Word of the day2017-05-19T08:20:23+10:00

Welcome to our growing collection of obscure, yet useful, words of the day!

Commit these to memory to become the life of the party, while others gather around, swooning with delight at your witty, erudite banter.

Or perhaps use them to craft creative insults for your geeky friends… (It’s ok; this is a safe place!)

Word of the Day: Bathos

Definition: In a literary work—an abrupt descent from the sublime or high-minded to the ridiculous. Not to be confused with 'pathos'. Pathos is a rhetorical technique that appeals to an audience's emotions—such as sympathy or sorrow. Bathos is most [...]

Word of the Day: Horripilation

Definition: Goosebumps; an erection of hairs on the skin due to cold, fear or excitement I experience horripilation every time I see a cockroach (alive or dead). Also, when I hear a really good song (for [...]

Word of the Day: Tintinnabulate

Definition: Make a light, clear ringing sound; tinkle It was Christmas Eve and Santa was grumpy. People carried on about him going down chimneys as though they didn't know he was claustrophobic. When he'd told Mrs Claus, [...]

Word of the Day: Kakistocracy

Definition: Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens. Is Australia a kakistocracy? You tell me.

Word of the Day: Fritinancy

Definition: The sound—particularly chirping—that insects make. Hot summer days are filled with the fritinancy of cicadas in chorus. This word is a rare beast. An edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1898 spelled it 'fritiniency'—but when spotted [...]

Word of the Day: Preantepenultimate

A word constructed nearly entirely from affixes, all from Latin: Pre (meaning 'before'), ante (meaning 'before'), pen (meaning 'almost'), and ultimate (meaning 'final').

Word of the Day: Schadenfreude

Definition: Pleasure felt or derived at another person's misfortune. I always experience schadenfreude when I see a bad (or otherwise incompetent) politician be interviewed by a good (i.e. scathing) journalist.

Word of the Day: A’a

Definition: Basaltic lava forming very rough jagged masses with a light and frothy texture. This word originated in Hawaii and is the first entry in the Oxford English Dictionary. A'a looks like this:   [...]

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