urbane \ur-BAYN\ (adjective) - Polished and smooth in manner; polite, refined, and elegant.

"Taylor comes across as an intelligent man, suave and urbane, articulate and smooth as butter." -- Bill Berkeley, 'The Graves Are Not Yet Full'

Urbane comes from Latin urbanus, "of a city," hence "refined, polished," from urbs, "city." The noun form is ...Read more

loquacious \loh-KWAY-shuhs\ (adjective) - 1 : Very talkative. 2 : Full of excessive talk; wordy.

"The Frenchman fought him back valiantly that night, with that over- loquacious, over-adrenalized valor which the French are addicted to, and could not avoid..." -- James Jones, 'The Merry Month of May'

Loquacious comes from Latin loquax, "...Read more

effulgence \i-FUL-juhn(t)s\ (noun) - The state of being bright and radiant; splendor; brilliance.

"The setting sun as usual shed a melancholy effulgence on the ruddy towers of the Alhambra." -- Washington Irving, 'The Alhambra'

From Latin ex, "out of, from" + fulgere, "to shine." The adjective form of the word is effulgent.

puerile \PYOO-uhr-uhl; PYOOR-uhl\ (adjective) - Displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity; juvenile; childish.

Political argument is becoming a puerile cartoon about the moral . . . doing battle with the immoral." -- George F. Will, 'The Costs of Moral Exhibitionism'

Puerile comes from Latin puerilis, from puer, "child, boy."

immure \ih-MYUR\ (verb) - 1 : To enclose within walls, or as if within walls; hence, to shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate. 2 : To build into a wall. 3 : To entomb in a wall.

"When I tried to think clearly about this, I felt that my mind was immured, that it couldn't expand in any direction." -- Andrew Solomon, 'The Noonday Demon'

Immure ...Read more

capitulate \kuh-PICH-uh-layt\ (intransitive verb) - To surrender under agreed conditions.

"I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Self-Reliance'

We say "capitulate" because the terms (of surrender) were drawn up in capitula, which is Latin for "chapters." Chapter itself is related to ...Read more

hauteur \haw-TUR; (h)oh-\ (noun) - Haughty manner, spirit, or bearing; haughtiness; arrogance.

"My silence, I hoped, would be taken as expressive of the hauteur of a man who was above it all -- a man with a mission, in fact, a mission authorized from somewhere on high." -- Jeffrey Tayler, 'Facing the Congo'

Hauteur is from the French, from ...Read more

sybarite \SIB-uh-ryt\ (noun) - A person devoted to luxury and pleasure.

"And when the final blessing of a perfect French cook appeared to make our domestic picture complete, we became utter sybarites, frank worshippers of the splendors of the French cuisine." -- Samuel Chamberlain, 'Clémentine in the Kitchen'

Sybarite is derived from Greek ...Read more

trammel \TRAM-uhl\ (noun) - 1 : A kind of net for catching birds, fish, etc. 2 : A kind of shackle used for making a horse amble. 3 : Something that impedes activity, progress, or freedom, as a net or shackle. 4 : An iron hook of various forms and sizes, used for handing kettles and other vessels over the fire. 5 : An instrument for drawing ...Read more

capacious \kuh-PAY-shuhs\ (adjective) - Able to contain much; roomy; spacious.

"Reuben was astonished. He'd had a friend in high school who could stuff his own fist all the way into his mouth. But Ponter's mouth went back so far and was so capacious, he probably could have stuffed in not just his fist but a third of his forearm as well." -- ...Read more

presage \PRES-ij; pri-SEYJ\ (noun) - 1 : An indication or warning of a future event; an omen. 2 : A feeling or intuition of what the future holds. 3 : Prophetic significance. 4 : [Archaic] A prediction; a prognostication.

(transitive verb) - 1 : To indicate or warn of beforehand; to foreshadow. 2 : To have a presentiment of. 3 : To predict; to ...Read more

ablution \uh-BLOO-shun\ (noun) - 1 : The act of washing or cleansing; specifically, the washing of the body, or some part of it (as in a religious rite). 2 : The water used in cleansing.

"He went straight to the loo to begin his usual ablutions, soaping his cheeks and neck." -- Brooks Hansen, 'Perlman's Ordeal'

Ablution comes from Latin ...Read more

triskaidekaphobia \tris-ky-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh\ (noun) - Fear or a phobia concerning the number 13.

"Despite NASA's seemingly ingrained case of triskaidekaphobia, which forced managers to impose the bizarre, '13-free' numbering system on its flights, the crew of perhaps the most important Shuttle mission to date clearly were unsure if STS-41C was...Read more

lionize \LY-uh-nyz\ (transitive verb) - To treat or regard as an object of great interest or importance.

"I had only met her once before, but she took it into her head to lionize me. I believe some picture of mine had made a great success at the time, a least had been chattered about in the penny newspapers, which is the nineteenth-century ...Read more

supplicate \SUP-luh-kayt\ (intransitive verb) - To make a humble and earnest petition; to pray humbly.

(transitive verb) - 1 : To seek or ask for humbly and earnestly. 2 : To make a humble petition to; to beseech.

"With this impression in your favour, it is my advice, that you endeavour to see and supplicate the Baron for your release from ...Read more

Alert members of the Word Guy Blooper Patrol have captured these beauts. Can you spot the blots?

1. "Just below the taught rope was a large log." I've heard of a ropes course, but... 2. "Perry's victory was an anticlimatic ending." Did he solve the problem of global warming?

3. "The two college students celebrated their assent to the top of ...Read more

palindrome \PAL-in-drohm\ (noun) - A word, phrase, sentence, or verse that reads the same backward or forward.

Madam, I'm Adam. (Adam's first words to Eve?)
--
A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama! (The history of the Panama Canal in brief.)
--
Able was I ere I saw Elba. (Napoleon's lament.)

Palindrome comes from Greek ...Read more

alfresco \al-FRES-koh\ (adverb) - In the open air; outdoors.

(adjective) - Taking place or located in the open air; outdoor.

"All of his guests would be gathered at the river for her alfresco, at which time he could send a servant with his regrets that he had been called away and to proceed without him." -- Pamela Aidan, 'These Three Remain: A...Read more

redivivus \red-uh-VY-vuhs; -VEE-\ (adjective) - Living again; brought back to life; revived; restored.

"'He's Saint-Germain redivivus.' 'He can't be redivivus if he's never died,' Diotallevi said. 'Sure he's not Ahasuerus, the wandering Jew?'" -- Umberto Eco, 'Foucault's Pendulum'

Redivivus comes from Latin, from the prefix red-, re-, "again" ...Read more

gaucherie \goh-shuh-REE\ (noun) - 1 : A socially awkward or tactless act. 2 : Lack of tact; boorishness; awkwardness.

"I went to our table, looking straight before me, and immediately paid the penalty of gaucherie by knocking over the vase of stiff anemones as I unfolded my napkin." -- Daphne Du Maurier, 'Rebecca'

Gaucherie comes from the ...Read more