Increase Our Vocabulary!
Post new or larger words so we can all increase our vocabulary! <3
According to https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day,
the word of the day for April 19th was "underwhelm".
What It Means
To underwhelm someone is to fail to impress or excite them.
// Despite the hype, the movie underwhelmed most reviewers, who criticized its slow pace and poor special effects.
@jesusredeemedme2425
Cool idea!
Word: Idyllic
Meaning: naturally beautiful, simply serene or picturesque; a place or experience extremely happy, beautiful, peaceful without difficulties or dangers of kind.
Use in a sentence:
1. Sarah stayed at an idyllic resort during her trip.
2. Never knew saying yes to that impromptu plan would become such an idyllic experience for me!
cetacean Add to list Share
Other forms: cetaceans
A cetacean is a member of the family of large aquatic mammals such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. They have tails rather than hind limbs, and they have flippers instead of forearms.
@jesusredeemedme2425
Defenestration - the act of throwing someone, or something, out of a window.
@Torean
That sounds like a word that @Tinywhisper11 would love to use hehe... Because it's fun XD
@jesusredeemedme2425
Haha, true. If I ever have to throw someone out of a window, I plan to yell out "Defenestration!" (In a really dramatic voice)
@Torean
That makes me think of "Tradition!!!" from Fiddler on the Roof lol
@jesusredeemedme2425
I've never seen it, but it's one thing that's been lurking on the bottom of my "to watch" list. Maybe I need to get to it. I was a theater nerd, I don't have an excuse
@Torean
I've never seen it either, but I've seen clips. lol! Plus they did a play of it in Gilmore Girls. lol
@Torean 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 writes this word down, for future reference😂😂😂
Have you said it to anyone yet lol
@Torean That word has become less rare in recent years, solely because critics of Vladimir Putin &/or his government have a habit of dying in that exact fashion. The only exception is the former mercenary executive Yevgeny Prigozhin--he died in a plane crash after leaving Russia's war effort & criticizing Putin's performance as tsa--um, as prime minister... Putin & co. claimed they had nothing to do with it, of course.
@slowdecline48
Hah, I never knew that. Him and his people are uh... Terrifying and corrupt in a lot of ways, but I can't help but feel interested and amused that they're getting specifically thrown out of windows.
meat and potatoes
The meat and potatoes of something is its most important, or basic, part. You might say that the meat and potatoes of your school day is your English class.
If you think of meat and potatoes as making up the fundamental part of a person's meal — the portion that provides the most nutrients and calories — you'll see where the figurative meaning of meat and potatoes comes from. The basic arguments are the meat and potatoes of a debate, and a detective chasing a bad guy is the meat and potatoes of a classic mystery novel. The essential ingredients are the meat and potatoes.
firkin
noun
a small wooden vessel or tub for butter, lard, etc.
MORE ABOUT FIRKIN
- First recorded around 1400–50.
- Comes from the late Middle English word ferdkyn or firdekyn.
- This is formed from a variant of ferthe, meaning “fourth,” and the diminutive suffix –kin.
EXAMPLES OF FIRKIN
- The antique store had a collection of quaint firkins on display, each with its own unique design.
- After the harvest festival, the townspeople gathered around to share stories over slices of bread from a firkin of butter.
A related word is
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous!
Beloved of nannies everywhere!
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious…
Bithynia
...was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (now Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, & the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast along the Pontic coast, and Phrygia to the southeast towards the interior of Asia Minor.
It was a Greek civilization, & existed from the early 3rd century to 74 B.C.E.° Its capital was Nikomedia (now Izmit); later it shifted to Nikaea (now Iznik).
°B.C.E. = Before the Common Era. It is a different acronym for any period in B.C., & does not refer to the birth of Jesus. It is preferred by secular folk in general, most professional historians & the more educated %age of Jews.
Debacle!
debacle is usually used synonymously with fiasco to mean “a complete failure.” It can also refer to a great disaster (though typically not one that causes significant suffering or loss).
// After the debacle of his first novel, he had trouble getting a publisher for his next book.
// The state has made a great deal of progress in recovering from its economic debacle
When something complicated--a system, a plan, a battalion, a trip to Europe, anything--goes awry, it does not do so the same way every time, in every place. There is more than one kind of dysfunction. The arch-daemon Murphy1 can & will screw things & people up to varying degrees. For most things, in fact, there are three levels of failure with an acronym for each. They follow, in descending order (worst is last):
- SNAFU - Situation Normal: All F***ed Up
- TARFU - Things Are Really F***ed Up
- FUBAR - F***ed Up Beyond All Repair
The 3rd level is sometimes rendered as "F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition". Also, note the acronyms' colors; they are that way for a reason. You can figure out why.
1the force of chaos & evil behind Murphy's Law. In the Garden of Eden, Murphy was the serpent.
@slowdecline48
Haha ah this is such a snafu! ima use that.
Feel free! I didn't invent those acronyms...learned 'em from a guy who was in the Navy for a few decades. Military veterans can teach you a lot 😆
@slowdecline48
Yeah that is very true ahaha
tchotchke
noun CHAHCH-kuh
What It Means
Tchotchke refers to a small object used for decoration. It's a synonym of knickknack and trinket.
// Their shelves were cluttered with tchotchkes from a lifetime of vacations.
Did You Know?
Just as trinkets can dress up your shelves or coffee table, many words for "miscellaneous objects" or "nondescript junk" decorate our language. Knickknack, doodad, gewgaw, and whatnot are some of the more common ones. We also have gimcrack, bauble, and bibelot. While many such words are of unknown origin, we know that tchotchke comes from the Yiddish word tshatshke of the same meaning, and ultimately from a now-obsolete Polish word, czaczko. Tchotchke is a pretty popular word these days, but it wasn't commonly used in English until the 1970s.