Word Nerd Time!
Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week. It's an opportunity to share new words you've encountered in your reading, or highlight words that you particularly enjoy.
Here are three of my favorites new-to-me words from some of my recent reads. All definitions from Dictionary.com.
1. susurrating. "The mangled lips parted in a last, susurrating pulse of air." (from 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King)
noun (susurration)
a soft murmur; whisper.
2. laity. "Morale was even worse among the laity, black folks like Angela, Shirley, and Mona, the three women I'd met at the rally ." (from Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama)
noun
1. the body of religious worshipers, as distinguished from the clergy.
2. the people outside of a particular profession, as distinguished from those belonging to it.
3. fabulate. "The impulse to fabulate is a natural response to a confusing and contradictory world." (from The Uninvited by Liz Jensen)
1. to tell invented stories; create fables or stories filled with fantasy.
2. to relate an event as a fable.
2. to relate an event as a fable.
What are your new words this week?
Aha! One of my past featured word nerd words was confabulation- a discussion, or casual conversation. You put "con" (with) + to tell stories and get a conversation! I love to make those learning links! Thanks Kelly. My word this week: surfeit. Don't do it.
ReplyIt seems like I remember susurrate from the Harry Potter books. The other words are new to me. Laity makes sense - kind of like lay people - but I'm not familiar with it.
Reply@Julia, good word detective work!
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