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cultivated (person) n.: bel esprit

Monday, May 24, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

Momigliano [showed] that the “antiquarians” of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were neither maniacal collectors nor narrow specialists, but strong and disciplined minds, philosophically well-equipped scholars [and] Gibbon, who detested the bel esprit side of the Enlightenment, was the heir of these scholars, and he knew it. (Marc Fumaroli, The Antiquarian as Hero, The New Republic, 05/28/2001.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for intelligent, polished, refined or urbane.…

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crude (or poorly put together, esp. with respect to a writing or speech) adj.: incondite

Sunday, May 23, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

Suddenly I’m tired, despite the java fix, and resigned to the fact that come Monday, I’ll have about enough free time — between diaper origami and learning the baby language of the day and getting the turkey loaf done before my wife comes home — to write an incondite self-pitying limerick: “There was an old pop in Seattle/Who was stuck between bottle and rattle.” (R. W. Lucky, What I Want to Be After My Child Grows Up, The Seattle Times, 03/27/1994, p. L5.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can also be a synonym for coarse, unpolished or unrefined.…

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understandable (to the general public in terms of comprehension or suitability) adj.: exoteric

Saturday, May 22, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

[Robert Penn Warren] saw nothing contradictory in his esoteric and exoteric activities, and wrote with equal facility for magazines such as Life and for those of small circulation. (Daniel Aaron, A Minor Master, The New Republic, 10/20/1997.)

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

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unusual (as in departing from the standard or norm) adj.: heteroclite

Friday, May 21, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

Their mother was severely authoritarian. It is often from such repressive origins that rebels arise. “You have to assassinate your parents” was Philippe’s advice to the young. He did it by running away to join the Foreign Legion. He attended, off and on, a suspiciously heteroclite array of schools before graduating with a degree in foreign languages from the Sorbonne. (James Kirkup, Obituary: Philippe Leotard, Independent, 08/28/2001, p. 6.)

[The town of Antelope, Oregon] held a modest population of about 40.  Conversely, there were hundreds of Rajneeshees, and more were coming. … Rajneeshees may have imagined themselves as proactive citizens. To Antelopians however, they were an invasion of sex-mad heteroclites. (Cory Frye, “Rebirth After Rajneeshpuram,” Corvallis Gazette Times, 07/08/2018.)

This word can also be a synonym for irregular or abnormal.…

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leave (hurriedly or secretly) v.t.: decamp

Thursday, May 20, 2021 by Peter Leave a Comment

She had deliberately packed for only four days, so she would have an excuse for a short visit. When her clothes ran out, she would have to go home. … She was glad that she had had the foresight to arrange an unbreakable excuse for decamping soon. She had no intention of getting stuck in a very small town. (Aaron Latham, The Ballad of Gussie & Clyde: A True Story of True Love, Good Housekeeping, 08/1/1997, p. 149.)

This word, when used in the above sense, can be a synonym for depart or exit.…

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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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