trammel \TRAM-uhl\ (noun) - 1 : A kind of net for catching birds, fish, etc. 2 : A kind of shackle used for making a horse amble. 3 : Something that impedes activity, progress, or freedom, as a net or shackle. 4 : An iron hook of various forms and sizes, used for handing kettles and other vessels over the fire. 5 : An instrument for drawing ...Read more

clarion \KLAIR-ee-uhn\ (noun) - 1 : A kind of trumpet having a clear and shrill note. 2 : The sound of this instrument or a sound similar to it.

(adjective) - 1 : Sounding like the clarion; loud and clear.

"His voice and laugh, which perpetually re-echoed through the Custom-House, had nothing of the tremulous quaver and cackle of an old man's ...Read more

gubernatorial \GOO-ber-nuh-TOR-ee-uhl\ (adjective) - Of or pertaining to a governor.

"In 1780 John Hancock was elected the first governor of Massachusetts under its new constitution and thereafter was easily reelected whenever he chose to run. His gubernatorial career was marked by his inability to prevent a fiscal and currency crisis in the ...Read more

cadre \KAD-ree; -ray; KAH-dray; -druh\ (noun) - 1 : A core or nucleus of trained or otherwise qualified personnel around which an organization is formed. 2 : A tightly knit and trained group of dedicated members active in promoting the interests of a revolutionary party. 3 : A member of such a group. 4 : A framework upon which a larger entity ...Read more

chicanery \shih-KAY-nuh-ree\ (noun) - 1 : The use of trickery or sophistry to deceive (as in matters of law). 2 : A trick; a subterfuge.

"She'd stake her life, Thornton Chickens, and everything else she held dear, that Sage Thornton was a victim of some first-class chicanery." -- Fern Michaels, 'Vegas Sunrise'

Chicanery comes from French ...Read more

minatory \MIN-uh-tor-ee\ (adjective) - Threatening; menacing.

"He was often observed peeping through the bars of a gate and making minatory gestures with his small forefinger while he scolded the sheep with an inarticulate burr, intended to strike terror into their astonished minds." -- George Eliot, 'The Mill on the Floss'

Minatory derives ...Read more

stentorian \sten-TOR-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Extremely loud.

"I was just near the large gateway, however, when a most stentorian voice shouted out, 'Halt, who goes there?'" -- Frederick George Scott, 'The Great War As I Saw It'

Stentorian comes from Stentor, a Greek herald in the Trojan War. According to Homer's Iliad, his voice was as loud as ...Read more

circumspect \SUR-kuhm-spekt\ (adjective) - Marked by attention to all circumstances and probable consequences; cautious; prudent.

"She knew just what kind of circumspect he meant, and it wasn't anything like her usual unassuming, living in the background sort of circumspect." -- Lucy Monroe, '3 Brides for 3 Bad Boys'

Circumspect comes from the...Read more

plebeian \plih-BEE-uhn\ (adjective) - 1 : Of or pertaining to the Roman plebs, or common people. 2 : Of or pertaining to the common people. 3 : Vulgar; common; crude or coarse in nature or manner.

(noun) - 1 : One of the plebs, or common people of ancient Rome; opposed to patrician. 2 : One of the common people or lower classes. 3 : A coarse, ...Read more

explicate \EK-spluh-kayt\ (transitive verb) - To explain; to clear of difficulties or obscurity.

"When the implicate order becomes explicate, we have our reality. So am I simply in a different explicate order than my normal one?" -- L. E. J. Maroski, 'The One That is Both'

Explicate comes from Latin explicare, "to unfold; to unfold the meaning...Read more

trencherman \TREN-chuhr-muhn\ (noun) - A hearty eater.

"You had musty victual, and he had holp to eat it. He is a very valiant trencherman; he hath an excellent stomach." -- William Shakepeare, 'Much Ado About Nothing'

Trencherman is from trencher, "a wooden board or platter on which food is served or carved" (from Medieval French trencheoir, ...Read more

immolate \IM-uh-layt\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To sacrifice; to offer in sacrifice; to kill as a sacrificial victim. 2 : To kill or destroy, often by fire.

"What have I gained, that I no longer immolate a bull to Jove, or to Neptune, or a mouse to Hecate . . . if I quake at opinion, the public opinion, as we call it; or at the threat of assault,...Read more

inanition \in-uh-NISH-uhn\ (noun) - 1 : The condition or quality of being empty. 2 : Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment. 3 : Lack of vitality or spirit.

"Plainly, you are perishing of cold and inanition. But if you do not mind, allow me to introduce you en route to my other guest; we will invite him to join us." - Diana Gabaldon, 'An Echo ...Read more

caesura \sih-ZHUR-uh; -ZUR-\ (noun) plural caesuras or caesurae \sih-ZHUR-ee; -ZUR-ee\ - 1 : A break or pause in a line of verse, usually occurring in the middle of a line, and indicated in scanning by a double vertical line; for example, "The proper study || of mankind is man" [Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man]. 2 : Any break, pause, or ...Read more

Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\ (adjective) - Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.

"Their gravestones were simple, like granite Brobdingnagian shoe boxes, and stood in a discrete row under the branches of a purple-leaf beech tree." -- Lisa Genova, 'Still Alice'

Brobdingnagian is from Brobdingnag, a country of giants in Swift's ...Read more

mollify \MOL-uh-fy\ (transitive verb) - 1 : To pacify; to soothe or calm in temper or disposition. 2 : To reduce in intensity; to temper. 3 : To soften; to reduce the rigidity of.

"She wasn't sure anything could mollify her, after the horrid five days she had just endured." -- Johanna Lindsey, 'Say You Love Me'

Mollify comes from Middle French...Read more

introspection \in-truh-SPEK-shuhn\ (noun) - The act or process of self-examination; contemplation of one's own thoughts and feelings; a looking inward.

"Religion absorbed Bailey, and following a period of intense introspection, he began a long quest to become a Congregationalist minister." -- Thomas G. Dyer, 'Secret Yankees'

Introspection ...Read more

winsome \WIN-suhm\ (adjective) - 1 : Cheerful; merry; gay; light-hearted. 2 : Causing joy or pleasure; agreeable; pleasant.

"And, oh, it was a sweet smile, they said, none sweeter, so winsome and large it transformed her melancholy face." -- Flavia Alaya, 'Under the Rose'

Winsome is from Old English wynsum, from wynn, "joy" + -sum (equivalent ...Read more

compunction \kuhm-PUHNK-shuhn\ (noun) - 1 : Anxiety or deep unease proceeding from a sense of guilt or consciousness of causing pain. 2 : A sting of conscience or a twinge of uneasiness; a qualm; a scruple.

"If they succeeded, however, Sicily would simply come under the authority of the new revolutionary government in Naples, a government that ...Read more

Q: A headline stated that seasonal bird migration (which occurs twice a year) was a "biannual" event. Doesn't that mean they migrate once in two years? Shouldn't it be "semiannual"? And what's with the spelling "biennial"? -- Carol Radil, via email

A: This question seems to come up biannually... or should that be "biennially"? In fact, that ...Read more