Word of the Day!

[Noblejanobii]

Word of the Day:: Sepulchral

Definition:
1. Of, relating to, or serving as a tomb.
2. Of or relating to burial.
3. Proper to or suggestive of a tomb; funereal or dismal.
4. Hollow and deep

Examples:
1. Sepulchral tones
2. One person described the atmosphere inside the network as “sepulchral.” - Collapse at CBS News Rebecca Dana August 30, 2010
3. Wilde called on a sepulchral Jefferson Davis at his Mississippi Plantation. - Wilde Ride Anthony Paletta January 2, 2013
4. The conical cairn must have been in use in Scotland during a longer period than any other sepulchral memorial. - The Archaeology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland Daniel Wilson

[Noblejanobii]

Word of the Day:: Beserk

Definition:
1. Crazy, deranged, overtaken by a violent destructive frenzy
2. violently or destructively frenzied; wild; crazed; deranged
3. Also known as a berserker, an ancient Norse warrior who fought with frenzied rage in battle, possibly induced by eating hallucinogenic mushrooms

Examples:
1. He suddenly went berserk.
2. "What we are seeing is the good, old American berserk in action." - Is Obama the New Nixon? Lee Siegel September 14, 2009
3. "Well, get thee to horse, and make the most of thy time; my berserk here will guide thee past the guards." - Erling the Bold R.M. Ballantyne
4. "I am ordered to send this berserk with a troop of nineteen men to waylay thee." - Erling the Bold R.M. Ballantyne

[Noblejanobii]

Word of the Day: Thanatopsis

Defintion:
1. A view or contemplation of death.
2. A meditation on death, as in a poem
3. (with initial capital letter, italics) A poem (1817) by William Cullen Bryant.

Examples:
1. "The importance of "thanatopsis" is at once literary and historical." - The Scrap Book. Volume 1, No. 2 Various
2. "Do you think any city lad could have written "thanatopsis" at eighteen?" - Being a Boy Charles Dudley Warner
3. "His best-known poem, "thanatopsis," was written when he was only nineteen and delivered at his college commencement." - Graded Poetry: Second Year Various

Did You Know:
For all you Greek mythology nerds out there, this word does originate from the personification of Death, better known as Thanatos.

[Noblejanobii]

Word of the Day: Perdition

Definition:
1. The state of final spiritual ruin or eternal damnation to which the wicked are condemned
2. (in Christian theology) A state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death.
3. a state of final spiritual ruin; loss of the soul; damnation.
4. The future state of the wicked.
5. Hell
6. Utter destruction or ruin.
7. Obsolete. loss.

Examples:
1. "Then he looked back to the judgment-seat and cried, "With this blood, Appius, I devote thee and thy life to perdition."" - Stories From Livy Alfred Church
2. "To perdition with the professional man who gabs to his wife!" - The Return of Peter Grimm David Belasco
3. "Is it true, that the heathen world are sinking to perdition ?" - Thoughts on Missions Sheldon Dibble

[Noblejanobii]

Word of the Day: Preternatural

Definition:
1. Very unusual in a way that does not seem natural
2. Existing outside of nature
3. Exceeding what is natural or regular
4. Inexplicable by ordinary means

Examples:
1. "wits trained to preternatural acuteness by the debates" — G. L. ****inson
2. "preternatural phenomena"
3. "She has a preternatural ability to charm people."
4. "There was a preternatural quiet in the house."

[Noblejanobii]

I thought I'd start this up again because I enjoy this so here we go! I picked this word because I often see it being misused by my college fellows to mean "apathetic" or "uncaring" when in reality this is more along the lines of worrying or anxiety. So misuse this word no longer!

Word of the Day: Angst

Definition:
1. A feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general.
2. A feeling of persistent worry about something trivial.

Example:
1. My hair causes me angst.
2. ‘the existential angst of the middle classes’
3. Rock and Pop have a tradition of celebrating adolescent angst.
4. Business leaders expressed their angst over possible war and recession.

[Noblejanobii]

Word of the Day: Lachrymose

Definition:
1. Given to tears or weeping, tearful
2. Tending to cause tears, mournful

Examples
1. "… [Art] Garfunkel has always been partial to lachrymose sentiment. Listen, for instance, to his 1979 hit Bright Eyes, a song that targets the tear duct … and here summed up the tone of the evening." — Patrick Smith, The Daily Telegraph (London), 24 June 2016
2. "'Hallelujah' found a natural home in the hospital shows of the late-2000s, and it was frequently called upon to lend extra gravitas to a patient's dramatic death. On a particularly lachrymose episode of 'General Hospital,' the staff sings 'Hallelujah' as they bus into the mountains for a ski trip. The song then returns after their bus crashes in the snow." — Nick Murray, The New York Times, 21 Sept. 2016

Did You Know?
The adjective lachrymose comes from Latin lacrimosus (from the noun lacrima, meaning "tear"). Lachrymose didn't appear in English until around 1727, but another closely related adjective can be traced back to the 15th century. This earlier cousin, lachrymal (sometimes spelled lacrimal, particularly in its scientific applications), has a scientific flavor and is defined as "of, relating to, or being glands that produce tears" or "of, relating to, or marked by tears." In contrast, lachrymose typically applies to someone who is moved to tears because of strong emotions or to something that stimulates such feelings.

[Noblejanobii]

Word of the Day: Cantankerous

Definition:
1. Difficult or irritating to deal with

Examples:
1. "[Kenneth] Lonergan's brow was furrowed, and he was speaking, as he often does, in a low, growling mumble.… Among his theatre and movie-industry peers, he is famous for being famously cantankerous." — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2016

2. "Far from being cantankerous, she says [Roald] Dahl was endlessly ingenious in his desire to amuse, even when mortally ill, and only grumpy when finishing a book." — Elizabeth Gricehow, The Daily Telegraph (London), 12 Nov. 2016

Did you Know?

It's irritating, but we're not absolutely sure where cantankerous comes from. Etymologists think it probably derived from the Middle English word contack (or contek), which meant "contention" or "strife." Their idea is that cantankerous may have started out as contackerous but was later modified as a result of association or confusion with rancorous (meaning "spiteful") and cankerous (which describes something that spreads corruption of the mind or spirit). Considering that a cantankerous person generally has the spite associated with contack and rancor, and the noxious and sometimes painful effects of a canker, that theory seems plausible. What we can say with conviction is that cantankerous has been used in English since at least the 1730s.

[Rival Max]

Word of the Day: Cantankerous

Definition:
1. Difficult or irritating to deal with

Examples:
1. "[Kenneth] Lonergan's brow was furrowed, and he was speaking, as he often does, in a low, growling mumble.… Among his theatre and movie-industry peers, he is famous for being famously cantankerous." — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2016

2. "Far from being cantankerous, she says [Roald] Dahl was endlessly ingenious in his desire to amuse, even when mortally ill, and only grumpy when finishing a book." — Elizabeth Gricehow, The Daily Telegraph (London), 12 Nov. 2016

Did you Know?

It's irritating, but we're not absolutely sure where cantankerous comes from. Etymologists think it probably derived from the Middle English word contack (or contek), which meant "contention" or "strife." Their idea is that cantankerous may have started out as contackerous but was later modified as a result of association or confusion with rancorous (meaning "spiteful") and cankerous (which describes something that spreads corruption of the mind or spirit). Considering that a cantankerous person generally has the spite associated with contack and rancor, and the noxious and sometimes painful effects of a canker, that theory seems plausible. What we can say with conviction is that cantankerous has been used in English since at least the 1730s.

I aspire to be a cantankerous old man!

[Noblejanobii]

Word of the Day: Abstemious

Definition:
1. marked by restraint especially in the consumption of food or alcohol
2. reflection on the restraint of the consumption of food or alcohol

Examples:
1. Allie's midlife heart attack opened her eyes to the importance of taking care of her body and turned her to a more abstemious and healthful lifestyle.

2. "He is so abstemious that he once declared that to avoid temptation, he would never appear anywhere alcohol was served unless his wife was with him." — Michael Barbaro and Monica Davey, The New York Times, 16 July 2016