Maskerade

Meretricious

adjective

1. 1.

   apparently attractive but having in reality no value or integrity.

   "meretricious souvenirs for the tourist trade"

   synonyms:

   worthless, valueless, cheap, tawdry, trashy, Brummagem, tasteless, kitsch, kitschy; More

2. 2.

   archaic

   of, relating to, or characteristic of a prostitute.

A Casual Vacancy

J.K. Rowling, having been unburdened and unchained from young adult writing, is now flourishing big bad uncommon words. Oh, and also piss/shite/cunt/fuck/twat/prick etc etc.

She also has a bad habit of two-page-long parenthetical asides, no joke. If it's more than a paragraph, leave the brackets off, lady.

But I digress. List of long and/or interesting words she has used in A Casual Vacancy:

obstreperous
Intertrigo (I believe it's typo'd to "intertigo," making me think she meant impetigo.)
vetiver
grizzling (UK)
virtuosity
byword
collateral (i.e. "collateral line,")
effusion
propitious
eliding (elide)
contravened (verb)
inscrutable
vertiginous
anodyne
creosote
ill-usage
diddling (UK?)

gateaux

élan

polystyrene

corpsed (UK? "corpsed into her coffee"?)

[more to come]

Merriam-Webster Top Ten Listings

Today's items come mainly from the Merriam Webster website's Top Ten Lists section.

Inkling. Noun. 1. A slight indication or suggestion.
2. A slight knowledge or vague notion.

Sounds Worse than It Is: Strange Words for Body Functions

Megrim.
Noun. 1. a. A migraine headache. b. Vertigo or dizziness.
2. a. a fancy or whim. b. pl. low spirits. (Middle English migreime, from Middle French migraine)

Osculate
Trans. verb. To kiss. (Latin past participle of osculari, from osculum kiss, from diminutive of os mouth)

Be Very Afraid: Unusual Phobias

Haphephobia: A morbid fear of being touched. (Greek haptein: "To fasten" and phobos: "fear")

Eremophobia: A morbid fear of being alone. (Greek eremea "desert," a place without people, and phobos)

Ergophobia: A fear or avoidance of work. (Greek ergon "to work" and phobos)

Kakorrhaphiophobia: An abnormally strong fear of failure. (Greek Kakorrhaphia "a clever or devious plot," derived from kakos "bad" or "evil")

References:
"Be Very Afraid: Unusual Phobias #1: Haphephobia." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online. 13 April 2010. "http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/be-very-afraid/haphephobia.html"

"Be Very Afraid: Unusual Phobias #3: Eremophobia." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online. 13 April 2010. "http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/be-very-afraid/eremophobia.html"

"Be Very Afraid: Unusual Phobias #4: Ergophobia." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online. 13 April 2010. "http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/be-very-afraid/ergophobia"

"Be Very Afraid: Unusual Phobias #7: Kakorrhaphiophobia." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam Webster Online. 13 April 2010. "http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/be-very-afraid/ergophobia"

"Inkling." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online. 13 April 2010. "http://www.meriam-webster.com/dictionary/inkling"

"Megrim." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online. 13 April 2010 "http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/sounds-worse-than-it-is/megrim.html" and "http://www.meriam-webster.com/dictionary/mergrim"

"Osculate." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010. Merriam-Webster Online. 13 April 2010 "http://www.merriam-webter.com/dictioanry/osculate" and "http://www.merriam-webster.com/top-ten-lists/sounds-worse-than-it-is/osculate.html"

Abecedarian

Abecedarian: Noun. A form of poetry guided by the alphabet. A line or stanza begins with a letter from the alphabet and the pattern proceeds through the entire alphabet sequentially (alpha to omega, "a" to "z").

Acrostic: Noun. A technique derived from the abecedarian that spells out words or names through the first letter of each line, which serves to "hide" the message.

Reference:
Academy of American Poets. Poetic Form: Acebedarian, 2010. Web. 9 April 2010.

Words from novel cosmology discussion

inspissate
to thicken, as by evaporation; make or become dense.

essentiate
1. trans. To make into an essence or being; to form or constitute the essence or being of.
2. intr. To become essence; to be assimilated or converted into a being or body.

The 100 Most Beautiful Words in English

http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/100_most_beautiful_words.html

Ailurophile	A cat-lover.
Assemblage	A gathering.
Becoming	Attractive.
Beleaguer	To exhaust with attacks.
Brood	To think alone.
Bucolic	In a lovely rural setting.
Bungalow	A small, cozy cottage.
Chatoyant	Like a cat's eye.
Comely	Attractive.
Conflate	To blend together.
Cynosure	A focal point of admiration.
Dalliance	A brief love affair.
Demesne	Dominion, territory.
Demure	Shy and reserved.
Denouement	The resolution of a mystery.
Desuetude	Disuse.
Desultory	Slow, sluggish.
Diaphanous	Filmy.
Dissemble	Deceive.
Dulcet	Sweet, sugary.
Ebullience	Bubbling enthusiasm.
Effervescent	Bubbly.
Efflorescence	Flowering, blooming.
Elision	Dropping a sound or syllable in a word.
Elixir	A good potion.
Eloquence	Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Embrocation	Rubbing on a lotion.
Emollient	A softener.
Ephemeral	Short-lived.
Epiphany	A sudden revelation.
Erstwhile	At one time, for a time.
Ethereal	Gaseous, invisible but detectable.
Evanescent	Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.
Evocative	Suggestive.
Fetching	Pretty.
Felicity	Pleasantness.
Forbearance	Withholding response to provocation.
Fugacious	Fleeting.
Furtive	Shifty, sneaky.
Gambol	To skip or leap about joyfully.
Glamour	Beauty.
Gossamer	The finest piece of thread, a spider's silk
Halcyon	Happy, sunny, care-free.
Harbinger	Messenger with news of the future.
Imbrication	Overlapping and forming a regular pattern.
Imbroglio	An altercation or complicated situation.
Imbue	To infuse, instill.
Incipient	Beginning, in an early stage.
Ineffable	Unutterable, inexpressible.
Ingénue	A naïve young woman.
Inglenook	A cozy nook by the hearth.
Insouciance	Blithe nonchalance.
Inure	To become jaded.
Labyrinthine	Twisting and turning.
Lagniappe	A special kind of gift.
Lagoon	A small gulf or inlet.
Languor	Listlessness, inactivity.
Lassitude	Weariness, listlessness.
Leisure	Free time.
Lilt	To move musically or lively.
Lissome	Slender and graceful.
Lithe	Slender and flexible.
Love	Deep affection.
Mellifluous	Sweet sounding.
Moiety	One of two equal parts.
Mondegreen	A slip of the ear.
Murmurous	Murmuring.
Nemesis	An unconquerable archenemy.
Offing	The sea between the horizon and the offshore.
Onomatopoeia	A word that sounds like its meaning.
Opulent	Lush, luxuriant.
Palimpsest	A manuscript written over earlier ones.
Panacea	A solution for all problems
Panoply	A complete set.
Pastiche	An art work combining materials from various sources.
Penumbra	A half-shadow.
Petrichor	The smell of earth after rain.
Plethora	A large quantity.
Propinquity	An inclination.
Pyrrhic	Successful with heavy losses.
Quintessential	Most essential.
Ratatouille	A spicy French stew.
Ravel	To knit or unknit.
Redolent	Fragrant.
Riparian	By the bank of a stream.
Ripple	A very small wave.
Scintilla	A spark or very small thing.
Sempiternal	Eternal.
Seraglio	Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem.
Serendipity	Finding something nice while looking for something else.
Summery	Light, delicate or warm and sunny.
Sumptuous	Lush, luxurious.
Surreptitious	Secretive, sneaky.
Susquehanna	A river in Pennsylvania.
Susurrous	Whispering, hissing.
Talisman	A good luck charm.
Tintinnabulation	Tinkling.
Umbrella	Protection from sun or rain.
Untoward	Unseemly, inappropriate.
Vestigial	In trace amounts.
Wafture	Waving.
Wherewithal	The means.
Woebegone	Sorrowful, downcast.

http://www.jessesword.com/sf/list

(from http://www.merriehaskell.com/journal/archives/cat_wordgeek.html )