A personal lexicon of unusual, archaic, scientific, and otherwise interesting words encountered in reading. Browse other letters from the Dictionary catalog.
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| tableau | a vivid or graphic description; a striking incidental scene, as of a picturesque group of people; an interlude during a scene when all the performers or stage freeze in position and then resume action as before; tableau vivant |
| tableau vivant | a scene presented on stage by costumed actors who remain silent and motionless as if in a picture |
| tabret | |
| tahini | a thick paste made from ground sesame seeds |
| tallow | n. hard fat |
| talus | rock debris at base of cliff |
| tamarin | small arboreal monkey of Central and South America |
| tardigrade | slow-moving microscopic invertebrates having four body segments and eight legs and living in water or damp moss. |
| tarsier | small nocturnal arboreal primate of the East Indies and Philippines. |
| tart | agreeably sharp to the taste, pungent; acid, sour, acerb |
| tautological | redundancy |
| tautology | needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word; an instance of such repetition |
| tawdry | cheap and gaudy in appearance and quality |
| Tchaikovsky | 1840-1893. Russian composer. Swan Lake, The nutcracker, Eugene Onegin |
| tellurian | adj. of, relating to, or inhabiting earth; n. an inhabitant of earth |
| tempo | pace |
| tendentious | marked by a strong implicit point of view; partisan |
| tenet | an opinion, doctrine, or principle held as being true by a person or esp. by an organization |
| tenor | highest adult male voice |
| termagant | n. a quarrelsome, scolding woman; a shrew. adj. shrewish; scolding |
| tern | sea bird smaller than gull and with a forked tail. |
| Terpsichore | (Myth) the muse of dancing and choral singing. The art of dancing |
| terpsichorean | of, or relating to dancing |
| terrier | small, active hunting dog |
| theodicy | a vindication of God’s goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil |
| Thermopylae | a narrow pass of east central Greece. It was the site of an unsuccessful Spartan stand against the Persians in 480 B.C. |
| Thessaly | east-central Greece |
| thrall | slave |
| tick | small, blood sucking parasitic arachnids of the family Ixodidae, many of which transmit febrile diseases, such as Rocky-Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease |
| tidbit | choice morsel, as of gossip or food |
| timorous | frightened; timid, easily alarmed |
| tippet | a covering for the shoulders, as of fur, with long ends that hang in front; a long hanging part, as of a sleeve, hood or cape. |
| tithe | a very small part; tax |
| titi | small, arboreal monkey of South America |
| titter | intr.v. to laugh in a restrained, nervous way; giggle; n. |
| titters | intr.v. to laugh in a restrained, nervous way; giggle. n. a nervous giggle |
| tittle | a small diacritic mark; iota |
| toboggan | long light narrow sledge curved upwards at front, used for going downhill esp. over prepared snow or ice |
| toccata | a composition, usually for the organ or another keyboard instrument, in free style with full chords and elaborate runs |
| tocsin | an alarm sounded on a bell; a bell used to sound an alarm. A warning, an omen. |
| tocsin | (bell rung as) alarm-signal |
| tomcat | to be sexually active with more than one partner. Used of men. |
| tonsure | shaven head in rite of passage for clerics |
| top-gallant | mast, sail, yard, rigging, immediately above topmast and topsail |
| torpid | adj. benumbed; dormant; lethargic, apathetic |
| torpor | n. lethargy, apathy; a sense of mental and physical inactivity and insensitivity |
| torque | a turning or twisting force |
| totting up | add, total |
| tractatus | treatise |
| transept | the part of a cruciform church that crosses at right angles to the greatest length; also either of the projecting ends |
| transitive | expressing an action that is carried from the subject to the object; requiring a direct object to complete meaning |
| transliterate | to represent (letters or words) in the corresponding characters of another alphabet |
| transmogrify | to change into a different shape or form, esp. one that is fantastic or bizarre. |
| transmute | tr.v. transform; intr.v. |
| transom | horizontal bar of wood or stone across window or top of door; each of several beams fixed across stern-post of ship; beam across saw-pit; strengthening crossbar |
| travertine | light-colored, porous calcite, CaCO3 |
| treacle | molasses; cloying blandishments |
| trellis | n. a structure of open latticework, esp. one used as a support for vines and other creeping plants; tr.v. |
| trenchant | keen, incisive; forceful, effective, and vigorous; caustic, cutting; distinct, clear-cut |
| trencher | a wooden board or platter on which food is carved or served; one that digs trenches |
| tress | portion, lock, plait, of hair of human (esp. woman’s or girl’s) head. |
| tresses | hair of (esp. woman’s or girl’s) head |
| trestle | a horizontal beam or bar held up by two pairs of divergent legs and used as a support |
| trice | a very short period of time, an instant |
| triclinic | having three unequal axes intersecting at oblique angles (crystals). |
| trilobite | extinct marine arthropod with vertical grooves dividing body into three lobes and found as fossil |
| triptych | a work consisting of three painted or carved panels that are hinged together |
| triskadekaphobia | fear of the number 13 |
| troche | small, round lozenge |
| troglodyte | a person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish; an anthropoid ape, such as a gorilla or chimpanzee; an animal that lives underground, as an ant or a worm |
| troll | sing out in carefree jovial manner |
| trompe-l’oeil | a style of painting that gives an illusion of photographic reality; a painting or effect created in this style |
| trompe-l’oreille | ?”to deceive the ear” (French) |
| trope | the figurative use of a word or an expression, as metaphor or hyperbole; a figure of speech |
| tropo- | turning, change |
| truffle | ascomycetous, edible fungi that grow underground on or near the roots of trees and are valued as a delicacy; chocolate confections, esp. balls with chopped nuts covered with cocoa powder |
| trumpery | nonsense; trivial articles; junk |
| tryst | n. an agreement to meet at a certain time and place; intr.v. |
| tuba | valved wind instrument with bass pitch |
| tucker | to make weary, exhaust |
| turds | lump of excrement; contemptible person |
| turpitude | inherent baseness; depravity |
| twilight | period of diffuse light between dark and sunrise, or sunset and dark |
| twit | tr.v. to taunt, ridicule, or tease, esp. for embarrassing mistakes or faults; n. a reproach, gibe or taunt; a person regarded as foolishly annoying. |
| typos | typographical errors |
| tyro | a beginner in learning something |
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