fabulous

fabulous

/ˈfabjʊləs/
adjective
1 Extraordinary, especially extraordinarily large.
1.1 informal Very good; wonderful.
2 Having no basis in reality; mythical.

Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense ‘known through fable’): from French fabuleux or Latin fabulosus ‘celebrated in fable’, from fabula (see fable).

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Let us all admit. I am fabulous! Every day, without a break, I post a word for you to enjoy…even if you don’t enjoy it. Too bad for you.
(There can be no doubt, this is yet another of the deluded tall tales generated from my daydreams.)

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sophisticated

sophisticated

/səˈfɪstɪkeɪtɪd/
adjective
1 Having, revealing, or involving a great deal of worldly experience and knowledge of fashion and culture.
1.1 Appealing to or frequented by people who are sophisticated.
2 (of a machine, system, or technique) developed to a high degree of complexity.
2.1 (of a person or their thoughts, reactions, and understanding) aware of and able to interpret complex issues; subtle.

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It is difficult to tell, either I’m terribly sophisticated, eating dinner late (before doing WotD) or merely forgetful of a typically morning task.

phrase-mongering

phrase-mongering

/freɪz-ˈmʌŋɡ(ə)rɪŋ/
noun
depreciative
The (especially habitual) use of grandiose or striking phrases.

Origin
Late 19th century; earliest use found in Frederic Harrison (1831–1923), positivist and author.

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Participants in the verbal craze we call WotD would never participate in vainglorious phrase-mongering. [Ahem!]

cuticle

cuticle

/ˈkjuːtɪk(ə)l/
noun
1 The dead skin at the base of a fingernail or toenail.
2 The outer cellular layer of a hair.
3 Botany / Zoology – A protective and waxy or hard layer covering the epidermis of a plant, invertebrate, or shell.
3.1 another term for epidermis

Origin
Late 15th century (denoting a membrane of the body): from Latin cuticula, diminutive of cutis ‘skin’.

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Clarice did her cuticles before going to the nail salon because she didn’t want them to think she truly needed their help.

exorbitant

exorbitant

/ɪɡˈzɔːbɪt(ə)nt/
adjective
(of a price or amount charged) unreasonably high.

Origin
Late Middle English (originally describing a legal case that is outside the scope of a law): from late Latin exorbitant- ‘going off the track’, from exorbitare, from ex- ‘out from’ + orbita ‘course, track’.

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I hope you will not consider it an exorbitant use of power that I use today’s word as a springboard to improve yesterday’s illustration. I thought it seemed to look like a wall projection, so I revised it. (Make Yourself Happier™)

endotherm

endotherm

/ˈɛndə(ʊ)θəːm/
noun
Zoology
An animal that is dependent on or capable of the internal generation of heat.
Compare with homeotherm
Often contrasted with ectotherm

Origin
1940s: from endo- ‘within’, on the pattern of homeotherm.

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Though a cat is an endotherm, capable of making its own body heat, it is very fond of lying in a sunny spot on the floor.

crepitation

crepitation

/ˌkrɛpɪˈteɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
1 A crackling or rattling sound.
1.1 Medicine A crackling sound made when breathing with an inflamed lung, detected using a stethoscope.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from French crépitation or Latin crepitatio(n-), from the verb crepitare (see crepitate).

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The fire’s steady crepitation of sap-rich wood matched the random flight of small embers above the flame, almost a personal fireworks as the family sat by the campfire.

peccant

peccant

/ˈpɛk(ə)nt/
adjective
archaic
1 Having committed a fault or sin.
2 Diseased or causing disease.

Origin
Late 16th century (in peccant (sense 2)): from Latin peccant- ‘sinning’, from the verb peccare.

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Like many before him, the king was puissant because he was peccant, taking his peoples’ prosperity as his own.

gratuitous

gratuitous

/ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəs/
adjective
1 Done without good reason; uncalled for.
2 Given or done free of charge.

Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin gratuitus ‘given freely, spontaneous’ + -ous.

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I am grateful that the roadside is grate-full so the city has efficient water runoff.
[It is Thanksgiving in the US today, and that results in a gratuitous pun, yet another you did not ask for.]

televisor

televisor

/ˈtɛlɪvʌɪzə/
noun
1 An apparatus for transmitting and receiving television pictures in which a video signal is generated by the action of light on photoconductive cells after having passed through a revolving perforated disk, this signal controlling the brightness of a neon lamp which, in conjunction with a second disk, projects an image; (originally and especially) a device of this kind designed and patented by John Logie Baird. Now historical.
2 A person who works in the television industry, e.g. as a presenter. Now rare.
3 An organization that makes or broadcasts television programmes.

Origin
1920s; earliest use found in The Glasgow Herald. Probably partly from televis- + -or.

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Having dropped the term, today’s average teenager shares video which may become as viral as the original televisors of the 1920s did.