Vocab lesson!!!

i've decided that we all need to learn some new words (or reacquaint ourselves with some fab ones that we don't use as much as we should). so, i've picked 26 words (hmmm, where did i get that number? that reminds me of the time when allyson and i were watching ms america and they kept talking about the 51 contestants. we kept looking at each other saying, "when did they add another state? how the hell did we miss this? what is going on here?". then we figured out that number 51 was ms washington dc. duh).
we are going to have a new word for each letter! everyone ready to learn?

1. abecedarian (noun) 1. a beginner in any field of learning. 2. a person who is learning the letters of the alphabet.

2. bathos (noun) 1. in speech or writing, a ludicrous descent from the sublime to the commonplace; an anticlimax. 2. sentimentality, mawkishness. *related word- bathetic- adj

3. chrestomathy (noun- plural chrestomathies) a collection of choice literary passages, especially to help in learning a language.

4. dipsomania (noun) an uncontrollable craving for alcoholic drink. (you know who you are!!)

5. existentialism (noun- ok we all know this one, but i love it too much) a philosophical theory emphasizing that a person is responsible for his own actions and free to choose he development and destiny.

6. frisson (noun) 1. an emotional thrill. 2. a shudder of emotion.

7. gloaming (noun- again, we know this one, but i love it and we don't use it enough) the evening twilight; dusk.

8. houri (noun) 1. a beautiful and voluptuous woman. 2. a beautiful virgin provided in paradise for each faithful Muslim.

9. inamorata (noun) a lover; a sweetheart

10. jeremiad (noun) 1. a prolonged mournful complaint about one's troubles. 2. a lamentation.

11. kismet (noun- we know this one, too) fate; destiny.

12. lucubration (noun) 1. laborious work, especially late at night. 2. a literary work, especially one of pedantic or elaborate character.

13. metier (noun- we know, we know) 1. a person's trade, profession, or field of work. 2. a specialty, a forte.

14. nugatory (adj) 1. trifling, worthless; futile. 2. inoperative, ineffective, not valid.

15. orison (noun) a prayer.

16. paronomasia (noun) 1. word play; punning. 2. a pun

17. quidnunc (noun) 1. a busybody. 2. a gossip.

18. repine (verb) 1. be discontented. 2. fret.

19. sciolist (noun) a superficial pretender to knowledge.

20. tarantism (noun) a mania characterized by an irresistible urge to dance, popularly and incorrectly supposed to result from the bite of a tarantula.

21. uxorious (adj) 1. foolishly fond of one's wife. 2. of an action, showing such fondness.

22. voluptuary (noun) a person whose life is devoted to indulgence in luxury and sensual pleasure, a sybarite.

23. wunderkind (noun) 1. a child prodigy. 2. a person who achieves great success, especially in business, while relatively young.

24. Xanthippe (noun) a shrew, especially a shrewish wife; a scold.

25. yclept (adj) called (by the name of)

26. zeitgeist (noun) the trend of thought and feeling in a period of time.