What new words have you learned this week? Join Kathy to see more.
All my words this week are from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
1. sophister
(n) [SOF-uh-ster]
Definition—a specious, unsound, or fallacious reasoner
Use—“I, who stood by and heard all, saw immediately that one of them was a crafty old sophister, and the other a mere novice.”
2. nuncupative
(adj) [NUHNG-kyuh-pey-tiv]
Definition—delivered orally to witnesses rather than written
Use—“He left me a small legacy in a nuncupative will, as a token of his kindness for me, and he left me once more to the wide world; for the store was taken into the care of his executors, and my employment under him ended.”
(n) [pi-STOHL]
Definition—any of several gold coins used in various European countries until the late 19th century
Use—“I had fifteen pistoles; so he borrowed occasionally of me to subsist, while he was looking out for business.”
4. factotum
(n) [fak-TOH-tuhm]
Definition—an employee or assistant who serves in a wide range of capacities
Use—“I also engrav'd several things on occasion; I made the ink; I was warehouseman, and everything, and, in short, quite a factotum.”
5. captious
(adj) [KAP-shuhs]
Definition—apt to notice and make much of trivial faults or defects; faultfinding; difficult to please
Use—“He grew by degrees less civil, put on more of the master, frequently found fault, was captious, and seem'd ready for an outbreaking.”
6. croakers
(n) [KROH-ker]
Definition—a person who grumbles or habitually predicts evil
Use—“There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin.”
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Which words are also new to you?
6 comments:
Oh I do LOVE words!!
I think all of these words you have posted here were new to me with the exception of pistoles...love it!
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I've heard pistoles before but couldn't have defined it. The other words are new to me. I love croakers - the word fits it's meaning so well! Thanks so much for playing along.
I know a few croakers. :-)
I like factotum - just the way it sounds. But I will probably use croakers in my regular vocabulary. Just from your words and sentences, I like the sound of the book.
Wow! What a group of great words! All of them are new to me. :)
Here are mine...
http://westietherapy.blogspot.com/2010/04/wondrous-words-dust-to-dust.html
I love the way you can tell a lot about a book just by the words posted here. Some of those are brand new to me - good choices!
My words are here.
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