A personal lexicon of unusual, archaic, scientific, and otherwise interesting words encountered in reading. Browse other letters from the Dictionary catalog.
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| sable | n., adj. of the color black, as in mourning; dark, somber; of the fur of the sable; mammal with soft, dark fur |
| sagacity | the quality of being discerning, sound in judgement, and farsighted; wisdom |
| Saint-Saens, Charles | 1835-1921. French composer |
| saltpeter | potassium/sodium nitrate |
| salverform | (botany) of relating to, or being a gamopetalous corolla having a slender tube and an abruptly expanded limb. |
| samizdat | an underground press |
| sans | without |
| sapphic | of or relating to lesbianism |
| saran | thermoplastic resins derived from vinyl compounds and used to make packaging films, fittings and bristles and as a fiber in various heavy fabrics |
| sardonic | scornfully or cynically mocking |
| sartorial | of or related to tailored clothing |
| sashay | to walk or proceed, esp. in an easy or casual manner; to strut or flounce in a showy manner; to move in a sideways manner |
| sassafras | a deciduous tree having irregularly lobed leaves and aromatic bark, leaves and branches |
| sassafras | a deciduous tree having irregularly lobed leaves and aromatic bark, leaves and branches |
| sassy | rude and disrespectful; impudent; lively and spirited; jaunty; stylish; chic |
| saturnine | melancholy or sullen; having or marked by a tendency to be bitter or sardonic |
| satyr | a woodland creature depicted as having the pointed ears, legs and short horns of a goat and a fondness for unrestrained revelry; a licentious man; a lecher; a man who is affected by satyriasis |
| savant | scholar |
| savvy | adj. well informed and perceptive; shrewd; n. practical understanding or shrewdness; v. to understand, comprehend |
| saw-pit | (in which lower of two men working pit-saw stands) |
| scabrous1 | scaly |
| scabrous2 | adj. rough; difficult to handle, knotty; dealing with scandalous or salacious material |
| scad(s) | a large number or amount |
| scallop1 | curved projections forming ornamental border |
| scallop2 | marine mollusk with fan-shaped bivalve shells with a radiating fluted pattern. |
| scansion | metrical scanning; way verse scans |
| scape | n. an embarrassing predicament; a fight, a scuffle |
| scapegrace | a scoundrel; a rascal |
| scarab | a beetle |
| schadenfreude | pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others |
| scherzo | a lively movement, commonly in 3/4 time |
| schism | n. disunion; discord |
| schismatic | adj., n. one who promotes or engages in schism |
| schlemiel | a habitual bungler; a dolt |
| schmaltz | excessively sentimental art or music; liquid fat, esp. chicken fat; maudlin sentimentality |
| schmeer | a number of things that go together |
| schmo | a person regarded as stupid or obnoxious |
| schmuck | a person regarded as clumsy or stupid; an oaf |
| scholium | an explanatory note or commentary |
| schoolmarm | woman schoolteacher; a person who exhibits characteristics popularly attributed to schoolteachers |
| Schubert | 1797-1828. Austrian composer who perfected the form of the German art song. |
| schuss | to ski down a slope at high speed |
| scimitar | curved Asian sword with sharp edge on convex side |
| scion | descendant |
| scoff1 | tr. to mock at or treat with derision, intr., n. an expression of derision or scorn |
| scoff2 | tr. to eat (food) quickly and greedily. intr. |
| scotch1 | tr.v. to block (a wheel, e.g.) with a prop to prevent rolling or slipping; n. |
| scotch2 | tr.v. to put an abrupt end to; to injure so as to render harmless; to cut or score; n. a surface cut or abrasion; a line drawn on the ground |
| scraggly | ragged; unkempt |
| scrappy | quarrelsome; contentious; full of fighting spirit |
| screed | long monotonous harangue or piece of writing |
| Scriabin, Alexander | 1872-1915. Russian composer of orchestral and piano works who incorporated visual arts into some of his compositions. |
| scrofula/struma | a form of tuberculosis affecting the lymph nodes, esp. of the neck, that is most common in children |
| scrofulous | adj. morally degenerate |
| scrumptious | splendid; delectable |
| scruple | a point of conscience or honor |
| scull | n. a small, light boat for one, two, or four rowers; oar; intr. + tr.v. |
| seamster | tailor |
| seamy | sordid; base |
| seance | a spiritualist meeting to receiving communications from spirits |
| sear | tr.v. to char, scorch or burn the surface of with or as if with a hot instrument; to cause to dry up and wither; intr.v., n. syn. burn, scorch, singe, char parch |
| sectarian | partisan; narrow-minded; parochial |
| sectary | a sectarian; dissenter from an established church |
| seder | n. ritual for the first night or first two nights of the Passover |
| sedulous | persevering and constant in effort and application; assiduous |
| seedy | worn and shabby; unkempt; tired or sick; unwell; somewhat disreputable; squalid |
| seidel | a beer mug |
| self-effacing | adj. not drawing attention to oneself; modest. |
| semaphore | n. a visual signaling apparatus with flags, lights or mechanically moving arms; or one used on a railroad; a visual system for sending information by means of two flags that are held one in each hand, using an alphabetic code based on the position of the signaler’s arms. v.tr. + intr. |
| semiotic | of or relating to semantics; relating to symptomatology |
| Semite | n. a member of Semitic-speaking peoples of the Near East and Northern Africa, including the Arabs, Arameans, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians, Hebrews and Phoenicians |
| Semitic | adj. of, relating to, or constituting a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic language group that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic and Aramaic |
| sentimental | affectedly or extravagantly emotional; resulting from or colored by emotion rather than reason or realism; syn: bathetic, maudlin, mawkish, mushy, romantic, schmaltzy, slushy, soppy |
| sequoia | tree that may be thousands of years old |
| seraglio | a large harem; a sultan’s palace |
| serge | a twilled cloth of worsted or worsted and wool |
| serif | a fine line finishing off the main strokes of a letter |
| shadoof | outhanging lever with bucket at end raised by weighted end |
| shamanism | the animistic religion of certain peoples of northern Asia or native American peoples in which mediation between the visible and spirit worlds is effected by shamans |
| shanghaied | to induce or compel to do something, esp. by fraud or force |
| shard | a piece of broken pottery, esp. one found in an archaeological dig; a potsherd; a fragment of a brittle substance, as of glass or metal; a small piece or part. |
| shenanigan | nonsense; trickery; high-spirited behavior |
| shin | v.i. climb up or down (tree, wall, etc.) by using arms and legs, not on ladder etc. |
| shingle | n. a woman’s close-cropped hair; v. to cut hair short and close to the neck |
| shinny | shin up tree etc. |
| shoal1 | n. a shallow place in a body of water. v.intr. to become shallow. tr. to make shallow. adj. having little depth; shallow |
| shoal2 | n. a crowd; a large shoal of fish. intr.v. come together in large numbers; throng |
| shoo-in | a sure winner; one that has a sure chance of being chosen, as for a job or other position |
| Shostakovich, Dmitri | 1096-1975. Russian composer |
| shrew | a woman with a violent, scolding, or nagging temperament; a scold |
| shrift | n. confession; absolution |
| shrive | v. to obtain absolution |
| sibyl | a woman prophet |
| sidereal | of constellations and fixed stars |
| sidewinder | a small rattlesnake that moves by a distinctive lateral looping motion of is body; a powerful swinging punch delivered from the side. |
| signate | |
| simulacrum | an image or a representation; an unreal or vague semblance |
| sine qua non | an essential element or condition |
| sinecure | a position or an office that requires little or no work but provides a salary |
| skein | a length of thread or yarn wound in a loose, elongated coil, a complex tangle; a flock of geese or similar birds in flight |
| skink | smooth, shiny lizard having cylindrical body and small or rudimentary legs. |
| skittish | adj. moving quickly and lightly; lively; restlessly active or nervous; restive; undependably variable, mercurial or fickle; shy; bashful |
| skunk | n. a person regarded as obnoxious or despicable; a person whose company is avoided; tr.v. to defeat overwhelmingly, esp. by keeping from scoring; to cheat (someone); to fail to pay (an amount due) |
| slake | v.tr. to satisfy (a craving); quench, moderate. To cool or refresh by wetting or moistening. v.intr. |
| slather | tr.v. lavish; to spread thickly, to cover with something spread thickly |
| slaver | intr.v. to slobber; drool; to behave in an obsequious manner; fawn; n. saliva drooling from the mouth; senseless and effusive talk; drivel |
| slinky | |
| slugabed | lazy person who lies late in bed |
| slunk | go in stealthy manner or with guilty or ashamed or sneaking air (off, away, by, etc.) |
| slurp | tr.v. to eat or drink noisily; int.v.; n. a loud sucking noise made in eating or drinking a mouthful of a liquid |
| smack-dab | adv. squarely; directly |
| smarmy | hypocritically, complacently, or effusively earnest; sleek. |
| smart-aleck | a person regarded as obnoxiously self-assertive; an impudent person |
| smug | conscious of one’s virtue and importance; self-satisfied |
| snazzy | fashionable or flashy |
| snicker | intr.v. to utter a partly stifled laugh; n. a snide, slightly stifled laugh |
| snide | adj. derogatory in a malicious, superior way; sarcastic |
| sniff | intr.v. to regard something in a contemptuous or dismissive manner; tr.v. to utter in a contemptuous or haughty manner |
| snigger | n. a snicker; intr.v. |
| sobriquet | nickname; assumed name |
| sodomy | anal or oral sex |
| soiree | an evening party or reception |
| sojourn | intr.v. to reside temporarily; n. a temporary stay; a brief period of residence |
| solicitous | worried, concerned; eager, willing; avid, impatient, keen, anxious |
| solipsism | only self can be known, self is only reality |
| solstice | time of year sun is farthest away from the equator |
| sonata | a composition for one to four instruments, one of which is usually a keyboard instrument, usually consisting of three or four independent movements varying in key, mood and tempo |
| sop | n. a piece of food soaked or dipped in a liquid; v. saturate; to take up by absorption. |
| sophist | one skilled in elaborate and devious argumentation; a scholar, a thinker |
| soporific | causing sleep or drowsiness; lethargic |
| soprano | the highest singing voice of a woman or young boy |
| sorcerer | wizard |
| sorcery | witchcraft |
| sordid | filthy or dirty; foul; depressingly squalid; wretched; morally degraded; exceedingly mercenary; grasping |
| sorority | a chiefly social organization of women students at a college or university usually designated by Greek letters; an association or a society of women |
| sottish | adj. stupefied from or as if from drink; tending to drink excessively; drunken |
| soufflé | a light, fluffy baked dish made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a main dish or sweetened as a dessert |
| souse | pickle; drench; drunkard |
| spandex | n. a synthetic fabric used in the manufacture of elastic clothing; adj. |
| spar | a pole such as a mast, boom, yard or bowsprit, used to support sails and rigging |
| spat | n. a brief quarrel. A slap or smack. A spattering sound, as of raindrops. v.intr. to engage in a brief quarrel. to strike with a light spattering sound; slap. v.tr. |
| spectrum | the distribution of the intensity of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength. |
| spell | v.t. relieve, take the place of, (person) in work etc.; allow to rest briefly |
| spelunker | one who explores and studies caves chiefly as a hobby |
| spiel | n. a lengthy, usually extravagant speech or argument intended to persuade; intr.v. + tr.v. to talk or say (something) at length or extravagantly |
| spinnaker | large triangular sail set out on a spar that swings out opposite the mainsail used on yachts when running before the wind |
| spinneret | structures from which spiders and other insects secrete threads from which they form webs or cocoons. |
| spoof | n. nonsense; tomfoolery; a hoax; a gentle satirical imitation, a light parody; tr.v. to deceive; satirize gently |
| spoor | n. a track, a trail, a scent, or droppings esp. of a wild animal; tr., intr.v. |
| springtail | small wingless insect having abdominal appendage that catapults it through the air. |
| spunk | spirit, pluck |
| squall | n. a brief, sudden, violent windstorm; often accompanied by rain or snow; a brief commotion; intr.v. to blow strongly for a brief period |
| square-rigged | fitted with square sails as the principal sails. |
| square-rigger | a square-rigged vessel. |
| squash | fruit with leathery rind. |
| squawk box | the speaker on an intercom or a public-address system |
| squib | a brief satirical or witty writing or speech, such as a lampoon; a short, sometimes humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine, usually used as a filler |
| squiggle | n. a small wiggly mark or scrawl; v. to squirm and wiggle. |
| squish | to squeeze or crush together into a small mass |
| stag-party | (of men only) |
| staid | characterized by sedate dignity and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; sober; fixed, permanent |
| staid | characterized by sedate dignity and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; sober; fixed; permanent |
| starboard | to the right-hand side as one faces forward |
| stare decisis | |
| starveling | thin from poor nourishment |
| staves/staff | set of 5 horizontal lines with 4 spaces in which pitch is indicated |
| steer | a young ox, esp. one castrated before sexual maturity and raised for beef |
| steerage | section of passenger ship, providing the cheapest passenger accommodation |
| stele | an upright stone or slab with an inscribed or sculptured surface used as a monument or as a commemorative tablet in the face of a building |
| stereochemistry | the study of the spatial arrangement of atoms in molecules. |
| stereoisomerism | property of isomers having the same molecular structure but differing in the spatial arrangement of their atoms. |
| stern | rear part or section |
| stern-post | central upright timber or iron of stern usu. bearing rudder |
| stertor | a heavy snoring sound in respiration |
| stint | v.tr. to restrict or limit, as in amount or number; be sparing with; intr. to subsist on a meager allowance; be frugal; n. a fixed amount or share of work allotted; a limitation or restriction |
| stochastic | conjectural; involving chance or probability |
| stodgy | adj. dull, unimaginative and commonplace; prim or pompous, stuffy; indigestible and starchy; heavy; solidly built, stocky. |
| stratigraphy | the study of the chronological sequence and the correlation of rock strata in different districts. |
| stratoliner | jet air-liner traveling in stratosphere |
| Stravinsky, Igor | 1882-1971. Russian-born composer of ballets |
| stretto | a close succession or overlapping o voices in a fugue, esp. in the final section; a final section performed with an acceleration in tempo to produce a climax |
| strigil | an instrument used in ancient Greece and Rome for scraping the skin after a bath. |
| stromatolite | sedimentary structure consisting of laminated carbonate or silicate rocks, produced over geologic time by the trapping, binding, or precipitating of sediment by groups of micro-organisms, primarily cyanobacteria. |
| strumpet | prostitute |
| stucco | a plaster for walls |
| stultify | tr.v. to render useless or ineffectual; cripple. To cause to appear stupid, inconsistent, or ridiculous |
| Sturm und Drang | n. turmoil; ferment |
| stygian | gloomy and dark; hellish; infernal |
| stymie | tr.v. to thwart; stump; n. an obstacle or obstruction. |
| Styx | river across which souls of dead are ferried, one of five rivers in Hades; the river that guards the underworld |
| suasion | persuasion |
| suasive | persuasive |
| suave | smoothly agreeable and courteous |
| sub rosa | in secret; privately or confidentially |
| sublunary | situated beneath the moon. Of this world; earthly |
| suborn | to induce a person to commit an unlawful or evil act. |
| subsume | to classify, include or incorporate in a more comprehensive category or under a general principle |
| subterfuge | a deceptive stratagem or device |
| subtile | subtle |
| succor | help, aid, relief |
| sui generis | adj. unique; being the only example of its kind |
| suite | an instrumental composition consisting of a succession of dances in the same or related keys |
| sully | to mar the cleanness or luster of; soil or stain; to defile; taint |
| sultry | hot and moist, burning hot, torrid, sweltering |
| Sumnus (Mythology) | the god of sleep; son of Nox (night) and twin brother of Mors (death) |
| sundry | adj. Various; miscellaneous |
| supercilious | contemptuous; showing haughty indifference; assuming an air of superiority |
| surcease | n. cessation; |
| sure-fire | bound to be successful or perform as expected |
| surfeit | v. to feed or supply to excess, satiety or disgust. n. 1a. over indulgence in food or drink. 1b. the result of such overindulgence, satiety or disgust. 2. an excessive amount |
| surly | sullenly ill-humored; gruff |
| surreptitious | adj. Obtained, done, or made by clandestine or stealthy means; acting with or marked by stealth. |
| surrogate | substitute |
| susurration/susurrus | a soft, whispering or rustling sound; a murmur |
| suttee | the now illegal act or practice of a Hindu widow’s cremating herself on her husband’s funeral pyre in order to fulfill her true role as wife |
| Svelte | slender or graceful in figure or outline; slim. |
| swagger | intr.v. to walk or conduct oneself with an insolent or arrogant air; strut; to brag, boast; tr.v. to browbeat or bully (someone); boastful or conceited expression; braggadocio |
| swarthy | adj. having a dark complexion |
| swash | n. a splash of water or other liquid hitting a solid surface; a narrow channel through which tides flow, a bar over which waves wash freely; swagger or bluster; intr.v. + tr.v. |
| swill | v.tr. to drink greedily or grossly; to flood with water as for washing; to feed (animals) with swill. v.intr., n. kitchen waste, garbage; deep draft of liquor; nonsense, rubbish |
| swine | person of greedy or bestial habits |
| swipe | steal |
| swish | hissing or whistling sound |
| switchback | a road, trail on steep incline in a zigzag course; a sharp bend in a road or trail on a steep incline |
| swoon | int.v. to faint; to be overwhelmed by ecstatic joy; n.syncope; a state of ecstasy or rupture |
| Sybarite | a person devoted to pleasure and luxury; a voluptuary |
| sycamore | deciduous tree having palmately lobed leaves, ball-like, noding hairy fruit clusters and bark that flakes off in large colorful patches |
| sycophant | n. a servile self-seeker who attempts to win favor by flattering influential people |
| syllogism | logical scheme of formal argument with major and minor premises and a conclusion which is logically true if the premises are true |
| syncopate | (music) modify a rhythm by syncopation |
| syncopation | (music) a shift of accent in a passage or composition that occurs when a normally weak beat is stressed. |
| syncretism | reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, esp. when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous |
| syncretize | to reconcile and unite, esp. with partial success or a heterogeneous result |
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