Results 121 to 150 of 516
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2020-09-02, 05:37 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2015
- Location
- Berlin
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
The original term is "Abseilen". "Ab" is short for "Abwärts", meaning "Downwards", "Seil" is the common term for "climbing rope", the ending "en" describes an action, turning it into "using a climbing rope".
Itīs a good example how we use compound words to condense whole sentences/concepts.
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2020-09-02, 04:07 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2015
- Location
- London, UK
- Gender
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2020-09-02, 05:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2018
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Apoplectic - To overcome with anger
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2020-09-03, 02:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
- Location
- UK
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
I hope you just made a typo. as that definition is actually badly wrong:
Apoplectic - overcome with anger
"To overcome with anger" would mean you/they are overcoming something else which is a very different thing.
Apoplexy (i.e. when someone is apoplectic) is when someone is overcome with anger.Last edited by Khedrac; 2020-09-03 at 02:53 AM.
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2020-09-03, 03:08 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
"Couth". I had never heard it; only "uncouth".
Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2020-09-03, 02:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2015
- Location
- London, UK
- Gender
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2020-09-03, 03:51 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2015
- Location
- Berlin
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Itīs actually quite interesting.
Couth/Uncouth in english, Keusch/Unkeusch in german. It gets more interesting when looking at Kulturni/Njet Kulturni in russian,
In a sense, itīs actually a word that got assimilated by religion and stayed there. Cough/Keusch describes christian as well as moslem values, while the counterparts, Uncouth/Unkeusch/Njet Kulturni describe universal society-based values.
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2020-09-07, 03:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2015
- Location
- London, UK
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Braggadocio - boastful or arrogant behaviour, or one who performs such behaviour. Also used specifically to describe hyperbolic boasting among rappers.
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2020-09-08, 06:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
- Location
- Lost in the Town
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Poltroon: An utter coward.
Got brought up by my husband the other day in reference to a particular world leader, and I was like "A What?" and he had to explain it. He loves using big archaic words and I love him for it.~Amor Vincit Omnia~I have a Youtube Channel
I write and draw occasionally: Have a look.
Avatar by HappyTurtle.
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2020-09-08, 09:54 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
mordant - having or showing a sharp or critical quality; biting as in "a mordant wit".
I read it and thought it meant something similar to morbid sense of humor.
BTW: Poltroon & Braggadocio are great Ren Faire words! If we ever get to go again....Last edited by Scarlet Knight; 2020-09-08 at 09:57 AM.
"We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett
Avatar by Tannhaeuser
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2020-09-08, 03:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Indianapolis
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
It's also the term for the chemicals or additions used to fix dyes so they don't fade out or rub off too easily. Possibly related, as many of the traditional mordants would be very acrid or astringent chemicals that usually have a smell/taste described as 'sharp.'
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2020-09-08, 06:02 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2009
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
I think that both come from mordre = to bite, mordant literally meaning "biting". Mordant also used to mean acids used for refining metal, so it would have left some bite in there. Maybe mordant in the modern chemical sense is an extension of this meaning. Another explanation I found is that it's because it holds the dye, like an animal holding on to something by biting it, but I find it less likely. Mordant wit = biting wit seems to make sense, however (with a sense similar to "stinging").
Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2020-09-09, 03:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Location
- Montréal, Qc, Canada
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
As a Stephen Donaldson fan, here's an obligatory reference (from the archive)
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2020-09-12, 10:38 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
oeuvre : A work of art; The complete body of an artist's work.
"Readers familiar with the poet's oeuvre recognize her unusual impulses.""We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett
Avatar by Tannhaeuser
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2020-09-14, 01:30 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2020
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
This one's a mouthful I learned in Latin class:
Anagnorisis: the key realization in a play, usually a tragedy, that leads to the plot's resolution, such as someone's true identity being revealed moments before the climax.
And because I used to play Freerice a ton of times and accumulated a list of my favorite cool-sounding words, here's a few more of them for the road:
Enantiodromia: the tendency for things to transform into their opposites. Usually used in psychology.
Entelechy: the realization of potential, such as when Elan learned the Dashing Swordsman class and put his Charisma stat to combat use.
Epeolatry: the worship of words. Sounds like something Vaarsuvius should get into.
And one of my favorites, ophidian. It means snake-like. I liked it so much I named one of my characters after it, though I added an "r" to make it less obvious.
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2020-09-14, 01:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2018
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Coincidentally, I remember it from the subtitle of an older video game: Lufia II. Having looked it up back then, I still wonder if the game was trying to say that all southpaws are evil gods...
Today I learned that a colloquialism for sunshower, the phenomenon of rain on a sunny day (cue CCR), is "the devil beating his wife." I didn't even know he was married.
I was also recently browbeaten for misusing "ephemeral," a word I know well, in reference to the main blood vessel in the upper part of one's leg. I've been trying to reconcile in the weeks since how I got by so long without any memory of having ever seen "femoral" in print, along with feeling a sense that I may need to rewatch a number of medical dramas and certain crime shows with this new understanding.
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2020-09-14, 03:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
"anodyne" - not likely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so.
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2020-09-15, 10:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2016
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2020-09-16, 03:29 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Hypocorism, an affectionate nickname.
Resident Vancian Apologist
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2020-09-16, 03:29 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2014
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2020-09-16, 08:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Accrete - to grow together; adhere
"Temptations and decisions that accrete into experience.""We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett
Avatar by Tannhaeuser
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2020-09-19, 08:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
- Location
- Greensboro, NC
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
obloquy - strong public criticism or verbal abuse.
Avatar by Lycunadari
Go Tigers!
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2020-10-03, 02:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2015
- Location
- London, UK
- Gender
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2020-10-07, 07:21 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Geitonogamy, when a flower pollinates a different flower of the same plant.
Resident Vancian Apologist
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2020-10-08, 02:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Lacuna - a blank space or a missing part : gap; deficiency.
"That absence is not a lacuna in the story.""We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett
Avatar by Tannhaeuser
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2020-10-08, 02:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Germany
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Discombobulate.
We are not standing on the shoulders of giants, but on very tall tower of other dwarves.
Spriggan's Den Heroic Fantasy Roleplaying
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2020-10-08, 09:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
- Location
- Watching the world go by
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
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2020-10-11, 07:11 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
Ineffable - incapable of being expressed in words : indescribable
"The best fiction is ineffable; the reader cannot precisely explain what they have experienced.""We are the people our parents warned us about!" - J.Buffett
Avatar by Tannhaeuser
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2020-10-12, 04:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2020
- Location
- Japan
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
dais - a low platform
loth - loath
wisp - a small bunch
gluon - a type of particle
vasopressin - an attachment hormone
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2020-10-19, 07:34 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2019
- Gender
Re: What new words have you learned recently?
travail - trial, tribulation
mire - swamp