contretemps

contretemps \KAHN-truh-tahn\, noun;
plural contretemps \-tahnz\:

An inopportune or embarrassing situation or event; a hitch.

Mrs. Post was the center of a notable contretemps when she spilled a spoonful of berries at a dinner of the Gourmet Society here in 1938.
-- "Emily Post Is Dead Here at 86; Writer was Arbiter of Etiquette", New York Times, September 27, 1960

He looked worried, distressed, more distressed than one should look in the face of a slight contretemps.
-- Anita Brookner, Undue Influence

Nathan was a fiercely ambitious and competitive man, as quick to take offenceas to give it in his business dealings, and it is not difficult to imagine him responding impetuously to such a contretemps.
-- Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild

Contretemps comes from French, from contre, "against" (from Latin contra) + temps, "time" (from Latin tempus).

ludic

ludic \LOO-dik\, adjective:

Of or relating to play; characterized by play; playful.

Um, there's only one problem: her mother. Who, being a substantial executive, has a somewhat different attitude to the worth of the professions than her wastrel, ludic husband.
-- Pat Kane, "Pleasing papa", The Guardian, July 11, 2001

He is indeed the outstanding imaginative prose stylist of his generation, with an entirely recognizable literary manner, fizzy and playful (I am trying to avoid the words "pyrotechnic" and "ludic").
-- Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "What Kingsley Can Teach Martin", The Atlantic, September 2000

But within this ludic tale there lurks a tragedy of love and loss that does not lose its tenderness even when embedded in [the author's] perpetually farcical frame of mind.
-- Richard Bernstein, "Lalita, Post-Modern Object of Desire", New York Times, September 8, 1999

Ludic derives from Latin ludus, "play." Ludicrous, "amusing or laughable," shares the same root.

osculation

osculation \os-kyuh-LAY-shuhn\, noun:

The act of kissing; also: a kiss.

He had engaged in nervous osculation with all three of Lord Flamborough's daughters.
-- Thomas Sutcliffe, "The art of seduction, the skill of the tackle", Independent, June 13, 1994

Their incessant onstage osculations during her last concert tour seemed to offer public proof of their passion.
-- "The Big Boom in Breakups", People, November 13, 1995

Osculation comes from osculatio, "a kissing," from osculari, "to kiss," from osculum, "a little mouth, a kiss," diminutive of os, "mouth."

velleity

velleity \veh-LEE-uh-tee; vuh-\, noun:

1. The lowest degree of desire; imperfect or incomplete volition.
2. A slight wish or inclination.

To become now a priest was an elevation of sorts; yet the ceremony, as we would soon see, reinforced every contrast between the life he would lead and the life of the high and mighty, for whom the crowds roar and the bands play, courtiers and servants surrounding them to gratify the least velleity, historians on their toes to record their wispiest thought.
-- William F. Buckley Jr., Nearer, My God

The ease of her words, the control of them, was meant to convey to Compton that her wish to know of her real parents was hardly more than a velleity, a thought that would come to one while watering a plant or peeling an orange.
-- Thomas Savage, The Sheep Queen

He does not shout out his wishes or velleities, unless invited by his host to do so.
-- Philip Howard, "Modern Manners", Times (London), September 15, 2003

Velleity is derived from Latin velle, "to will, to be willing, to wish."

feckless

feckless \FEK-lis\, adjective:

1. Ineffective; having no real worth or purpose.
2. Worthless; irresponsible; generally incompetent and ineffectual.

He was a great admirer of the poetry of plain speech. He despised mere feckless adornments of language or thought.
-- Richard Elman, Namedropping: Mostly Literary Memoirs

Nelson spent decades in feckless pursuit of a superstructure for implementing his grand design.
-- Paul Andrews, How The Web Was Won

Grandpa was a jovial, good-natured man but feckless and addicted to drink, producing in Lucy an everlasting hatred of liquor that she must have drummed into her grandson.
-- Ron Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

Feckless is from Scots feck, alteration of effect + -less.

propinquity

propinquity \pruh-PING-kwih-tee\, noun:

1. Nearness in place; proximity.
2. Nearness in time.
3. Nearness of relation; kinship.

Following the race he took umbrage at Stewart's rough driving so early in the day, and the propinquity of the two drivers' haulers allowed the Kid to express his displeasure up close and personal.
-- Mark Bechtel, "Getting Hot", Sports Illustrated, December 6, 2000

Technologically it is the top service among the women's fighting forces, and it also has the appeal of propinquity to gallant young airmen.
-- "After Boadicea -- Women at War", Time Europe, October 9, 1939

I was stunned by the propinquity of the events: I had never been in the same room with anyone who was later murdered.
-- Karla Jay, Tales of the Lavender Menace

Schultz came by her position through propinquity: her husband, older by 12 years, used to play music with De Maiziere and afterward chat about politics.
-- Johanna McGeary, "Challenge In the East", Time, November 8, 1990

Propinquity derives from Latin propinquitas, from propinquus, near, neighboring, from prope, near.

tumult

tumult \TOO-mult; TYOO-mult\, noun:

1. The commotion or agitation of a crowd, usually accompanied with great noise, uproar, and confusion of voices; hurly-burly; noisy confusion.
2. Violent commotion or agitation, with confusion of sounds; as, "the tumult of the elements."
3. Irregular or confused motion; agitation; high excitement; as, "the tumult of the spirits or passions."
--tumultuous, adjective

Just imagine, reader, a reduction of the centuries and a parade of all of them, all races, all passions, the tumult of empires, the war of appetites and hates, the reciprocal destruction of creatures and things.
-- Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis, The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas (translated by Gregory Rabassa)

The Irish Sea has been polluted, the aeroplanes roar above our heads, preparing for the next war; but this is the work of man. Seeing the dew in the morning and the beauty of the sea at sunset; listening to the silence after the aeroplanes have ceased their tumult, I have just as good a right to my faith as he has to his atheism.
-- R.S. Thomas, quoted in "In pursuit of the Deus absconditus", Irish Times, July 5, 1997

Roger W. Ferguson Jr. was not a kid prone to the irrational exuberance of youth. He first aspired to being a Federal Reserve governor when he was in high school. 'I spent most of my time studying', said Ferguson, who grew up in Washington amid the tumult and giddiness of the 1960s.
-- "Spotlight Turns to Fed Nominee", Washington Post, August 14, 1999

A long Tumult of Passions which naturally rise in a Lover's Heart.
-- Joseph Addison, Spectator No. 164, 1711

Tumult is from Latin tumultus, from tumeo, tumere, to swell; to swell with anger or excitement.

thaumaturgy

thaumaturgy \THAW-muh-tuhr-jee\, noun:

The performance of miracles or magic.

Of course, none of these improbable meetings ever took place in reality. But within the realm of showbiz thaumaturgy, they're perfectly acceptable examples of latter-day digital compositing, wherein it's possible to have anything share a frame of film or video with practically anything else.
-- John Voland, "Prez presses tech buttons", Variety, July 21, 1997

There was ever a cautious hesitancy on the part of the clergy to recognize evidence of thaumaturgy, and the superstitious use of relics.
-- John Mcgurk, "Devoted People: Belief and Religion in Early Modern Ireland", Contemporary Review, September 1998

Thaumaturgy comes from the Greek words for "wonder" (thauma) and "work" (ergon). A practitioner of thaumaturgy is a thaumaturgist or thaumaturge.

spoonerism

spoonerism \SPOO-nuh-riz-uhm\, noun:

The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples:

We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish ["half-formed wish"] inside us.

A well-boiled icicle ["well-oiled bicycle"].

It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.

Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?

When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out ["flags hung out"]!

Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].

Spoonerism comes from the name of the Rev. William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930), a kindly but nervous Anglican clergyman and educationalist. All the above examples were committed by (or attributed to) him.

pithy

pithy \PITH-ee\, adjective:

concise and to the point; full of meaning and force

c. 1400, from Old English pith, of unknown origin but cognate German words referring to "inner part, essence"

veracity

veracity \vuh-RAS-i-tee\, noun:

1. truthfulness
2. truth

Veracity is the heart of morality.
-- Thomas Henry Huxley

The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

by 1623, from French véracité,from Middle Latin veracitatem/veracitas "truthfulness," from Latin verax/ veracis "truthful," from verus "true"

diatribe

diatribe \DAHY-uh-trahyb\, noun:

a bitter verbal attack or speech

It wasn't an argument, it was a diatribe. I've never seen anything like it. It's an insult to you (the jury).
-- J. Tony Serra

by 1581, from Latin diatriba "learned discussion," from Greek diatribe "discourse, study," literally "a wearing away (of time)," from dia- "away" + tribein "to wear, rub."

florid

florid \FLOR-id\, adjective:

1. Flushed with red; of a lively reddish color.
2. Excessively ornate; flowery; as, "a florid style; florid eloquence."

The Reverend Mr Kidney is a short round bowlegged man with black muttonchop whiskers and a florid face, like a pomegranate, into which he has poured a great quantity of brandy and lesser amounts of whisky and claret.
-- Tom Gilling, The Sooterkin

Even though avant-garde attacks on the Victorian bourgeoisie were florid in rhetoric, deficient in evidence, and malicious in intent, it does not follow that they had no objective grounds.
-- Peter Gay, Pleasure Wars: The Bourgeois Experience

Many were florid and overweight, too bulkily dressed and perspiring freely.
-- Robert Stone, Damascus Gate

The journalist Frank Crane would later glorify the . . . factory in florid prose as "a sermon in steel and glass," a "Temple of Work" in which machinery rather than an organ provided the music and the choir "was the glad laughter of happy workers."
-- RolandMarchand, Creating the Corporate Soul

Florid comes from Latin floridus, "flowery," from flos, flor-, "flower."

elucidate

elucidate \ih-LOO-si-dayt\, transitive verb:

To make clear or manifest; to render more intelligible; to illustrate; as, an example will elucidate the subject.

He thought that film's promise and purpose was to elucidate the real, to reveal the patterns already before us, and he believed that unity of space and time were paramount.
-- Nancy Reisman, House Fires

Beginning our journey into the past, we will now examine plant and animal clues in amber to elucidate the mysteries of the forest that was the home of our bee.
-- George Poinar Jr. and Roberta Poinar, The Amber Forest :A Reconstruction of a Vanished World

The plan is to sail south to between 52 and 54 degrees south latitude and search for land; if no land is discovered, to run east to the longitude of the eastern extremity of New Guinea, then north to elucidate questions raised by Dutch and Spanish voyages.
-- Alan Gurney, Below the Convergence

Elucidate comes from Late Latin elucidare, to clear up, from ex-, e-, out of + lucidus, bright, from lux, luc- light. Hence to elucidate is to bring the inner light out of an obscure subject. One who elucidates is an elucidator; that which tends to elucidate is elucidative; the act of elucidating, or that which elucidates, is an elucidation.

libation

libation \ly-BAY-shun\, noun:

1. The act of pouring a liquid (usually wine) either on the ground or on a victim in sacrifice to some deity; also, the wine or liquid thus poured out.
2. A beverage, especially an alcoholic beverage.
3. An act or instance of drinking.

Hearing that the train had lost one of its engines and that the remainder of the trip would be very slow, I headed for the bar car for a libation and a snack or two to soothe my growing hunger pangs.
-- Lawrence Van Gelder, "Tales of Flying Cars and Trees", New York Times, May 28, 2000

Giving careful packing instructions to his Sherpas who would befreighting the spirits to his Base Camp, Todd more than half-anticipated some nights when the libation might serve to take off the edge.
-- Anatoli Boukreev and G. Weston DeWalt, The Climb

Libation is from Latin libatio, from libare, "to take a little from anything, to taste, to pour out as an offering."

cormorant

cormorant \KOR-mur-unt; -muh-rant\, noun:

1. Any species of Phalacrocorax, a genus of sea birds having a sac under the beak; the shag. Cormorants devour fish voraciously, and have become the emblem of gluttony. They are generally black, and hence are called sea ravens, and coalgeese.
2. A gluttonous, greedy, or rapacious person.

Coleridge was precocious and from the first displayed a voracious appetite for books. He later characterised himself as "a library cormorant."
-- Kathleen Jones, A Passionate Sisterhood

Anthony regarded Northwick as a 'cormorant who was eating us up'.
-- Richard Mullen, "Trollope and the Pious Slippers of Cheltenham", Contemporary Review, February 2001

Cormorant comes from Old French cormareng, "raven of the sea," from corb, "raven" (from Latin corvus) + marenc, "of the sea" (from Latin marinus, from mare, "sea").

scintilla

scintilla \sin-TIL-uh\, noun:

A tiny or scarcely detectable amount; the slightest particle; a trace; a spark.

In victory, they must hold on to at least a scintilla of humility, lest they get too cocky -- and ripe for a takedown.
-- Bill Breen, "We are literally trying to stop time", Fast Company, May 2000

I bear her not one scintilla of ill will, he said.
-- Sarah Lyall, "That Harriman Book", New York Times, May 4, 1994

There was never a scintilla of doubt, or a hint of equivocation, in Michael about his commitment to the party.
-- "Ferris's decency and sense of fun recalled", Irish Times, March 23, 2000

Scintilla is from Latin scintilla, "a spark, a glimmer, a faint trace." Also from scintilla is the verb scintillate, "to sparkle."

esoteric

esoteric \es-uh-TER-ik\, adjective:

1. understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest; recondite
2. belonging to the select few
3. private; secret; confidential
4. (of a philosophical doctrine or the like) intended to be revealed only to the initiates of a group

Even in rehearsals, I didn't realize it would be as popular as it proved. After I read it, I said: 'It's brilliant, but it's quite esoteric.' We scheduled 70 or 80 performances.
-- Nicholas Hytner

c. 1645-55, Greek esōterikos, from esōterō, comparative of esō, within

inanition

inanition \in-uh-NISH-uhn\, noun:

1. The condition or quality of being empty.
2. Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment.
3. Lack of vitality or spirit.

The problem that faces British universities is not that they have become fat and lazy, but that they have been starved beyond lean efficiency into inanition.
-- John Sutherland, "A contest that no one can really win", The Guardian, August 14, 2000

Even without, or before, revolution or foreign invasion, states can decline of their own inanition.
-- Harold Perkin, "The rise and fall of empires: the role of surplus extraction", History Today, April 2002

Sadly, though not surprisingly, convention speeches designed to rouse voters from their indifference only exacerbate the country's inanition.
-- Thomas J. Mccarthy, "This year's national party meetings displayed poll-itics as usual", America, September 9, 2000

Inanition derives from Latin inanitio, "emptiness," from inanire, "to make empty," from inanis, "empty." It is related to inane, "lacking sense or intelligence; pointless."

tetchy

tetchy \TECH-ee\, adjective:

Peevish; testy; irritable.

Waugh's tetchy and combative personality made him a difficult companion at arms.
-- Penelope Lively, "A Maverick Historian", The Atlantic, February 2001

Wright was in Tokyo, busy with the Imperial Hotel, firing off telegrams blaming his son, Lloyd, and Schindler for nagging cost overruns that Barnsdall, always tetchy about parting with money, was balking at.
-- Greg Goldin, "Light Houses", Los Angeles Magazine, February 2001

His every word was pure gold then, and even the chairman, who is not known to hide his light under a bushel, got a little tetchy being asked to opine on every economic subject known to man.
-- Jamie Dettmer, "Greenspan Doesn't Always Get It Right", Insight on the News, February 26, 2001

As prams trundle and toddlers bawl, bargain-hunters try to shove, grab and kick their way to consumerist nirvana, while their spouses, weighed down by bulging bags, get seriously tetchy.
-- Kim Gilmour, "Hello, good buy", Internet Magazine, November 2001

Tetchy probably comes from Middle English tecche, "a bad habit," from Old French tache, teche, "a spot, stain, blemish, habit, vice."

ululate

ululate \UL-yuh-layt; YOOL-\, intransitive verb:

To howl, as a dog or a wolf; to wail; as, ululating jackals.

He had often dreamed of his grieving family visiting his grave, ululating as only the relatives of martyrs may.
-- Edward Shirley, Know Thine Enemy: A Spy's Journey into Revolutionary Iran

She wanted to be on the tarmac, to ululate and raise her hands to the heavens.
-- Deborah Sontag, "Palestinian Airport Opens to Jubilation", New York Times, November 25, 1998

She used harrowing, penetrating nasal tones and a rasp that approached Janis Joplin's double-stops; she made notes break and ululate.
-- Jon Pareles, "On the Third Day There Was Whooping and There Was Moshing", New York Times, August 18, 1998

Ululate derives from Latin ululare, to howl, to yell, ultimately of imitative origin. The noun form is ululation; the adjective form is ululant.

pedestrian

pedestrian \puh-DES-tree-uhn\, noun, adjective:

1. a person who gets about on foot; walker
2. going on foot; walking
3. without imagination; dull

You know, the fact that every morning you get a script in your mailbox, that's going to stop. All these little pedestrian, mundane things. And the cash.
-- Paul Reiser

by 1716, from Latin pedester/pedestris "plain, prosaic," from pedes "one who goes on foot," from pes/pedis "foot." Meaning "going on foot" is first attested 1742; the noun meaning "walker" is c 1770.

incisive

incisive \in-SAHY-siv\, adjective:

1. penetrating; cutting; biting; trenchant
2. remarkably clear and direct; sharp; keen; acute
3. adapted for cutting or piercing
4. of or pertaining to the incisors

It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.
-- Rod Serling

by 1528, from Latinincisivus, from incis-/incidere "to cut into"

equine

equine \EE-kwahyn, EK-wahyn\, adjective:

of, pertaining to, or resembling a horse: a bold, equine face.

They were very frustrated with the inability of the authorities to react, so they started Equine Rescue to try to deal with horse cruelty cases.
-- Sally Clampett

1778, from L. equinus, from equus "horse," from PIE base ekwos "horse"

bilk

bilk \bilk\, verb, noun:

1. to defraud; cheat
2. to frustrate
3. to escape from; elude
4. a trick; fraud; deceit.
5. a cheat, swindler

Stuart Levine is a guy who is accused of trying to bilk numerous state agencies - and people seeking help from government agencies - out of millions of dollars.
-- Steve Brown

by 1651, from the noun (1633), first used as a cribbage term. Origin obscure, it was believed in 17th century to be "a word signifying nothing," perhaps of Arab origin; but it is rather perhaps a thinned form of balk. Meaning "to defraud" is first recorded 1672.

martial

martial \MAHR-shuhl\, adjective:

suitable or used for war; warlike

But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, With his martial cloak around him.
-- Charles Wolfe, The Burial of Sir John Moore

by 1420, from Latin martialis "of Mars or war," from Mars, Roman god of war

parry

parry \PAR-ee\, verb, noun:

1. to ward off; turn aside (as a thrust or weapon)
2. the act of warding off

I am not saying the whole group's survival is at stake. But we have to act today if we are to parry the harder onslaught of our competitors tomorrow.
-- Bernd Pischetsrieder

by 1639, from French parez (which commonly would have been heard in fencing lessons), from parer "ward off," from Italian parare "to ward or defend a blow," from Latin parare "make ready, prepare." Non-fencing use is from 1717.

temerity

temerity \tuh-MER-uh-tee\, noun:

Unreasonable or foolhardy contempt of danger; rashness.

The elaborate caution with which the British commander now proceeded stands out in striking contrast with the temerity of his advance upon Bunker Hill in the preceding year.
-- John Fiske, "Washington's Great Campaign of 1776", The Atlantic, January 1889

When English merchants had the temerity to set up a trading post or 'factory' -- junior merchants were known as factors -- the Dutchmen defended their monopoly by massacring them.
-- Anthony Read and David Fisher, The Proudest Day

Drivers with the temerity to accelerate out of turns are likely to encounter torque steer, an unsettling glitch in control as the engine fights to take charge of the steering.
-- Peter Passell, "Mitsubishi Diamante: Back From Down Under", New York Times, February 23, 1997

Throughout the anti-trust trial its executives treated the courts and the US government with sneering contempt, coupled with a ratty annoyance that any public authority should have the temerity to interfere in its business.
-- John Naughton, "Gates must not win at monopoly", The Observer, October 28, 2001

Temerity comes from Latin temeritas, from temere, blindly, rashly.

acute

acute \uh-KYOOT\, adjective:

1. acting keenly on the senses; sharp
2. quick in discernment; drawing fine distinctions
3. of an angle, less than 90 degrees
4. happening quickly, briefly, and severely

I find the pain of a little censure, even when it is unfounded, is more acute than the pleasure of much praise.
-- Thomas Jefferson

by 1570, from Latin acutus "sharp, pointed." Medical sense of "fever or disease that comes and goes quickly" (rather than a chronic one) first recorded 1667.

sanguine

sanguine \SANG-gwin\, adjective, noun;
Also used as a noun, red iron-oxide crayon used in making drawings:

1. cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident
2. reddish; ruddy
3. (in old physiology) having blood as the predominating humor and consequently being ruddy-faced, cheerful, etc.
4. blood-red; red
5. Heraldry. a reddish-purple tincture.
6. a red iron-oxide crayon used in making drawings

I had now arrived at my seventeenth year, and had attained my full height, a fraction over six feet. I was well endowed with youthful energy, and was of an extremely sanguine temperament.
-- Henry Bessemer

by 1319, "type of red cloth," from Old French sanguin (feminine form, sanguine), from Latin sanguineus "of blood," also "bloody, bloodthirsty," from sanguis "blood." Meaning "blood-red" is recorded from 1382. Meaning "cheerful, hopeful, confident" first attested 1509, since these qualities were thought in medieval physiology to spring from an excess of blood as one of the four humors.

lampoon

lampoon \lam-POON\, noun, verb:

1. a composition that imitates or misrepresents someone's style, usually in a humorous way
2. a light, good-humored satire
3. ridicule with satire

Attendees typically lampoon US presidents with grotesque puppets and caricatures.
-- LA Times

by 1645, from French lampon, of unknown origin, said by French etymologists to be from lampons "let us drink," popular refrain for scurrilous 17th century songs, from lamper "to drink, guzzle," a nasalized form of laper "to lap." The verb is first attested by 1657.

pedant

pedant \PED-nt\, noun:

a person who makes a show of detailed knowledge, esp. relying on books; also, a narrow-minded teacher or scholar

All too often, science fiction provokes the pedant in professional scientists, for whom a beautiful story can be ruined by a single petty error.
-- Jerry A. Coyne, The Truth Is Way Out There, New York Times, October 10, 1999

Yet Eyton is no little pedant; he confesses frankly that for a boy of 9 he does not know much Greek, though his Latin is adequate.
-- Robertson Davies, Speaking Of Books, New York Times, February 14, 1962

c 1586, "schoolmaster," from Middle French pédant, from Italian pedante "teacher, schoolmaster," apparently an alteration of Late Latin paedagogantem, from paedagogare. Meaning "person who trumpets minor points of learning" first recorded 1593.