diffident \DIF-uh-dunt; -dent\ (adjective) - 1 : Lacking self-confidence; distrustful of one's own powers; timid; bashful. 2 : Characterized by modest reserve; unassertive.

"But I am diffident. What's the good of saying I mustn't be diffident when I'm the man who wrote the words and music, when Diffidence is my middle name and my telegraphic ...Read more

perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\ (noun) - Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment.

"Perspicacity to see what you want isn't much use without power to get it. And power's not worth much without perspicacity to see what you want." -- Clara E Laughlin, 'Children of To-morrow'

Perspicacity comes from Latin perspicax, ...Read more

wastrel \WAY-struhl\ (noun) - 1 : A person who wastes, especially one who squanders money; a spendthrift. 2 : An idler; a loafer; a good-for-nothing.

"When I was a student in Lawrence, Kansas, there was a wastrel in the town who pretended to have been a pal of Ulysses Grant, the President. This wastrel was always hanging round the bar of the ...Read more

kismet \KIZ-met; -mit\ (noun) - Destiny; fate.

"You were muttering about kismet, which, as an aside, is probably what Lord Nelson really said to Hardy at Trafalgar. I can't see the old sea dog saying 'Kiss me, Hardy,' can you?" -- Patrick Taylor, 'An Irish Country Doctor'

Kismet comes (via Turkish) from Arabic qismah, "portion, lot."

ennui \on-WEE\ (noun) - A feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction arising from lack of interest; boredom.

"But she felt crushed by ennui as soon as the rhythm of everyday life re-established itself, and realized that it could not be attributed simply to her confinement in Switzerland." -- Angelica Goodden, 'Madame de Stael'

Ennui is from the ...Read more

callow \KAL-oh\ (adjective) - Immature; lacking adult perception, experience, or judgment.

"He was callow, even for a subaltern. He was callow all over — like a canary that had not finished fledging itself." -- Rudyard Kipling, 'The Rescue of Pluffles'

Callow is from Old English calu, "featherless, bald."

concupiscence \kon-KYOO-puh-suhn(t)s; kuhn-\ (noun) - Strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust.

"Now, to speak of the first desire, that is, concupiscence, accordint to the law for our sexual parts, which were lawfully made and by rightful word of God; I say, for as much as man is not obedient to God, Who is his Lord, therefore is the ...Read more

nostrum \NOS-truhm\ (noun) - 1 : A medicine of secret composition and unproven or dubious effectiveness; a quack medicine. 2 : A usually questionable remedy or scheme; a cure-all.

"He's carrying on his father's trade, for what he has just dispensed to us is very like a nostrum." -- Honoré de Balzac, 'Lost Illusions'

Nostrum comes from Latin ...Read more

ergo \UR-go; AIR-\ (adverb) - Therefore; consequently; -- often used in a jocular way.

"Doth he not himself say ergo? Hath he not said ergo to the poor saints, to your sons and daughters, whom he hath bured in the fore to Moloch? 'Ergo, though art a heretic' -- 'Ergo, though shalt burn.' Is he not therefore convicted out of his own mouth? -- ...Read more

lexicography \lek-suh-KAH-gruh-fee\ (noun) - 1 : The writing or compiling of dictionaries; the editing or making of dictionaries. 2 : The principles and practices applied to writing dictionaries.

"I am of course stopping short still of the needs of practical lexicography in one conspicuous respect : I am attending only to the cognitive side..."...Read more

titivate \TIT-uh-vayt\ (transitive and intransitive verb) - To smarten up; to spruce up.

"I decided tonight it was time to put away all the black mourning clothes, cut my hair, and titivate myself a bit, as Blackie so aptly calls it." -- Barbara Taylor Bradford, 'Emma's Secret'

Titivate is perhaps from tidy + the quasi-Latin ending -vate. When...Read more

precocious \pri-KOH-shus\ (adjective) - 1 : Characterized by or characteristic of exceptionally early development or maturity (especially in mental aptitude); as, "a precocious child"; "a precocious achievement." 2 : (Botany) Flowering or fruiting early.

"Henry was precocious. His parents had great hopes for their offspring, and Henry, because...Read more

sesquipedalian \ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn\ (adjective) - 1 : Given to or characterized by the use of long words. 2 : Long and ponderous; having many syllables.

(noun) - A long word.

"Poor Miss Matty got sadly puzzled with this, for the words gathered size like snow-balls, and towards the end of her letter, Miss Jenkyns used to become quite ...Read more

proclivity \pro-KLIV-uh-tee\ (noun) - A natural inclination; predisposition.

"Nothing has emerged, except a marked proclivity for the gibbet; for he took great delight in stringing up renegade Frenchmen whom he surprised in the ranks of the English or caught in towns which showed signs of disloyalty to the King."

Proclivity comes from Latin ...Read more

reticent \RET-ih-suhnt\ (adjective) - 1 : Inclined to keep silent; reserved; uncommunicative. 2 : Restrained or reserved in style. 3 : Reluctant; unwilling.

"But poor Harry little knew the difficulty of reticence when the heart is full. He had intended to be very reticent when he came up to London..." -- Anthony Trollope, 'Mr. Scarborough's ...Read more

autocrat \AW-tuh-krat\ (noun) - An absolute monarch who rules with unlimited authority; by extension, any person with undisputed authority in a relationship or situation.

"Whenever the Autocrat felt the need of money, he sent his tax-gatherers far and wide, and people who up to that time had no idea of such a thing found that they lived in the ...Read more

disheveled \dih-SHEV-uhld\ (adjective) - In loose disorder; disarranged; unkempt; as, "disheveled hair."

""Sometimes Bethany came to school disheveled, or wearing dirty clothes... it raised a red flag for us." -- Jodi Picoult, 'Vanishing Acts'

Disheveled is from Old French descheveler, "to disarrange the hair," from des-, "apart" (from Latin ...Read more

concomitant \kuhn-KOM-uh-tuhnt\ (adjective) - Accompanying; attendant; occurring or existing concurrently.

(noun) - Something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else; an accompaniment.

"She began also to understand what it was that had brought about her son's love, and to feel that but for certain unfortunate ...Read more

stasis \STAY-sis; STAS-is\ (noun) plural stases \STAY-seez; STAS-eez\: - 1 : A state of balance, equilibrium, or stagnation. 2 : Stoppage of the normal flow of a bodily fluid or semifluid.

"Eons ago there had been a war of galactic extermination, of which naught remained but scattered artifacts preserved for eternity within stasis fields." -- ...Read more

A good friend of mine wonders about this sentence from a billing statement she received: "Beginning in April of 2025, your payment date will be moved forward from April 19 to April 26." She asks, "Shouldn't 'moved forward' be 'moved back'"?

(In raising this question, she perhaps becomes the first person in history to ever question a notice ...Read more