Word of the Week – Princeton Writes

Word of the Week: cabal (kə-BĂL)

Stephanie Whetstone2025-09-04T14:12:13-04:00

Word of the Week: cabal (kə-BĂL) Definition (Noun) A secret or private intrigue of a sinister character formed by a small body of persons. In Context "Lodge was also unable to control Republican President Warren G. Harding, despite rumors that he had led a cabal which conspired to place Harding in the White House as a Senate puppet." Martin Folly and Niall Palmer, The A to Z of U.S. Diplomacy from World War I Through World War II, 2010.

Word of the Week: cabal (kə-BĂL)Stephanie Whetstone2025-09-04T14:12:13-04:00

Word of the Week: inchoate (ĭn-KŌ-ĭt)

Stephanie Whetstone2025-09-04T14:10:26-04:00

Word of the Week: inchoate (ĭn-KŌ-ĭt) Definition (Adjective) Just begun, incipient; in an initial or early stage; hence elementary, imperfect, undeveloped, immature. In Context “In black America, cultural conservatism takes the form of an inchoate xenophobia (e.g., against whites, Jews, and Asians), systemic sexism, and homophobia.” Cornel West, Race Matters, 1993.

Word of the Week: inchoate (ĭn-KŌ-ĭt)Stephanie Whetstone2025-09-04T14:10:26-04:00

Word of the Week: jeroboam (jĕr-ə-BŌ-əm)

Stephanie Whetstone2025-04-10T16:26:47-04:00

jeroboam (jĕr-ə-BŌ-əm) Definition (Noun) A large bowl or goblet; a very large wine-bottle. In Context "And a jeroboam of 1945 Mouton-Rothschild – from the private cellar of Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, the château's owner, no less – sold for an astounding $310,700." David Sokolin, Investing in Liquid Assets: Uncorking Profits in Today's Global Wine Market, 2008.

Word of the Week: jeroboam (jĕr-ə-BŌ-əm)Stephanie Whetstone2025-04-10T16:26:47-04:00

Word of the Week: nebulous (NĔB-yə-ləs)

Stephanie Whetstone2025-06-18T11:53:23-04:00

Word of the Week: nebulous (NĔB-yə-ləs) Definition (Adjective) Vague, indistinct, formless, ill-defined. In Context "Creativity is a rather nebulous concept encapsulating all these human characteristics and skills – seen by some as innate and by others as learned – that involve the ability to see things in a new way; to invent new ideas, concepts, and objets; and to provide new associations between existing entities." Sarah Kember and Joanna Zylinska, Life after New Media: Mediation as a Vital Process, 2012.

Word of the Week: nebulous (NĔB-yə-ləs)Stephanie Whetstone2025-06-18T11:53:23-04:00

Word of the Week: soupçon (sōōp-SÔN)

Stephanie Whetstone2025-04-03T16:37:22-04:00

Word of the Week: soupçon (sōōp-SÔN) Definition (Noun) A suspicion, a suggestion, a very small quantity or slight trace, of something. In Context "And to this he must add more than a soupçon of luck, plus a heavy seasoning of pure nerve." Ernest K. Gann, Fate Is the Hunter, 1961.

Word of the Week: soupçon (sōōp-SÔN)Stephanie Whetstone2025-04-03T16:37:22-04:00

Word of the Week: liminal (LĬM-ə-nəl)

Stephanie Whetstone2025-04-03T16:35:22-04:00

Word of the Week: liminal (LĬM-ə-nəl) Definition (Adjective) Characterized by being on a boundary or threshold, especially by being transitional or intermediate between two states, situations, etc. In Context "Biologically and culturally, for the child-apprentice it was a liminal moment as he encountered the challenges of puberty at the same time that he abandoned (and was abandoned by) his natural family in order to enter an adoptive one." Steven Laurence Kaplan, The Bakers of Paris and the Bread Question: 1700-1775, 1996.

Word of the Week: liminal (LĬM-ə-nəl)Stephanie Whetstone2025-04-03T16:35:22-04:00

Word of the Week: imprimatur (ĭm-prə-MÄ-tōōr)

admin2025-04-03T16:22:37-04:00

imprimatur (ĭm-prə-MÄ-tōōr) Definition (Noun) Commendatory license, sanction. In Context "The committees wanted to address these complex issues, but, given the political and economic ramifications of market reform, they needed the SEC's imprimatur on the legislation." Anne M. Khademian, The SEC and Capital Market Regulation: The Politics of Expertise, 1992.

Word of the Week: imprimatur (ĭm-prə-MÄ-tōōr)admin2025-04-03T16:22:37-04:00

Word of the Week: sere (sîr)

admin2025-04-03T16:01:27-04:00

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: sere (sîr)admin2025-04-03T16:01:27-04:00

pukka (PŬK-ə)

Stephanie Whetstone2024-11-20T13:48:01-05:00

Definition (Adjective) Originally South Asian or in South Asian context: sure, certain, reliable; genuine, bona fide, correct. Hence more generally: real, not sham; (of information) factually correct; (of persons) authentic, not pretended; proper or correct in behaviour, socially acceptable. In Context "He was a pukka gentleman, a really good Englishman." Zareer Masani, Indian Tales of the Raj, 1987.

pukka (PŬK-ə)Stephanie Whetstone2024-11-20T13:48:01-05:00

Word of the Week: bon mot (bôn MŌ)

admin2025-01-08T13:30:18-05:00

Word of the Week: bon mot (bôn MŌ) Definition (Noun) A clever or witty saying; a witticism, repartee. In Context “Her [Sarah Bernhardt’s] last bon mot, uttered in 1923 as she lay dying, was to observe of the waiting journalists, ‘They’ve tortured me all my life, now I’ll torture them.’” Emma Brockes, “Mystery Diva,” The New York Times, September 17, 2010.

Word of the Week: bon mot (bôn MŌ)admin2025-01-08T13:30:18-05:00

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