Word of the Week: flummox (FLUM-uks) Definition (verb) Confuse In Context "The reason for math's bad rap is that the very same teachers and parents who have psychic scars from their own inability to correctly memorize their multiplication tables in the fourth grade are today completely flummoxed by elementary school kids' homework." — Esther J. Cepeda, The Record (Bergen County, New Jersey), 26 Apr. 2018
Word of the Week: whelm (WELM) Definition (Verb) 1. to turn (something, such as a dish or vessel) upside down usually to cover something : to cover or engulf completely with usually disastrous effect 2. to pass or go over something so as to bury or submerge it In Context "By the time San Jose annexed the town to expand its sewage-treatment plant in 1968, nature had already begun to reclaim the bayside. The town of 2,500 splintered, rusted and sank as groundwater was over-pumped, sea water rose on all sides and storm surges whelmed the backed-up drains." Jennifer Wadsworth, The [...]
Word of the Week: oleaginous (ō-lē-ˈa-jə-nəs) Definition (Adjective) 1: resembling or having the properties of oil : oily; also : containing or producing oil 2 : marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality In Context "Sometime around 2000, Sater got to know a neighbor, Tevfik Arif, an oleaginous former Soviet official from Kazakhstan." — Andrew Rice, Daily Intelligencer, "The Original Russia Connection," 3 Aug. 2017
Word of the Week: malapert (mal-uh-PERT) Definition (adjective) impudently bold : saucy In Context "Fair ladies, brave knights, churls, varlets, squires, scurvy knaves, men-at-arms, malapert rogues—all were merry." P. G. Wodehouse, The Man Upstairs and Other Stories, 1914
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.
