Words of the Week (2005) 01

Whenever I read, I keep a pencil handy and I underline words that I don’t know and dog ear the page so that I can go back and look them up in the dictionary. I have always been interested in etymology and even took Latin for three years. I hope that these words can help all of us in our writings. Be sure to check out your dictionary for additional usages of the words and spellings associated with changing the word from adjective to adverb to noun … etc.

ABNEGATION
noun

Pronounced: ab-nih-GAY-shun

Meaning: Renunciation or denial.

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BEDIZEN
verb

Pronounced: BEH-dih-zen

Meaning: To dress or adorn with gaudy and showy vulgarity.

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CORPS
noun

Pronounced: CORE

Meaning: The ensemble or chorus of a ballet company as distinguished from soloists and principals.

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DEFALCATION
noun

Pronounced: deh-ful-KAY-shun

Meaning: The misappropriation of money in one’s keeping.

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ENCULTURATE
verb

Pronounced: in-CUL-ture-rate

Meaning: Modify or condition by the process by which an individual learns the traditional content of a culture and assimilates its practices and values.

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FASTING
noun

Pronouced: FASS-ting

Meaning: The act of abstaining from food, especially for an unusual time and often as a form of religious observance or for therapeutic purposes.

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GNOSIS
noun

Pronouced: NO-siss

Meaning: The act or process of cognition or knowing.

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HADEAN
adjective

Pronounced: HAY-dee-enn

Meaning: Of, relating to or characteristic of hell.

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IGNOBLE
adjective

Pronounced: ig-KNOW-bull

Meaning: Displaying or characterized by baseness or meanness; despicable.

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JORNADA
noun

Pronounced: hor-NA-da

Meaning: An arduous, usually one-day, journey across a stretch of desert.

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KORRIGAN
noun

Pronounced: KORE-ree-gun

Meaning: A long-haired noctural, often malevolent, fairy sorceress.

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LIAISE
verb

Pronounced: LEE-aze

Meaning: To establish communication for purposes of mutual understanding.

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MALVERSATION
noun

Pronounced: mal-ver-SAY-shun

Meaning: Misbehavior and especially corruption in an office, trust or commission.

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NETHER
adjective

Pronounced: NEH-thur

Meaning: Below; lower.

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OBROTUND
adjective

Pronounced: OB-roh-tunned

Meaning: Nearly spherical, but with one diameter slightly exceeding the others.

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PERLINGUAL
adjective

Pronounced: per-LING-gwal

Meaning: Through or by way of the tongue.

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QUITTANCE
noun

Pronounced: KWIH-tunce

Meaning: The act of freeing or releasing, specifically, discharge from a debt or an obligation.

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REPARATIONS
noun, plural: singular version, REPARATION

Pronouced: reh-pa-RAY-shuns

Meaning: The act of making amends, offering expiation or giving satisfaction for a wrong or injury.

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SPOOR
noun

Pronounced: SPOOR

Meaning: A mark, a trail, a scent, a sound or droppings left by one that has passed.

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THEURGY
noun

Pronounced: THEE-ur-gee

Meaning: The act of compelling or persuading a god or beneficent supernatural power to do or refrain from doing something, specifically, an occult art in which the operator is held to be capable of evoking or utilizing the aid of divine and beneficent spirits.

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UNAPPEASABLE
adjective

Pronounced: un-uh-PEAS-uh-bull

Meaning: Not capable of being brought to a state of ease or content.

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VICENNIAL
adjective

Pronounced: vi-SIN-knee-ul

Meaning: Occurring once every 20 years.

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WHEATEN
noun

Pronounced: WHEE-tun

Meaning: The color of wheat, specifically, a pale yellow or fawn characteristic of certain breeds of dogs.

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XYSTI
noun

Pronounced: ZISS-tee

Meaning: Long, open porticoes, used especially by ancient Greeks or Romans for athletic exercises in wintry or stormy weather.

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YINGLISH
noun

Pronounced: YING-glish

Meaning: English marked by numerous borrowings from Yiddish.

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ZENDO
noun

Pronounced: ZEN-doh

Meaning: A place used for Zen meditation.

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ABSOLUTION
noun

Pronounced: ab-so-LOO-shun

Meaning: A rite, ceremony or form of words in which a remission of sins is pronounced, proclaimed or prayerfully implored by a priest or minister.

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BERSERK
adjective

Pronounced: bih-ZERK

Meaning: Marked by a display of violent erratic behavior indicative of extreme excitement or agitation and suggestive of sudden mental unbalance.

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CASTE
noun

Pronounced: KAYST

Meaning: One of the hereditary classes into which the society of India is divided in accordance with a system fundamental in Hinduism.

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DISCERNED
verb

Pronounced: dih-SERN-d

Meaning: Sensed or came to know or recognize mentally, especially something that is obscure.

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EMENDATION
noun

Pronounced: ee-min-DAY-shun

Meaning: The word or the matter substituted for incorrect or unsuitable matter in a work that has been altered.

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FUSIFORM
adjective

Pronounced: FUE-zee-form

Meaning: Shaped like a spindle, tapering toward each end.

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GARBOLOGY
noun

Pronounced: garr-BOLL-o-gee

Meaning: The study of modern culture through the analysis of what is thrown away as garbage or trash.

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HOARY
adjective

Pronounced: HOAR-ree

Meaning: Gray or white with age.

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IMAM
noun

Pronounced: ih-MOM

Meaning: The prayer leader of a mosque.

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JERKWATER
adjective

Pronounced: JEERK-wah-turr

Meaning: Insignificant and out of the way.

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KNELL
noun

Pronounced: NELL

Meaning: A sound or sign announcing someone’s death or the end or failure of something.

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LUMINARIA
noun

Pronounced: loo-men-ARE-ree-uh

Meaning: A Mexican Christmas lantern consisting of a lighted candle set in sand inside a paper bag.

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MISO
noun

Pronounced: MEE-soh

Meaning: A paste used in preparing soups and other foods that is made by grinding a mixture of steamed rice, cooked soybeans and salt and then fermenting it in brine.

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