My Favorite New Words
(from a variety of sources)
- affine
- a relative by marriage (at last, a categorical!)
- apophasis
- denial of one's intention to speak of a subject that is at the same time named/insinuated
- catachresis
- the use of the wrong/forced word for the context (or a labored figure of speech)
- cathexis
- the investment of emotional significance in an activity or thing; the charge of psychic energy so invested
- elenchus
- a logical refutation
- fug
- an odorous emanation or stuffy atmosphere
- koan
- a riddle in the form of a paradox (such as those used in Zen for meditation)
- kef
- a state of dreamy tranquility (such as a weed high) -- I'm promoting this as an adjective/exclamation (a combination of "cool" and "hip"...)
- lethologica
- when you have that word on the tip of your tongue and you just can't remember...
- oppugn
- to fight against or to call into question
- polysemous
- marked by multiplicity of meaning
- pukka
- genuine, authentic; first-class
- screed
- a long discourse, especially a diatribe (also, an informal writing, and other meanings)
- seigniorage
- a government revenue from the manufacture of coins calculated as the difference between the monetary and the bullion value of the silver contained in silver coins
- syzygy
- the conjunction of two heavenly bodies (also, any two related things, alike or opposite)
- virgule
- another, more elevated, term for the familiar "slash" or "/"
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