Thursday, June 02, 2011

Hornswoggled

1. Bamboozled
2. Duped

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Tergiversate

–verb (used without object), -sat·ed, -sat·ing.

1.
to change repeatedly one's attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate.
2.
to turn renegade.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Pedant

  1. One who pays undue attention to book learning and formal rules.
  2. One who exhibits one's learning or scholarship ostentatiously.
  3. A person who relies too much on academic learning or who is concerned chiefly with insignificant detail.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

De Novo

Latin expression meaning "beginning anew", "afresh".

bildungsroman

A novel whose principal subject is the moral, psychological, and intellectual development of a usually youthful main character.

Sisyphean

1. of or pertaining to Sisyphus.
2. endless and unavailing, as labor or a task.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Prevaricate

To depart from or evade the truth; to speak with equivocation.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Theodicy

A vindication of God's goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil.

A specific branch of theology and philosophy that attempts to reconcile the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the assumption of a benevolent God —ie. the problem of evil. An attempt to reconcile the co-existence of evil and God may thus be called "a theodicy".

Weltschmerz

Sadness over the evils of the world, especially as an expression of romantic pessimism.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Circumlocution

1. The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.
2. Evasion in speech or writing.
3. A roundabout expression.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Sprachgefuhl

An intuitive sense of what is linguistically appropriate

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Indigence

A state of extreme poverty or destitution.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Cachinnate

To laugh loudly or immoderately.

Fimbriate

Having fimbriae; fringed, as the edge of a petal or the opening of a duct.

Conduce

To lead or contribute to a result (usually fol. by to or toward): qualities that conduce to success.