Obscure Words Everyone Should Use | The Odyssey Online
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Student Life

10 Idiosyncratic Words Everyone Needs To Add To Their Vocabulary Right Now

For, you know, when you push someone out of a window.

Celah Convis
May 21, 2019
Eastern Michigan University
87
Girl Reading Dictionary
Pixabay

Words, words, words. Considering how much we all need them, it's all too easy to get stuck in a rut with our vocabulary. These are 10 weird, wonderful, and delightfully obscure words that will brighten up your day-to-day conversations.

1. Prolix

Prolix means "using or containing too many words; tediously lengthy," usually referring to speech or writing. Now you know how to describe the next lecture in that class you hate.

2. Panglossian

Panglossian means "marked by the view that all is for the best in this best of possible worlds: excessively optimistic." Do you have someone in your life who is annoyingly positive? They're panglossian.

3. Defenestration

Defenestration means "the action of throwing someone out of a window." Not that you'll need this one, of course. Of course...

4. Nesh

Nesh means "unusually susceptible to cold weather." If you're the person who always has to have an extra layer, this is the word for you.

5. Deterge

Deterge means "to cleanse thoroughly." It's perfect for all your spring needs.

6. Eucatastrophe

Eucatastrophe means "a sudden and favorable resolution of events in a story; a happy ending." I'm sure you could use it for your favorite TV show's ending, right? Right?

7. Gwenders

Gwenders means "a disagreeable tingling sensation in the extremities, caused by cold; numbness of the fingers or toes." Hopefully you won't be experiencing much of it now, but who knows.

8. Crapulence

Crapulence means "sickness or indisposition resulting from excess in drinking or eating." And it sounds way better than "hungover."

9. Petrichor 

Petrichor means "The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell." Lots of us are probably experiencing petrichor this time of year.

10. Futz

Futz means "to waste time or busy oneself aimlessly." And it sounds absolutely perfect for its meaning.

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