Vocabulary Words #12

Welcome to the 12th edition of Vocabulary words. I love to write and enjoy learning new words. Below you will find a list of words that I have stumbled upon and decided to share with you. It is not in alphabetical order. Instead sets of words appear from their respective editions.

Here are the new words for this edition:

Opsimath– N. a person who becomes a student or learner late in life.

Climacteric– n.1 : a major turning point or critical stage

2 a : menopause b : a period in the life of a male corresponding to female menopause and usually occurring with less well-defined physiological and psychological changes

3 : the marked and sudden rise in the respiratory rate of fruit just prior to full ripening.

Prolix-adj. 1 : unduly prolonged or drawn out : too long

2 : marked by or using an excess of words

Confluence: n. 1 : a coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point
2 a : the flowing together of two or more streams b : the place of meeting of two streams c : the combined stream formed by conjunction 

Tendentious-adj. marked by a tendency in favor of a particular point of view.

Here is part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part 6, part seven, part eight, part nine, part 10 and part 11.

A list of previously used words can be found just below:

esurient- hungry, greedy

Nugatory–1 : of little or no consequence  2 : having no force.

acatalepsy-Incomprehensibility of things; the doctrine held by the ancient Skeptic philosophers, that human knowledge never amounts to certainty, but only to probability.

acephalist– One who acknowledges no head or superior.

Raconteur-One who tells stories and anecdotes with skill and wit.

Callipygian–adj.Having beautifully proportioned buttocks.

Lachrymose–adj.

Perspicacious–adj. Having or showing penetrating mental discernment; clear-sighted.

Flibbertigibbet–n. A silly, scatterbrained, or garrulous person.

Jejune-adj. Not interesting; dull: “and there pour forth jejune words and useless empty phrases” (Anthony Trollope).

Lacking maturity; childish: surprised by their jejune responses to our problems.

Lacking in nutrition: a jejune diet

Ollendorffian– in the stilted language of foreign phrase-books.

gerascophobia –a morbid, irrational fear of, or aversion to, growing old.

bathysiderodrophobia –the fear of subways, undergrounds or metros.

hormephobia-Fear of shock.

cacoethes loquendi-the irresistible urge to speak.

cacoethes scribendi-the irresistible urge to write

saudade-[Port.] yearning or longing, but more than that…

Scaturient-L. scaturiens, p. pr. of scaturire gush out, from scatere to bubble, gush.]

Gushing forth; full to overflowing; effusive. [R.]

Walpurgisnacht1) the eve of May Day on which witches are held to ride to an appointed rendezvous

2) something (as an event or situation) having a nightmarish quality

barlafumble[fr. parley, call for truce + ?] Scot. obs.

a call for a truce by one who has fallen in fighting or play; a request for a time out

defalcate–intr.v., -cat·ed, -cat·ing, -cates. To misuse funds; embezzle.

Dactylonomy–n.[Gr. da`ktylos finger + no`mos law, distribution.]

The art of numbering or counting by the fingers.

recrudesce–intr.v., -desced, -desc·ing, -desc·es.To break out anew or come into renewed activity, as after a period of quiescence.

videlicet-vÄ­-dÄ•l’Ä­-sÄ•t’, vÄ«-, wÄ­-dā’lÄ­-kÄ•t’) pronunciation

adv. (Abbr. viz.)

That is; namely. Used to introduce examples, lists, or items.

temerarious–adj. Presumptuously or recklessly daring

Tentiginous-[L. tentigo, -inis, a tension, lecherousness, fr. tendere, tentum, to stretch.]

1. Stiff; stretched; strained. [Obs.] Johnson. 2. Lustful, or pertaining to lust. [Obs.] B. Jonson
Urinator–n.[L., from urinari to plunge under water, to dive.]

One who dives under water in search of something, as for pearls; a diver.

usufruct–n.The right to use and enjoy the profits and advantages of something belonging to another as long as the property is not damaged or altered in any way.

Jackpudding–n.A merry-andrew; a buffoon.

Jobbernowl–n.[OE. jobbernoule, fr. jobarde a stupid fellow; cf. E. noll.]

A blockhead.

nikhedonia-fr. Nike, the Greek goddess of victory + hedoné, pleasure] the pleasure derived from anticipating success

quidnunckery-[fr. L. quid nunc, what now] nonce-word curiosity, love of news or gossip (also quid-nunc-ism)

mancinism-the condition of being left-handed

macroverbumsciolist– 1) a person who is ignorant of large words

2) a person who pretends to know a word, then secretly refers to a dictionary.

mastigophorer-obs. a fellow worthy to be whipped.

matutolypea-getting up on the wrong side of the bed.

xenodochiophobia -the fear of foreign hospitality (worry about foreign hotels).

Xenodochium-n.(a) (Class. Antiq.) A house for the reception of strangers. (b) In the Middle Ages, a room in a monastery for the reception and entertainment of strangers and pilgrims, and for the relief of paupers. [Called also Xenodocheion.]

Knobstick-n. 1. One who refuses to join, or withdraws from, a trade union. [Cant, Eng.]

2. A stick, cane, or club terminating in a knob; esp., such a stick or club used as a weapon or missile; a knobkerrie.

effulgence-\i-FUL-juhn(t)s\, noun:

The state of being bright and radiant; splendor; brilliance.

[Webster 1913 Suppl.]

divaricate-To diverge at a wide angle; spread apart.

Otiant– idle; resting.

machicolation– n. apertures in parapet or floor of gallery for firing upon persons below. machicolate, v.t. furnish with these

Secern– To discern as separate; discriminate.

prothalamion -A song in celebration of a wedding; an epithalamium.

a capite ad calcem–From head to heel.

ad internecionem– To extermination.

Abusus non tollit usum-Wrong use does not preclude proper use.

ad captandum vulgus-To attract or to please the rabble.

Abligurition– n.[L. abligurito, fr. abligurire to spend in luxurious indulgence; ab + ligurire to be lickerish, dainty, fr. lingere to lick.]

Prodigal expense for food. [Obs.] Bailey.

Anililagnia– an attraction to older women.

Armsaye: the armhole in clothing.

Euneirophrenia: peace of mind after a pleasant dream.

Suppedaneum: foot support for crucifix victims.

Adfenestration: V. The act of entering through a window, usually surreptitiously.

Vatic–adj.Of or characteristic of a prophet; oracular.