Word of the Week: confluence (KŎN-flōō-əns) Definition (Noun) A flowing together; the junction and union of two or more streams or moving fluids. In Context "The middle reaches of the Mississippi stretch for around 200 miles (330 kilometers) between St. Louis and the river's confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois." Rob Bowden, Settlements of the Mississippi River, 2005.
Word of the Week: insouciant (ĭn-SŌŌ-sē-ənt) Definition (Adjective) Careless, indifferent, unconcerned. In Context "I looked in disbelief at the photos of my slim, young self, hair down to my waist, cigarette in insouciant hand, eyes bigger because the skin around them was tauter." Kim Moritsugu, The Restoration of Emily, 2006.
Word of the Week: frangible (FRĂN-jə-bəl) Definition (Adjective) Capable of being broken, breakable. In Context "I sat there and every few minutes felt myself on the verge of tears, felt uncomfortably frangible and brittle." John Dufresne, Requiem, Mass.: A Novel, 2008.
Word of the Week: panjandrum (păn-JĂN-drəm) Definition (Noun) (A mock title for) a mysterious (frequently imaginary) personage of great power or authority; a pompous or pretentious official; a self-important person in authority. In Context "During several months, hardly a week passed that Louis did not have occasion to greet some panjandrum alighting at a railroad depot and lead him in military pomp to the Tuileries Palace, where gala after gala preempted other, more banal affairs of state." Frederick Brown, For the Soul of France: Culture Wars in the Age of Dreyfus, 2010.
Word of the Week: ludic (LŌŌ-dĭk) Definition (Adjective) Of or pertaining to undirected and spontaneously playful behaviour. In Context "Postmodernism creates a wonderland where each thing can morph into another, a ludic world free of conventions, rules, and traditions." Lubomír Doležel, Possible Worlds of Fiction and History: The Postmodern Stage, 2010. This word was suggested by Julie Mellby in the Princeton University Library.
Word of the Week: intrinsic (ĭn-TRĬN-zĭk) Definition (Adjective) Belonging to the thing in itself, or by its very nature; inherent, essential, proper; "of its own." In Context "In the environmental sphere, debate hinges on whether elements of nature – trees, animals, rivers – have intrinsic value which transcends human interests, or whether our motivation for caring for them should spring from the many ways that they are valuable for us." Charles R. Warren, Managing Scotland's Environment, 2002.
Word of the Week: lachrymose (lakrəˌmōs) Definition (Adjective) 1. Given to tears or weeping: tearful. 2 Tending to cause tears. In Context "I suppose Catherine fulfilled her project, for the next sentence took up another subject: she waxed lachrymose" Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, 1847.
Word of the Week: obstreperous (ŏb-STRĔP-ər-əs) Definition (Adjective) Noisily or aggressively resisting control, advice, etc.; turbulent, unruly; aggressive, argumentative, bad-tempered. In Context "Perhaps she realized that however obstreperous her protest at the White House, she would never gain a significant hearing among the federal politicians in Washington, D.C., where she had lived for over a year." Fran Grace, Carry A. Nation: Retelling the Life, 2001.
Word of the week: swain (swān) Definition (Noun) A country gallant or lover; hence generally a lover, wooer, sweetheart, especially in pastoral poetry. In Context "In order to avoid disturbing either the slumbers of the one, or the devotions of the other, Nelly and her swain were obliged to carry on their conversation in a low whispering voice which gave additional effect to the sleepy tone of the entire scene." Gerald Griffin, The Collegians, 1829.
Word of the week: cant (kănt) Definition (Noun) The peculiar language or jargon of a class. In Context "Down to the Civil War the cant of American criminals seems to have been mainly borrowed from England." H. L. Mencken, The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, Fourth Edition, 1936.
