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(verb)Pronunciation: ['kloy]Definition: (1) To oversatiate with rich food, to overfeed, to cause nausea by overfeeding with delicious, rich food; (2) to oversatiate with anything otherwise pleasant to point it becomes unpleasant.[@more@]Usage: We meet today's word often as "a cloying odor" in our reading, indicating an odor that is slightly nauseous. "Jade" is another verb indicating displeasure at a surfeit, but this verb suggests boredom (not nausea) from repetition of a tr

(noun)Pronunciation: [ti-'mah-krê-si]Definition: Plato considered timocracy government by principles of honor. To Aristotle it was a government in which the ownership of property is a prerequisite for holding office. [@more@]Usage: The adjective for today's word is "timocratic" [ti-mê-'kræt-ik] and the adverb is "timocratically." The plural is "timocracies." Suggested Usage: We are likely to see a government run by officials all with the name "Tim"

(Noun)Pronunciation: [de-sah-'bee-yel, de-sah-'beel, de-sah-'bil] Definition: A partially clothed or intentionally unkempt state; a state of being intentionally unkempt and casually dressed—a negligee state. [@more@]Usage: All the English dictionaries now accept the English misspelling of the word as primary: "dishabille." We would still prefer "deshabille" but will not engage in one of our fanciful flights of futility on this one. The accepted spelling, however, suggests th

(Noun)Pronunciation: [fê-'rah-go] Definition: A disorganized mixture, a hotchpotch (not PA Dutch for "hodge-podge" but the original pronunciation of that word, from the English pronunciation of the French word hochepot "stew"—literally "shake pot"—converted to a rhyme compound).[@more@]Usage: The plural is "farragoes" with an [e]. The adjective is "farraginous" [fê-'ræ-ji-nês] as, "Each of us is a farraginous conglomeration of pre

(Adjective)Pronunciation: [ê-'fêl-jênt ] Definition: Shining brilliantly, resplendent, emitting a brilliant light. [@more@]Usage: Today's adjective comes from the verb, effulge "to shine brightly, blindingly." The adverb from the adjective is "effulgently" and the noun is "effulgence." This is the word to use when neither "bright" nor "brilliant" says it all, so use it sparingly and surgically. Suggested Usage: Today's adjective refers to obje

(Noun)Pronunciation: ['grup-thingk] Definition: Yale psychologist Irving Janis originally defined groupthink as ‘‘a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when...strivings for unanimity override...motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." In other words, the surrender of independent thought to group dynamics. [@more@]Usage: Groupthink is not an evil; it is the attempt by members of a prestigious group to cont

(Noun)Pronunciation: ['hæl-si-ên ] Definition: A fabled bird that nested around the winter solstice, building its nest on the seas, which it charmed into calmness until its eggs hatched; the kingfisher. As an adjective it means "calm, tranquil." [@more@]Usage: It is heard almost exclusively in the phrase "halcyon days" referring to days of unperturbed solace and contentment. Suggested Usage: Here is a beautiful word that could make our language more mellifluous if used

(Noun)Pronunciation: [im-'prim-ê-tyUr or im-pri-'mah-tUr] Definition: The official stamp of a censorial authority allowing a publication to go to press hence any stamp of approval from an authority. [@more@]Usage: It is still used in the literal sense in those states practicing censorship and in most churches. The imprimatur of the Roman Catholic censor in approving a book or motion picture, for example, was nihil obstat "nothing stands in the way." The Motion Picture Association of A

(Noun)Pronunciation: ['ken] Definition: Would you believe that Barbie's boyfriend's name means (1) vision, foresight, knowledge—or (2) a house where unsavory characters gather (British criminal argot)? Well, today's is a different word though pronounced the same.[@more@]Usage: The use of the verb from which today's word derives is limited pretty much to Scotland and, perhaps, northern England today, where it means "to know, understand, recognize." The past tense may be "kenned&qu

(Noun)Pronunciation: [ 'mey-vn] Definition: An expert or connoisseur; someone with profound knowledge of a subject. [@more@]Usage: "Maven" is a lexical orphan without an adjective or verb to accompany it. The Hebrew plural, "mavinim," is used only facetiously. The spelling "mavin" has alternated with the current spelling over the past century but most dictionaries have now settled on the spelling we use above (notice Leo Rosten's spelling below). Suggested Usage: Le

(Noun)Pronunciation: ['li-tê-teez, lI-'to-teez] Definition: A figure of speech that uses dramatic understatement to express a positive idea by negating its opposite.[@more@]Usage: An expression that uses litotes is "litotic" and one can speak "litotically." Litotes is a form of meiosis "understatement," the opposite of "hyperbole" or rhetorical exaggeration. When Tom Jones sings "It's not unusual" when he means "it is usual" he is enga

(Adj.)Pronunciation: ['niv-ee-ês] Definition: Resembling snow, snow-like.[@more@]Usage: The noun is nivosity.Suggested Usage: Although snow is mostly out of season, if you happen to live near cottonwood trees, you can improvise: "With the cottonwood's shedding, it's beginning to look quite niveous outside." And keep it handy for when holidays come back around: "I bought my niece a glass sphere filled with water and a niveous flakes for a Christmas gift" (translation: snow g

(Adjective)Pronunciation: ['ah-kyê-lêr] Definition: (1) Pertaining to or seen by the eye or eyes; (2) visual, related to vision. [@more@]Usage: Today's word sports a few interesting relatives. If you tire of using "glasses" and "spectacles," you can ask your friends how they like your new ocularies. 'Tis a rare word but legitimate. If your ophthalmologist fails you, you may want to turn to an ocularist, a maker of glass eyeballs. The adverb is very ordinary: "ocularly.

(Adjective)Pronunciation: ['pI-bald] Definition: Since few people bake hairy pies (intentionally) any more, this word obviously does not mean what it seems to mean; it means having patches of different colors, particularly black and white spots. It is used most frequently in reference to animals, as in "piebald magpie"—what does that make you think of? It is also used to refer to any motley mixture of mongrel qualities, as the English language, with words from almost every language on

(Adjective)Pronunciation: ['ri-zê-bêl] Definition: (1) Given to laughter, likely to laugh; (2) related to laughter; (3) eliciting laughter, laughable, funny, comic. [@more@]Usage: This word reminds us that, in addition to all the other clever things humans do that distinguish them from other creatures, we are also the risible creature, the only species capable of laughter. Babies begin to laugh when they are only 3-4 months old and those that laugh the most throughout their lives, seem to hav

(Noun)Pronunciation: [ter-wah-'ri-zêm] Definition: No, we didn't misspell today's word. Terroirism is the conviction that the "taste of the soil" [goût de terroir] plays the dominant role in determining the flavor and bouquet of a wine rather than the yeast and fermentation. [@more@]Usage: A terroir [ter'wahr] is the microclimate of the vineyard—the type of soil, the drainage, the inclination vis-à-vis the sun—that influences the taste of the grape. Everyone agrees that the t

(Adjective)Pronunciation: ['æ-pê-zit] Definition: Strikingly appropriate, applicable, or fitting; well put. [@more@]Usage: Today's adjective has abandoned its family and gone out into the world on its own. The underlying verb, "appose," now means "to place on, apply" or "place in proximity," as in the case of appositive nouns. A noun in apposition to another is a noun referring to the same object added immediately following the first noun, as in, "His ne

(Verb)Pronunciation: ['bêsk] Definition: To play music or entertain on the street for money.[@more@]Usage: Please don't confuse today's word with brux "to clench or grind one's teeth." Walking by someone who busks badly might make you brux, but the two words are very different. Those who busk are buskers, noted for their busking. Suggested Usage: Today's word can be used pejoratively, "I had no idea Donny busked as a mime during lunch hour, or I would bring him sandwiches in the

(Noun)Pronunciation: ['krah-chet] Definition: Originally, a small hook or hooked instrument but that sense is now archaic. Today, it means a highly individual and eccentric opinion or preference.[@more@]Usage: We often (mis)use the adjective, "crotchety," but what about the noun it derives from? Crotchety does not mean "irritable," it means having many eccentric opinions. If we used the noun more often, we would have a better sense of that.Suggested Usage: We all know people

(Noun)Pronunciation: ['di-gê-mi] Definition: A second marriage after a divorce or the passing of a spouse, deuterogamy. [@more@]Usage: Bigamy is marriage to two spouses simultaneously; digamy is marriage to two spouses in succession. Polygamy is marriage to several partners simultaneously—"polygyny" refers to having several wives while "polyandry" refers to having several husbands. The adjective for today's noun is "digamous" and sounds like "bigamous."