---
title: New words
tags: catalog, post
date: 2024-04-14
---

When I was in high school and even more insufferable than I am now, a friend and I started a tumblr called "sun words". The concept of this was to collect words that we discovered that were particularly succulent or mellifluous.

I have found myself learning more and more words recently. This is fun and good: I was worried for a while that my days of adapting and playing with the English language were largely behind me. I thought it would be interesting and illustrative to collect a list of the words I've learned recently alongside the sources from which I've gleaned them.

When I first started building this catalog, I expected the plurality to be from the NYT crossword 2, and the data appears to bear that out:

- **manuport**: a natural object that has been deliberately taken from its original environment and relocated without further modification
- **parvenu**: a person of obscure origin who has gained wealth, influence, or celebrity.
- **asthenia**: abnormal physical weakness or lack of energy
- **hoosegow**: a prison (via [[Fargo (Season 5)]])
- **stentorian**: loud (via NYT Crossword)
- **ratiocination**: a process of exact thinking
- **limerence**: a state of involuntary obsession with another person
- **iatrogenic**: relating to illness caused by medical examination or treatment.
- **sequelae**: a condition which is the consequence of a previous disease or injury.
- **ostranenie**: the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way so they could gain new perspectives and see the world differently.
- **lebensraum**: the territory that a state or nation believes is needed for its natural development
- **moksha**: release from the cycle of rebirth impelled by the law of karma
- **quondam**: that once was; former
- **lanai**: a porch or veranda.
- **analphabetism**: illiteracy; the inability to read and write
- **conurbation**: an extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of one or more cities.
- **metanoia**: change in one's way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion
- **pandiculation**: the involuntary stretching of the soft tissues, which occurs in most animal species and is associated with transitions between cyclic biological behaviors, especially the sleep-wake rhythm
- **rorqual**: a streamlined whale
- **quiddity**: the inherent nature or essence of someone or something.
- **katabasis**: a mytheme or trope in which the hero embarks on a journey to the underworld
- **axilla**: the space below the shoulder through which vessels and nerves enter and leave the upper arm; a person's armpit.
- **aborning**: while being born or produced
- **hormesis**: a dose-response phenomenon characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition
- **bezoar**: a small stony concretion that may form in the stomachs of certain animals, especially ruminants, and which was once used as an antidote for various ailments.
- **haruspicy**: the art or practice of divination
- **geodesy**: the branch of mathematics dealing with the shape and area of the earth or large portions of it.
- **buccal**: Related to the cheek
- **poteen**: alcohol made illicitly, typically from potatoes.
- **pentiment**: an underlying image in a painting, especially one that has become visible when the top layer of paint has turned transparent with
- **volvelle**: a rotating paper 'wheel chart', often found in early astronomy or mathematical books
- **diopter**: a unit of refractive power that is equal to the reciprocal of the focal length (in meters) of a given lens.
- **echolalia**: meaningless repetition of another person's spoken words as a symptom of psychiatric disorder.
- **amanuensis**: a literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts.
- **ochlocracy**: government by mob rule
- **ferial**: denoting an ordinary weekday, as opposed to one appointed for a festival or fast.
- **baksheesh**: a small sum of money given as a tip, bribe, or charitable donation
- **finial**: a distinctive ornament at the apex of a roof, pinnacle, canopy, or similar structure in a building.
- **sockdolager**: a forceful blow
- **zhuzh**: make more exciting, lively, or attractive.
- **nychthemeron**: a full period of night and day
- **overmorrow**: the day after tomorrow
- **allopathy**: the treatment of disease by conventional means, i.e., with drugs having opposite effects to the symptoms.
- **hieratic**: of or concerning priests
- **paracosm**: a detailed imaginary world, especially one created by a child
- **morganatic**: relating to or denoting a marriage in which neither the spouse of lower rank, nor any children, have any claim to the possessions or title of the spouse of higher rank.
- **tulpa**: an object or being that is created through spiritual or mental powers
- **iatrogenic**: relating to illness caused by medical examination or treatment.
- **asthenosphere**: the upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic flow and convection is thought to occur.
- **plat**: a plot of land
- **armillary**: resembling an armlet or bracelet: consisting of rings or circles
- **cabotage**: the right to operate sea, air, or other transport services within a particular territory.
- **clerestory**: the upper part of the nave, choir, and transepts of a large church, containing a series of windows. It is clear of the roofs of the aisles and admits light to the central parts of the building.
- **acedia**: spiritual or mental sloth; apathy.
- **anxiolytic**: (chiefly of a drug) used to reduce anxiety.
- **rhadamantine**: rigorously strict or just
- **eucatastrophe**: a sudden and favorable resolution of events in a story; a happy ending.
- **argot**: the jargon or slang of a particular group or class.
- **geas**: an obligation or prohibition magically imposed on a person
- **tonsure**: a part of a monk's or priest's head left bare on top by shaving off the hair
- **gruit**: a herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring bee
- **bouquiniste**: a dealer in secondhand books
- **anaglypta**: a type of wallpaper that has a permanent raised design
- **footling**: trivial and irritating
- **quango**: a semipublic administrative body outside the civil service but receiving financial support from the government, which makes senior appointments to it
- **mandinarate**: a ruling class of scholars and elites
- **spatulate**: having a broad, rounded end.
- **guerdon**: a reward or recompense.
- **aquarist**: a person who keeps an aquarium
- **moll**: a gangster's female companion
- **sedevacantism**: a doctrinal position within traditionalist Catholicism which holds that the present occupier of the Holy See is not a valid pope due to the pope's espousal of one or more heresies
- **vranyo**: white lies or half-lies in Russian culture, told without the intention of (maliciously) deceiving, but as a fantasy, suppressing unpleasant parts of the truth
- **integument**: a tough outer protective layer, especially that of an animal or plant.
- **matutinal**: of or occurring in the morning.
- **shufti**: a look or reconnoiter, especially a quick one.
- **mahout**: a person who works with, rides, and tends an elephant
- **hob**: a flat metal shelf at the side or back of a fireplace, having its surface level with the top of the grate and used especially for heating pans.
- **pied**: having two or more different colors.
- **mandamus**: a judicial writ issued as a command to an inferior court or ordering a person to perform a public or statutory duty.
- **eigengrau**: the uniform dark gray background that many people report seeing in the absence of light
- **hegira**: an exodus or migration
- **bracken**: a tall fern with coarse lobed fronds, which occurs worldwide and can cover large areas.
- **gastrique**: caramelized sugar, deglazed with vinegar or other sour liquids, used as a sweet and sour flavoring for sauces
- **mittelstand**: a group of stable business enterprises in Germany, Austria and Switzerland that have proved successful in enduring economic change and turbulence
- **strix**: in the mythology of classical antiquity, was a bird of ill omen, the product of metamorphosis, that fed on human flesh and blood
- **souq**: A street market, particularly in Arabic- and Somali-speaking countries; a place where people buy and sell goods; a bazaar.
- **favela**: a slum or shantytown located within or on the outskirts of the country's large cities
- **coracle**: a small round boat made of wickerwork covered with a watertight material, propelled with a paddle
- **atelic**: showing an action or happening as being unfinished
- **ignosticism**: the philosophical position that the question of the existence of God is meaningless
- **mawkish**: sentimental in a feeble or sickly way
- **leveret**: a young hare in its first year
- **orgone**: a supposed sexual energy or life force distributed throughout the universe that can be collected and stored (in an orgone box) for therapeutic use
- **grook**: a form of short aphoristic poem or rhyming aphorism
- **choreomania**: an uncontrollable urge to dance, especially in a frenzied, convulsive manner
- **spoor**: the track or scent of an animal
- **geognosis**: knowledge of the world
- **scaffa**: a cocktail prepared at room temperature
- **seigniorage**: revenue or a profit taken from the minting of coins, usually the difference between the value of the bullion used and the face value of the coin.
- **veridical**: coinciding with reality
- **dipsomania**: alcoholism, specifically in a form characterized by intermittent bouts of craving for alcohol.
- **nullifidian**: a person having no faith or religious belief.
- **ectopic**: in an abnormal place or position
- **banlieue**: a suburb of a French city, especially Paris.
- **gurn**: to make a grotesque face
- **apposite**: apt in the circumstances or in relation to something.
- **genetrix**: a female parent; a mother
- **ischemia**: an inadequate blood supply to an organ or part of the body, especially the heart muscles
- **narthex**: an antechamber, porch, or distinct area at the western entrance of some early Christian churches
- **parataxis**: the placing of clauses or phrases one after another, without words to indicate coordination or subordination, as in Tell me, how are you?
- **allograft**: a tissue graft from a donor of the same species as the recipient but not genetically identical
- **chrism**: a mixture of oil and balsam, consecrated and used for anointing at baptism
- **modiste**: a fashionable milliner or dressmaker
- **glasnost**: the policy or practice of more open consultative government and wider dissemination of information
- **jalopy**: an old car in a dilapidated condition
- **chiaroscuro**: the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
- **hosanna**: an expression of adoration, praise, or joy
- **excursus**: a detailed discussion of a particular point in a book, usually in an appendix.
- **quadrille**: a square dance performed typically by four couples and containing five figures, each of which is a complete dance in itself.
- **apperception**: the mental process by which a person makes sense of an idea by assimilating it to the body of ideas he or she already possesses.
- **paternoster**: an elevator consisting of a series of linked doorless compartments moving continuously on an endless belt.
- **sumptuary**: relating to or denoting laws that limit private expenditure on food and personal items
- **catafalque**: a decorated wooden framework supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state.
- **oneiromancy**: the interpretation of dreams in order to foretell the future.
- **apricity**: the warmth of the sun in winter
- **oology**: the collection and study of birds' eggs especially in relation to their shape and coloration
- **terroir**: the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced
- **nephology**: the study or contemplation of clouds
- **txoko**: a typically Basque type of closed gastronomical society where men come together to cook, experiment with new ways of cooking, eat and socialize
- **yegg**: a burglar or safecracker
- **marotte**: a prop stick or sceptre with a carved head on it
- **aubade**: a piece sung or played outdoors at dawn, usually as a compliment to someone
- **chrestomathy**: a selection of passages from an author or authors, designed to help in learning a language.
- **holon**: something that is simultaneously a whole in and of itself, as well as a part of a larger whole
- **feve**: a small trinket hidden in a king cake or similar dessert
- **scopophilia**: pleasure in looking; in Freudian psychoanalytic theory, an infantile instinct
- **apoptosis**: the death of cells which occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism's growth or development.
- **hebetude**: the state of being dull or lethargic
- **deixis**: the function or use of deictic words, forms, or expressions.
- **pycnocline**: a layer in an ocean or other body of water in which water density increases rapidly with depth.
- **hircinous**: Of, or pertaining to goats; hircine
- **bogatyr**: a stock character in medieval East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant
- **antinomy**: a contradiction between two beliefs or conclusions that are in themselves reasonable; a paradox.
- **adipose**: fat
- **propinquity**: the state of being close to someone or something; proximity.
- **sere**: (especially of vegetation) dry or withered
- **anosognosia**: a condition in which a person with a disability is cognitively unaware of having it due to an underlying physical condition
- **arrogate**: take or claim (something) without justification.
- **chiton**: a marine mollusk that has an oval flattened body with a shell of overlapping plates
- **hapax**: a word that only appears once in a work of or genus of literature or in a body of work by a particular author
- **etiology**: the investigation or attribution of the cause or reason for something, often expressed in terms of historical or mythical explanation.
- **polysemy**: the coexistence of many possible meanings for a word or phrase
- **slew**: to turn (something, such as a telescope or a ship's spar) about a fixed point that is usually the axis
- **berm**: a flat strip of land, raised bank, or terrace bordering a river or canal.
- **gantry**: a bridge-like overhead structure with a platform supporting equipment such as a crane, railroad signals, lights, or cameras.
- **mare**: large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient volcanic eruptions
- **latibulate**: to hide oneself in a corner
- **encomium**: a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly.
- **xerophagy**: the practice of eating dry food, especially food cooked without oil
- **interstice**: a space that intervenes between things
- **figurant**: one that figures in a scene without speaking or without taking a prominent part
- **demotic**: denoting or relating to the kind of language used by ordinary people; popular or colloquial.
- **teratogen**: an agent that can disturb the development of the embryo or fetus
- **fictile**: capable of being molded; made of earth, clay, etc.; by a potter.
- **harridan**: an angry and unpleasant woman
- **concupiscence**: strong sexual desire; lust
- **picayune**: of little value or account; small; trifling
- **formulary**: an official list giving details of medicines that may be prescribed.
- **hybristophilia**: sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes
- **widdershins**: in a direction contrary to the sun's course, considered as unlucky; counterclockwise.
- **pullulate**: to send forth sprouts, buds, etc.; germinate; sprout
- **factotum**: an employee who does all kinds of work.
- **gasconade**: extravagant boasting.
- **muliebrity**: womanly qualities; womanhood.
- **callipygian**: having well-shaped buttocks
- **meretricious**: apparently attractive but having in reality no value or integrity.
- **cloche**: a small translucent cover for protecting or forcing outdoor plants.
- **nictitate**: to blink
- **battement**: a movement in which one leg is moved outward from the body and in again
- **dissimulation**: concealment of one's thoughts, feelings, or character; pretense
- **ruction**: a noisy fight
- **propitiation**: the act of appeasing or making well-disposed a deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding divine retribution
- **lazarette**: a small compartment below the deck in the after end of a vessel, used for stores.
- **lordotic**: having an increased inward curving of the lumbar spine
- **bafflegab**: incomprehensible or pretentious language, especially bureaucratic jargon.
- **tonneau**: the part of an automobile, typically an open car, occupied by the back seats
- **redolent**: exuding fragrance; aromatic
- **snee**: to cut or thrust with a knife, esp when fighting
- **agnate**: a relative whose kinship is traceable exclusively through males
- **wainscot**: line (a room or wall) with wooden paneling
- **ariose**: characterized by melody; songlike
- **sangfroid**: composure or coolness, sometimes excessive, as shown in danger or under trying circumstances.
- **erumpent**: bursting forth or through a surface
- **mell**: to blend; mix; meld. to meddle; concern oneself
- **thurible**: censer
- **aureate**: denoting, made of, or having the color of gold
- **transom**: a strengthening crossbar, in particular one set above a window or door
- **febrile**: feverish
- **travois**: a type of sledge used to carry goods, consisting of two joined poles pulled by a horse or dog.
- **agential**: of, relating to, or expressive of an agent or agency
- **chaparral**: vegetation consisting chiefly of tangled shrubs and thorny bushes.
- **gamine**: a young woman with a mischievous, boyish charm
- **novena**: a form of worship consisting of special prayers or services on nine successive days.
- **oscular**: related to kissing
- **alterity**: the state of being other or different; otherness.
- **uxorious**: having or showing an excessive or submissive fondness for one's wife
- **interpellate**: to question (someone, such as a foreign minister) formally concerning an official action or policy or personal conduct
- **oriel**: a projection from the wall of a building, typically supported from the ground or by corbels
- **caconym**: an incorrect name for something
- **perihelion**: the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is closest to the sun
- **pettifogging**: placing undue emphasis on petty details
- **agnotology**: the study of deliberate, culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, typically to sell a product or win favour
- **ontogenesis**: the development of an individual organism or anatomical or behavioral feature from the earliest stage to maturity
- **hiatal**: of, relating to, or involving a hiatus
- **hamartia**: a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine.
- **salubrious**: favorable to or promoting health or well-being
- **canticle**: a hymn or chant, typically with a biblical text, forming a regular part of a church service.
- **sacristy**: a room in a church where a priest prepares for a service, and where vestments and other things used in worship are kept.
- **cay**: a low bank or reef of coral, rock, or sand
- **palooka**: a stupid, clumsy, or uncouth person
- **deontic**: relating to duty and obligation as ethical concepts
- **tatterdemalion**: a person in tattered clothing; a shabby person
- **pythonist**: a person who professes to prophesy through some divine or esoteric inspiration
- **ataraxy**: a state of serene calmness
- **sybarite**: a person who is self-indulgent in their fondness for sensuous luxury
- **snood**: an ornamental hairnet or fabric bag worn over the hair at the back of a woman's head
- **peripatetic**: traveling from place to place, in particular working or based in various places for relatively short periods.
- **antrum**: a natural chamber or cavity in a bone or other anatomical structure
- **aneuploidy**: the presence of an abnormal number of chromosomes in a cell, for example a human cell having 45 or 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46
- **passerine**: relating to or denoting birds of a large order distinguished by feet that are adapted for perching, including all songbirds.
- **rill**: a small stream
- **gouache**: a method of painting using opaque pigments ground in water and thickened with a gluelike substance.
- **friable**: easily crumbled
- **panegyric**: a public speech or published text in praise of someone or something
- **efflux**: something given off in as or as if in a stream
- **tenebrous**: dark; shadowy or obscure
- **doyenne**: a woman who is the most respected or prominent person in a particular field
- **chiral**: asymmetric in such a way that the structure and its mirror image are not superimposable
- **solecism**: a grammatical mistake in speech or writing
- **exaptation**: a trait that has been co-opted for a use other than the one for which natural selection has built it
- **lustic**: vigorous; jovial
- **voluptuary**: a person devoted to luxury and sensual pleasure
- **bedizen**: dress up or decorate gaudily.
- **locavore**: a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food.
- **ostinato**: a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice and/or pitch
- **martinet**: a strict disciplinarian, especially in the armed forces.
- **attar**: a fragrant essential oil, typically made from rose petals.
- **apophasis**: a rhetorical device wherein the speaker or writer brings up a subject by either denying it
- **belletrist**: a person who writes essays, particularly on literary and artistic criticism, that are composed and read primarily for their aesthetic effect
- **psychosphere**: the sphere or realm of human consciousness
- **clowder**: a group of cats
- **ort**: a scrap or remainder of food from a meal
- **afflatus**: a divine creative impulse or inspiration
- **desacralize**: to divest of sacred qualities or status
- **apophenia**: the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between seemingly unrelated things
- **stertoreous**: snoring; hardly breathing
- **chiffonier**: a tall chest of drawers, often with a mirror on top.
- **recusancy**: refusal to submit to established authority
- **denude**: strip (something) of its covering, possessions, or assets; make bare
- **nudnik**: a pestering, nagging, or irritating person; a bore.
- **collimate**: make (rays of light or particles) accurately parallel
- **naphtha**: a flammable oil
- **threnody**: a lament
- **mishegaas**: craziness; senseless behavior or activity
- **antapex**: the point of the celestial sphere from which the solar system is moving
- **fissile**: able to undergo nuclear fission; easily split
- **dun**: to nag someone about paying a debt
- **quorate**: having a sufficient number of members to constitute a quorum
- **parimutuel**: a form of betting in which those backing the first three places divide the losers' stakes
- **graphomania**: the compulsion to write
- **pluviophile**: a lover of rain
- **remainderman**: the person who inherits or is entitled to inherit property upon the termination of the life estate of the former owner
- **fillip**: something which acts as a stimulus or boost to an activity.
- **unicursal**: relating to or denoting a curve or surface which is closed and can be drawn or swept out in a single movement
- **pikuach nefesh**: the principle in Jewish law that the preservation of human life overrides virtually any other religious rule. When the life of a specific person is in danger, almost any mitzvah lo ta'aseh of the Torah becomes inapplicable
- **shirr**: bake an egg without its shell
- **asperity**: harshness of tone or manner
- **gangue**: the commercially valueless material in which ore is found
- **pericarp**: the part of the fruit formed from the wall of the ripened ovary
- **pleonastic**: needlessly wordy or redundant ("I heard it with my own ears")
- **porphyry**: a hard igneous rock containing crystals, usually of feldspar, in a fine-grained, typically reddish groundmass.
- **syntony**: the state of being normally responsive to and in harmony with the environment
- **crypticity**: the condition or state of something being cryptic
- **quirt**: a short-handled riding whip with a braided leather lash
- **ailurophobe**: someone who is irrationally afraid of cats
- **votary**: a person, such as a monk or nun, who has made vows of dedication to religious service
- **anneal**: to heat something and allow it to cool slowly, in order to remove internal stresses and toughen it.
- **chanticleer**: rooster
- **burgess**: an inhabitant of a town or borough with full rights of citizenship
- **escheat**: the reversion of property to the state on the owner's dying without legal heirs
- **parson**: a beneficed member of the clergy; a rector or a vicar
- **ratiocination**: the process of exact thinking
- **stemwinder**: an entertaining and rousing speech
- **natant**: swimming or afloat
- **brumation**: a state or condition of sluggishness, inactivity, or torpor exhibited by reptiles
- **adumbrate**: report or represent in outline
- **dudgeon**: a feeling of offense or deep resentment
- **septentrional**: related to the north; northern
- **aileron**: a hinged surface in the trailing edge of an airplane wing, used to control lateral balance
- **antedating**: an example or instance of a word/phrase at a date earlier than previously known
- **antinomianism**: any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms
- **cotyledon**: an embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants
- **crenellation**: the battlements of a castle or other building
- **engram**: a unit of cognitive information inside the brain
- **fibril**: a small or slender fiber
- **flexion**: the action of bending or the condition of being bent
- **roan**: denoting an animal with gray/silvery hair
- **spinnaker**: a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind
- **calumny**: the making of false and defamatory statements about someone in order to damage their reputation; slander.
- **vibratiuncle**: a miniscule or slight vibration
- **bollix**: to bungle (ie a task)
- **tonsorial**: relating to hairdressing
- **gravitic**: of or pertaining to gravity
- **susurrus**: whispering, murmuring, or rustling.
- **culvert**: a tunnel carrying a stream or open drain under a road or railroad
- **quidnunc**: an inquisitive and gossipy person
- **interwork**: be able to connect, communicate, or exchange data
- **kvell**: feel happy and proud
- **piolet**: ice axe
- **muon**: an unstable subatomic particle of the same class as an electron
- **plenum**: an assembly of all the members of a group or committee
- **rodomontade**: boastful or inflated talk or behavior.
- **tref**: not kosher
- **geometer**: a specialist in geometry (i.e. for mapmaking or exploration)
- **irenic**: aiming at peace
- **egest**: to discharge, as from the body; void (opposed to ingest)
- **dolorous**: feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress.
- **autogyro**: a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift
- **neonate**: a newborn child
- **neoteny**: the retention of juvenile features in the adult animal
- **quincunx**: an arrangement of five objects with four at the corners of a square or rectangle and the fifth at its center
- **neoteric**: new or modern; recent
- **ablation**: a procedure for restoring normal heart rhythm
- **clement**: mild and peaceful
- **oracular**: hard to interpret; enigmatic
- **carom**: strike and rebound
- **dysgenic**: exerting a detrimental effect on later generations through the inheritance of undesirable characteristics
- **oleaginous**: rich with, covered in, or heavily producing oil or grease
- **extirpate**: root out and destroy completely
- **suet**: the hard white fat on the kidneys and loins of cattle, sheep, and other animals, used to make foods including puddings, pastry, and mincemeat
- **offal**: the entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food.
- **syncytium**: a single cell or cytoplasmic mass containing several nuclei, formed by fusion of cells or by division of nuclei
- **funicular**: a cable railroad, especially one on a mountainside, in which ascending and descending cars are counterbalanced.
- **salvific**: leading to salvation
- **missal**: a book containing the texts used in the Catholic Mass throughout the year
- **aporia**: an irresolvable internal contradiction or logical disjunction in a text, argument, or theory
- **slatternly**: (relating to a woman's appearance) dirty and untidy
- **chthonic**: concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld.
- **gongoozler**: a person who enjoys watching activity on the canals of the United Kingdom
- **soteriology**: the doctrine of salvation
- **trilemma**: a difficult choice from three options, each of which is (or appears) unacceptable or unfavourable
- **alimentary**: relating to nourishment or sustenance.
- **helpmate**: a helpful companion or partner, especially one's husband or wife.
- **squamous**: covered with or characterized by scales
- **dewclaw**: a rudimentary inner toe present in some dogs
- **dropsy**: a non-technical edema
- **concomitant**: naturally accompanying or associated
- **weir**: a low dam built across a river to raise the water level upstream
- **miserablist**: a person who appears to enjoy being depressed, esp a performer of or listener to gloomy music
- **autarky**: economic independence or self-sufficiency
- **slue**: turn or slide violently or uncontrollably in a particular direction.
- **elucubrate**: to solve, write, or compose by working studiously at all hours
- **toyetic**: potentially marketable as a toy or having merchandising potential
- **scripturient**: having a strong urge to write
- **lustration**: a rite of purification, especially washing
- **oryx**: a species of large antelopes
- **glabrous**: free from hair or down; smooth
- **orts**: table scraps
- **saturnine**: slow and gloomy
- **cachinnate**: to laugh loudly or immoderately
- **loge**: a small enclosure or booth in a theatre or arena
- **varietist**: one who varies from the norm
- **sestet**: the last six lines of a sonnet
- **doctrinaire**: seeking to impose a doctrine in all circumstances without regard to practical considerations.
- **impecunious**: having little or no money
- **arrant**: complete; utter
- **goldbrick**: invent excuses to avoid a task; shirk.
- **cartouche**: a carved tablet or drawing representing a scroll with rolled-up ends
- **timpani**: kettledrums, especially when played by one musician in an orchestra
- **coati**: a type of raccoon with a long snout and a striped tail
- **amphigory**: nonsense verse
- **apothegm**: short, witty aphorism
- **besserwisser**: know-it-all, wiseguy, wiseacre, smart aleck
- **enchiridion**: carried reference book
- **eunoia**: beautiful thinking
- **olio**: a miscellaneous collection of things
- **phrontistery**: a place for studying
- **selcouth**: strange; unfamiliar; marvelous
- **piste**: a ski run of compacted snow.
- **autochthonous**: native to the place where found (ant. allochthonous)
- **polity**: an organized society; a state as a political entity
- **calf**: a floating piece of ice detached from an iceberg.