Interesting Words

Front 1

Sinecure

Back 1

a job that provides a regular income but requires little or no work / a church office whose holder is paid but is not required to do pastoral work

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Dearth

Back 2

a scarcity or lack of something

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Sagacious

Back 3

having or based on a profound knowledge and understanding of the world combined with intelligence and good judgment

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Venal

Back 4

open to persuasion by corrupt means, especially bribery / characterized by corruption / able to be bought, especially in an illegal or unfair way

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Prescient

Back 5

having or showing knowledge of actions or events before they take place

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Ascendant

Back 6

moving upward / having a position of power or domination over others / astrol in astrology, the point on the ecliptic or the sign of the zodiac that is rising in the east at a particular time

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Apparatchik

Back 7

a subordinate who is unquestioningly loyal to a powerful political leader or organization / a member of the administrative organization or staff of the Communist Party in the former Soviet Union and other Communist states

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Analogue

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a thing, idea, or institution that is similar to or has the same function as another / biology a body part or organ that has an equivalent function to one in a different plant or animal but that appeared independently / food a food or dish made to resemble another by the substitution of inferior ingredients

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Verisimilitude

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the appearance of being true or real / something that only appears to be true or real, for example, a statement that is not supported by evidence

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Tautology

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linguistics a redundant repetition of a meaning in a sentence or idea using different words / an instance of redundant repetition / logic a proposition or statement that, in itself, is logically true

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Cogitation

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deep thought or consideration that somebody gives to a particular problem or subject / an act of thinking deeply about something

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Missive

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a letter or written communication

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Ensure

Back 13

to make sure that something will happen / to protect something or somebody from harm

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Insure

Back 14

transitive and intransitive verb to agree formally that, for a sum of money paid to a company, the company will pay compensation or costs if some specified harm or loss occurs to somebody or something / intransitive verb to get protection from something undesirable that might happen, usually by making contingency plans or taking precautionary or preventive measures

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Somnambulate

Back 15

to sleepwalk

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Brouhaha

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a noisy commotion or uproar

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Fecundity

Back 17

the ability to produce offspring, especially in large numbers / the ability to produce many different and original ideas

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Trammel

Back 18

something that limits a person’s freedom / to catch or entangle somebody or something / zoology a fishing net consisting of a fine net between two layers of coarse mesh / a shackle used to teach a horse to amble / an instrument used to draw ellipses / household a hook in a fireplace on which a kettle or pot can be hung and raised or lowered / to restrain somebody or something

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Libel

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law a false and malicious published statement that damages somebody’s reputation / the making of false and damaging statements about somebody / law the plaintiff’s written statement in a case under admiralty law or in an ecclesiastical court / to publish false and malicious statements that damage somebody’s reputation / to give a false and damaging account of somebody

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Sibilant

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used to describe consonants that are pronounced with a hissing sound / producing a hissing sound / a consonant pronounced by hissing

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Xeno- (prefix)

Back 21

foreign, strange, different

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Offal

Back 22

the edible, mainly internal organs of an animal, for example, the heart, liver, brains, and tongue, sometimes regarded as unpalatable or even inedible / something discarded as refuse

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Pedant

Back 23

somebody who pays excessive attention to formal scholarship and to unimportant rules and details / somebody who makes an ostentatious display of learning

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Dystopia

Back 24

an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it possibly can be, or a vision or description of such a place

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Trope

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a word, phrase, expression, or image that is used in a figurative way, usually for rhetorical effect In literature, a familiar and repeated symbol, or thing permeates a particular type of literature. They are usually tied heavily to genre.

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Meme

Back 26

a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another. It propagates itself as a unit of cultural evolution and diffusion, often as more-or-less integrated cooperative sets or groups.

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Sesquipedalian

Back 27

characterized by the use of very long words / relating to or being a long word / a word with many letters or syllables

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Myrmidon

Back 28

in Greek mythology, a member of a people who lived in Thessaly and were led by Achilles to the Trojan War / a faithful follower who obeys orders unquestioningly

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Troglodyte

Back 29

somebody living in a cave, especially somebody who belonged to a prehistoric cave-dwelling community / somebody who lives alone and has little to do with other people, especially somebody considered to be antisocial or unconventional

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Supine

Back 30

lying on the back and with the face upward / with the palm of the hand facing upward or away from the body / utterly passive or inactive, especially in a situation where a vigorous reaction is called for

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Ossify

Back 31

to change or be changed from soft tissue, for example, cartilage, into bone as a result of impregnation with calcium salts / to become or make somebody become rigidly set in a conventional pattern of behavior, beliefs, and attitudes

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Chthonic

Back 32

relating to the underworld as described in Greek mythology

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Mercurial

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lively, witty, fast-talking, and likely to do the unexpected / medicine formerly, a drug or chemical preparation

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Halcyon

Back 34

tranquil and free from disturbance or care / mythology in Greek mythology, a bird resembling the kingfisher, believed to have had the power to calm the waves at the time of the winter solstice when it nested at sea

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Tenebrous

Back 35

dark, murky, or obscured by shadows

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Parsimonious

Back 36

very frugal or ungenerous

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Élan

Back 37

Flamboyance / flair / style / confidence / elegance

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Inextricably

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impossible to get free from / impossible to disentangle or undo / hopelessly involved or complex

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Inexorably

Back 39

impossible to stop / not moved by anyone’s attempts to plead or persuade

Front 40

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Back 40

The fear of long words (extra long)

Front 41

Egregious

Back 41

bad, blatant, or ridiculous to an extraordinary degree

Front 42

Glossolalia

Back 42

Fabricated and nonmeaningful speech, especially such speech associated with a trance state or certain schizophrenic syndromes / Gift of Tongues

Front 43

Noblesse Oblige

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the idea that people born into the nobility or upper social classes must behave in an honorable generous way toward those less privileged

Front 44

Floccinaucinihilipilification

Back 44

"action or habit of estimating as worthless," 1741, a combination of four Latin words all signifying "at a small price" or "for nothing"

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Ebullient

Back 45

full of cheerful excitement or enthusiasm / boiling or bubbling vigorously

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Ubiquitous

Back 46

present everywhere at once, or seeming to be

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syzygy

Back 47

the straight-line conjunction or opposition of three astronomical objects such as the Sun, Earth, and Moon / a pair of related things that are either similar or opposite

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Mawkish

Back 48

sentimental, especially in a contrived or off-putting way / bland or unappetizing in taste or smell

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Pyrrhic

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a metrical foot of two short or unaccented syllables / relating to an ancient Greek war dance

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Dross

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something that is worthless or of a low standard or quality / the scum formed on molten metals, usually caused by oxidation

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Polymath

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somebody with knowledge of many subjects

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Bildungsroman

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a novelistic form which concentrates on the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the protagonist usually from childhood to maturity

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Transhumanism

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"human enhancement" / an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human mental and physical abilities and aptitudes, and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as stupidity, suffering, disease, aging and involuntary death.

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Chary

Back 54

cautiously reluctant to do something / reluctant to share, give, or use something / fussily concerned / showing or characterized by shyness or modesty

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Physiognomy

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the features of somebody's face, especially when they are used as indicators of that person's character or temperament / the use of facial features to judge somebody's character or temperament / the character or outward appearance of something, e.g. the physical features of a landscape

Front 56

Extempore

Back 56

with little or no preparation

Front 57

Somniloquy

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The act or habit of talking while asleep

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Perorate

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to finish a speech by summarizing its main points / to speak at length, especially in a formal or pompous way

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Ineffable

Back 59

unable to be expressed in words

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Motive

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the reason for doing something or behaving in a specific way / capable of causing or producing motion / tending to make somebody want or be willing to do something

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Portmanteau

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a word that, as Humpty Dumpty tells Alice in "Through the Looking-Glass," packs two meanings into one word

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Susurrus

Back 62

a whispering or murmuring sound