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Definition 1: A boorish person without interest in the arts and who is antagonistic to cultural values; someone whose interests are in material, common things.[@more@]Usage 1: Today's word divides the world into two camps, just as the ancient Israelites saw themselves as a people quite apart from the Philistines (see the Etymology). There are the artists or the cultural elite and their enemies: the philistines or the bourgeois. Philistinism is another noun form meaning "vulgarity."Sugg

Definition 1: (Philosophy) The study of the nature of knowledge: suppositions, conclusions, and all that happens in between—how we know things; the structure of knowledge itself. [@more@]Usage 1: The adjective for today's word is "epistemological," the adverb, "epistemologically," and a person studying the nature of knowledge is an epistemologist. Remember that this word contains two [e]s followed by two [o]s. Suggested usage: Although today's term is most closely associated

Definition 1: To blind with a red-hot metal plate held before the eyes.[@more@]Usage 1: The process is abacination and those inclined to alter the views of others in this way are abacinators. People and objects capable of blinding with heat are abacinative (the adjective). Suggested usage: Here is one of the more useful words we have recently brought to the attention of those bent on obfuscation rather than clarification. "Have you been abacinated?" can now replace "Are you blind?

Definition 1: The act of rubbing a part of the body with liniment or lotion. Definition 1: The act of rubbing a part of the body with liniment or lotion. [@more@]Usage 2: An embrocation would have to be a champagne of lotions, not an ordinary one. Suggested usage: Let's say the topic of conversation is golf, yard work, or some other physical activity and someone says, "My muscles were so sore I had to rub them down afterwards." Establish your place (if not dominance) in the conversatio

Definition 1: An above-ground tomb usually made of stone.[@more@]Usage 1: The plural is "sarcophagi," pronounced [sahr-'kah-fê-gI] or [sahr-'kah-fê-jI]. The verb, sarcophagize, means "to bury in a sarcophagus." The adjective, sarcophagous, also serves the noun, sarcophagy, referring to the eating of flesh (meat). A sarcophage ['sahr-kê-feyj] is a flesh-eater. In 1901 H. G. Wells, justly or not, grouped together "[t]he movements against vivisection, opium, alcohol, tob

Definition 1: A fall on the buttocks; hence, a humiliating blunder. [@more@]Usage 1: "He slipped on a banana peel and made a perfect pratfall." The noun "prat," originally referring to the rearend, has ameliorated in Britain to a word meaning a "foolish person": "He's in trouble for forgetting his wedding anniversary -- the prat!" (thanks to Clare Morrison for the example). Suggested usage: We should all learn from our pratfalls; they are inevitable. But t

Definition 1: Impressively large or enormous; extraordinary, exciting wonder.[@more@]Usage 1: The noun, "prodigy," refers to someone with a prodigious talent. In the 18th century, the adjective was use as an intensifier, like "really," "very," and so on: "It was a prodigiously fortuitous accident that allowed my wife and me to meet for the first time" is a sentence (not to say a mouthful) fitting for a romance. The word no longer serves that function. Sugg

Definition 1: Lighthearted, lacking care or concern, blithely indifferent or nonchalant. [@more@]Usage 1: Careful of the spelling: an "a" and not an "e" in the suffix. The noun is "insouciance." Suggested usage: Insouciance is often associated with youth, though it follows many of us into adulthood. If your child is not quite mature enough to drive the family car, remind them, "Youthful insouciance is not a good recommendation for driving the new Mercedes.&quot

Definition 1: A devioius scheme, an act of intrique.[@more@]Usage 1: The [ch] in today's word tends to be pronounced with the Greek [k] in Britain but with the French [sh] in the US. The [k] is the older, more traditional pronunciation. "Machination" is the process noun from the verb "machinate." A person who plots and schemes is a machinator. The stem of all members of this family reflect the same dual pronunciation found in the stem of today's word. Suggested usage: Even th

Definition 1: Immature, inexperienced, having not reached adulthood, as a callow youth.[@more@]Usage 1: Today's word is used mostly in reference to young birds and people. However, callow foxes might learn a valuable lesson practicing their attack tactics on a porcupine or skunk. The adverb for this word is "callowly" and the noun, "callowness." Suggested usage: Edith Wharton pretty much summed up her reasons for relocating to Paris in a letter to a friend after her car broke