Word Of the Day

Discussion in 'General Chatter' started by Soul, Mar 8, 2015.

  1. Soul

    Soul Covered in bees

    Thread for increasing our vocabularies. Did you learn a new word? Have a word you'd love to share? Share it here! (I'd thought of doing an ASL word of the day as well, but I can be a bit camera shy sometimes, plus I'm not sure about sharing gifs and videos on a forum. It may yet happen.)

    My word today is:

    DIPSOMANIAC. Someone with dipsomania has uncontrollable cravings for alcohol.
     
    • Like x 2
  2. Soul

    Soul Covered in bees

    I already knew this word, but it just came up and it is such a good one:

    FRACAS. A loud fight.
     
    • Like x 2
  3. OED anon

    OED anon New Member

    One of those great words that you don't get to use often, but is perfect for when you need it:

    Aborsive (adj): abortive, unsuccessful or fruitless from the start, never begins.

    (I predict I will be posting in this thread quite a bit)
     
    • Like x 1
  4. Aviari

    Aviari PartyWolf Is In The House Tonight

    Resurrecting an old thread because I was about to start a word of the day thread with:

    Piscivorous:
    (pi-siv-er-uhs)
    adj.
    1. Adapted to feeding on fish; fish-eating​
    (I just like the way it sounds)

    Also, who here does the thing where you pronounce a word completely wrong because you learned the word in text form first?
     
    • Like x 2
  5. Codeless

    Codeless Cheshire Cat

    I do!

    Have an achaic meaning for a common word:
    Nice: 18th-19th century meaning: fastidious, picky.
     
    • Like x 1
  6. strictly quadrilateral

    strictly quadrilateral alive, alive, alive!

    @Aviari I pronounced the word misled wrong for most of my life.
     
    • Like x 1
  7. seebs

    seebs Benevolent Dictator

    I like to pronounce it as "mizzled".

    Made-up word: "Deceipt": Your proof that someone lied to you.

    Actual word: "Epistemology", the study of knowledge in and of itself. (For instance, "what is the difference between believing a thing and knowing a thing".)
     
    • Like x 7
  8. strictly quadrilateral

    strictly quadrilateral alive, alive, alive!

    I pronounced it mice-ulled.
     
  9. Morven

    Morven In darkness be the sound and light

    I fucking love 'Deciept' and should steal.
     
  10. Lambda

    Lambda everything happens so much

    I wonder what the general consensus is on the accuracy of Wiktionary, as it's my go-to source and I never considered its quality before now:
    I was looking up the etymology for 'cosmos' for Reasons and it turns out the plural for cosmos is either cosmoses or cosmoi. note that spellcheck here says the former is fine while the latter isn't. cosmoi is superior in my mind, as 'cosmoses' looks and sounds silly, but Merriam Webster and Cambridge Dictionary online do not have 'cosmoi'. Wiktionary has a few examples of cosmoi in use, the oldest being from 1850, so I imagine it'd be in one of those massive reference dictionaries, just not the little ones.

    that being said, I don't think there's ever been a point in my life where I've needed to pluralize cosmos.
     
  11. Aviari

    Aviari PartyWolf Is In The House Tonight

    Maybe in a conversation about multiverses?
     
  12. WithAnH

    WithAnH Space nerd

    METEMPSYCHOSIS
    noun
    1. the supposed transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species.
     
    • Like x 3
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice