Hey language lovers! Ever feel like you’re stuck in a word rut, using the same phrases day in, day out? Well, buckle up for a linguistic adventure! We’re diving into the lesser-traveled lanes of the English language, unearthing the underused words that deserve more love.
Our mission is simple: let’s break free from the monotony and bring back these unsung heroes of expression. These words aren’t just forgotten; they’re hidden gems, waiting to add a dash of flair to our conversations. We’ve done our homework, comparing data and consulting the language gurus, to curate a list that’s as rare as it is beautiful. Ready to join us on this journey? Let’s read these lexical treasures and give our underused words list a makeover!
- meretricious – 1. attracting attention in a vulgar manner; plausible but false or insincere; specious
- nescience – absence of knowledge or awareness; ignorance
- sanctimonious – feigning piety or righteousness
- scurrilous – given to the use of vulgar, coarse, or abusive language. A scurrilous “attention whore” would be meretricious
- tarradiddle – 1. a petty falsehood; a fib. 2. silly pretentious speech or writing; twaddle
- valetudinarian – a sickly or weak person, especially one who is constantly and morbidly concerned with his or her health
- effrontery – Insolent or impertinent behavior: “had the effrontery to challenge the decision”
- factotum – A servant employed to do a variety of jobs
- fatuous – Showing a lack of intelligence or thought; stupid and silly
- fulsome – Unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech, sickeningly excessive. Awkward usage of the word over at [1]
- cavil – An evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections
- fulminate – Criticize severely/explode (think of Vernon Dursley). similar to pique. a person who fulminates might also jibe too.
- officious – Intrusive in a meddling or offensive manner
- perfunctory – Hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
- peremptory – Offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power
- prerogative – A right reserved exclusively by a particular person or group
- supplicant – Humbly entreating
- thespian – Of or relating to drama
- decorticate – peel
- propitiate – appease
- prurience – lasciviousness. Not something you’d expect from a prude 😀
- ratiocination – reasoning
- disabuse – to set right. “I shalt disabuse you of the notion that…”
- chicanery/skullduggery – trickery. One prone to skullduggery would also be prone to inveigle.
- probity – Complete and confirmed integrity; having strong moral principles
- sedulous – diligent/persistent (even though it sounds a lot more like sedition!)
- punctilious – Marked by precise accordance with details
- fastidious – Giving careful attention to detail; hard to please; excessively concerned with cleanliness. A more negative subset of “punctilious”
- desultory – aimless. When I’m at my worst, not only am I perfunctory, but I’m also desultory too. =/ And then forlornly dream for a sinecure
- diaphanous – transparent
- encomium – glowing praise
- peroration – concluding part of a speech
- saturnine – gloomy/sullen
- sententious – tending to moralize excessively. A sententious hypocrite would sound sanctimonious.
- repine – express discontent. a captious (and sententious) person would repine (and carp+grouse) a lot.
- Stygian – gloomy/dark
- tendentious – Having or marked by a strong tendency especially a controversial one
- platitudinous – Dull and tiresome but with pretensions of significance or originality
- inveigle – obtain by deception or flattery
- obviate – to anticipate and to make unnecessary
- deglutition – swallowing
- bathetic – overly sentimental
- psittacopasseran – a taxon of birds consisting of the Passeriformes (passerines, a large group of perching birds) and Psittaciformes (parrots) – I loved that word when I first encountered it in a journal article
- sylvan – Relating to or characteristic of wooded regions
- turpitude – A corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice
- temerity – fearless daring
- hermetic – Completely sealed; completely airtight
- prolix – Tediously prolonged or tending to speak or write at great length
- farcicial – ridiculous
- parsimonious – stingy (think Civ III)
- esurient – greedy
- manacle – confine or restrain with
- burlesque – ridiculous
- turgid – Ostentatiously lofty in style
- apropos – appropriate, apposite
- aspersion – a disparaging remark
- bedizen – dress tastelessly.
- expatiate – Add details, as to an account or idea; clarify the meaning of and discourse in a learned way, usually in writing
- inelectuable – inevitable
- invidious – containing a slight prejudice
- spendthrift – recklessly wasteful
- untoward – Not in keeping with accepted standards of what is right or proper in polite society
- usury – An exorbitant or unlawful rate of interest
- bromidic – Dull and tiresome but with pretensions of significance or originality
- mordant – Harshly ironic or sinister
- ribald – humorously vulgar
- reprobate – someone without moral scruples. the anti-thesis of the sententious person
- raillery – Light teasing repartee
- simper – A silly self-conscious smile
- scintilla – A tiny or scarcely detectable amount
- blandishment – Flattery intended to persuade
- supine – Lying face upward
- wheedle – Influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
- nugatory – of no real value
- picayune – of little importance (simcity 2000 used that word to parody newspapers)
- phlegmatic – Showing little emotion
- roue – A dissolute man in fashionable society
- kismet – An event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future (fait accompli)
- lurid – Glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism/Horrible in fierceness or savagery
- abash – Cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious
- cynosure – A person or thing that is the center of attention or admiration.
- garrulous – Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.
- uxoricide – The act of killing one’s wife.
- peregrination – A journey, especially a long or meandering one.
- obfuscation – The action of making something unclear or difficult to understand.
- nefarious – Wicked, villainous, or heinously criminal.
- lachrymose – Tearful or given to shedding tears easily.
- ineffable – Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words.
- serendipity – The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
- sycophancy – The practice of acting obsequiously towards someone important to gain advantage.
- querulous – Complaining in a petulant or whining manner.
- perecinate – To prune or cut back a plant to its original form.
- palimpsest – A manuscript or piece of writing material on which later writing has been superimposed on effaced earlier writing.
- ineffable – Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words.
- sesquipedalian – Characterized by long words; long-winded.
- epistemology – The branch of philosophy that deals with the theory of knowledge.
- peregrinate – To travel or wander around from place to place.
- obfuscate – To deliberately make something unclear or difficult to understand.
- mellifluous – Flowing with sweet and honeyed sounds; smooth and sweet-sounding.
- hircine – Pertaining to or resembling a goat; having a goat-like smell.
- uliginous – Resembling or characteristic of swampy ground; marshy or boggy.
- nepenthe – A potion used by the ancients to induce forgetfulness of pain or sorrow.
- ephemeral – Lasting for a very short time; transient.
- disparate – Essentially different in kind; not allowing comparison.
- effulgent – Shining brightly; radiant.
- elucidate – To make something clear; to explain.
- soliloquy – An act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when alone or regardless of any hearers.
- labyrinthine – Complicated and confusing, like a labyrinth.
- sycophant – A person who acts obsequiously toward someone important to gain advantage.
- incandescent – Emitting light as a result of being heated; passionate or brilliant.
- indomitable – Impossible to subdue or defeat.
- egregious – Outstandingly bad; shocking.
- quotidian – Occurring every day; commonplace or ordinary.
- pulchritude – Beauty, especially of a woman.
- disparate – Essentially different in kind; not allowing comparison.
And a phrase I made up a long time ago:
“temporization for the sake of prevarication”
Some of these underused words are especially interesting since they describe complex 2nd-order facts: fulsome, specious, meretricious, insinuate among them.
