Thursday, April 30, 2009

April '09 List of "Today's Word"

Okay, who's brave enough to fit at least six of these in one sentence?

IMMURE (im-MURE) verb--to enclose within or as if within walls.

NACREOUS (NAY-kree-us) adj.--pearly.

MENDICANT (MEN-di-kunt) noun--a beggar.

ADUMBRATE (ADD-um-brate) verb--To foreshadow; to outline broadly; to cast a shadow over.

QUOTIDIAN (kwo-TID-ee-un) adj.--occurring every day; commonplace/ordinary.


HOMOLOGATE (ho-MAHL-uh-gate) verb--to agree with/sanction; to approve, allow, or confirm.

PECCAVI (Puh-KAY-vee) noun--humble acknowledgment of sin or error.

IRENIC (EYE-ren-ick) adj.--operating toward peace and conciliation, especially among disputants.

SCIAMACHY (sih-AH-mu-kee) noun--a fight with a shadow; a mock or futile combat (as with imaginary foe).


CHRESTOMATHY (kres-TAH-muh-thy) noun-- a volume of selected passages or stories of an author.

NEOLOGIZE (nee-ALL-uh-gize) verb--create a new word or use old expression in a new way; coin a phrase.

RABELAISIAN (rah-buh-LAY-zhun) adj.--having robust humor/extravagance of caricature. From the satire of Rabelais.

AMBIVERSION (AM-bi-VER-zhun) noun--personality trait showing both introversion and extraversion.

CAMARILLA (cam-uh-RIL-luh) noun--group of advisers to someone in power, often secret/scheming.

SCANSORIAL (scan-SOAR-ee-ul) adj.--Relating to, capable of, or adapted for climbing.

CATASTASIS (kuh-TAS-tuh-sis) noun: dramatic complication just before climax of a play; climax of a play.

MUNDIFY (MUN-duh-fy) verb--to wash thoroughly; to clean.

HOBSON'S CHOICE, noun--an apparent freedom of choice with no real alternative.

FRIGORIFIC (frig-uh-RIF-ick) adj.--causing cold; chilling.

BRUMMAGEM (BRUM-uh-jem) adj.--cheap and showy.

IMMURE (im-MURE) verb--to enclose within or as if within walls.

NACREOUS (NAY-kree-us) adj.--pearly.

MENDICANT (MEN-di-kunt) noun--a beggar.

PIQUANT (PEA-kunt) adj.--pungent, spicy; ability to arouse pleasant mental excitement, provocative.

PUERILE (PYU-rile) adj.--childish or immature; of or relating to childhood.

TORPOR (TOR-pur) noun--state of mental/physical inactivity or insensibility; mental or spiritual sluggishness.

SALACIOUS (suh-LAY-shus) adj.--sexually stimulating to the imagination; lustful, bawdy.

NIDUS (NIH-dus) noun--a nesting or breeding place; a place where something originates or develops.

LIMN (LIME) verb--to depict by painting or drawing; to describe or portray in symbols.

EPHEMERAL (ih-FE-mer-ul) adj.--short-lived; transitory.

CAPTIOUS (CAP-shus) adj.--calculated to confuse; having the inclination to find fault.

ARCANUM (ar-KAY-num) noun--a profound secret or mystery; an elixir.

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Read May '09

6 comments:

Nicole said...

You could set your watch by the quotidian journey of the mendicant as he traveled to the corner St. Thomas church, peccavi in place, his irenic objective between him and God etched in sad lines on his face, as he passed the salacious pimp ordering his stable of young women to get busy in brummagem fashion.

Hannah said...

Immured in the nacreous walls of the courtyard, the warrior threw himself into his sciamachy, working through each thrust and parry, the ephemeral energy in his veins giving him hope that his exertion might defeat the torpor that had settled over him lately, making everything he attempted quotidian and raising captious voices in his mind.

(Panting) I'm not even sure if I used all the words in that sentence correctly! (Or if it makes any sense :)

~ Brandilyn Collins said...

Waytago, Nicole and Hannah!

Two men have stepped up to the plate, using 8 in a sentence, on Twitter.

@BenWhiting: "The irenic camarilla were immured in the nidus for a sciamachy over the Hobson's Choice, but could not homologate due to torpor."

@JohnUpChurch: The nacreous arcanum that seems to adumbrate a salacious catastasis often immures one in a sciamachy with a hobson's choice."

Glynn said...

They sound like an announcement from the Human Resources Department.

Nicole said...

LOL, Glynn!

Janice Olson said...

Hi Brandilyn,

When I saw your word list challenge, I had to try. Here is what I came up with.

The CHRESTOMATHY NEOLOGIZED with an extravagance of RABELAISIAN that soon caused a SCIAMACHY with her personal demons, opening the door to her PECCAVI that HOMOLOGATED the whole experiment of the CHRESTOMATHY and began to ADUMBRATE her outlook on life.

Thanks for the brain tester/teaser.
Blessings,

Janice