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Thu 7 Sep, 2006 08:48 am
I'll go first:
impassive - adj - not showing or not feeling emotion; not subject to suffering.
Example: Despite the flood of bad news he was hearing, Bertram remained impassive, showing no hint of the emotions he must be feeling.
choleric: adj.
domineering; quick to anger
He became choleric when confronted with opposition.
inchoate \in-KOH-it\, adjective:
1. In an initial or early stage; just begun.
2. Imperfectly formed or formulated.
I'm not sure what you mean by usable...I wouldn't consider the latter two very usable because most people would just skip over them, not knowing what they meant, and get a more confused version of whatever idea you were trying to convey!
stuh505 wrote:I'm not sure what you mean by usable...I wouldn't consider the latter two very usable because most people would just skip over them, not knowing what they meant, and get a more confused version of whatever idea you were trying to convey!
By usable, I mean they are not words that only get used once or twice a century. They are words that an educated person might reasonably use.
Brandon9000 wrote:stuh505 wrote:I'm not sure what you mean by usable...I wouldn't consider the latter two very usable because most people would just skip over them, not knowing what they meant, and get a more confused version of whatever idea you were trying to convey!
By usable, I mean they are not words that only get used once or twice a century. They are words that an educated person might reasonably use.
...in which case Letty's and Blacksmithn's contributions certainly qualify.
sanguine (in the secondary sense of 'cheerfully confident')
And, I don't think that the word impassable s out of date at all.....
I always post the word Absquatulate on threads like these.... to abscond with (abscond is another good one).
My vocabulary is embarrassingly lacking
Maybe that's because I only read textbooks.
putative - adj - supposed or apparent. The emphasis is on the fact that it is apparent, not proven.
Examples:
(1) The newspaper, despite its well earned reputation as scandal sheet, was forced, as a putative seeker of truth, to give the appearance of impartiality.
(2) Although several people witnessed the robbery, none was able to identify the putative culprit.
stuh505 wrote:My vocabulary is embarrassingly lacking
Maybe that's because I only read textbooks.
Keep reading these threads, Stuh, in no time you'll become largiloquent and sesquipedalian...
Main Entry: incoherent
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: unintelligible
Synonyms: breathless, confused, disconnected, discontinuous, discordant, disjointed, disordered, dumb, faltering, inarticulate, incohesive, incomprehensible, incongruous, inconsistent, indistinct, indistinguishable, irrational, jumbled, loose, maundering, muddled, muffled, mumbling, mute, muttered, puzzling, rambling, stammering, stuttering, tongue-tied*, uncommunicative, unconnected, uncoordinated, uneven, unvocal, wandering, wild
Antonyms: coherent, intelligible, lucid
Maundering's a nice word; I haven't used that one in a while, though I sometimes practice it in action.
From allwords.com -
maunder
verb, intr maundered, maundering
1. To talk in a rambling way; to drivel.
Form: maunder on (also)
2. To wander about, or behave, in an aimless way.
Antediluvian: adjective.
No woman will ever, ever be hyperbolic and claim to be older than water.
Main Entry: hysteria
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: upset
Synonyms: agitation, delirium, excitement, feverishness, frenzy, hysterics, madness, mirth, nervousness, panic, unreason
Antonyms: calmness, self-possession
dichotomy,n --division into 2 usually contradictory parts or opinions. adj.dichotomous
cacophony: noun
The country girl wasn't used to all the cacophony of the big city traffic.
Prolixity is the key. Do you mean the number of words used is delative?
But I agree with you, k, on both of those words.
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