#favorite words

[wordnerdsworld]

Are you a writer constantly in need of cool, fancy sounding words to write about? Are you a person who just wants to expand your vocabulary? Do you just want words to use to make you sound smart? Well then, enjoy this list that took me 2 months and 4 books to create of really good words.

All with official definitions and spellings and alphabetically organized :)

Adumbrate/Adumbration- report or represent in outline



Adage- a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth

Aftak- An easing or lull in a storm

Alizarin- a red pigment present in madder root, used in dyeing

Amalgamation- the action, process, or result of combining or uniting

Anchorite- a religious recluse

Apocryphal- of a story or statement) of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true

Ardent- burning; glowing

Askance- with an attitude or look of suspicion or disapproval

Arduous- involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring

Augur- in ancient Rome) a religious official who observed natural signs, especially the behavior of birds, interpreting these as an indication of divine approval or disapproval of a proposed action

Baroque- relating to or denoting a style of European architecture, music, and art of the 17th and 18th centuries that followed mannerism and is characterized by ornate detail. In architecture the period is exemplified by the palace of Versailles and by the work of Bernini in Italy

Bawdy- dealing with sexual matters in a comical way; humorously indecent

Beguile- charm or enchant (someone), sometimes in a deceptive way

Benignant- kindly and benevolent

Bier- a movable frame on which a coffin or a corpse is placed before burial or cremation or on which it is carried to the grave

Boudoir- a woman's bedroom or private room

Bucolic- relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life

Calamitous- involving calamity; catastrophic or disastrous

Celerity- swiftness of movement

Conglomerate- a number of different things or parts that are put or grouped together to form a whole but remain distinct entities

Consternation- feelings of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected

Coppice- an area of woodland in which the trees or shrubs are, or formerly were, periodically cut back to ground level to stimulate growth and provide firewood or timber

Crépuscule- twilight

Covetousness- the feeling of having a strong desire for the things that other people have

Debutante- an upper-class young woman making her first appearance in fashionable society

Declamation- the action or art of declaiming

Declaiming- utter or deliver words or a speech in a rhetorical or impassioned way, as if to an audience

Dilatory- slow to act

Diminution- a reduction in the size, extent, or importance of something

Diocese- a district under the pastoral care of a bishop in the Christian Church

Dolichocephalic- having a relatively long skull (typically with the breadth less than 80 [or 75] percent of the length)

Dogmatic- being certain that your beliefs are right and that others should accept them, without paying attention to evidence or other opinions

Dutch Crocus- type of flower I thought sounded pretty

Encroached- intrude on (a person's territory or a thing considered to be a right)

Eleutheromania- a mania or frantic zeal for freedom

Encumber- restrict or burden (someone or something) in such a way that free action or movement is difficult

Espionage- the practice of spying or of using spies, typically by governments to obtain political and military information

Excruciating- very painful

Expostulate- express strong disapproval or disagreement

Falchion- a broad, slightly curved sword with the cutting edge on the convex side.

Fallacy- a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument

Fervid- intensely enthusiastic or passionate, especially to an excessive degree

Foibles- a minor weakness or eccentricity in someone's character

Folichonne- (informal) slight, lightweight; mischievous

Fungible- (of a product or commodity) replaceable by another identical item; mutually interchangeable

Funambulist- a tightrope walker

Galvanic- relating to or involving electric currents produced by chemical action

Garrulous- excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters

Gloaming- twilight; dusk

Hedonistic- engaged in the pursuit of pleasure; sensually self-indulgent

Idiosyncrasies- a mode of behavior or way of thought peculiar to an individual

Intaglio- a design incised or engraved into a material

Incandescent- soft glow

Irrevocably- not able to be changed, reversed, or recovered; final

Jettisoned- throw or drop (something) from an aircraft or ship

Keening- crying for a lost loved one

Lackadaisical- lacking enthusiasm and determination

Logophile- a lover of words

Loquacity- the quality of talking a great deal; talkativeness

Magnanimous- generous or forgiving, especially toward a rival or less powerful person

Magniloquent- using high-flown or bombastic language

Meandering- following a winding course

Mellifluous- (of a voice or words) sweet or musical; pleasant to hear

Metonym- a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated

Obsequies- obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree.

Occultation- An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them

Obstreperous- noisy and difficult to control

Panoply- a complete or impressive collection of things

Pastiche- an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period

Pious- having or showing a deep respect for God and religion

Portending- be a sign or warning that (something, especially something momentous or calamitous) is likely to happen

Portmanteau- a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, for example motel (from ‘motor’ and ‘hotel’) or brunch (from ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’)

Propinquity- the state of being close to someone or something; proximity or close kinship

Propitious- giving or indicating a good chance of success; favorable

Recalcitrant- having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority or discipline

Repertoire- a stock of skills or types of behavior that a person habitually uses

Resplendent- attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous

Reverberated- (of a loud noise) be repeated several times as an echo or (of a place) appear to vibrate or be disturbed

Requisite- made necessary by particular circumstances or regulations

Ricocheted- rebound one or more times off a surface

Rivulet- a very small stream

Rhododendron- a shrub or small tree of the heath family, with large clusters of bell-shaped flowers and typically with large evergreen leaves, widely grown as an ornamental

Ruched- (of cloth, clothes, etc.) sewn so that they hang in folds

Salacious- having or conveying undue or inappropriate interest in sexual matters

Salubrious- health-giving; healthy or a place that is pleasant; not run-down

Scagliola- imitation marble or other stone, made of plaster mixed with glue and dyes which is then painted or polished

Sceptred- invested with a scepter or sovereign authority

Scintillating- brilliantly and excitingly clever or skillful

Sepia- a reddish-brown color associated particularly with monochrome photographs of the 19th and early 20th centuries

Sepulchral- gloomy; dismal

Soporific- tending to induce drowsiness or sleep

Sumptuous- splendid and expensive-looking

Sycophant- a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to gain advantage

Synecdoche- a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland's baseball team”)

Taciturn- (of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little

Tangentially- in a way that relates only slightly to a matter; peripherally

Tenacious- tending to keep a firm hold of something; clinging or adhering closely

Truculent- eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant

Ubiquitous- present, appearing, or found everywhere

Unequivocally- leaving no doubt

Valise- a small traveling bag or suitcase

Vaunted- praised or boasted about, especially in an excessive way

Whelm- engulf, submerge, or bury

Yillen- Scottish word (shower of rain)

I tried to make them as random/different as possible, so please enjoy! I only don’t have words from N, W, and X, so I think that’s pretty good.

To be transparent with y’all, I got the idea from The Dictionary Of Lost Words by Pip Williams. Fantastic book.

Hope you enjoyed my panoply of words, and leave how many you alr knew in the tags! it’d be cool to to gauge the responses lol.

[sabinahahn]

Taciturn.

Taciturn. I don't know any other creature most temperamentally disinclined to talk than fish. I have a few at home and they are a very quiet company.

[rtonart]

Silly Game Time: What are some of your favorite words, be it for their meanings, their sounds, or your personal history with them? If you speak more than one language, what are some favorites in those languages?

(Feel free to ask others, too, if you like!)

I’ve given this question a lot of thought and I just remembered there is a word that’s very special to me because of my grandma. She always said “warsh” instead of wash because she grew up in the south. Whenever I miss her that’s the first thing I think about along with all the other happy memories I have of her and it makes me smile. I honestly don't have very deep reasons for liking these words other than liking how they sound when I say/hear them. I'll give you 10 of my other favorite words. The first that come to mind in no particular order would be: Dog, love, lobotomy, spiral, whirlwind, majesty, flutter, bismarck, shenanigans and shire. Now I will leave you with my favorite swear word just for funsies: it's cunt. Goodnight everybody!

[3oey]

nobody asked but i'm going to put together a list of my favourite russian words so far (мои любимые слова). i'm very much still a beginner and these are really just words which i think sound cool:

где? - where?

this one is so fun to say and so intuitive too! i really love saying где. i'm searching for something in my room and be like "где??" to myself :')

хватить - to be enough

also just sounds nice. i like the sound of хв together. and i like that you use it with the dative case in мне хватить, for example. It works the same way in german (= es reicht mir) :) makes sense, sounds cool, i like it. shoutout to other words that start with хв, such as: хвост (tail), хворост (small firewood but also the name of some straw pastry??), хвастаться (to brag) or хвостик (ponytail). i love them all

шрам - scar

i like this one because it sounds like german word Schramme (= scratch) but has just a slightly different meaning. i think false friends are cool, actually

сердце - heart

the best word ever. i love everything about it. no other language has a better word for heart, not even french cœur sounds as powerful and expressive as сердце <3 shoutout to other slavic languages that use the same word (polish serce <3)

[storynerd121]

what's your favorite world myth??

My favorite word is probably 'selcouth', which means 'unfamiliar, rare, strange, and yet marvelous'. I just think the word is rly cool and sounds mysterious lol.

[i-am-an-arson-enthusiast]

Okay so I'm new to Tumblr and couldn't find your pinned post (please don't shoot me, I'm too pretty to die), but what's your favorite word? Mine is nevermore because it never fits into any actual conversations

i won’t shoot you for the reason listed and uh my favourite word,,,,, that’s hard i’m indecisive 😭 i got asked this in drama once and i said monochromatic. so ill go with that for now.

[quadruple-a-battery-under-ur-bed]

What is your favorite word?

english word for meaning: archaic

english word for spelling: esoteric

english word for pronounciation: flabbergast

german word for spelling: Ferienhaus

german word for pronounciation: enshuldigung

[ending-thoughts]

“here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root

and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky

of a tree called life;

which grows higher than soul can hope

or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s

keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart(I carry it in my heart)”

e. e. cummings

[mrtechnodads-updates-deactived]

mrtechnodad the man with the funny words (*furiously taking notes*) (learning english with mrtechnodad segment!!)

x

[mossymossman]

defenestration is my favorite word. Because not only is it hilarious that there is a word for throwing someone out of a window. But it’s also hilarious that said word doesn’t sound like the word for throwing someone out a window. Defenestration sounds like the word for turning someone’s inside into their outsides. No THROWING SOMEONE OUT A FUCKING WINDOW.

[xcorpsekitten]

Suppose to tell my favorite word, not describe me 🤣

[sabinahahn]

Favorite words.

Gloaming.

Dusk. 

For some reason, makes me think of the opening to  Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

      Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

      And the mome raths outgrabe.

[moth-yknowtheartist]

idk if it's obvious but I get Favorite Words regularly (usually fun sounding longer ones) and I feel like it'd be kinda funny to update on them every so often cause I always forget them

Currently it's Ambivalent and Thematic

[la-novellista]

[zackbuildit]

"Crunchy" is my favorite word. Not my favorite adjective though. That's still secretive