Pungent

pun·gent....from dictionary.com

  [puhn-juhnt] Show IPA

–adjective

1.sharply affecting the organs of taste or smell, as if by a penetrating power; biting; acrid.

2. acutely distressing to the feelings or mind; poignant.

3.caustic, biting, or sharply expressive: pungent remarks.

4. mentally stimulating or appealing: pungent wit.

5. Biology . piercing or sharp-pointed.

...When I closed my eyes, the pungent odor of the gardenias placed me elsewhere in  my mind.

Gardenia by Framboise

Perfunctory

per·func·to·ry....thanks to dictionary.com

  [per-fuhngk-tuh-ree] Show IPA

 

–adjective

 

1. performed merely as a routine duty; hasty and superficial: perfunctory courtesy.

2. lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm; indifferent or apathetic: In his lectures he reveals himself to be merely a perfunctory speaker.

 

 

---

Origin:
1575–85; < LL perfūnctōrius  negligent, superficial, deriv. of perfungī  to do one's job, be done, equiv. to per- per- + fung-,  base of fungī  to perform, function + -tōrius -tory¹

—Related forms

per·func·to·ri·ly, adverb

per·func·to·ri·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1, 2.  negligent, heedless, thoughtless, uninterested.

—Antonyms 1, 2.  careful, diligent.

 

Every morning just before he leaves for work, my husband comes and finds me in my little corner of the world. Sitting in my favorite leather chair, dog at my feet, laptop warming my legs. He plants a perfunctory kiss and off he goes to slay dragons.

 

photo by mugley

 

Supercilious

Truly... if ever a word sounded the opposite of what it is, it's supercilious. Personally, I think this word should apply to "super-sillious" people; when in fact, it's rather the opposite.

according to Mirriam-Webster:

Definition of SUPERCILIOUS

: coolly and patronizingly haughty <reacted to their breach of etiquette with a supercilious smile>

— su·per·cil·ious·ly adverb

— su·per·cil·ious·ness noun

Though they may deny it, single-malt Scotch drinkers often take on a supercilious arrogance when they notice blended whisky drinkers with ice in their glasses.




Scotch....photo by JonathanCohen

.....sentences anyone?  and be as "super-sillious" as you want!

Benevolent

be·nev·o·lent

adj \bə-ˈnev-lənt, -ˈne-və-\

Definition of BENEVOLENT....Mirriam Webster

1a : marked by or disposed to doing good <a benevolent donor> b : organized for the purpose of doing good <a benevolent society>

 

2: marked by or suggestive of goodwill <benevolent smiles>

— be·nev·o·lent·ly adverb

— be·nev·o·lent·ness noun

 

See benevolent defined for English-language learners »

Examples of BENEVOLENT

1. a gift from a benevolent donor
2. He belonged to several benevolent societies and charitable organizations.
3. Trees that size are like whales, sort of benevolent in their huge bulk … —Sebastian Junger, This Old House, March/April 1998

..... I must say I love the word benevolent. It just looks like it's a nice word don't you think?

Reticent

ret·i·cent  (rt-snt) .....today's definition from thefreedictionary.com 

adj.

 

 

1. Inclined to keep one's thoughts, feelings, and personal affairs to oneself. See Synonyms at silent.

2. Restrained or reserved in style.

3. Reluctant; unwilling.

 

 

Adj.

1.

reticent - temperamentally disinclined to talk untalkative taciturn - habitually reserved and uncommunicative

 

2.	reticent - cool and formal in manner             restrained, unemotional undemonstrative - not given to open expression of emotion

 

3.	reticent - reluctant to draw attention to yourself self-effacing, retiring unassertive - inclined to timidity or lack of self-confidence; "a shy unassertive person"

 

 

Her reticent behavior, most unusual for her; made me think she must be up to something.

Acrimonious

ac·ri·mo·ni·ous...Mirriam-Webster

  [ak-ruh-moh-nee-uhs]

–adjective

caustic, stinging, or bitter in nature, speech, behavior, etc.: an acrimonious answer; an acrimonious dispute.

After enjoying our lovely meal out, I was tempted to indulge in the chocolate torte. The little devil on my left shoulder said, "go ahead Nancy....you only live once...you know you want it!"  The little angel on my right side said, "do you really think you should?  I mean it's not as if you're still hungry..." 

I flicked that little angel off my shoulder and acrimoniously whispered, "...come back later when you can tell me what I want to hear!"

Then I ordered the torte.

Amorphous

Definition of AMORPHOUS....thanks to Mirriam-Webster

[uh-mawr-fuhs

1a : having no definite form : shapeless <an amorphous cloud mass> b : being without definite character or nature : unclassifiable <an amorphous segment of society> c : lacking organization or unity <an amorphous style of writing>

2: having no real or apparent crystalline form <an amorphous mineral>

— amor·phous·ly adverb

— amor·phous·ness noun

I'm pretty sure that after Thursday my shape will be more amorphous than ever thanks to turkey, stuffing and pie.  Urp!

turkey....by roadfun.

Serendipity

a very interesting word with an interesting background.

the definition according to thefreedictionary.com

ser·en·dip·i·ty

n. pl. ser·en·dip·i·ties

1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.

3. An instance of making such a discovery.

seren·dipi·tous·ly adv.

Word History: We are indebted to the English author Horace Walpole for the word serendipity, which he coined in one of the 3,000 or more letters on which his literary reputation primarily rests. In a letter of January 28, 1754, Walpole says that "this discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word." Walpole formed the word on an old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip. He explained that this name was part of the title of "a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of...."

my sentence:  When my friend, Nancy and I visited New York City last December, it was serendipitous that we had an early dinner at the restaurant located adjacent to the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, because during our meal, we struck up a conversation with our waiter who informed us that we simply had to go sample the frozen hot chocolate at "Serendipity", a famous NYC restaurant.



inside Serendipity 3




Nancy enjoying her fffffrozen hot chocolate



me enjoying my frozen peanut butter hot chocolate at Serendipity. I'd like to say there were two other people for the two other straws.....but there weren't.  Of course I didn't drink all of it!! 
.....I left at least 4 tablespoons.

 ...and one last tidbit of interesting trivia about the word, serendipity. In 2004, it was voted by a British translation company as one of the 10 most difficult English words to translate!

Intrepid

intrepid (adjective).....from vocabulary.com

Definition: not vulnerable to fear or intimidation

Synonyms: fearless, undaunted, perseverant, persistent, brave, courageous, bold, daring, heroic

today is a "two for one" special....also check out "trepidation" ...

A related word, which has the same root as intrepid, is trepidation. Trepidation means "fear or apprehension." When you add the negative prefix in-, "not" to trepid, intrepid means "having no trepidation; bold and fearless." You will often hear journalists, who are out in the field, covering wars and other dangerous stories, characterized as "intrepid."


Usage Examples for intrepid:

Achilles was a brilliant and intrepid warrior. (brave, heroic, daring)

The intrepid reporter did not let fear of retribution stand in the way of delivering a story she believed would improve people's lives. (courageous, bold)

After the market crash, only a handful of intrepid investors put money in tech-stocks. (undaunted, bold)

The intrepid journalist often reported from deep in the war zone, but never seemed afraid for her life. (fearless, perseverant)


thanks for visiting........Nancy

Apathetic

Apathetic: the definition thanks to yourdictionary.com

apa·thetic (ap′ə t̸het′ik)

adjective

1. feeling little or no emotion; unmoved
2. not interested; indifferent; listless

Origin: < apathy, modeled on pathetic

Related Forms:

• apathetically ap′a·thet′i·cally adverb

ap·a·thet·ic (ăpˌə-thĕtˈĭk) also ap·a·thet·i·cal (-ĭ-kəl)

adjective

1. Feeling or showing a lack of interest or concern; indifferent.
2. Feeling or showing little or no emotion; unresponsive.

Origin: From apathy, on the model of pathetic.

Related Forms:

• apathetically apˌa·thetˈi·cal·ly adverb

the sentence for today is:

 When she bounded into the office and declared, "Good morning everyone! Can you believe it's Monday already!?" She was somewhat surprised at the apathetic response.

Soliloquy

so·lil·o·quy

noun \sə-ˈli-lə-kwē\

plural so·lil·o·quies

Definition of SOLILOQUY  (Mirriam-Webster)

1: the act of talking to oneself

2: a dramatic monologue that represents a series of unspoken reflections


Okay....I love this word! I hear it often and I thought it was a type of rambling conversation, but I really wasn't sure until I looked it up today. Last night I heard it on one of my favorite TV shows, "Brothers and Sisters".....and I thought, Okay, I must look that up...  (and then I actually remembered the word without writing it down!)

Probably the most famous example of a soliloquy is Hamlet's:

"To be or not to be-that is the question

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer"...blah blah blah..

(no disrespect to William... it's just that it goes on and on and on)

I soliloquize often. At least now when my daughter shakes her head, rolls her eyes and looks at me half amused; half pathetically as she catches me soliloquizing yet once more (that day...)  -- I can hold my head up with pride and say to her, 

"What are you looking at?  Haven't you ever seen a soliloquist before?"

Exacerbate

Exacerbate (verb):

1)   to aggravate or increase the severity of something.
2)   to exasperate or irritate

in plain English.........to make worse!

Sentence: My irritation was exacerbated by the fact that I couldn't go outside and rake leaves because it was raining...okay-- maybe it's not the greatest sentence in the word, but at least it's my own. It is raining here and the leaves are too icky and too heavy to move. Well, at least it's not snowing!

Do you think you can come up with a better sentence? 

Postulate

Postulate....the first known use of this word according to Mirriam-Webster was in 1593.

Definition of Postulate (Mirriam-Webster)

1: demand, claim

2a : to assume or claim as true, existent, or necessary : depend upon or start from the postulate of b : to assume as a postulate or axiom (as in logic or mathematics)

— pos·tu·la·tion\ˌpäs-chə-ˈlā-shən\ noun

— pos·tu·la·tion·al\-shnəl, -shə-n^əl\ adjective

Sentence: When your children are teenagers and they come home two hours past curfew, don't postulate that everything they tell you is necessarily the truth.

...thanks for visiting - have a great day!