Word of the Week: gormless (GÔRM-lĭs) Definition (Adjective) Wanting sense, or discernment. In Context "How could a gormless civilian begin to grasp the patriotic significance of it all?" Carolyn Gossage, Greatcoats and Glamour Boots: Canadian Women at War, 1939-1945, 2001.
Word of the Week: contumely (KŎN-təm-lē) Definition (Noun) Insolent reproach or abuse; insulting or offensively contemptuous language or treatment; despite; scornful rudeness; now, especially such contemptuous treatment as tends to inflict dishonor and humiliation. In Context "It is good that new ideas should be heard, for the sake of the few that can be used; but it is also good that new ideas should be compelled to go through the mill of objection, opposition, and contumely; this is the trial heat which innovations must survive before being allowed to enter the human race." Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History, [...]
Word of the Week: nabob (NĀ-bŏb) Definition (Noun) In extended use: a wealthy, influential, or powerful landowner or other person, especially one with an extravagantly luxurious lifestyle. In Context "Richard Croker retired after some years as Tammany leader in New York with $18,000,000 and is now living like a nabob on a beautiful estate just outside of Dublin, where he disgraces the United States flag by flying it night and day from his battlements." "Political Woodsawing," Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1905.
Word of the Week: insipid (ĭn-SĬP-ĭd) Definition (Adjective) Wanting the qualities which excite interest or emotion; uninteresting, lifeless, dull, flat. In Context "Like some other theorists such as Schoenberg, Henry saw that music history's forward march had brought more and more overtones into use, causing composers to regard earlier, simpler overtone ratios as insipid and dull." Joel Sachs, Henry Cowell: A Man Made of Music, 2012.
Word of the Week: risible (RĬZ-ə-bəl) Definition (Adjective) Capable of provoking laughter; laughable, ludicrous, comical. In Context "In the first few months of its existence the circulation of the Daily News had been stuck at a risible 26,000." Gavin Mortimer, The Great Swim, 2008.
Word of the Week: sere (sîr) Definition (Adjective) Dry, withered. In Context "In high mountains night visibility is intermediate between that of the humid coast and the sere desert." Raymond B. Cowles, Desert Journal: A Naturalist Reflects on Arid California, 1977.
Word of the Week: mawkish (MÔ-kĭsh) Definition (Adjective) Imbued with sickly, false, or feeble sentiment; overly sentimental. In Context "To commercial filmmakers, the bromides suggested by OWI propagandists – wordy soliloquies about freedom, boring discussions of the war's meaning, mawkish dramatizations of unity – seemed destined to be box office poison." M. Todd Bennett, One World, Big Screen: Hollywood, the Allies, and World War II, 2012.
Word of the Week: polyglot (PŎL-ē-glŏt) Definition (Adjective) Of a person: that speaks, writes, or understands a number of languages. In Context "The mood of the sessions was probably leavened by the presence of amiable, polyglot General Vernon A. Walters, the American ambassador known for his affinity for easing conversation with a good anecdote." Stanley Meisler, United Nations: A History, 2011.
Word of the Week: adamantine (ăd-ə-MĂN-tēn) Definition (Adjective) That cannot be easily overcome or defeated; rigid, unyielding; unwavering, immovable; (now especially) refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind. In Context "Contrary to popular impression, the real art of colonial government was not an adamantine rigidity but a machiavellian flexibility in the perpetual search for collaborators." Robert Holland, Editor, Emergencies and Disorder in the European Empires after 1945, 1994.
Word of the Week: factotum (făk-TŌ-təm) Definition (Noun) An employee who does all kinds of work; (especially in earlier use) a domestic servant or employee who undertakes all kinds of household tasks. In Context "An abbot is not a factotum; he cannot and should not do everything." Mark A. Scott, At Home with Saint Benedict: Monastery Talks, 2011.
