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Word of the Day – Philatelist

  • Noun:
    1. a person who studies or collects postage stamps
  •  Synonyms:
    1. stamp collector
    2. aggregator
    3. philatelic
  • Usage:
    1. I asked my co-worker with the pictures of stamps on his wall if he was a philatelist.
  • Encountered:
    1.  A long time ago… I just love the sound and pomposity of the word. Oenophile does the same thing for me.  “Geek”, you say?  “Yes”,  I reply.

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Word of the Day – Pedantic

Pedantic

  • Adjective
    1. of, relating to, or being a pedant (one who is unimaginative or who unduly emphasizes minutiae in the presentation or use of knowledge)
    2. narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned
    3.  unimaginative, dull
  • Synonyms:
    1. overscrupulous
    2. scrupulous
    3. precise
    4. exact
    5. perfectionist
    6. punctilious
    7. meticulous
    8. fussy
    9. fastidious
    10. finicky
  • Usage:
    1. The CPAs explanation of the tax ruling was more than a little pedantic.
  • Encountered:
    1. In the definition of pedoagogy

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Word of the Day – Pedagogy

Pedagogy

  • Noun:
    1. the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept.
    2. the function or work of a teacher; teaching.
  • Synonyms:
    1. coaching
    2. erudition
    3. tutelage
  • Usage:
    1. The trailer suggests that Whiplash is a film about an abusive teacher, who terrorizes students into stretching for their talent, always wondering if the pedagogy is worth the trauma..
  • Encountered:
    1. Listening to a movie review for Whiplash on KDHX

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Word of the Day – Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia

  • Noun:
    1. the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)
    2. the use of words whose sound suggests the sense
  • Adjective:
    1. Onomatopoeic
  • Adverb:
    1. Onomatopoeically
  • Synonyms:
    1. imitate
    2. echo
    3. parrot
  • Usage:
    1. The Bells is a heavily onomatopoeic poem by Edgar Allan Poe which was not published until after his death in 1849.

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Word of the Day – Acrostic

  • Noun: Acrostic
    1. a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words.acrostic-illustration
  •  Synonyms:
    1. acronym
    2. cipher
    3. wordplay
  • Usage:
    1. Well, today, the Frederick News-Post responded, in an acrostic editorial originally scheduled to be published next Sunday.
  • Encountered:
    1. In a news story about an overly sensitive city councilman

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Word for the Day – Lugubrious

Lugubrious

  • adjective
    1. mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner
    2. looking or sounding sad and dismal.
  • synonyms:
    1. mournful, gloomy, sad, unhappy, doleful, glum, melancholy, woeful, miserable, woebegone, forlorn, somber, solemn, serious, sorrowful, morose, dour, cheerless, joyless, dismal;
      funereal, sepulchral;
  • After his wife left him, he walked around in a lugubrious condition for months.

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Word for the Day – Gibbet

Gibbet

  • Noun:
    1. gallows
    2. an upright post with a projecting arm for hanging the bodies of executed criminals as a warning
  • Verb:
    1.  to expose to infamy or public scorn
    2. to put to death by hanging on a gibbet
  • Synonyms:
    1. gallows
    2. pillory
  • Usage:
    1.  The witch’s body was swinging in the wind from the gibbet for all to view.
  • Encountered:
    1. While reading Victor Hugo’s Notre Dame

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Word for the Day – Dues ex machina

Dues ex machina

  • Noun:
    1. a character or thing that suddenly enters the story in a novel, play, movie, etc., and solves a problem that had previously seemed impossible to solve
    2. a god introduced by means of a crane in ancient Greek and Roman drama to decide the final outcome
  • Synonyms:
    1. contrivance
    2. gimmick
  • Usage:
    1. Some folks consider Poe’s abrupt ending of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket a deus ex machina.
  • Encountered:
    1. A comment on my blog by the Dictionary Dude

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