I frequently come across words I don't know, which is good and bad. At any rate, if I think it's worth knowing, I add it to the ignorance list. Then I look it up as soon as possible and narrow my ignorance - or at least that's the idea.
Perhaps I should be embarrassed that some of these made the list, but I'm not. Why not help me reinforce what I've learned by jotting me a note with a few words sprinkled in from my newly expanded vocabulary?
| The Ten Most Recently Defined | ||
|---|---|---|
| Term | Definition | |
| 1 | casuistry | specious argument : RATIONALIZATION |
| 2 | irruption | vt. to rush in forcibly or violently |
| 3 | phantasmagoria | 1: an exhibition of optical effects and illusions 2 a : a constantly shifting complex succession of things seen or imagined |
| 4 | puissance | STRENGTH, POWER |
| 5 | cri de coeur | a passionate outcry (as of appeal or protest); French: literally, cry from the heart |
| 6 | pasquinade | SATIRE |
| 7 | asperity | rigor, severity; roughness of manner or of temper: HARSHNESS |
| 8 | minatory | having a menacing quality: threatening |
| 9 | bilious | 1a: of or relating to bile 2: of or indicative of a peevish ill-natured disposition 3: sickeningly unpleasant |
| 10 | aseity | existence originating from and having no source other than itself |
The full list can be viewed here.
Definitions appearing on this page are generally either verbatim or derived from Merriam-Webster's College Dictionary, Tenth Edition, 1999 or its online counterpart.