abscond \ab-SKOND\ (intransitive verb) - To depart secretly; to steal away and hide oneself -- used especially of persons who withdraw to avoid arrest or prosecution.

"They abscond with millions, yes? They abscond with millions, and before the police can intercede, they have passed it out in the slums." -- Stephen Hunter, 'Havana'

Abscond ...Read more

exculpate \EK-skuhl-payt; ek-SKUHL-payt\ (transitive verb) - To clear from alleged fault or guilt; to prove to be guiltless; to relieve of blame; to acquit.

"Thus, she would have had to exculpate herself, and what I wanted was for her to exculpate herself. I already realized that I should have believed whatever reasons she had given me, and ...Read more

recalcitrant \rih-KAL-sih-truhnt\ (adjective) - Stubbornly resistant to and defiant of authority or restraint.

"The driver, recognizing Emerson, managed to stop the recalcitrant animal before it ran into my equally recalcitrant spouse." -- Elizabeth Peters, 'The Golden One'

Recalcitrant derives from Latin recalcitrare, "to kick back," from re-...Read more

quondam \KWAHN-duhm; KWAHN-dam\ (adjective) - Having been formerly; former; sometime.

"O, you my lord! By Mars his gauntlet, thanks!
Mock not that I affect th'untraded oath;
Your quondam wife swear still by Venus' glove.
She's well, but bade me not commend her to you." -- William Shakespeare, 'Troilus and Cressida'

Quondam ...Read more

pellucid \puh-LOO-sid\ (adjective) - 1 : Transparent; clear; not opaque. 2 : Easily understandable.

"Maybe this person is apparently mysterious while being pellucid, or apparently pellucid while being mysterious." -- Sue Miller, 'While I Was Gone'

Pellucid comes from Latin pellucidus, "shining, transparent," from pellucere, "to shine through,"...Read more

desuetude \DES-wih-tood, -tyood\ (noun) - The cessation of use; discontinuance of practice or custom; disuse.

"Though access for such purposes had formerly been denied, the custom had fallen into desuetude; and in contemplating her possible difficulties, she was again almost driven to fall back upon her husband." -- Thomas Hardy, 'The Withered ...Read more

bailiwick \BAY-luh-wik\ (noun) - 1 : A person's specific area of knowledge, authority, interest, skill, or work. 2 : The office or district of a bailiff.

"I'm all of that, Skye. I'm also King. This is my bailiwick. My word is law and my fists enforce it." -- Richard S. Wheeler, 'Rendezvous'

Bailiwick comes from Middle English baillifwik, from ...Read more

pervicacious \puhr-vih-KAY-shuhs\ (adjective) - Refusing to change one's ideas, behavior, etc.; stubborn; obstinate.

"May they be efficacious upon the mind of one of the most pervicacious young creatures that ever was heard of!" -- Samuel Ricardson, 'Clarissa Harlowe'

ervicacious is from Latin pervicax, pervicac-, "stubborn, headstrong," from ...Read more

inexorable \in-EK-sur-uh-bul; in-EKS-ruh-bul\ (adjective) - Not to be persuaded or moved by entreaty or prayer; firm; determined; unyielding; unchangeable; inflexible; relentless.

"As he watched -- with a sense of seeing inexorable, inevitable movement which made everything seem to slow down to an unbearable slowness -- the little weapons ...Read more

connubial \kuh-NOO-bee-ul; -NYOO-\ (adjective) - Of or pertaining to marriage, or the marriage state; conjugal; nuptial.

"How many men can truly assert that they ever enjoy connubial flows of soul, or that connubial feasts of reason are in their nature enjoyable?" -- Anthony Trollope, 'Framley Parsonage'

Connubial comes from Latin conubialis, ...Read more

solicitous \suh-LIS-uh-tuhs\, adjective) - 1 : Manifesting or expressing care or concern. 2 : Full of anxiety or concern; apprehensive. 3 : Extremely careful; meticulous. 4 : Full of desire; eager.

"I listened with closed eyes to his solicitous words, though he never noticed it." -- Par Lagerkvist, 'The Sibyl'

Solicitous is from Latin ...Read more

rivulet \RIV-yuh-lut\ (noun) - A small stream or brook; a streamlet.

"In this extremity, continuing his walk, he discovered a rivulet of the purest water, of which he copiously drank." -- Charles Swan, ' Gesta Romanorum'

Rivulet is from Italian rivoletto, diminutive of rivolo, from Latin rivulus, diminutive of rivus, "a brook, a stream."

tutelary \TOO-tuh-lair-ee; TYOO-\ (adjective) - Having the guardianship or charge of protecting a person or a thing; guardian; protecting; as, "tutelary goddesses."

"But there is a tutelary deity for misers, and by a chain of unforeseen circumstances that tutelary deity was so ordering matters that the purchase-money of his extortionate bargian...Read more

rusticate \RUHS-tih-kayt\ (intransitive verb) - 1 : To go into or reside in the country; to pursue a rustic life.

(transitive verb) - 1 : To require or compel to reside in the country; to banish or send away temporarily. 2 : (Chiefly British). To suspend from school or college. 3 : To build with usually rough-surfaced masonry blocks having ...Read more

terminus \TUR-muh-nuhs\ (noun) - 1 : The finishing point; the end. 2 : A boundary; a border; a limit. 3 : A post or stone marking a boundary. 4 : Either end of a railroad or other transportation line; also, the station house, town, or city at that place.

"It had been almost two T-centuries since the Basilisk terminus of the Manticoran Wormhole ...Read more

fustian \FUHS-chuhn\ (noun) - 1 : A kind of coarse twilled cotton or cotton and linen stuff, including corduroy, velveteen, etc. 2 : An inflated style of writing or speech; pompous or pretentious language.

(adjective) - 1 : Made of fustian. 2 : Pompous; ridiculously inflated; bombastic.

"Even in fustian garments nobility hides with difficulty ...Read more

expunge \ik-SPUNJ\, transitive verb) - 1 : To strike out, erase, or mark for deletion; to obliterate; as, "to expunge words, lines, or sentences." 2 : To wipe out or destroy; to annihilate.

"He hated to expunge the odor of burnt things, seared paint, smoke, which tasted to him of the heroism so elusive in the daily turn of men's lives." -- ...Read more

superannuated \soo-pur-AN-yoo-ay-tid\, adjective) - 1 : Discharged or disqualified on account of old age; retired from service, especially with a pension. 2 : Old; no longer in use; no longer valid; outmoded.

"The worthy man was hale and hearty, not exceeding three score and seven, and had never dreamt of being superannuated." -- John Galt, '...Read more

'Twas twenty two four, and all through the nation,

The buzzwords were flying, to much consternation.

With "disinformation" and "narratives" false,

Our "journeys" diverged amid verbal assaults.

Kamala served "word salad," Trump did "the weave,"

Which of these two were we s'posed to believe?

The "trad wives" and "MAGAs" all frolicked like ...Read more

lubricious \loo-BRISH-us\ (adjective) - 1 : Lustful; lewd. 2 : Stimulating or appealing to sexual desire or imagination. 3 : Having a slippery or smooth quality.

"Now, having sloughed His old skin, glistening with youth, he puffs out His breast and slides his lubricious coils Toward the sun, flicking his three-forked tongue." -- Virgil, '...Read more