Today’s word: stertorous

Ok quick post since it`s been bothering me the whole day. I`ve been reading a few more dozen pages from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and ‘stertorous breathing’ kept appearing every 2 pages. I guess it was somewhat easy to infer its meaning from the context but I couldn`t really grasp its meaning. Dictionary.com says:

stertorous –adjective

1. characterized by stertor or heavy snoring.

2. breathing in this manner.

stertor – n.  A heavy snoring sound in respiration.

There we have it, nothing too special really… and it`s out of my way now 😀

Today’s word: acedia…

…and many more words. I was awfully slothful the past week, I had a few free days and couldn`t be bothered to do anything even remotely close to ‘work’. [When I have free days for various reasons or during holidays imagine I pull a cable and unplug myself from the part of me that would be wiling to work.] But now school started again so I will resume normal activity and of course, I`ll make a longer post to make up for not posting a whole week… does anybody care? I do! Now onwards to our words.

Since laziness describes me pretty well in general I tried searching for a fancy word for it and found quite an interesting word.

Acedia [uh-see-dee-uh] – dictionary.com says it means sloth and relates it to the deadly sins, it also gives the following definitions: ” laziness or indifference in religious matters.” ; “Spiritual torpor and apathy; ennui.”

I decided to search further and I found an article on wikipedia from which I`ll only copy the introduction: “Acedia is a word from ancient Greece describing a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one’s position or condition in the world. It can lead to a state of being unable to perform one’s duties in life. Its spiritual overtones make it related to but distinct from depression. Acedia was originally noted as a problem among monks and other ascetics who maintained a solitary life.

The Oxford Concise Dictionary of the Christian Church defines acedia as “a state of restlessness and inability either to work or to pray”. Some see it as the precursor to sloth – one of the seven deadly sins.”

So, another pretty word added to the collection. Let`s move on now.

Abeyance – here`s the context I found it in “She alluded to little incidents which I had long ceased to think of, but which, I found, had only lain in abeyance in my memory, for they instantly started into life at her touch.”

Paying another visit to our good friend dictionary.com, we get the following definitions:

1. temporary inactivity, cessation, or suspension: Let’s hold that problem in abeyance for a while.

2. Law. a state or condition of real property in which title is not as yet vested in a known titleholder: an estate in abeyance.

Good, this one`s clear too. Now another word beginning with ‘a’ : adroitness – adroitly – adroit

–adjective

1.	expert or nimble in the use of the hands or body.

2.	cleverly skillful, resourceful, or ingenious: an adroit debater.

Synonyms: 1. skillful, clever; deft, apt, adept. 1, 2. See dexterous.

And the context I found it in:
“I became more and more curious to ascertain who she was, every moment. She parried my attempts to discover very adroitly and pleasantly.”

Hmm… one more … to acquiesce – it just means to consent, to agree, but damn I love how it sounds … “You may tell the captain I am disinclined to acquiesce to his request”

Well, enough for today. There are a few other words I`ve been unsure of and searched for their meanings while writing this post but I`ll only mention them: ascertain, assent, allude, assail, astound, avail and aperture. Perhaps I should try some words beginning with ‘b’ tomorrow, no? 😀

Hope somebody other than me will like this 😀

And to finish, here is my most recent drawing:

Kitty says hi ^^

Meh, it looks much better in reality, but the crappy picture will have to do.

a⋅ce⋅di⋅a

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// ]]> /əˈsidiə/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [uh-see-dee-uh] Show IPA

Use acedia in a Sentence

See web results for acedia

See images of acedia

–noun

1.	sloth(def. 1). Compare deadly sins.

2.	laziness or indifference in religious matters.

Today’s word: ingress

Hello 🙂 Yes, that’s one of my drawings 😀 The drawing and the orchid itself are much more beautiful in reality, but I`m afraid I can`t provide a better picture… oh well.

Mmmyeah … so I didn`t really feel like updating today >.> No I didn`t do anything important, I just relaxed. Buuut, I promise many more words tomorrow since the day will be completely free.
Anyway, here`s the word – ingress
–noun
1.     the act of going in or entering.
2.     the right to enter.
3.     a means or place of entering; entryway.

also ingression:  A going in or entering.

Found it today in Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ :  “I could find no means of ingress. Every window and door was fastened and locked and I returned baffled to the porch”

I know, it`s not very special but it sounds fancy. Now, to end the post, here’s some music 🙂

 

Today’s words: ignominy, iniquity and inveigh

Well hello there. I chose some words starting with ‘i’ today. I think I found the first two when trying to read the Scarlett Letter [and failed :|], while ‘inveigh’ I  found in Sheridan Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’. I`m really enjoying that book, not only because it is a vampire story but I really like the way it is written and it abounds in sumptuous phrases and words. It is written from a first person perspective and the character is from a noble family, thus her manner of speech is wonderfully elegant.

Coming back to our three little words.

Ignominy – well for this one, dictionary.com gives the following meanings : disgrace; dishonor; public contempt; shameful or dishonorable quality or conduct or an instance of this;

and synonyms: disrepute, discredit, shame, obloquy, opprobrium. [ Aha, more fancy words. ] And Wikitionary gives us a nice sentence: The ignominy of his his failure scarred him for life.

Now let`s see about that ‘obloquy’ word before continuing to the others. This one means: abusively detractive language or utterance; calumny – eg: “I have had enough obloquy for one lifetime”. Also it seems to mean bad reputation – The condition of disgrace suffered as a result of abuse or vilification; ill repute. [Ok, now ‘vilification’ bothered me but it`s no big deal, it`s an easy one – to vilify = to speak ill of; defame; slander]. Usage:
“[Jimmy Carter] is a man who is prepared to risk the obloquy and criticism of die-hard neocons and nervous fellow senior Democrats to break the chains of Washington’s foolish Middle East peace policy.” — Carter Mission; Arab News (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia); Apr 9, 2008.

Moving on: iniquity. Sounds fancy enough? It does to me 😀 Found the following meanings: gross injustice or wickedness; a violation of right or duty; wicked act; sin; a grossly immoral act;

and synonyms: evildoing, infamy, depravity, knavery.  [And ‘knave’ is an unprincipled, untrustworthy, or dishonest person]

And last on the list: to inveigh. Meanings: to protest strongly or attack vehemently with words; rail (usually fol. by against): to inveigh against isolationism. And synonyms: harangue, revile.

And here’s the context I found it in, from ‘Carmilla’ by Sheridan Le Fanu 🙂

“and he then broke out in a tone of intense bitterness and fury, inveighing against the “hellish arts” to which she had fallen a victim, and expressing, with more exasperation than piety, his wonder that Heaven should tolerate so monstrous an indulgence of the lusts and malignity of hell.”

Now let`s see about those fancy synonyms and we`re done 🙂

Harangue –

–noun

 

1.	a scolding or a long or intense verbal attack; diatribe.

2.	a long, passionate, and vehement speech, esp. one delivered before a public gathering.

3.	any long, pompous speech or writing of a tediously hortatory or didactic nature; sermonizing lecture or discourse.

–verb (used with object)

 

4.	to address in a harangue.

–verb (used without object)

5.	to deliver a harangue.

Revile

–verb (used with object)

 

1.	to assail with contemptuous or opprobrious language; address or speak of abusively.

–verb (used without object)

2.	to speak abusively.

Well, I searched meaning and synonyms for more than three words in the end, I hope it proves useful to somebody, I had fun 🙂 Will be back tomorrow with more. 😀

And to end the post nicely here’s a cute kitty ^.^

2012

Today’s word: auspicious [aw-spish-uhs]

Ok, maybe it`s not too fancy and it`s definitely easy to understand. Auspicious means favorable, promising success, propitious [aha, there`s another new word], opportune… whatever, we got the point. The antonym is inauspicious, needs no explaining 😀

Propitious [pruh-pish-uhs] – presenting favorable conditions; favorable – eg : propitious weather; indicative of favor; auspicious – eg : propitious omens; favorably inclined; disposed to bestow favors or forgive – eg : propitious gods. Antonym is unpropitious – Unfavorable; inauspicious – eg : arrived at an unpropitious moment.

So, next time you want to say favorable/unfavorable you can be pompous – the weather seems propitious/inauspicious.

I had fun writing this article, more words tomorrow 🙂

 

 

Introduction

So… I doubt many people will be interested in this blog but it will be a reminder and a motivator for me at least. As English isn`t my native language and I started reading English literature I often stumble upon words I cannot grasp the meaning of, some or pompous, some I just didn`t know about. I`ll be posting one word a day with the help of my good friend dictionary.com. Heck, maybe even native English speakers might find a word or two they didn`t know about here. It will be fun, I hope 🙂