Thursday, June 30, 2005

Higgledy-Piggledy

(1) In utter disorder or confusion: “There is something delightfully and liberatingly ludicrous about parading higgledy-piggledy in a line of walkers of all shapes and sizes”
(2) Topsy-turvy; jumbled.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Zeitgeist

The taste, outlook, and spirit characteristic of a period or generation.

Monday, June 27, 2005

Panoply

(1) A splendid or striking array: a panoply of colorful flags.
(2) Ceremonial attire with all accessories: a portrait of the general in full panoply.
(3) Something that covers and protects: a porcupine's panoply of quills.
(4) The complete arms and armor of a warrior.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Draconian

Exceedingly harsh; very severe: a draconian legal code; draconian budget cuts.

[From the name Draco, an Athenian politician who codified the laws of Athens (c. 621). Lauded for its impartiality, his code was unpopular for its severity.]

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Jamais vu

The experience of being unfamiliar with a person or situation that is actually very familiar. Antonym: deja vu

Fait accompli

An accomplished, presumably irreversible deed or fact.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Grok

To understand profoundly through intuition or empathy.

Friday, June 03, 2005

Logy

Characterized by lethargy; sluggish.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Highfalutin

Pompous or pretentious: “highfalutin reasons for denying direct federal assistance to the unemployed”

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Parabulia

Abnormality of volition or will, as when one impulse is checked and replaced by another.

Monday, May 09, 2005

Simulacrum

(1) An image or representation.
(2) An unreal or vague semblance.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Spoonerism

The transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Some examples:
-- The Lord is a shoving leopard ["loving shepherd"].
-- It is kisstomary to cuss ["customary to kiss"] the bride.
-- Is the bean dizzy ["dean busy"]?
-- Let me sew you to your sheet ["show you to your seat"].

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Osculate

(1) To kiss.
(2) Mathematics. To have three or more points coincident with.
(3) To come together; contact.

Monday, May 02, 2005

Complicit

Associated with or participating in a questionable act or a crime; having complicity: newspapers complicit with the propaganda arm of a dictatorship.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Miscegenation

(1) The interbreeding of different races or of persons of different racial backgrounds.
(2) Cohabitation, sexual relations, or marriage involving persons of different races.
(3) A mixture or hybridization: “There was musical miscegenation at a time when segregation was the common rule”