Stephanie Whetstone – Page 17

prevaricate (prĭ-VĂR-ĭ-kāt)

Stephanie Whetstone2021-04-06T12:52:57-04:00

Definition (Verb) To deviate from straightforwardness; to speak or act in an evasive way; to quibble, equivocate. In Context "If a crisis nevertheless occurred then the appropriate course of action was to prevaricate, to avoid drawing lines in the sand, and to seek a compromise solution that would permit both sides to step back from the brink with honour intact." John Stone, Military Strategy: The Politics and Technique of War, 2011.

prevaricate (prĭ-VĂR-ĭ-kāt)Stephanie Whetstone2021-04-06T12:52:57-04:00

convivial (kən-VĬV-ē-əl)

Stephanie Whetstone2021-04-06T12:51:30-04:00

Definition (Adjective) Of or belonging to a feast or banquet; characterized by feasting or jovial companionship; such as befits a feast, festive. In Context "Voltaire was particularly attracted by the fact that the Fontaine-Martel house was a convivial establishment, in which she would often invite her lodgers to eat and drink together, at suppers which were apparently long and gay." Ian Davidson, Voltaire: A Life, 2010.

convivial (kən-VĬV-ē-əl)Stephanie Whetstone2021-04-06T12:51:30-04:00

Word of the Week: canard (kə-NÄRD)

Stephanie Whetstone2021-04-06T12:57:37-04:00

Word of the Week: canard (kə-NÄRD) Definition (Noun) An extravagant or absurd story circulated to impose on people's credulity; a hoax, a false report. In Context "The news of the awful calamity of Johnstown, Pa., with all its horrors, appalled us; and so frightful and improbable were the reports, that it required twenty-four hours to satisfy ourselves that it was not a canard." Clara Barton, The Red Cross in Peace and War, 1898.

Word of the Week: canard (kə-NÄRD)Stephanie Whetstone2021-04-06T12:57:37-04:00

Word of the Week: tatterdemalion (tăt-ər-dĭ-MĀL-yən)

Stephanie Whetstone2020-05-12T11:37:46-04:00

Word of the Week: tatterdemalion (tăt-ər-dĭ-MĀL-yən) Definition (Noun) A person in tattered clothing; a ragged or beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin. In Context "Whenever his name was mentioned, she had a vague impression of a bearded tatterdemalion like Ben Gunn in Treasure Island, leading a lonely existence on some bleak, salty islet, his pants in rags and his wristwatch corroded from the seawater." Donna Tartt, The Little Friend, 2002.

Word of the Week: tatterdemalion (tăt-ər-dĭ-MĀL-yən)Stephanie Whetstone2020-05-12T11:37:46-04:00

Word of the Week: screed (skrēd)

Stephanie Whetstone2020-05-12T11:59:24-04:00

Word of the Week: screed (skrēd) Definition (Noun) A long roll or list; a lengthy discourse or harangue; a gossiping letter or piece of writing. In Context "The first article ever penned by Thomas Paine was a powerful screed against slavery." Carl M. Cannon, The Pursuit of Happiness in Times of War, 2004.

Word of the Week: screed (skrēd)Stephanie Whetstone2020-05-12T11:59:24-04:00

Word of the Week: outré (ōō-TRĀ)

Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T15:55:22-04:00

Word of the Week: outré (ōō-TRĀ) Definition (Adjective) Beyond the bounds of what is usual or considered correct and proper; unusual, peculiar; eccentric, unorthodox; extreme. In Context "The more outré and grotesque an incident is the more carefully it deserves to be examined, and the very point which appears to complicate a case is, when duly considered and scientifically handled, the one which is most likely to elucidate it." Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902.

Word of the Week: outré (ōō-TRĀ)Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T15:55:22-04:00

Word of the Week: miscreant (MĬS-krē-ənt)

Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T15:52:02-04:00

Word of the Week: miscreant (MĬS-krē-ənt) Definition (Noun) A villain, scoundrel; a rebel, criminal, or felon. Now frequently in weakened sense: a minor offender, reprobate. In Context "Inevitably, the town's lone sheriff was going to find a miscreant breaking the speed limit and pulled me over for a full license check – only to discover that I was one of those dreaded reporters, speeding to catch up with the town's most famous citizen." Andrea Mitchell, Talking Back . . . To Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels, 2005.

Word of the Week: miscreant (MĬS-krē-ənt)Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T15:52:02-04:00

Word of the Week: pettifog (PĔT-ē-fŏg)

Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T15:50:29-04:00

Word of the Week: pettifog (PĔT-ē-fŏg) Definition (Verb) To act as a pettifogger; to plead or conduct a petty case in a minor court of law, especially with recourse to legal chicanery. Hence, in extended use: to wrangle or quibble about petty points (now the usual sense). In Context "The regular channel to the law is to study in a lawyer's office, sweep out the office for a year or two, be a clerk for a year or two more, then to pettifog in a justice's court, and slowly and gradually, after being subordinate to everybody, and the older heads have [...]

Word of the Week: pettifog (PĔT-ē-fŏg)Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T15:50:29-04:00

Word of the Week: malapropism (MĂL-ə-prŏp-ĭz-əm)

Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T15:48:41-04:00

Word of the Week: malapropism (MĂL-ə-prŏp-ĭz-əm) Definition (Noun) The ludicrous misuse of words, especially in mistaking a word for another resembling it; an instance of this. In Context "At 15, Rachel, the whiny would-be beauty queen who 'cares for naught but appearances,' can think only of what she misses: the five-day deodorant pads she forgot to bring, flush toilets, machine-washed clothes and other things, as she says with her willful gift for malapropism, that she has taken 'for granite.'" Michiko Kakutani, "'The Poisonwood Bible': A Family a Heart of Darkness," The New York Times, October 16, 1998.

Word of the Week: malapropism (MĂL-ə-prŏp-ĭz-əm)Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T15:48:41-04:00

Word of the Week: jalousie (JĂL-ǝ-sē)

Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T13:54:15-04:00

Word of the Week: jalousie (JĂL-ǝ-sē) Definition (Noun) A blind or shutter made with slats which slope upwards from without, so as to exclude sun and rain, and admit air and some light. In Context “There are times lately when she has begun to feel like a ghost herself, when the bamboo creaking in the wind and the moths hitting the jalousies sound more real than her own footsteps.” Margaret Cezair-Thompson, The Pirate’s Daughter, 2007.

Word of the Week: jalousie (JĂL-ǝ-sē)Stephanie Whetstone2020-04-21T13:54:15-04:00

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