent.
[French ‘galvanisme,’ named after an Italian psychologist]

5/11/08
Ebullient: (Adjective) High-spirited
Sentence: After winning a jousting tournament, the ebullient knight continued to travel to many locations.
[Latin]

5/10/08
Yonder: (Adverb) Over there; at some distance in that direction
Sentence: The weaponry, which produced flimsy weapons, was located somewhere yonder, next to the boisterous palace.
[Middle English from Gothic ‘jaindre’]

5/09/08
Boisterous: (Adjective) Noisily exuberant
Sentence: The city market, a boisterous community had immaculate stone pathways where the mayor would speak his annual harangue.

5/08/08
Troubadour: (Noun) A medieval singer or poet (Middle Ages)
Sentence: As they strolled past the theocratic church, troubadours recited their poems harminously.
[French from Provencal ‘trobador’]

5/07/08
Scrutinize: (Verb) Look closely at; examine closely
Sentence: In those caves the miner had procured a valuable gemstone and he was beguiled when, after scrutinizing its surface, found out just how much money it was worth.
[Middle English from Latin ’scrutinium’]

5/06/08
Nock: (Verb) Set (an arrow) on the bowstring
Sentence: The girl, a wunderkind archer, whirled around and deftly nocked three arrows, ready to fire, all in a split second.
[Middle English from Middle Dutch ‘nocke’]

5/05/08
Countenance: (Noun) Facial expression
Sentence: Behind the hyaline glass wall, there in the ulterior was a stiff statue carved from wood, whose countenance was emotionless.
[Middle English from Anglo-French from Old French ‘contenance’]

5/04/08
Perforate: (Verb) Make a hole(s) through; pierce
Sentence: Magisterially, the commander vociferated an order, that the artillery unit would perforate the castle walls so the cavalry could rush in.
[Latin ‘perforare’]

5/03/08
Balm: (Noun) A healing or soothing influence or consolation
Sentence: After the rigorous training, she turned to a entrancing book, her balm for relaxation.
[Middle English from Old French from Latin ‘balsamum’]

5/02/08
Deft: (Adjective) Neatly skillful or dexterous
Sentence: With deft movements, the monk nastily contrived a plan and hurried over to the golem, striving to lure it into a trap.
[Middle English, variant of ‘daft’ in obsolete ‘meek’]

5/01/08
Petulantly: (Adverb) Impatiently or irritably
Sentence: He curled his lips petulantly and held his face in a wryly because his companion rambled continuously.
[French from Latin]

4/30/08
Virtue: (Verb) Moral excellence; uprightness; goodness
Sentence: Following his code of virtue, every day the honorable knight asked the villagers if they needed assistance.
[Middle English from Old French from Latin]

4/29/08
Wunderkind: (Noun) Person who achieves great success while relatively young
Sentence: That chessboy is a wunderkind; he won the national tournament when he was only seven years old.
[German]

4/28/08
Contrive: (Verb) Devise; plan or make resourcefully or with skill
Sentence: Trapped in a cage, the pyromancer contrived a plan to cut the flimsy cage bars using fire.
[Middle English from Old French from Latin]

4/27/08
Xylography: (Noun) The practice of making woodcuts or wood engravings
Sentence: At the party, someone spoke a harangue about how modern technology has improved from xylography to the realms of magic.
[Greek]

4/26/08
Wry: (Adjective) Distorted or turned to one side in digust, disappointment, or mockery
Sentence: The rogue’s face was wry when she was offered cheese, her biggest allergy.
[Old English]

4/25/08
Procure: (Verb) Obtain, especially by effort
Sentence: …
[Middle English from Old French or Latin]

4/24/08
Qualm: (Noun) A misgiving; a doubt, especially about one’s own conduct
Sentence: Because he secretly marauded the store four days before, a qualm developed in his mind when he was forced to go back there for shopping.
[Unknown]

4/23/08
Frugal: (Adjective) Sparing or economical
Sentence: A drought season continuing, the villagers faced rigor as they had to make frugal adjustments in their lives.
[Latin ‘frugalis’ from ‘frugi’]

4/22/08
Rigor: (Noun) Severity; strictness; harshness
Sentence: Having a talented performer who can beguile the crowd makes the rigor of living through this war period less of a burden to us.
[Middle English from Old French from Latin]

4/21/08
Maraud: (Verb) Make a plundering raid
Sentence: Using their flimsy picklocks, the rogues tried to sneak into the mansion, but someone watching the door vociferated orders to the rest of the family, forcing the rogues to retreat.
[French ‘maurader’]

4/20/08
Unco: (Adverb, adjective, noun)
Adverb - Remarkably; very
Adjective - Strange; unusual; notable
Noun - A stranger
Sentence: Despite the beautiful boscage and fauna of the hills, one unco rock stood in the middle, ruining the entire scene. (Adjective Unco)
[Middle English]

4/19/08
Flimsy: (Adjective) Carelessly assembled; easily damaged
Sentence: That magisterial director was analyzing two suits of armor just a few minutes ago; one was spot-on while the other was flimsy.
[No etymology]

4/18/08
Notional: (Adjective) Hypothetical; imaginary
Sentence: All of a sudden a great notional idea of how to rebuild the ancient ruins came to the inventor’s mind.
[French]

4/17/08
Enmity: (Noun) A feeling of hostility
Sentence: Knowing their terrifying background, the elf felt enmity as a gruff dwarf emerged from the door.
[Middle English from Old French from Romanic]

4/16/08
Thane: (Noun) Feudal lord; someone who owns land
Sentence: In Scotland, the King gave a strong harangue that stated all people who fought in the wars would be rewarded with land, turning them into thanes.
[Old English from Germanic]

4/15/08
Ulterior: (Adjective) Existing in the background; hidden
Sentence: From a distance, those ulterior mountains seemed to have a cave leading inside, a chance to explore the mountains’ penetralia.
[Latin]

4/14/08
Beguile: (Verb) Charm; amuse
Sentence: With his swift hand and charismatic personality, he displayed magic tricks to force his friends’ eyes away from looking at their cicatrices.

4/13/08
Vociferate: (Verb) Utter words noisily; shout
Sentence: Even though he vociferated the statement, the waterfall’s roaring noise made it impossible to hear a word.
[Latin ‘vociferari’]

4/12/08
Immaculate: (Adjective) Pure; spotless; perfectly clean; neat and tidy
Sentence: Right before the annual checkup, the immaculate castle seemed to shine; apparently maids ran apace to various rooms cleaning at ultra-speed.
[Middle English from Latin ‘immaculatus’]

4/11/08
Benign: (Adjective) Gentle; mild; kind
Sentence: On Christmas Day, “Santa” was running around the mall benignly giving presents to any guests who walked past the fountain.
[Middle English from Old French from Latin]

4/10/08
Theocracy: (Noun) A form of government by God or a god directly or through a priestly order, etc.
Sentence: The next stop was an abbey, and the priests there, praying and all that, seemed to strongly believe in theocracy.
[Greek]

4/09/08
Facetious: (Adjective) Not meant to be taken literally; humorous
Sentence: …
[French from Latin]

4/08/08
Lesion: (Noun) Damage; injury
Sentence: …
[Middle English from Old French from Latin]

4/07/08
Eloquence: (Noun) Fluent and effective use of language
Sentence: …
[Middle English from Old French from Latin]

4/06/08
Cicatrice: (Noun) Any mark left by a healed wound; a scar
Sentence: The rogue looked at a cicatrice on his arm, rancor building up as he remembered the bandits who attacked that night.
[Middle English from Old French]

4/05/08
Kindle: (Verb) 1) Light or set on fire
2) Inspire
Sentence: There was no use for the abandoned mansion, so all the villagers gathered around and kindled the house tearfully.
[Middle English from Old Norse]

4/04/08
Magisterial: (Adjective) Commanding; with a lot of authority; overbearing
Sentence: Once the king died, the new leader gave many magisterial orders every day, to everyone’s dislike.
[Medieval Latin from Late Latin from Latin]

4/03/08
Penetralia: (Noun) Secret or hidden parts; mysteries
Sentence: Of course, the old and dark chateau provided an adventureous opportunity to explore its penetralia.
[Latin]

4/02/08
Apace: (Adverb) At a rapid pace; quickly; swiftly
Sentence: Because the royal knights were arriving the next day, the castle’s cooks worked apace to prepare for the big banquet dinner.
[Old French]

4/01/08
Fauna: (Noun) The animal life of a region or an area
Sentence: The beautiful rolling hills displayed a magnificent assortment of flora and fauna, a truly gorgeous natural view.
[Latin]

3/31/08
Vex: (Verb) Anger by a slight annoyance; irratate
Sentence: Constant shouting and loud taunting would clearly vex a meditating monk.
[Middle English via Old French from Latin]

3/30/08
Maunder: (Verb) 1) Talk incoherently or aimlessly
2) Move aimlessly; wander around
Sentence: After drinking a mysterious potion, the hardy dwarf maundered to himself, making everybody else frightened.
[Obsolete “maunder”, meaning beg]

3/29/08
Boscage: (Noun) Masses of trees or shrubs
Sentence: With no other path, he traversed through the dense boscage in search of the Holy Grail.
[Middle English from Old French from Germanic {bush})

3/28/08
Hyaline: (Adjective) Glasslike; transparent
Sentence: Glowing with color, the hyaline window produced a warm, sunny feeling.
[Latin from Greek]

3/27/08
Syzygy: (Noun) A pair of connected or correlated things (for example, the sun and the moon)
Sentence: …
[Late Latin from Greek]

3/26/08
Harangue: (Noun) A lengthy or earnest speech.
Sentence: Surprisingly, his harangue was actually interesting, and people stayed a long time to hear him speak.
[Middle English from French from Old French from Medieval Latin, perhaps from Germanic]