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Peter

gofer (or handyman or general assistant) n. dogsbody

Wednesday, March 10, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

She would pay the monthly mortgage and cover the cost of bringing electricity and water to the land. In return, he would build her a house and be a general dogsbody for anything that she needed doing. (Craig Smith, “Between the Lines,” The Sante Fe New Mexican, 08/05/2016.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for assistant, aide, handyman or helper.…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

relocate (an object from one location to another) v.t. translocate

Tuesday, March 9, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room (better known as The Peacock Room) is the masterpiece of interior decorative art created by James McNeill Whistler and Thomas Jeckyll. [In 1919, the entire room was] translocated [from a mansion in Detroit] to the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peacock_Room)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for move or transfer.…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

megalomania n. folie de grandeur [French]

Monday, March 8, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

In the end, she said, [Paul] Rusesabagina had been brought down by hubris — his deluded conviction that it was he, not Kagame, who could heal Rwanda. “It was folie de grandeur.  After he became famous, everyone was telling him, ‘Paul, you could be president.’”  (Joshua Hammer, “He Was the Hero of Hotel Rwanda; Now He’s Accused of Terrorism,” The New York Times, 3/2/2021.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for self-importance, egotism, conceit  and narcissism.…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

g-string (or fig leaf or loincloth or any item which covers just the genitals) n. cache-sexe

Sunday, March 7, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

[French; lit. hide-sex.] [In Key West, Florida] debate rages over whether Fantasy Fest, a long-running Bacchanal in which revelers parade down Duval Street in nothing but body paint, should require nipple-pasties and cache-sexes. (Marc Mewshaw, “Seeking the Key West of Yore,” The Boston Globe, 04/13/2014.)

This word can also be a synonym for fig leaf or loincloth.…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

distinguish (from others of a similar kind) v.t. individuate

Saturday, March 6, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

I’m acutely aware that people coming to our southern border are not one faceless brown mass but singular individuals, with stories and backgrounds and reasons for coming that are unique… So I hoped to present one of those unique individual stories… And in so doing, I hope to create a pause where the reader may begin to individuate [and remember that] these people are people. (Jeanine Cummins, American Dirt, Flatiron Books, p. 382)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for differentiate, separate, or discriminate.…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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Previous words

  • servitude (as in forced work for little or no pay) n.: corvee Thursday, June 24, 2021
  • refined adj.: raffiné (or raffine) [French] Wednesday, June 23, 2021
  • redundancy n.: pleonasm Tuesday, June 22, 2021
  • nonbeliever (as in one with no faith or religion) n., adj.: nullifidian Sunday, June 20, 2021
  • nightmare (or episode having the quality of a …) n.: Walpurgis Night Monday, June 21, 2021
  • menacing adj.: minatory Saturday, June 19, 2021
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The Thinker’s Thesaurus

by Peter Meltzer
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