When Martin Luther (1483-1546), a German monk and religious reformer, nailed his 95 “theses” (or propositions) to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, so many people agreed with his ideas that they spread throughout western Europe and touched off a religious revolt known as the Reformation. As a result, many Christians broke their centuries-old connection with the Roman Catholic Church and established independent churches of their own, prime among them being the Lutheran Church. October 31 is observed by most Protestant denominations as Reformation Day.
decollete
Definition: (adjective) Cut low at the neckline.
Synonyms: low-cut, low-necked.
Usage: She wore a decollete dress that many of the guests deemed inappropriately revealing.
flashover
excursive
excursive – (adjective) – Of, given to, characterized by, or having the nature of digression.
Synonyms: rambling, digressive, discursive.
Usage: What started as a few excursive remarks soon turned into a long, rambling speech about this and that.
mugwump
Definition: (noun) A person who acts independently or remains neutral, especially in politics.
Synonyms: fencesitter, independent.
Usage: The public relations firm believed that the key to victory was to capture the hearts and minds of the mugwumps who would otherwise remain passive.
quietude
Definition: (noun) A state of peace and quiet.
Synonyms: tranquility, quietness.
Usage: Who can tell how scenes of peace and quietude sink into the minds of pain-worn dwellers in close and noisy places. …read more
tumulus
Definition: (noun) A heap of earth placed over prehistoric tombs.
Synonyms: burial mound, grave mound, barrow.
Usage: The tumulus marked the spot where his ancestor was buried.
I know you didn’t know this one… I didn’t!
wytai
wytai – noun – a feature of modern society that suddenly strikes you as absurd and grotesque—from zoos and milk-drinking to organ transplants, life insurance, and fiction—part of the faint background noise of absurdity that reverberates from the moment our ancestors first crawled out of the slime but could not for the life of them remember what they got up to do.
retinue
pinnace
Definition: (noun) A light boat propelled by sails or oars, formerly used as a tender for merchant and war vessels.
Synonyms: ship’s boat, cutter, tender.
Usage: Seated upon the projection formed by the hull of the pinnace, I inhaled the salt breeze with delight.
…read more
scathing
scathing – (adjective) – Bitterly denunciatory; harshly critical.
Synonyms: vituperative.
Usage: This scathing remark caused the Prince to hide his face for shame, and Steve to erect his head in the proud consciousness that this shot was not meant for him.
High-Speed Photography
High-speed photography allows fast moving phenomena to be recorded with precision and clarity. While in 1948 high-speed photography was defined as a set of at least 3 photographs taken by a camera capable of recording a minimum of 128 frames per second, today’s equipment can shoot as many as 1 million frames per second.
High-speed photography was first put to practical use in 1878 to investigate whether or not a trotting horse ever has all 4 feet off the ground at once. What did the images show?
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roster
Definition: (noun) A list, especially of names.
Synonyms: roll.
Usage: The spy’s mission was to compile a roster of officials amenable to bribery.
unexceptionable
unexceptionable – (adjective) Beyond any reasonable objection; irreproachable.
Synonyms: unimpeachable.
Usage: No person need think of applying for this situation unless he could furnish the most unexceptionable references to character and abilities.
The Capgras Delusion
The Capgras Delusion is a rare disorder in which a person holds the delusional belief that an acquaintance—usually a spouse or other close family member—has been replaced by an identical impostor. Found in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, dementia, or those suffering from a brain injury, the disorder is named after Joseph Capgras, the French psychiatrist who first described it in 1923.
petrous
Definition: (adjective) Of, relating to, or resembling rock, especially in hardness; stony.
Synonyms: stonelike.
Usage: The veterinarian removed several rounded, petrous objects from the animal’s wound.
The Hidden Art of Steganography
Steganography is the practice of hiding secret messages in seemingly innocuous documents such as pictures, articles, or shopping lists. The practice dates to the 5th c BCE, when early practitioners concealed information under the wax of wooden writing tablets or on the tattooed scalps of slaves. As technology evolved, so did steganography; and today, information is often hidden in computer files.
Reverse Engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device through analysis of its structure, function, and operation. It often involves taking apart an electronic component, software program, or other device in order to redesign the system for better maintainability or produce a copy of a system without access to the original design. Militaries often use reverse engineering to copy other nations’ technology.
Feraliminal Lycanthropizer
The Feraliminal Lycanthropizer is a fictional machine invented by American writer David Woodard, whose 1990 pamphlet of the same title speculates on its history and purpose.
The brief, anonymously published work describes a vibration referred to as thanato-auric waves, which the machine electrically generates by combining three infrasonic sine waves (3 Hz, 9 Hz and 0.56 Hz) with concomitant tape loops of unspecified spoken text (two beyond the threshold of decipherability, and two beneath the threshold).
Christkindlesmarkt
Christkindlesmarkt is the biggest and best known of the Christmas markets of Germany. The market in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, has been held since 1697 in the city’s Hauptmarkt (“main market”). More than 100 booths are set up to offer only goods directly related to Christmas, and food booths sell Nuremberg’s specialties—Lebkuchen, or gingerbread, and Zwetschgenmannlein, which are little people-shaped confections. The three-week festival is inaugurated with choral singing, the pealing of church bells, and illumination of a creche.
“Selling Airplanes”
On Aug. 7, 1955, Boeing’s chief of flight testing, the legendary Alvin “Tex” Johnston, pulled an impressive stunt in the prototype of the Boeing 707.
Johnston didn’t just do a flyover. No. At a speed of 490 miles an hour, Johnston executed a barrel roll.
The stunt, called a Barrel Roll, was performed in front of a crowd of 250,000 spectators attending the Gold Cup hydro races which included many airline executives from around the world (who were in Seattle for an annual meeting) in attendance.
When asked what he thought he thought he was doing Johnston answered, “Selling Airplanes”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing
solecism
Definition: (noun) A socially awkward or tactless act.
Synonyms: faux pas, gaffe, slip, gaucherie.
Usage: She smiled again, turned, and walked away, leaving George to reckon up all the social solecisms he had contrived to commit in the space of a single moment. …read more
exulansis
exulansis – noun – the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it—whether through envy or pity or simple foreignness—which allows it to drift away from the rest of your life story, until the memory itself feels out of place, almost mythical, wandering restlessly in the fog, no longer even looking for a place to land.
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. Each original definition aims to fill a hole in the language—to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don’t yet have a word for.
Parietal Eyes
Lizards, frogs, lampreys, and some fish species possess a unique organ known as a third, or parietal, eye. Though referred to as an “eye,” this photoreceptive organ does not “see” in the same way that a standard eye does. Instead, it uses a different biochemical method of detecting light than normal eyes and helps regulate circadian rhythms and hormone production for thermoregulation. The parietal eye is associated with what gland that humans, too, possess? Discuss
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pedicab
Definition: (noun) A tricycle (usually propelled by pedaling); used in the Orient for transporting passengers for hire.
Synonyms: cycle rickshaw.
Usage: Boys who once pulled rickshaws now pedal pedicabs.
onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia noun is a word which itself sounds like what the word means: Bang, crackle, zip, ha-ha, etc.
https://literarydevices.net/onomatopoeia/
Here is a HUGE list of ONOMATOPOEIC words used in complete sentences. You’ll love these original onomatopoeia examples.
http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/figurative-language/poetic-devices/onomatopoeia-examples/
windsock
windsock
Definition: (noun) A tapered, open-ended sleeve pivotally attached to a standard, that indicates the direction of the wind blowing through it.
Synonyms: drogue, air sock, wind cone.
Usage: The air traffic controller noted that the airport’s windsock was fully extended.
Discuss …read more
midden
Disabuse
Disabuse verb Sounds like it has something to with stopping abuse, but really means to persuade someone to a view contrary to their own.
Disabuse means to free someone of a belief that is not true. Many teachers of health find that when they teach, they spend as much energy disabusing kids of false beliefs as they do giving them the facts.
watchword
Definition: (noun) A slogan used to rally support for a cause.
Synonyms: cry.
Usage: “Fight and fall, but fly not,” that was our watchword. …read more