- acerbic: sharp and forthright.
- ameliorate: make something bad or unsatisfactory better.
- atavism: a tendency to revert to something ancient or ancestral. ♡
- castigate: reprimand someone severely.
- cognoscenti: people who are considered to be especially well informed about a particular subject. (from italian, lit. "people who know") ♡
- cordwainer: a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather.
- corollary: a proposition that follows from one already proved.
- coterminous: having the same boundaries or extent in space, time, or meaning.
- discursive: moving from topic to topic without order.
- elucidate: to make clear.
- expiate: atone for (guilt or sin).
- genuflect: to touch the knee to the ground, especially in worship; or (metaphorically) to show deference or servility. ♡
- husky: (of a person) muscular and heavily built.
- improvident: not having or showing foresight.
- indicia: signs, indications, or distinguishing marks. ♡
- intelligentsia: status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society.
- intifuda: "shaking off" in arabic; a rebellion or uprising.
- lambent: softly radiant. ♡ see also: lambent wit: the ability to use words in a clever and humorous way without being unkind.
- lascivious: revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire.
- maudlin: self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness. ♡
- nascent: just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential. ♡
- obsequious: obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.
- parochialism: a limited or narrow outlook, especially focused on a local area.
- proselytize: convert or attempt to convert from one religion, belief, or opinion to another. ♡
- ragamuffin: a person, typically a child, in ragged, dirty clothes. (also a breed of domestic cat)
- rankle: to continue to be painful; fester.
- recrimination: an accusation in response to one from someone else. ♡
- riven: violently divided. ♡
- sacrosanct: regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with. ♡
- self-abnegation: the denial or abasement of oneself.
- sinecure: a position requiring little or no work but giving the holder status or financial benefit.
- slipshod: characterized by a lack of care, thought, or organization.
- steelmanning: (as opposed to strawmanning) a rhetorical technique in which you present the strongest possible version of an opponent's argument, even if it's not the one they explicitly stated.
- vaunted: praised or boasted about, especially in an excessive way. ♡
- venal: showing or motivated by susceptibility to bribery. ♡
- vesper: an evening prayer, service, or hymn; an archaic word for evening.
- waspish: irritable and inclined to bite.
- wildcatter: a prospector who sinks exploratory oil wells.
mar 26 2025 ∞
oct 27 2025 +