callow \KAL-oh\ (adjective) - Immature; lacking adult perception, experience, or judgment.

"He was callow, even for a subaltern. He was callow all over — like a canary that had not finished fledging itself." -- Rudyard Kipling, 'The Rescue of Pluffles'

Callow is from Old English calu, "featherless, bald."

concupiscence \kon-KYOO-puh-suhn(t)s; kuhn-\ (noun) - Strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust.

"Now, to speak of the first desire, that is, concupiscence, accordint to the law for our sexual parts, which were lawfully made and by rightful word of God; I say, for as much as man is not obedient to God, Who is his Lord, therefore is the ...Read more

nostrum \NOS-truhm\ (noun) - 1 : A medicine of secret composition and unproven or dubious effectiveness; a quack medicine. 2 : A usually questionable remedy or scheme; a cure-all.

"He's carrying on his father's trade, for what he has just dispensed to us is very like a nostrum." -- Honoré de Balzac, 'Lost Illusions'

Nostrum comes from Latin ...Read more

ergo \UR-go; AIR-\ (adverb) - Therefore; consequently; -- often used in a jocular way.

"Doth he not himself say ergo? Hath he not said ergo to the poor saints, to your sons and daughters, whom he hath bured in the fore to Moloch? 'Ergo, though art a heretic' -- 'Ergo, though shalt burn.' Is he not therefore convicted out of his own mouth? -- ...Read more

lexicography \lek-suh-KAH-gruh-fee\ (noun) - 1 : The writing or compiling of dictionaries; the editing or making of dictionaries. 2 : The principles and practices applied to writing dictionaries.

"I am of course stopping short still of the needs of practical lexicography in one conspicuous respect : I am attending only to the cognitive side..."...Read more

titivate \TIT-uh-vayt\ (transitive and intransitive verb) - To smarten up; to spruce up.

"I decided tonight it was time to put away all the black mourning clothes, cut my hair, and titivate myself a bit, as Blackie so aptly calls it." -- Barbara Taylor Bradford, 'Emma's Secret'

Titivate is perhaps from tidy + the quasi-Latin ending -vate. When...Read more

precocious \pri-KOH-shus\ (adjective) - 1 : Characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude); as, "a precocious child"; "a precocious achievement." 2 : (Botany) Flowering or fruiting early.

"Henry was precocious. His parents had great hopes for their offspring, and Henry, because...Read more

sesquipedalian \ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn\ (adjective) - 1 : Given to or characterized by the use of long words. 2 : Long and ponderous; having many syllables.

(noun) - A long word.

"Poor Miss Matty got sadly puzzled with this, for the words gathered size like snow-balls, and towards the end of her letter, Miss Jenkyns used to become quite ...Read more

proclivity \pro-KLIV-uh-tee\ (noun) - A natural inclination; predisposition.

"Nothing has emerged, except a marked proclivity for the gibbet; for he took great delight in stringing up renegade Frenchmen whom he surprised in the ranks of the English or caught in towns which showed signs of disloyalty to the King."

Proclivity comes from Latin ...Read more

reticent \RET-ih-suhnt\ (adjective) - 1 : Inclined to keep silent; reserved; uncommunicative. 2 : Restrained or reserved in style. 3 : Reluctant; unwilling.

"But poor Harry little knew the difficulty of reticence when the heart is full. He had intended to be very reticent when he came up to London..." -- Anthony Trollope, 'Mr. Scarborough's ...Read more

autocrat \AW-tuh-krat\ (noun) - An absolute monarch who rules with unlimited authority; by extension, any person with undisputed authority in a relationship or situation.

"Whenever the Autocrat felt the need of money, he sent his tax-gatherers far and wide, and people who up to that time had no idea of such a thing found that they lived in the ...Read more

disheveled \dih-SHEV-uhld\ (adjective) - In loose disorder; disarranged; unkempt; as, "disheveled hair."

""Sometimes Bethany came to school disheveled, or wearing dirty clothes... it raised a red flag for us." -- Jodi Picoult, 'Vanishing Acts'

Disheveled is from Old French descheveler, "to disarrange the hair," from des-, "apart" (from Latin ...Read more

concomitant \kuhn-KOM-uh-tuhnt\ (adjective) - Accompanying; attendant; occurring or existing concurrently.

(noun) - Something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else; an accompaniment.

"She began also to understand what it was that had brought about her son's love, and to feel that but for certain unfortunate ...Read more

stasis \STAY-sis; STAS-is\ (noun) plural stases \STAY-seez; STAS-eez\: - 1 : A state of balance, equilibrium, or stagnation. 2 : Stoppage of the normal flow of a bodily fluid or semifluid.

"Eons ago there had been a war of galactic extermination, of which naught remained but scattered artifacts preserved for eternity within stasis fields." -- ...Read more

prepotency \pree-POTE-n-see\ (noun) - 1 : The quality or condition of having superior power, influence, or force; predominance. 2 : (Biology) The capacity, on the part of one of the parents, as compared with the other, to transmit more than his or her own share of characteristics to their offspring.

"The prepotency of a Lepage stud is such that...Read more

bagatelle \bag-uh-TEL\ (noun) - 1 : A trifle; a thing of little or no importance. 2 : A short, light musical or literary piece. 3 : A game played with a cue and balls on an oblong table having cups or arches at one end.

"My wife and I have naturally simple tastes, and we used to play bagatelle in the evening. When the new servant saw us at it ...Read more

insensate \in-SEN-sayt; -sit\ (adjective) - 1 : Lacking sensation or awareness; inanimate. 2 : Lacking human feeling or sensitivity; brutal; cruel. 3 : Lacking sense; stupid; foolish.

"Just now, I couldn't keep back the insensate words -- insensate because useless -- but I judged myself all the time as distinctly as I do now it's over." -- ...Read more

confute \kuhn-FYOOT\ (transitive verb) - To overwhelm by argument; to refute conclusively; to prove or show to be false.

"And can there still be any need to confute the Diatribe? Who can more effectually confute it, than it confutes itself! This truly, is that beast that devours itself! How true is the proverb, that 'A liar should have a good ...Read more

waylay \WAY-lay\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To lie in wait for and attack from ambush. 2 : To approach or stop (someone) unexpectedly.

"They waylay you. They waylay anybody who tries to come in here. I had to walk a... gauntlet just now to get in my own building." -- Tom Wolfe, 'The Bonfire of the Vanities'

Waylay comes from way (from Old English...Read more

A good friend of mine wonders about this sentence from a billing statement she received: "Beginning in April of 2025, your payment date will be moved forward from April 19 to April 26." She asks, "Shouldn't 'moved forward' be 'moved back'"?

(In raising this question, she perhaps becomes the first person in history to ever question a notice ...Read more