Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Still Learning

One fun thing about reading the classics is the way it challenges and expands my vocabulary. While I read Brave New World last month I jotted down words with which I was unfamiliar on the inside of the front cover and looked them up. How many of these words would you have been able to define without looking them up as I had to??
  • Sententious--excessive aphoristic expression (yes, I knew what this definition meant because 'aphorism' was one of the kids' vocabulary words that Destry uses all the time! ha), moralizing
  • Flivver--Model T, cheap car in bad condition
  • pneumatic--large, as if inflated
  • ectogenesis--outer beginning (thank you Rummy Roots!--I was able to guess at that one!)
  • simian--resembling monkeys
  • revitrifying--convert into glassy substance by heat
  • indefatigable--untiring
  • satiety--fed or gratified to capacity
  • solecism--breach of etiquette
  • galvanic--intensely exciting
  • moribund--state of dying
  • sedulously--carefully, diligently
  • turpitude--depravity

2 comments:

  1. There are still quite a few words that I understand through their context or usage, but for which I would not be able to offer a satisfactory definition. Don't know if I'm lazy, or what. But unlike when I was a kid, I enjoy looking them up a lot more, now.

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  2. I completely agree, Karen! I can figure things out by context, but I enjoy words and their various connotations, so it's fun to look them up.

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. When you comment, you're speaking my love language!