venerate

venerate \VEN-uh-rayt\, transitive verb:

To treat someone or something with deep respect, reverence or deference; to revere.

They venerated the same saints, worshipped in the same churches, and respected a past of shared values.
-- Miranda Vickers, Between Serb and Albanian

They venerated the gods of fire and water.
-- Paul Theroux, Hotel Honolulu

I venerate old age; and I love not the man who can look without emotion upon the sunset of life, when the dusk of evening begins to gather over the watery eye, and the shadows of twilight grow broader and deeper upon the understanding.
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Venerate comes from Latin veneratus, past participle of venerari, "to revere, to respect, to worship," from venus, vener-, "charm, loveliness."

taciturn

taciturn \TAS-uh-turn\, adjective:

Habitually silent; not inclined to talk.

On stage she seemed to become transformed, and the contrast was even more noticeable given her shy, taciturn character, shrouded in the impalpable veil of gloom that always surrounded her.
-- Pino Cacucci, Tina Modotti: A Life

A balding, stocky, taciturn man who wore glasses, he gave an impression of distance and seriousness.
-- "Diana's Driver: Unsettling Piece in a Puzzle", New York Times, September 21, 1997

In the company of even his close literary and political friends he was shy if not taciturn.
-- "Passionate voice of the press", Irish Times, November 4, 1997

Taciturn comes from Latin taciturnus, from tacere, "to be silent."

sybarite

sybarite \SIB-uh-ryt\, noun:

A person devoted to luxury and pleasure.

This worldly cleric, nicknamed "the sybarite of Saumane", friend of Voltaire and a social luminary in Paris and Avignon, lived a high old life within the medieval fortifications of his chateau in Provence.
-- "The dubious charms of Citizen Sade", Irish Times, April 17, 1999

Beneath the prudish disapproval that colored Upton Sinclair's assessment of California's wealthy sybarites was an amused astonishment at how hard they worked at having fun, at how deadly serious they were about pleasure.
-- Richard White, "What California taught America", The New Republic, December 1, 1997

And when the final blessing of a perfect French cook appeared to make our domestic picture complete, we became utter sybarites, frank worshippers of the splendors of the French cuisine.
-- Samuel Chamberlain, Clémentine in the Kitchen

Sybarite is derived from Greek Sybarites, from Sybaris, an ancient Greek city noted for the luxurious, pleasure-seeking habits of many of its inhabitants.

avoirdupois

avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\, noun:

1. Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams).
2. Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois.

Claydon . . . was happy to admit that he has shed some avoirdupois.
-- Mel Webb, "Claydon's loss leads to net gain", Times (London), February 18, 2000

Yet until middle age and avoirdupois overtook her, Mary was no slouch.
-- John Updike, "How to Milk a Millionaire", New York Times, March 29, 1987

Tired of putting on and taking off the same five pounds? Don't delay, buy this book today -- and watch yourself shed both respectability and surplus avoirdupois!
-- David Galef, "J. Faust's Guide to Power' And Other Self-Help Classics", New York Times, December 18, 1994

Avoirdupois is from Middle English avoir de pois, "goods sold by weight," from Old French aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight," from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have," from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight," from Latin pensum, "weight."

sagacious

sagacious \suh-GAY-shus\, adjective:

Having or showing keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness.

Example Quotes:

Edward's uncle, a sagacious scholar equally at home with Celtic myth and Eastern wisdom, declines his nephew's request to tell the story of Hamlet (it would come too close to home).
-- John Gross, New York Times, December 3, 1984

Others worked up sagacious-sounding comments about the French author that would serve until they could read some of his books themselves, or until the current interest fades.
-- Maureen Dowd, "Nobel Panel's Pick Keeps Cognoscenti Guessing", New York Times, October 18, 1985

Example Sentences:

The reminder to save for a rainy day would prove to be sagacious advice.
-- Brought to you by Prius 3G

Sagacious derives from Latin sagax, "keen; shrewd; clever."

pejorative

pejorative \pih-JOR-uh-tiv\, adjective:

1. Tending to make or become worse.
2. Tending to disparage or belittle.
3. A belittling or disparaging word or expression.

Citing the construction industry, car dealers, and politicians as the purveyors of "sprawl" (a pejorative term that does not even allow for the possibility of benefits associated with low-density development), Kunstler fails to consider the role of market forces.
-- Julia Hansen, "letter to the editor", The Atlantic, December 1996

While he said that he is not a "fanboy," mildly pejorative slang for an aggressively obsessive "Star Wars" fan, he did mention that the John Williams "Star Wars" theme was played at his wedding reception two years ago.
-- Michel Marriott, "On a Galaxy of Sites, 'Star Wars' Fever Rises", New York Times, May 6, 1999

Welfare state is now, even for the Labour party whose grand historic achievement it was, obscurely shameful. A pejorative for our times.
-- John Sutherland, "How the potent language of civic life was undermined", The Guardian, March 20, 2001

Pejorative is derived from the past participle of Late Latin pejorare, "to make worse, to become worse," from Latin pejor, "worse."

fillip

fillip \FIL-uhp\, noun:

1. A snap of the finger forced suddenly from the thumb; a smart blow.
2. Something serving to rouse or excite; a stimulus.
3. A trivial addition; an embellishment.
4. To strike with the nail of the finger, first placed against the ball of the thumb, and forced from that position with a sudden spring; to snap with the finger.
5. To snap; to project quickly.
6. To urge on; to provide a stimulus, by or as if by a fillip.

If any one in Mirgorod gives him a neckerchief or underclothes, he returns thanks; if any one gives him a fillip on the nose--he returns thanks then also.
-- Nikolai Gogol, "The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarrelled with Ivan Nikiforovich"

You fillip me o' the head.
-- Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida

Her raspberry cream tart is given an added fillip with bourbon and nutmeg.
-- Marian Burros, "Cooking", New York Times, June 3, 1984

The utopian and romantic -- and in the end completely unrealistic -- idea that the building should serve as a mooring post for airships led to the creation of a tower on the tower, giving a final fillip to the design.
-- Nathan Glazer, "Miracle on 34th Street", New York Times, December 3, 1995

Fillip is probably of imitative origin.

depredation

depredation \dep-ruh-DAY-shun\, noun:

1. An act of plundering or despoiling; a raid.
2. [Plural] Destructive operations; ravages.

. . .the depredations of pirates and privateers on the high seas.
-- Jacqueline Jones, American Work

Arguing for drastic measures, they cite the horrible depredations of drug addiction.
-- Jacob Sullum, "Voodoo social policy: exorcizing the twin demons, guns and drugs", Reason, October 1, 1994

For the moment, Kioni remains a precious fragment of the old Mediterranean, the one that existed before the depredations of pollution and crass, exploitative development.
-- Andrew Powell, "Hellenic heaven", Harper's Bazaar, August 1, 1994

Depredation comes from Late Latin depraedari, "to plunder," from Latin de- + praedari, from praeda, "plunder, prey."

equanimity

equanimity \ee-kwuh-NIM-uh-tee; ek-wuh-\, noun:

Evenness of mind; calmness; composure; as, "to bear misfortunes with equanimity."

For one whose mind has been notoriously troubled, Brian Lara is at least retaining a sense of equanimity.
-- Richard Hobson, "Croft offers no respite as Lara's theme continues", Times (London), June 8, 2000

When one is happy, one can look at both comedy and tragedy with equanimity.
-- Phillip Lopate, Totally, Tenderly, Tragically

I think one person can hardly understand why another has conducted his life in such a way, how he came to commit certain actions and not others, whether he looks upon the past with mostly pleasure or equanimity or regret.
-- Chang-Rae Lee, A Gesture Life

Equanimity comes from Latin aequanimitas, "impartiality, calmness," from aequanimus, "impartial, even-tempered," from aequus, "even" + animus, "mind, soul."

buss

buss \BUS\, noun, verb:

1. A kiss; a playful kiss; a smack.
2. To kiss; especially to kiss with a smack.

Lucky guesser gets a buss upon his plucky kisser.
-- William H. Gass, Cartesian Sonata and Other Novellas

Exchange a random peace greeting during Mass with a stranger in the next pew and the odds are roughly one in fifty that you shake the hand or buss the cheek of a parishioner who has had at least one marriage voided by a diocesan tribunal.
-- Robert H. Vasoli, What God Has Joined Together

Buss is probably from Old English basse, from Latin basium, "kiss."

immure

immure \ih-MYUR\, verb:

1. To enclose within walls, or as if within walls; hence, to shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate.
2. To build into a wall.
3. To entomb in a wall.

Not surprisingly, Sally shuddered at the thought of being immured in the black cave, to die slowly and hopelessly, far below the sunny hillside.
-- Peter Pierce, "The Fiction of Gabrielle Lord", Australian Literary Studies, October 1999

True, there was a Mughal emperor in Delhi until 1857, but he was emperor in name only, the shadow of a memory, described by Lord Macaulay as 'a mock sovereign immured in a gorgeous state prison'.
-- Anthony Read, The Proudest Day

When I tried to think clearly about this, I felt that my mind was immured, that it couldn't expand in any direction.
-- Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon

Immured by privilege in a way of life that offered little scope, army wives were often enfeebled by boredom.
-- Frances Spalding, Duncan Grant: A Biography

Immure comes from Medieval Latin immurare, from Latin in-, "in" + murus, "wall." It is related to mural, a painting applied to a wall.

satiety

satiety \suh-TY-uh-tee\, noun:

The state of being full or gratified to or beyond the point of satisfaction.

Carbohydrates, especially the starchy ones like pasta and potatoes, provide a feeling of satiety, both physiologically and psychologically.
-- Marian Burros, "Eating Well", New York Times, October 19, 1988

Isidore of Seville, in interpreting the Psalms in the seventh century, seconded the idea that tears produce satiety. "Lamenting," he wrote, "is the food of souls."
-- Tom Lutz, Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears

Satiety is from Latin satietas, from satis, "enough."

fey

fey \FAY\, adjective:

1. Possessing or displaying a strange and otherworldly aspect or quality; magical or fairylike; elfin.
2. Having power to see into the future; visionary; clairvoyant.
3. Appearing slightly crazy, as if under a spell; touched.
4. (Scots.) Fated to die; doomed.
5. (Scots.) Marked by a sense of approaching death.

. . .the former a gang of dangerous delinquents, fearless, macho, vulgar . . ., the latter a group of mischievous schoolboys, whimsical, fey, sophisticated and daringly experimental.
-- Sean Kelly, "What Did You Expect, the Spanish Inquisition?", New York Times, July 25, 1999

Beneath a fey manner, his mother was highly competitive.
-- Evan Thomas, The Very Best Men

Leo, suddenly fey, sports a rhinestone ascot and black velvet waistcoat, homburg and walking stick.
-- Edward Karam, "Fast and louche", Times, March 29, 2001

Fey comes from Middle English feye, feie, from Old English fæge, "fated to die."

pernicious

pernicious \pur-NISH-us\, adjective:

Highly injurious; deadly; destructive; exceedingly harmful.

Half-truths can be more pernicious than outright falsehoods.
-- Wendy Lesser, "Who's Afraid of Arnold Bennett?", New York Times, September 28, 1997

But he said they were not thinkers but snobs, and their influence was pernicious.
-- Saul Bellow, Ravelstein

Racism should be condemned because its effects are pernicious.
-- Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Genes, Peoples, and Languages

Pernicious comes from Latin perniciosus, "destructive, ruinous," from pernicies, "destruction, disaster, ruin," from per-, "through, thoroughly" + nex, nec-, "violent death."

exigency

exigency \EK-suh-jun-see; ig-ZIJ-un-see\, noun:

1. The quality or state of requiring immediate aid or action; urgency.
2. A case demanding immediate action or remedy; a pressing or urgent situation.
3. That which is demanded or required in a particular situation -- usually used in the plural.

Finally, in late 1961 and early 1962, naked exigency forced the Chinese Communist Party to recognize the extent of the crisis it had created. The most deadly innovations from the Great Leap Forward were quietly abandoned or reversed; almost immediately, this artificially manufactured famine came to an end.
-- Nicholas Eberstadt, "The Great Leap Backward", review of Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine, by Jasper Becker, New York Times, February 16, 1997

But rearing and educating babies required women to prepare for exigencies that could occur decades down the road.
-- Helen Fisher, The First Sex

Better than any other species, they had adapted to the exigencies of the Ice Ages.
-- David Fromkin, The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-first Century

Exigency comes from Medieval Latin exigentia, from the present participle of Latin exigere, to drive out, to force out, to exact, to demand, from ex-, out of + agere, to drive. The adjective form is exigent.

stolid

stolid \STOL-id\, adjective:

Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility; not easily excited.

Normally stolid, she occasionally joined in the frequent applause and smiled along with the laughter at the high-spirited session.
-- Seth Mydans, "Indonesia Leader Imposes a Decree to Fight Removal", New York Times, July 23, 2001

The inherent irrationality of markets was first demonstrated in the 17th century, when the normally stolid Dutch population was seized by a tulip craze that caused the people to pay insane prices for a single bulb.
-- Robert Reno, "Analysis: A market that rides on bubbles", Newsday, August 7, 2002

Ulster Protestants are a slow, stolid, quiet, decent, law-abiding people, unstylish and unfashionable.
-- John Derbyshire, "Paisley Goes to Washington", National Review, March 15, 2001

Stolid derives from Latin stolidus, "unmoving, stupid."

querulous

querulous \KWER-uh-luhs; -yuh\, adjective:

1. Apt to find fault; habitually complaining.
2. Expressing complaint; fretful; whining.

Querulous Oscar rattles on, never more or less than himself, but never much more than the content of his grumpy rattling.
-- Sven Birkerts, "A Frolic of His Own", New Republic, February 7, 1994

Mam is a tragic figure when transported to New York by her successful sons -- querulous, unable to get a decent cup of tea.
-- Maureen Howard, "McCourt's New World", New York Times, September 19, 1999

Men who feel strong in the justice of their cause, or confident in their powers, do not waste breath in childish boasts of their own superiority and querulous depreciation of their antagonists.
-- James Russell Lowell, "The Pickens-and-Stealin's Rebellion", The Atlantic, June 1861

Querulous comes from Latin querulus, from queri, "to complain."

unctuous

unctuous \UNGK-choo-us\, adjective:

1. Of the nature or quality of an unguent or ointment; fatty; oily; greasy.
2. Having a smooth, greasy feel, as certain minerals.
3. Insincerely or excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech; marked by a false or smug earnestness or agreeableness.

A warmed, crusty French roll arrives split, lightly smeared with unctuous chopped liver.
-- John Kessler, "Meals To Go: Break from the routine with Hong", Atlanta Journal and Constitution, October 22, 1998

She recalled being offended by the "phoniness" that stemmed from the contradiction between her mother's charming, even unctuous public manner and her anger in private.
-- Daniel Horowitz, Betty Friedan And the Making of 'The Feminine Mystique'

He approached Sean wearing a smile so unctuous it seemed about to slide right off his face.
-- Naeem Murr, The Boy

Unctuous is from Medieval Latin unctuosus, from Latin unctus, "anointed, besmeared, greasy," past participle of unguere, "to anoint, to besmear."

abnegate

abnegate \AB-nih-gayt\, transitive verb:

1. To refuse or deny oneself; to reject; to renounce.
2. To give up (rights, claims, etc.); to surrender; to relinquish.

An exaggerated veneration for an exceptional individual will allow worshippers "to abnegate responsibility, looking to the great man for salvation or for fulfilment" that we should work out for ourselves.
-- Christina Hardyment, "The intoxicating allure of great men" review of Heroes: Saviors Traitors and Supermen by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Independent, October 19, 2004

Adrift and divided, lacking intelligent leadership from the White House, the members of Congress have chosen to abnegate their constitutional responsibility in the hope that the blunt, crude mechanism of Gramm-Rudman will compensate for the failure of political will.
-- Evan Thomas, "Look Ma! No hands!'", Time, December 23, 1985

Feed no more blossoms
to the wind, abnegate the constellations,
negate the sea and what is left
of your world? What is left then?
-- Alessandra Lynch, "Excommunication", American Poetry Review, July/August 2003

Abnegate is a back-formation from abnegation, from Late Latin abnegatio, abnegation-, from Latin abnegare, "to refuse; to refute," from ab-, "away" + negare, "to deny."

odium

odium \OH-dee-uhm\, noun:

1. Intense hatred or dislike; loathing; abhorrence.
2. The state or fact of being intensely hated as the result of some despicable action.
3. Disgrace or discredit attaching to something hated or repugnant.

At the back of the Tyn Church, we were told about the young Jesuit whose harshness earned him the odium of his congregation.
-- Will Cohu, "High spirits and gloomy spectres", Sunday Telegraph, May 16, 1999

The point here is that, for all its efforts at avoiding offence, new Labour has still managed to attract the odium of the paper that regards itself as the voice of Middle England.
-- Will Mr. Brown hang for a sheep or a lamb?, New Statesman, December 2, 2002

But this brought forth nothing but odium on his head, so much so that he had to backtrack soon afterwards.
-- Andrew Stephen, "A nation left unprotected", New Statesman, November 5, 2001

Moralists warn against the spurious sorrow that afflicts the first-person plural of so many collective apologies: We erred, says the penitent, though he clearly intends to shift blame and odium to his fellows.
-- "The Week", National Review, April 19, 2004

Odium comes from the Latin odium, "hatred," from odisse, "to hate."

bombinate

bombinate \BOM-buh-nayt\, intransitive verb:

To buzz; to hum; to drone.

He is often drunk. His head hurts. Snatches of conversation, remembered precepts, prefigured cries of terror bombinate about his skull.
-- Elspeth Barker, "Nobs and the rabble, all in the same boat", Independent, September 22, 1996

Sometimes the computer bombinates way into the night, stops for a bit of rest, then resumes its hum at the early hours of the morning.
-- Cheryl Glenn and Robert J. Connors, New St. Martins Guide to Teaching Writing

Bombinate is from Late Latin bombinatus, past participle of bombinare, alteration of Latin bombilare, from bombus, "a boom."

munificent

munificent \myoo-NIF-i-suhnt\, adjective:

Very liberal in giving or bestowing; very generous; lavish.

Another munificent friend has given me the most splendid reclining chair conceivable.
-- George Eliot, Letters

The fleeting movement of air inside the black tunnel before and after the passage of a train made it a source of refreshment more munificent than a roaring window air conditioner.
-- Norma Field, From My Grandmother's Bedside: Sketches of Postwar Tokyo

John Sr.'s paycheck, while hardly munificent, was steady, and frugality did the rest.
-- Sylvia Nasar, A Beautiful Mind

Munificent is from Latin munificus, "generous, bountiful," from munus, "gift." The quality of being munificent is munificence.

nostrum

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.

James is put to work at country fairs, promoting a quack nostrum for pain relief.
-- Patrick McGrath, "Heart of Ice", New York Times, April 13, 1997

His hopeful message attracted an audience eager to believe he had found the nostrum for all of society's ills.
-- Warren Sloat, "Looking Back at 'Looking Backward': We Have Seen the Future and It Didn't Work", New York Times, January 17, 1988

Old ladies were always offering her their advice, recommending this or that nostrum.
-- Charlotte Brontë, Shirley: A Tale

Nostrum comes from Latin nostrum (remedium), "our (remedy)," from nos, "we."

aliment

aliment \AL-uh-muhnt\, noun:

1. Something that nourishes or feeds; nutriment.
2. Something that sustains a state of mind or body; sustenance.
3. To give nourishment to; to nourish or sustain.

Mental health depends upon gastric health. Every ailment stems from improper aliment.
-- Frederick Kaufman, "Love Yourself Thin", Harper's Magazine, January 2000

Is not truth the natural aliment of the mind, as plainly as the wholesome grain is of the body?
-- William Ellery Channing, "On the Elevation of the Laboring Classes: Lecture II"

Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires.
-- James Madison, "Federalist", Number 10

Aliment is derived from Latin alimentum, from alere, "to nourish." It is related to alimony.

coruscate

coruscate \KOR-uh-skayt\, verb:

1. To give off or reflect bright beams or flashes of light; to sparkle.
2. To exhibit brilliant, sparkling technique or style.

They pulled up at the farthest end of a loop path that looked out over the great basin of the Rio Grande under brilliant, coruscating stars.
-- Bill Roorbach, "Big Bend", The Atlantic, March 2001

Beneath you lie two miles of ocean -- a bottomlessness, for all practical purposes, an infinity of blue. . . . A thousand coruscating shafts of sunlight probe it, illuminating nothing.
-- Kenneth Brower, "The Destruction of Dolphins", The Atlantic, July 1989

What coruscating flights of language in his prose, what waterfalls of self-displaying energy!
-- Joyce Carol Oates, review of A Theft, by Saul Bellow, New York Times, March 5, 1989

Whether we know or like it or not, those of us who turn our hands to this task are scribbling in a line of succession which, however uncertainly and intermittently, reaches back to the young Macaulay, who first made his public reputation as a coruscating writer in the 1820s.
-- David Cannadine, "On Reviewing and Being Reviewed", History Today, March 1, 1999

Coruscate comes from Latin coruscatus, past participle of coruscare, "to move quickly, to tremble, to flutter, to twinkle or flash." The noun form is coruscation. Also from coruscare is the adjective coruscant, "glittering in flashes; flashing."

lugubrious

lugubrious \lu-GOO-bree-us; -GYOO-\, adjective:

Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, esp. in an affected, exaggerated, or unrelieved manner.

Oh yes, he says, and his lugubrious expression suggests that the loss afflicts him still.
-- Mary Riddell, New Statesman, September 19, 1997

His patriarchy often seemed lugubrious; he would often have tears in his eyes when elucidating all my failings.
-- Richard Elman, Namedropping: Mostly Literary Memoirs

Previous visits hadn't yielded this art-after-death aura, which had everything to do with two installations on display, work so lugubrious it cast a pall over . . . well, just over me, but dark clouds hovered above the city, and the gloomy weather might as well have emanated from the art.
-- Bernard Cooper, "The Uses of the Ghoulish", Los Angeles Magazine, February 2001

Lugubrious comes from Latin lugubris, from lugere, to mourn.

quaff

quaff \KWOFF; KWAFF\, verb:

1. To drink a beverage, esp. an intoxicating one, copiously and with hearty enjoyment.
2. To drink (a beverage) copiously and heartily
3. An act or instance of quaffing.
4. A beverage quaffed.

He gets drunk with his guides, makes eyes at the girls and gamely quaffs snake wine.
-- Pico Iyer, "Snake Wine and Socialism", New York Times, December 15, 1991

If you were patient and kept your nose clean, you could slowly, almost effortlessly, rise from serf to squire and maybe even all the way to knight, in which case you, too, would be entitled to quaff bowl-size martinis at midday.
-- Charles McGrath, "Office Romance", New York Times Magazine, March 5, 2000

Instead they consume caviar, feed off foie gras, chomp exotic cheeses, and quaff champagne.
-- "Internet Shopper", Times (London), August 11, 2000

Quaff is of unknown origin.

tyro

tyro \TY-roh\, noun:

A beginner in learning; a novice.

It's difficult to imagine a tyro publishing a book on medical procedures or economic theory.
-- Philip Zaleski, "God Help the Spiritual Writer", New York Times, January 10, 1999

He was a sensitive, fine soul alert to the pleasures of being green, a tyro, an amateur, unwilling to close his mind before it had been tempted.
-- Paul West, Sporting With Amaryllis

And, though we were mere tyros, beginners, utterly insignificant, he was invariably as kind and considerate and thoughtful, and as lavish in the gift of his time, as though he had nothing else to do.
-- Leonard Warren, Joseph Leidy: The Last Man Who Knew Everything

Tyro is from Latin tiro, "a young soldier, a recruit," hence "a beginner, a learner."

albatross

albatross \AL-buh-traws; AL-buh-tros\, noun:

1. Any of several large, web-footed sea birds of the family Diomedeidae that have the ability to remain aloft for long periods.
2. A seemingly inescapable moral or emotional burden, as of guilt or responsibility.
3. Something burdensome that impedes action or progress.

The pressure is hardly off. It's just as much pressure as it has been, it's just without the albatross of bankruptcy hanging over it.
-- Robert Mann

That's something that's going to be an albatross for us throughout the remainder of the year. What do you do? How do you fix it? It's going to be an issue but we've got to get better in other areas so it's not the issue that's going to cost us games.
-- Andy Kennedy

They thought they were putting an albatross around my neck. Little did they know they were building me a life raft.
-- Ken Blackwell

Albatross originated around 1675–85 as probably an alteration (influenced by Latin albus, white) of alcatras, pelican and from Portuguese or Spanish alcatraz.

senescent

senescent \si-NES-uhnt\, adjective:

Growing old; aging.

During summer, when there is no rain for months, the forests become littered with dry senescent leaves and twinges, which could burst into flames ignited by the slightest spark.
-- Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi, The American Chronicle

There is good evidence that senescent cells are not benign. But until now no one has been able to confirm that they exist in appreciable numbers in old animals.
-- John Sedivy

It was a senescent adult whose maximal growth rates were over 2.1 kg per day. Growth flattened out at around 20 years of age, and death occurred in its 29th year. Direct measurements of growth rates of T. rex and three of its closest relatives have been used to generate age/mass growth curves for these animals.
-- Nature

Senescent is from Latin senescere, "to grow old," from senex, "old."

risible

risible \RIZ-uh-buhl\, adjective:

1. Capable of laughing; disposed to laugh.
2. Exciting or provoking laughter; worthy of laughter; laughable; amusing.
3. Relating to, connected with, or used in laughter; as, "risible muscles."

Before long, I began to read aloud with my father, chanting the strange and wondrous rivers -- Shenandoah, Rappahannock, Chickahominy -- and wrapping my tongue around the risible names of rebel generals: Braxton Bragg, Jubal Early, John Sappington Marmaduke, William "Extra Billy" Smith, Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard.
-- Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic

All twelve selected are thoughtful, small and funny in both senses of the word: odd and risible.
-- Stefan Kanfer, "Of Cats, Myths and Pizza", Time, December 11, 1989

But Lionel . . . is not a risible character, even though he is often called "freakshow" and "crazyman."
-- Adam Mazmanian, "Postmodern PI", Washington Post, November 7, 1999

Risible comes from Late Latin risibilis, from the past participle of Latin ridere, "to laugh, to laugh at." The noun form is risibility.