Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Wondrous Words Wednesday (14)



Welcome back, wordy friends!

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. pillion. "A big BSA cycle with jacked handlebars suddenly roared past him in the passing lane, a kid in a T-shirt driving, a girl in a red cloth jacket and huge mirror-lensed sunglasses riding pillion behind him."  (from 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King)

noun
1 a   pad   or   cushion   attached   behind   a   saddle,   especially   as   a   seat   for   a   woman.
2. a   pad,   cushion,   saddle,   or   the   like,   used   as   a   passenger   seat   on   a   bicycle,   motor   scooter,   etc.
3. a   passenger's   saddle   or   seat   behind   the   driver's   seat   on   a   motorcycle.

2. inchoate. "At some point, though, they all told me of having reached a spiritual dead end; a feeling, at once inchoate and oppressive, that they'd been cut off from themselves." (from Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama)

adjective
1 not   yet   completed   or   fully   developed;   rudimentary.
2. just   begun;   incipient.
3. not organized; lacking order:  an inchoate mass of ideas on the subject.

3. pyrrhic. "I allow myself the relaxation of watching the final part of a documentary on BBC World about Napoleon's pyrrhic victory over Moscow in 1812." (from The Uninvited by Liz Jensen)

adjective
1consisting of two short or unaccented syllables.
2. composed of or pertaining to pyrrhics.

I am guessing this last word is meant to convey that Napoleon's victory was swift and decisive...yes?

What are your new words this week?

2 comments:

  1. Well, I'm totally chalking this up as "something learned" today. ^_^ Thanks for the share!

    Reply
  2. Great post, this is a fun meme! :)

    Alice @ Alice in Readerland

    Reply

 
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