congeries \KON-juh-reez\ (noun) - A collection; an aggregation.

"But if the congeries of past events, if congeries it was, could be separated from its usual partnership with sentiment, it cannot have been too much to cheer Lolita on in her wholehearted attempt." -- Gilbert Sorrentino, 'Pack of Lies'

Congeries is from Latin congeries, "a heap, ...Read more

felicitous \fuh-LIS-uh-tuhs\ (adjective) - 1 : Suitably applied or expressed; appropriate; apt. 2 : Happy; delightful; marked by good fortune.

"His end fell well on the feast of Felix, for he was felicitous in all things ; felicitous in endowing the church, felicitous in ordering more clearly the divine offices, felicitous in the administration...Read more

expunge \ik-SPUNJ\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To strike out, erase, or mark for deletion; to obliterate; as, "to expunge words, lines, or sentences." 2 : To wipe out or destroy; to annihilate.

"When you talk you can't stop to polish a phrase, to search for precisely the right word, nor can you go back and expunge a word, a phrase, a whole ...Read more

contretemps \KAHN-truh-tahn\ (noun) plural contretemps \-tahnz\ - An inopportune or embarrassing situation or event; a hitch.

"On the card nest to them was written, 'With my most humble apologies for the contretemps of this afternoon. I hope I may be allowed to invite you for dinner after an appropriate period of penance. Josh Hillman.'" -- ...Read more

arbiter \AR-buh-tuhr\ (noun) - 1 : A person appointed or chosen to judge or decide a dispute. 2 : Any person who has the power of judging and determining.

"If he was superior to the dog, the arbiter of its fate, wasn't God in like measure the arbiter of human fate?" -- Czesław Miłosz, 'The Issa Valley'

Arbiter is from Latin arbiter, "a ...Read more

milksop \MILK-sop\ (noun) - An effeminate or weak-minded person; an unmanly man.

"And, if we set off soon, we can escape the milksop misses Mother has invited for us." -- Julia Quinn, 'The Viscount Who Loved Me'

Milksop comes from Middle English, literally a piece of bread sopped in milk.

cajole \kuh-JOHL\ (transitive verb) - To persuade with flattery, repeated appeals, or soothing words; to coax.

"It was his duty to push, prod, and cajole the parties into a settlement." -- John Grisham, 'The Testament'

Cajole derives from Early Modern French cajoler, originally, "to chatter like a bird in a cage, to sing; hence, to amuse with ...Read more

potentate \POH-tuhn-tayt\ (noun) - One who possesses great power or sway; a ruler, sovereign, or monarch.

"When the Vizerine has been much younger, she had been taken a slave for three weeks and forced to perform services arduous and demeaning for a provincial potentate -- who bore such a resemblance to her present cook at Court that it all but...Read more

moil \MOYL\ (intransitive verb) - 1 : To work with painful effort; to labor; to toil; to drudge. 2 : To churn or swirl about continuously.

(noun) - 1 : Toil; hard work; drudgery. 2 : Confusion; turmoil.

"Moil and toil, moil and toil, from morning to night, and no thanks whatever." -- George Manville Fenn, 'Nat the Naturalist'

Moil comes from ...Read more

ululate \UL-yuh-layt; YOOL-\ (intransitive verb) - To howl, as a dog or a wolf; to wail; as, ululating jackals.

"The other women thronged to her. They began to ululate again, rolling their tongues so that their spittle flew as they emitted that terrible keening sound." -- Wilbur Smith, 'The Triumph of the Sun'

Ululate derives from Latin ...Read more

toothsome \TOOTH-suhm\ (adjective) - 1 : Pleasing to the taste; delicious; as, "a toothsome pie." 2 : Agreeable; attractive; as, "a toothsome offer." 3 : Sexually attractive.

'"Rabbit is good, very good," the ancient quavered, "but when it comes to a toothsome delicacy I prefer crab."' -- Jack London, 'The Scarlet Plague

Toothsome is derived ...Read more

impervious \im-PUR-vee-uhs\ , adjective) - 1 : Not admitting of entrance or passage through; impenetrable. 2 : Not capable of being harmed or damaged. 3 : Not capable of being affected.

"She lay peacefully asleep, impervious to the man who watched her. Impervious to the fate that awaited her. Impervious to the cold that would blanket her." -- ...Read more

auspicious \aw-SPISH-uhs\ (adjective) - 1 : Giving promise of success, prosperity, or happiness; predicting good; as, "an auspicious beginning." 2 : Prosperous; fortunate; as, "auspicious years."

"The rest of that auspicious day when father answered the call of his prince was od for we were both elated at how quickly the muster had been made ...Read more

puissant \PWISS-uhnt; PYOO-uh-suhnt; pyoo-ISS-uhnt\ (adjective) - Powerful; strong; mighty; as, a puissant prince or empire.

"Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,
And with your pussiant arm renew their feats.
You are their heir, you sit upon their throne.
The blood and courage that renowned them
Runs in your veins, ...Read more

consanguineous \kon-san(g)-GWIN-ee-us\ (adjective) - Of the same blood; related by birth; descended from the same parent or ancestor.

"Tim and Betsy showed him a family tree that was periodically updated, like the US census. He saw his own name and where he fit into that consanguineous universe and learned that he was directly descended from ...Read more

platitude \PLAT-uh-tood; -tyood\ (noun) - 1 : Staleness of ideas or language; triteness. 2 : A thought or remark that is banal, trite, or stale.

"When a platitude they have blindly upheld seems about to betray them they fall on it and tear it to pieces. This is because a platitude is kept alive blindly and it must be destroyed blindly." -- Ben...Read more

diffident \DIF-uh-dunt; -dent\ (adjective) - 1 : Lacking self-confidence; distrustful of one's own powers; timid; bashful. 2 : Characterized by modest reserve; unassertive.

"But I am diffident. What's the good of saying I mustn't be diffident when I'm the man who wrote the words and music, when Diffidence is my middle name and my telegraphic ...Read more

perspicacity \pur-spuh-KAS-uh-tee\ (noun) - Clearness of understanding or insight; penetration, discernment.

"Perspicacity to see what you want isn't much use without power to get it. And power's not worth much without perspicacity to see what you want." -- Clara E Laughlin, 'Children of To-morrow'

Perspicacity comes from Latin perspicax, ...Read more

wastrel \WAY-struhl\ (noun) - 1 : A person who wastes, especially one who squanders money; a spendthrift. 2 : An idler; a loafer; a good-for-nothing.

"When I was a student in Lawrence, Kansas, there was a wastrel in the town who pretended to have been a pal of Ulysses Grant, the President. This wastrel was always hanging round the bar of the ...Read more

A reader from Rocky Hill, Connecticut, writes with a question about road signs that read "Blind Driveway." She writes: "Drivers might be blinded from not being able to see a driveway because of trees or other objects, but the driveways are not blind. How can an inanimate object be blind?!"

First, an aside on signs: One thing I've always liked...Read more