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ubiquitous, adj.
existing everywhere: present everywhere at once, or seeming to be
bardolatry n.
Idolization of William Shakespeare.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=bardolatry
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BardolatryQuote:
Before the Romantics, Shakespeare was simply the most admired of all dramatic poets, especially for his insight into human nature and his realism, but Romantic critics such as S. T. Coleridge refactored him into an object of almost religious adoration or "bardolatry" (from bard + idolatry, a word coined by George Bernard Shaw) who towered above mere mortal writers, and whose plays were to be worshipped as not "merely great works of art" but as "phenomena of nature, like the sun and the sea, the stars and the flowers" and "with entire submission of our own faculties" (Thomas de Quincey, 1823).
flummoxverb [T] INFORMAL
to confuse someone so much that they do not know what to do:
I have to say that last question flummoxed me.
flummoxed adj INFORMAL
He looked completely flummoxed.
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fug (noun, slang)
A state of extreme ugliness.
fugly (adjective)
Frightfully ugly; pertaining to something beyond the boundaries of normal unattractiveness.
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to egg on (verb)
encourage somebody: to encourage somebody to do something, especially something wrong, foolish, or dangerous
She never would have done it herself, but the girls were egging her on.
arable adjective
describes farming and farm land that is used for, or is suitable for, growing crops:
arable farming/farmers/farms/land
A new Word of the Day Quiz has been added to the Forum.
yay! thank you for making it Scher :D
chimera noun [C] FORMAL
a hope or dream that is extremely unlikely ever to come true:
Is the ideal of banishing hunger throughout the world just a chimera?
chimerical adjective FORMALfrom Love in the Time of CholeraQuote:
It was a forbidden word: 'before'. She felt the chimerical angel of the past flying overhead and she tried to elude to it.
November 29
paronomastic, adj
a play on words: pun
draconian adj FORMAL
describes laws, government actions, etc. which are unreasonably severe; going beyond what is right or necessary:
draconian laws/methods
He criticized the draconian measures taken by the police in controlling the demonstrators.from The French Lieutenant's WomanQuote:
Some said that after midnight more reeling than dancing took place; and more draconian claimed that there was very little of either, but a great deal of something else.
recalcitrant
adjective
1. resisting authority: stubbornly resisting the authority of another person or group
2. hard to do or handle: difficult to deal with or operate
struggling in front of the mirror with a recalcitrant necktie
noun
stubborn opponent: somebody who stubbornly resists authority or control
few recalcitrants refused to submit
from The French Lieutenant's Woman
lampoon noun [C]
a piece of writing, a drawing, etc. which criticizes in an amusing way a famous person or a public organization, allowing their bad qualities to be seen and making them seem stupid:
The magazine is famed for its merciless political lampoons.
lampoon verb [T]from SparknotesQuote:
In some of this literature, it is difficult to distinguish between behavior that is being parodied and behavior that is presented as an ideal. This ambiguity may also be found in The Taming of the Shrew, which manages to lampoon chauvinistic behavior while simultaneously reaffirming its social validity. The play celebrates the quick wit and fiery spirit of its heroine even while reveling in her humiliation.
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sully V [T] FORMAL
1 to spoil something or someone's perfect reputation or purity:
His reputation, he said, had been unfairly sullied by allegations, half-truths and innuendos.
2 to make something dirty:
No speck of dirt had ever sullied his hands.from SparkNotes.Quote:
An alternative argument holds that Romeo’s love for Rosaline shows him to be desirous of love with anyone who is beautiful and willing to share his feelings, thereby sullying our understanding of Romeo’s love with Juliet.
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