Category: Word of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day -Phub

  • Verb: Phub
    1. verb (used with object), phubbed, phubbing.
      • to ignore (a person or one’s surroundings) when in a social situation by busying oneself with a phone or other mobile device: Hey, are you phubbing me?
    2. verb (used without object),phubbed, phub·bing.
      • to ignore a person or one’s surroundings in this way.
    3. Think Phone + snub
  • Synonyms:
    • As this is a recently birthed word, no synonyms were found.  However, such words as ignore, being rude, anti-social, snubbing, etc would work fine IMHO.
  • Usage:
    1. “I thought you told me that we do not talk enough? Why are you phubbing me as I drive us to Tick Bush?”
  • Encountered:
    1.   The word was passed on to me by one the 3.141592 regular readers of the silliness that is Curmudgeon-Alley.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day -Caitiff

  • Noun/Adjective:  Caitiff  (Archaic)
    1.  noun
      • A despicable coward; a wretch.
      • A mean villain; a despicable knave; one who is both wicked and mean.
    2. adjective
      • Despicable and cowardly.
  • Synonyms:
    1. villain
    2. brute
    3. savage
    4. monster
    5. devil
    6. wretch
    7. offender
    8. criminal
    9. knave
    10. beast
  • Usage:
    1. “I think you mean caitiff. You just misspelled it.”
  • Encountered: In the following text exchange with a superannuated golfing buddy that lives in the Magnolia State.  I had passed along the following cartoon with the comment that I had found the epitaph for my tombstone —  never mind that I want to be cremated.

To which he replied, “This is something I don’t have to worry about. Niceness is not in my vocabulary.”

I responded with, “I am a saint, myself.”

Parrying he said, “I think you mean caitiff. You just misspelled it”

With a feint and lunge, I remarked, “I see that doctorate paid off.”

In response, I received, “Told you I had no niceness in me.”

“No true,” I riposted, “You gifted me a new word!”

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day -Puissant

  • Adjective: Puissant
    1. having puissance : powerful
  • Synonyms:
    1. able
    2. capable
    3. enduring
    4. forceful
    5. hearty
    6. muscular
    7. potent
    8. robust
    9. rugged
    10. strapping
    11. substantial
    12. tough
    13. vigorous
  • Usage:
    1. “No, the 2024 Toyota Tacoma will be propelled by either a 2.4-liter turbo four-cylinder base motor or a more puissant, hybridized version of the same engine.”
  • Encountered:
    1.  While reading the article: 10 Ways The 2024 Toyota Tacoma Could Outshine The GMC Canyon

Seems like a strange word to throw at readers of automotive articles on pickup trucks…

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day -Boschian

  • Adjective: Boschian
    1. Of or relating to Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450–1516), Early Netherlandish painter known for his fantastic , detailed landscapes, and illustrations of religious concepts and narratives.
  • Synonyms:
    1. none found
  • Usage:
    1. “Consider the octopus. With eight arms, elliptical pupils, color- and texture-changing skin, and a scary beak, it is a creature that seems conjured from the most Boschian of realities.”
  • Encountered:
    1.  While reading the article: 8 Reasons Why Octopuses Are the Smartest, Pettiest Animals

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day -Solipsist

  • Noun: Solipsist
    1. Philosophy The theory that the self is the only thing that can be known and verified.
    2. The view that the self is the only reality.
    3. Absorption with oneself without consideration for the needs and desires of others: a self-indulgent memoir that revealed the author’s solipsism.
  • Synonyms:
    1. egoism
    2. self-containment
    3. subjectivity
    4. egocentricity
    5. ipseity
    6. narcissism
    7. self-absorption
    8. self-reliance
    9. autonomy
    10. singularity
    11. uniqueness
  • Usage:
    1. “’EA and BA meat on the same haul as Solipsists Anonymous but those guys act like no one else is in the building.'”
  • Encountered:
    1.  This was a comment to my blog posting, Homophone Challenged. I knew the meaning of the word as an adherent of the philosophy of Solipsism. But reading the comment I wondered if it might have another definition.  Sure enough… it is a high brow way of calling someone a selfish mofo.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day -Elision

  • Noun: Elision
    1. the use of a speech form that lacks a final or initial sound which a variant speech form has (such as ‘s instead of is in there’s)
    2. the omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable in a verse to achieve a uniform metrical pattern
    3. the act or an instance of omitting something : omission
  • Synonyms:
    1. skip
    2. subtraction
    3. reduction
    4. neglect
    5. lapse
    6. abbreviation
    7. negligence
    8. oversight
    9. failure
    10. pretermission
    11. dereliction
  • Usage:
    1. “’Stooge’ was originally a theatrical term and was first used to designate a comedian’s accomplice hidden in the audience. From the fact that his real identity and purpose were not known to the other members of the audience he came to be called a ‘stool pigeon’ – which, by elision, became ‘stooge.'”
  • Encountered:
    1.  During my regular regal ruminations while perusing the book, Dictionary of Word Origins by Jordan Almond,

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day -Nonplussed

  • Adjective: Nonplussed
    1. unsure about what to say, think, or do : perplexed
    2. chiefly US : not bothered, surprised, or impressed by something
  • Synonyms:
    1. dazed
    2. bewildered
    3. confounded
    4. confused
    5. disconcerted
    6. muddled
    7. stupefied
    8. at a loss
    9. awestruck
    10. uncomprehending
    11. wonderstruck
  • Usage:
    1. “Can you be plussed?
      Interestingly, there is no word plussed. You can only be nonplussed. People are nonplussed when they’re astounded, exasperated, or at a loss. “I’m nonplussed,” you say when your mother tells you she’s marrying her 25-year-old personal trainer..”
  • Encountered:
    1.  Actually what happened was that I was going to use nonplussed in a sentence, and thought I, “am I using the word correctly?” Turns out I was if you go by the second definition that is chiefly US.  So I was, depending on my audience.  But then I stumbled on the little piece above.  I just love the sentence in red, two entirely different meanings depending on which definition you go with.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day – Caliche

  • Noun: Caliche
    1.  a mineral deposit of gravel, sand, and nitrates, found especially in dry areas of South America
    2. an area of calcium carbonate formed in the soils of semiarid regions.
  • Synonyms:
    1. hard-pan
    2. stone
    3. dirt
    4. soil
  • Usage:
    1. “Finally, we arrived at a small white frame house with a caliche driveway.”
  • Encountered:
    1.  While reading the pre-publication edition of I Want to Live by Helen Imagene (Jean) Jones Felfe.  Jeanne Felfe has recently finished curating/editing the manuscript of this book that her mother wrote 40 years ago, but that was never published.  Stayed tuned for publication details.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day – Oblation

  • Noun:  Oblation
    1. the act of making a religious offering
      specifically, capitalized : the act of offering the eucharistic elements to God
    2. something offered in worship or devotion : a holy gift offered usually at an altar or shrine
  • Synonyms:
    1. gift
    2. offering
    3. presentation
    4. sacrifice
  • Usage:
    1. “We say [ Christian rulers] are happy if they rule justly; if … they are not inflated with pride, but remember that they are but men… if they do all this not for a burning desire for empty glory, but for the love of eternal blessedness; and if they do not fail to offer to their true God, as a sacrifice for their sins, the oblation of humility, compassion, and prayer… then we can call them happy in hope. “
  • Encountered:
    1.  While watching the Wondrium course, Books That Matter: The City of God. A book written by St. Augustine in the early 400s that is considered one of the seminal works of Christian theology and philosophy.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day

Posted on

Word of the Day – Ginormous

  • Adjective:  Ginormous
    1. Extremely large
  • Synonyms:
    1. colossal
    2. enormous
    3. gigantic
    4. humongous
    5. monumental
    6. tremendous
    7. epic
    8. mammoth
    9. massive
    10. elephantine.
  • Usage:
    1. “St. James: The Book of the 7 Dispensation is a 108-page notebook written by the janitor James Hampton. It was discovered after Hampton’s death in 1964, alongside a ginormous sculpture depicting the throne of god.” 
      • I started to make up my own sentence, but for once in my life I decided to be good, not wanting to offend deblynn07. Besides the one from the article works nicely, and there is no need to be telling ginormous lies.
  • Encountered:
    1.  While reading a click bait article on the web entitled, 5 Bizarre Books and Texts No One Understands. I thought that perhaps they were referring to such texts as Dante’s Inferno that cannot be understood without much study and hopefully many well thought out footnotes.  But no, they really did mean obscure and bizarre books that no one understands.

To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day