brash

en-adj

brash (comparative brasher or more brash, superlative brashest or most brash)

brasher (comparative)
more brash (comparative)
brashest (superlative)
most brash (superlative)

Uncertain. Perhaps from Scots brash, brasch (“a violent onset; an attack or assault”). Perhaps also related to Dutch bars (“stern; strict”), German barsch (“harsh; unfriendly”), Danish barsk (“harsh; rough; tough”), Swedish barsk (“harsh; impetuous”).

a brash young businessman; a brash tabloid; a brash sense of humour

Mrs. Mayfield looked away, and the girl stricken with remorse, hastened to her and said: “There, I have been too brash, haven’t I? You must forgive me for I didn’t intend to be brash.”
“Brash, my dear? What do you mean by that?”
She laughed. “Why, I thought everybody know’d what brash meant. Well, it’s er—too quick to say somethin’ you oughtn’t to say.”

1902, Opie Read, The Starbucks, Chicago: Laird & Lee, Chapter, page 210:

Trouble with Silzer is, he’s too brash—shoots off his mouth too much—likes to hear himself talk.

1925, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 17, in Arrowsmith:

The American’s brash unconcern for nuance indicates a young and vigorous country, the Briton’s clipped speech an ancient, proverbial reserve.

1958, Peter De Vries, chapter 14, in Mackerel Plaza, Penguin, published 1986, page 209:

Edusco liked him, he could tell; he imagined Edusco talking about him in a gathering of other self-made Igbo men, men who were brash and striving, who juggled huge businesses and supported vast extended families.

2013, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, chapter 54, in Americanah, New York: Knopf:

(of people or behaviour) Overly bold or self-assertive to the point of being insensitive, tactless or impudent; shameless.

[…] just because you’re a little hot under the collar, don’t do anything brash, for fear you may regret it afterward.

1905, Andy Adams, chapter 2, in The Outlet, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, page 22:

Now, Mr. Reed, you’ve committed nothing but a brash act of bad taste by bypassing the standard channels.

1960 April, George O. Smith, “The Troublemakers”, in Galaxy Science Fiction, volume 18, number 4, page 156:

(of actions) Overly bold, impetuous or rash.

brash colours

a brash perfume

1963, Ian Fleming, Thrilling Cities, London: Jonathan Cape, Chapter 1, “Hong Kong,”
There are scores of brash and noisy bars along Lockhart Street and in Wanchai and North Point (on the island) and throughout the back lanes of Kowloon […]

The driveway is filled with vehicles parked bumper to bumper and the house is lit up like I’ve never seen it before, brash yellow light streaming from every window on every floor, and the tinny, nasal sound of gramophone jazz trumpeting inside.

1996, Guy Vanderhaeghe, chapter 24, in The Englishman’s Boy, New York: Picador, published 1998, page 243:

2001, Walt Dohrn et al. “Artist Unknown”, SpongeBob SquarePants, season 2, episode 18b, Nickelodeon
Squidward: How about this one? I call it, Bold and Brash.
Art Curator: More like, belongs in the trash!

Sadly, by the 1970s the arcade had gone downmarket with brash shop fronts and cheap shops, some of doubtful reputation.

2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Great Western Railway Craft Skills Award: Victoria Arcade”, in RAIL, number 946, page 59:

(of things) Bold, bright or showy, often in a tasteless way.


brash

Compare American English bresk, brusk (“fragile, brittle”).

Hickory axles […] all cut from tough butt logs. Brash timber is excluded.

1886, The Lumberman's Hand Book, page 24:

Brash wood, when tested in bending, breaks with a short, sharp fracture instead of developing a splintering failure and absorbs a comparatively small amount of work between the elastic limit and final failure

1919, Forest Products Laboratory, Wood in Aircraft Construction:

[…] brash timber, which is liable to snap; […]

2000, Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand, Précis of the Lectures on Architecture (page 94)

(US, colloquial, dated) Brittle (said e.g. of wood or vegetables).


obtrusive

obtrusive (comparative more obtrusive, superlative most obtrusive)

more obtrusive (comparative)
most obtrusive (superlative)

PIE word
 *h₁epi
From Latin obtrūsus + English -ive (suffix meaning ‘of the nature of’, forming adjectives). Obtrūsus is the perfect passive participle of obtrūdō, a variant of obstrūdō (“to push, shove, or thrust against or into”), from ob- (prefix meaning ‘against; towards’) + trūdō (“to push, shove, or thrust”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *trewd- (“to push; to thrust”)).

der

The office manager is an unpleasantly obtrusive individual.

Her vertue and the conſcience of her worth, / That would be woo'd, and not unfought be won, / Not obvious, not obtruſive, but retir'd, / The more deſirable, […]

1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1139–1142:

Of a person: overly assertive, bold, or domineering; pushy; also, ostentatious.

натрапчив

of a person: overly assertive, bold, or domineering — see also pushy


epicurean

en-adj

epicurean (comparative more epicurean, superlative most epicurean)

more epicurean (comparative)
most epicurean (superlative)

From Epicurean (“follower of Epicureanism”).

The powers of the Canadian voyageurs and hunters in the consumption of meat strike the greenhorn with wonder and astonishment; and are only equalled by the gastronomical capabilities exhibited by Indian dogs, both following the same plan in their epicurean gorgings.

1847, George Frederick Augustus Ruxton, Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains, page 267:

Though a list of the great writers contain all the constituents of an Epicurean feast, yet to most of us it resembles the menu of a Gargantuan banquet.

1922, P. B. M. Allan, The Book-Hunter at Home, 2nd edition, London: Philip Allan & Co., page 61:

Pursuing pleasure, especially in reference to food or comfort.


hedonistic

hedonistic (comparative more hedonistic, superlative most hedonistic)

more hedonistic (comparative)
most hedonistic (superlative)

Among philosophers, attention to suffering has been a casualty of a long series of attacks on hedonistic utilitarianism—the doctrine that people are morally required to maximize the total surplus of happiness over suffering.

1999, Jamie Mayerfeld, Suffering and Moral Responsibility, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 3:

He refers to the danger of leading our lives on a hedonistic treadmill, seeking more accomplishments and trying to get more things and more money, leading eventually to ever increasing expectations.

2003, Paul Pearsall, The Beethoven Factor, Hampton Roads Publishing, →ISBN:


insolent

insolent (comparative more insolent, superlative most insolent)

more insolent (comparative)
most insolent (superlative)

PIE word
 *swé
From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin īnsolēns (“unaccustomed, unwanted, unusual, immoderate, excessive, arrogant, insolent”), from in- (privative prefix) + solēns, present participle of solēre (“to be accustomed, to be wont”).

der

Near-synonyms: insubordinate, offensive

insolent behaviour

insolent child

insolent remark

“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera, the gorged dowagers,[…]the chlorotic squatters on huge yachts, the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosus,[…]!”

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VI, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:


insolent

fr-adj

insolent (feminine insolente, masculine plural insolents, feminine plural insolentes)

insolente (feminine)
insolents (masculine plural)
insolentes (feminine plural)

→ Romanian: insolent

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin īnsolentem.


morose

Borrowed from Latin mōrōsus (“peevish, wayward”).


hilarious

en-adj

hilarious (comparative more hilarious, superlative most hilarious)

more hilarious (comparative)
most hilarious (superlative)

→ Cebuano: hilaryos

/hɪˈlɛəɹiəs/

Learned borrowing from Latin hilaris (“cheerful”) + -ous, from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (hilarós, “cheerful, merry”).

der

Rounding up the animals in the misty paddocks, with the blackbirds singing as the morning whitened, he felt hilarious, light-headed. He'd clap the cows on their rumps and shout "Come along, there! Come along there, me Irish darlint."

1944, Douglas Stewart, A Girl with Red Hair, and Other Stories, page 60:

Cold Doctor Pell here refused a very considerable fee. He could on occasion behave handsomely; but I can't learn that blustering, hilarious Doctor Rogerson ever refused his.

1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:


feckless

en-adj

feckless (comparative more feckless, superlative most feckless)

more feckless (comparative)
most feckless (superlative)

purposeful

antonym(s) of “worthless, irresponsible”

From Scots feckless, variant of Scots fectless (“ineffectual”) (an aphetic variant of effectless), equivalent to effect + -less.

Without skill, ineffective, incompetent.


querulous

querulous (comparative more querulous, superlative most querulous)

more querulous (comparative)
most querulous (superlative)

From Old French querelos, from Late Latin querulōsus, from Latin querulus, from queror (“I complain”).

“Nay, you said as much before,” said the querulous old man, “and yet I was put forth from Kinross, and pillaged by troopers on the road.—[…]”

1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in The Abbot. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 350:

"But how am I to obtain such treaty?" asked Monsieur, in a querulous tone.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 101:

The nights were now cold, gemmed with a multitude of bright stars, uncanny with the querulous wail of coyotes and the occasional deep voices of wolves.

1922, A. M. Chisholm, A Thousand a Plate:

In contrast, the Westminster Gazette in 1912 was much more positive about railway staff, praising the "...army of porters hustling and bustling hither and thither with barrows groaning under the weight of bags and baggage and... the ever-patient and long-suffering guards, courteously giving information and advice to the querulous passengers... to the porter the Christmas season means a continuous round of heavy labour, extremely tiring to both nerves and temper, and this fact the public too often seem either to forget or ignore."

2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35:

Often complaining; suggesting a complaint in expression; fretful, whining.


nice

nice (comparative nicer, superlative nicest)

nicer (comparative)
nicest (superlative)

awful

antonym(s) of “having a pleasant taste or aroma”

→ Dutch: nice

→ German: nice

→ Danish: nice

→ Japanese: ナイス

→ Polish: najs

→ Swedish: najs, nice

→ Norwegian:

Norwegian Bokmål: nice

From Middle English nyce, nice, nys, from Old French nice, niche, nisce (“simple, foolish, ignorant”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”); compare nesciō (“to know not, be ignorant of”), from ne (“not”) + sciō (“to know”).

"It's a lot nicer than going round by the road; that is so dusty and hot," said Diana practically, peeping into her dinner basket and mentally calculating if the three juicy, toothsome, raspberry tarts reposing there were divided among ten girls, how many bites each girl would have.

1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909 (11th printing), →OCLC:

When the party was nice, the party was jumpin' (Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo)

1998, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”, performed by Baha Men:

What's difficult is when you think someone is saying something nice about you, but you're not quite sure.

2008 April 19, Rachel Cooke, quoting David Lodge, “Nice work”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

(chiefly informal) Pleasant, satisfactory.

Yes, please tell me how Shillary is the nicest corporate oligarchical servant, and how she will lovingly sell out the people who voted for her to her banker masters, with a twinkle in her fellating eye.

2016 February 13, Gene Lyons, anonymous quotee, “Understanding the 'Bernie Bros'”, in The Daily Journal, volume 83, number 37, page A11:

(chiefly informal) Of a person: friendly, attractive.

(obsolete) Easily injured; delicate; dainty.


loud

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

louder (comparative)
loudest (superlative)

From Middle English loude, loud, lud, from Old English hlūd (“loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlūd, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz, *hlūþaz (“heard”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewtos (“heard, famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). More at listen.
Cognates
Akin to Scots loud, lowd (“loud”), Swedish ljud, West Frisian lûd (“loud”), Dutch luid (“loud”), Low German lud (“loud”), German laut (“loud”), Irish clú (“repute”), Welsh clywed (“heard”), clod (“praise”), Latin laudare (“praise”), Tocharian A/B klots/klautso 'ear', klyostär 'heard', Ancient Greek κλυτός (klutós, “famous”), Albanian quaj (“to name, call”), shquar (“famous, notorious”), Old Armenian լու (lu, “the act of hearing”), Old Church Slavonic слава (slava, “glory”), слово (slovo, “word”), Sanskrit श्रव (śráva, “glory”).

cog

Some of the loudest blubberers are developers who, having made enormous profits as a result of local, state, and federal subsidies, complain that government doesn't do enough for them.

1988 September 12, Ben Joravsky, “Property-tax assessments rise; north siders are revolting”, in Chicago Reader:

(of a person, event, etc.) Not subtle or reserved, brash.


strong

en-adj

strong (comparative stronger, superlative strongest)

stronger (comparative)
strongest (superlative)

Sranan Tongo: tranga

Aukan: taanga

Saramaccan: taánga

From Middle English strong, strang, from Old English strang, from Proto-West Germanic *strang, from Proto-Germanic *strangaz (“tight, strict, straight, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“taut, stiff, tight”). Cognate with Scots strang (“strong”), Saterland Frisian strang, West Frisian string (“austere, strict, harsh, severe, stern, stark, tough”), Dutch streng (“strict, severe, tight”), German streng (“strict, severe, austere”), Swedish sträng, strang (“severe, strict, harsh”), Norwegian strang (“strong, harsh, bitter”), Norwegian streng (“strong, hard”), Icelandic strangur (“strict”), Latin stringō (“tighten”).

cog

a chain is only as strong as its weakest link

the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must

The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Ideas are eternal; they hang in the stars, and a man must be brave and strong enough to reach up to the stars and fetch down the fire from heaven and to carry the torch among men.

1934 March 7, Hermann Göring, Germany Reborn, page 47:

It noted China was especially strong in the fast-growing area of “deep learning.”
Audio (US): (file)

2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 2019-02-07

He is strong in the face of adversity.


complaisant

en-adj

complaisant (comparative more complaisant, superlative most complaisant)

more complaisant (comparative)
most complaisant (superlative)

From French complaisant (“willing to please”), from complaire, from Latin complacēre (“please well”), from com- (“with”) + placeō (“please”).

uder

The People who had often heard of me, were very curious to croud about the Sedan, and the Girl was complaiſant enough to make the Bearers ſtop, and to take me in her Hand that I might be conveniently ſeen.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Country Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), pages 222–223:


complaisant

fr-adj

complaisant (feminine complaisante, masculine plural complaisants, feminine plural complaisantes)

complaisante (feminine)
complaisants (masculine plural)
complaisantes (feminine plural)


loquacious

en-adj

loquacious (comparative more loquacious, superlative most loquacious)

more loquacious (comparative)
most loquacious (superlative)

From Latin loquāx, loquācis (“talkative”) + -ous.

suf

On the other hand, Hetty was moody and silent. She was never loquacious, or if she occasionally became communicative, it was under the influence of some temporary excitement that served to arouse her unsophisticated mind; but, for hours at a time, in the course of this all-important day, she seemed to have absolutely lost the use of her tongue.

1841, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 8, in The Deerslayer:

"[…]and as Mr. H., with his long purse and his willingness to receive hints, is no bad card in the game, he has been brought up to Abbotsford for a week; his taciturnity has long ago fled, and he is one of the most loquacious Borderers going. […]"

1951 February, Michael Robbins, “Sir Walter Scott and Two Early Railway Schemes”, in Railway Magazine, page 90:


childish

en-adj

childish (comparative more childish, superlative most childish)

more childish (comparative)
most childish (superlative)

/ˈt͡ʃaɪldɪʃ/

From Middle English childisch, from Old English ċildisċ. By surface analysis, child + ish.

Your childish temper tantrums are not going to change my decision on this matter.


zany

zany (comparative zanier, superlative zaniest)

zanier (comparative)
zaniest (superlative)

From Middle French zani, zanni, from Italian zanni (“a kind of masked clown character”), from Zanni, a dialectal form of Giovanni. Doublet of Zanni, John, and Giovanni.

derived

And I will admit now but never then that, more than once, listening to the Viennese chattering their zany German on the pavements, or taking himself to one of the struggling small theatres that were cropping up in cellars and bombed houses...

Press articles emphasized his [Dizzy Gillespie's] ambassadorial role and drew attention to the paradox that he was a shrewd musician and leader despite his zany image.

1999, Alyn Shipton, “Gillespiana”, in Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 293:

When playing for Connie Mack, Rube [Waddell]'s pattern after one of his zany outbursts usually involved promises of good behavior and a spurt of excellent pitching.

2000, Alan H. Levy, Rube Waddell: The Zany, Brilliant Life of a Strikeout Artist, Jefferson, N.C.: London: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 241:

This runs counter to the play, where Grandpa is always benignly indulgent of all his zany progeny and their equally zany spouses, and is even somewhat zany himself.

2013, William Paul, “No Escaping the Depression: Utopian Comedy and the Aesthetics of Escapism in Frank Capra's You Can't Take it with You (1938)”, in Andrew Horton, Joanna E. Rapf, editors, A Companion to Film Comedy, Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 280:

The montage goes on to show scenes of Carla singing, dancing, meditating, breaking the tension amongst her co-cheftestants with sing-a-longs and “hootie-hoo” lessons, and ultimately wooing the judges with a combination of her zany personality and solid cooking skills.

2015, Kimberly D. Nettles-Barcelón, “The Sassy Black Cook and the Return of the Magic Negress: Popular Representations of Black Women's Food Work”, in Jennifer Jensen Wallach, editor, Dethroning the Deceitful Pork Chop: Rethinking African American Foodways from Slavery to Obama, Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, →ISBN, page 117:

Unusual and awkward in a funny, comical manner; outlandish; clownish.


wacky

en-adj

wacky (comparative wackier, superlative wackiest)

wackier (comparative)
wackiest (superlative)

From whack (“someone who whacked his head onto something often, hence being weird”) + -y.

suf

Though the idea of placing wacky made-up characters in a real-life context was carried over from Da Ali G Show—wherein Buzz Aldrin was once asked if he was upset that Michael Jackson got all the credit for inventing the moonwalk—Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat felt like something new, an attempt to square an improvised, guerrilla style of underground comedy with reality-TV stunt shows like Jackass or Fear Factor.

2012 May 15, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: The Dictator”, in The Onion AV Club:

How do artists and curators come up with titles for exhibitions? They seem to get wackier all the time.

2013 September 25, Jonathan Jones, “Dissecting the Exploding Whale: why do modern art shows have odd names?”, in The Guardian:


quirky

en-adj

quirky (comparative quirkier, superlative quirkiest)

quirkier (comparative)
quirkiest (superlative)

She has a quirky laugh.

Given to quirks or idiosyncrasies; strange in a somewhat silly, awkward manner, potentially cute.


curious

curious (comparative more curious or curiouser, superlative most curious or curiousest)

more curious (comparative)
curiouser (comparative)
most curious (superlative)
curiousest (superlative)

From Middle English curious, from Old French curius, from Latin cūriōsus. The English word is cognate with Italian curioso, Occitan curios, Portuguese curioso, and Spanish curioso.

It's not what I'm used to / Just wanna try you on / I'm curious for you / Caught my attention

2008 April 28, Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Cathy Dennis, “I Kissed a Girl”, in One of the Boys, performed by Katy Perry:


cerebral

cerebral (comparative more cerebral, superlative most cerebral)

more cerebral (comparative)
most cerebral (superlative)

Borrowing from French cérébral, from Latin cerebrum (“a brain”); equivalent to cerebrum + -al.

Coordinate term: visceral

Certainly, “Capital” is a cerebral read and the dangers of the world Marx lived in are not all the same as ours.

2024 September 19, James Miller, “Karl Marx, Weirder Than Ever”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

Intellectual rather than emotional or physical.


cantankerous

cantankerous (comparative more cantankerous, superlative most cantankerous)

more cantankerous (comparative)
most cantankerous (superlative)

/kænˈtæŋkəɹəs/

/kənˈtæŋkəɹəs/

Perhaps derived from earlier contenkerous, from contentious + rancorous.

"She is a cantankerous old maid," added another, whom I recognised, by his voice, as a man whose attentions I had put a determined check to not six weeks before: "she is a cantankerous old maid, fretting and snarling over the loss of her beauty."

1839, “The youth of Julia Howard”, in Fraser's magazine for town and country, volume 20, page 618:

Murphy's Law never proved itself more accurate than at the Nov. 18 film benefit for Persephone Press. With problems ranging from a cantankerous projector to blown fuses, the presentations of Jan Oxenberg's films were blurred, disrupted and played with lapses in their soundtracks.

1978 December 9, Pat M. Kuras, “A Splice of Lesbian Life”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 20, page 11:

By contrast, cantankerous and churlish people are contemptuously independent of others’ opinions, not caring enough about others and their views.

1998, Pauline Chazan, The Moral Self, page 80:

Nina was thrilled, muttering her cantankerous joy that I was getting out of the house.

2007, Linda Francis Lee, The Devil in the Junior League, page 44:

Unfortunately, as Great-Aunt Bert could be a bit cantankerous, they were having to be creative.

2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest, page 169:

Given to or marked by an ill-tempered, quarrelsome nature; ill-tempered, cranky, crabby.


intractable

intractable (comparative more intractable, superlative most intractable)

more intractable (comparative)
most intractable (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-intractable.wav


dynamic

dynamic (comparative more dynamic, superlative most dynamic)

more dynamic (comparative)
most dynamic (superlative)

From French dynamique, from Ancient Greek δυναμικός (dunamikós, “powerful”), from δύναμις (dúnamis, “power”), from δύναμαι (dúnamai, “I am able”).

der

He was a dynamic and engaging speaker.


toxic

en-adj

toxic (comparative more toxic, superlative most toxic)

more toxic (comparative)
most toxic (superlative)

Borrowed from French toxique, from Late Latin toxicus (“poisoned”), from Latin toxicum (“poison”), from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón) [φάρμακον (phármakon)] ("poison for use on arrows"), from τοξικός (toxikós, “pertaining to arrows or archery”), from τόξον (tóxon, “bow”).

Tobacco smoke contains many toxic substances.

If some types of electronic waste aren’t incinerated at a high enough temperature, dioxins, which can cause cancer and developmental problems, infiltrate the food supply. Without proper safeguarding, toxic heavy metals seep into the soil and groundwater.

2019 December 8, Hannah Beech, Ryn Jirenuwat, “The Price of Recycling Old Laptops: Toxic Fumes in Thailand’s Lungs”, in New York Times:

(toxicology, pharmacology) Having a chemical nature that is harmful to health or lethal if consumed or otherwise entering into the body in sufficient quantities.

The child appeared toxic on arrival at the hospital.

(medicine) Appearing grossly unwell; characterised by serious, potentially life-threatening compromise in the respiratory, circulatory or other body systems.

It is not good to be around toxic people.

Though Twitter is still overrun with toxic anger and fear-based nonsense (now more than ever), it is also, in one crucial way, beginning to play an important role in our response to the pandemic.

2020 April 23, Cal Newport, “'Expert Twitter' Only Goes So Far. Bring Back Blogs”, in Wired:

A veteran UN diplomat, Kaag, 62, said the environment for politicians in the Netherlands had become “toxic” as she and colleagues faced a continual barrage of “hate, intimidation and threats” and often needed tight police security.

2024 April 29, Jon Henley, “Surreal claims, lawfare and abuse: toxic politics in Spain reflect the new Europe”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(figurative, of a person) Hateful or strongly antipathetic.


avuncular

avuncular (comparative more avuncular, superlative most avuncular)

more avuncular (comparative)
most avuncular (superlative)

/əˈvʌŋkjʊlə/

/əˈvʌŋkjʊlɚ/

From Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”).

A man with such a nice, avuncular personality would not blow up the world.

1987 January, William Schneider, “The New Shape of American Politics”, in The Atlantic:

I imagine the Dreamward’s Hotel Manager to be an avuncular Norwegian with a rag sweater and a soothing odor of Borkum Rif about him, a guy w/o sunglasses or hauteur who throws open the pressurized doors to the Dreamward’s Bridge and galley and Vacuum Sewage System and personally takes me through, offering pithy and quotable answers to questions before I’ve even asked them.

1997, David Foster Wallace, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Kindle edition, Little, Brown Book Group:

Thornton's reputation was that of a soft-hearted and avuncular veterinarian known for getting teary-eyed while listening to even slightly sentimental stories.

2003 September 20, Vicki Croke, “New leader of the MSPCA moves to tame budget woes”, in Boston Globe:

(by extension) Kind, genial, benevolent, or tolerant.


reliable

reliable (comparative more reliable, superlative most reliable)

more reliable (comparative)
most reliable (superlative)

/ɹɪˈlaɪəbəl/

a reliable witness to the truth of the miracles

1855, Andrews Norton, Internal Evidences of the Genuineness of the Gospels:

the best means, and the most reliable pledge, of a higher object

February 18, 1800, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Report on Mr. Pitt's Speech in Parliament of February 17, 1800, on the Continuance of the War with France (published in The Morning Post)

According to General Livingston's humorous account, his own village of Elizabethtown was not much more reliable, being peopled in those agitated times by unknown, unrecommended strangers, guilty-looking Tories, and very knavish Whigs.

1855–1859, Washington Irving, The Life of George Washington:

Suitable or fit to be relied on; worthy of dependence, reliance or trust; dependable, trustworthy


immature

immature (comparative more immature, superlative most immature)

more immature (comparative)
most immature (superlative)

/ɪməˈt͡ʃʊə(ɹ)/

/ɪməˈt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

From Middle French immature. Partially displaced unripe, from Old English unrīpe (“unripe, immature”).

You're only young once, but you can be immature the rest of your life.

The man was immature for throwing a tantrum.

Wilhelm Stekel - As quoted in The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger.
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.


nasty

nasty (comparative nastier, superlative nastiest)

nastier (comparative)
nastiest (superlative)

From Middle English nasty, nasti, naxty, naxte (“unclean, filthy”), whence also Early Modern English nasky (“nasty”), of obscure origin. Probably from earlier Middle English *naskty, *naskedy, from Middle English *nasked (“dirty, messy”) + -y, ultimately of North Germanic origin (comparable to Danish nasket (“dirty, foul, unpleasant”), Swedish naskot (“dirty, filthy”), Swedish naskig, naskug (“nasty, dirty, messy”)), themselves all probably related to Proto-Germanic *hnaskuz (“tender, soft”). Likely doublet of nesh and nosh. Cognate with Scots nastie, nestie (“dirty, filthy”).
Alternative theories have also been proposed, which include:
* From Low German nask (“nasty”) + -y.
* From Old French nastre (“bad, strange”), shortened form of villenastre (“infamous, bad”), from vilein (“villain”) + -astre (pejorative suffix), from Latin -aster.
* Middle Dutch nestich, nistich ("nasty, dirty, unpleasant" > Modern Dutch nestig (“dirty, filthy, unclean; lazy, cranky”)), perhaps ultimately connected to the Scandinavian word above, or related to *nest (“nest”).
* Other suggestions include Old High German naz (“wet”), hardening of English nesh(y) (“soft”), or alteration of English naughty.
* Modern use of the word is sometimes attributed to the popular and often derogatory 19th century American political cartoons of Thomas Nast, but the word predates him.

unc

obscure

gloss

"nasty, dirty, unpleasant" > Modern Dutch <i class="Latn mention" lang="nl">nestig</i> (“dirty, filthy, unclean; lazy, cranky”)

There was a nasty period during the First World War when the family's allegiance was called into question - not least because one of the Schroders had been made a baron by the Kaiser.

(chiefly UK) Awkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous.


meek

en-adj

meek (comparative meeker, superlative meekest)

meeker (comparative)
meekest (superlative)

From Middle English meek, meke, meoc, unknown origin, likely related to Old English smēag (“subtle, stealthy, etc.”) and smūgan and possibly a borrowing from Old Norse mjúkr (“soft; meek”), from Proto-Germanic *meukaz, *mūkaz (“soft; supple”), from Proto-Indo-European *mewg-, *mewk- (“slick, slippery; to slip”).
Cognate with Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk mjuk (“soft”), Norwegian Bokmål myk (“soft”), and Danish myg (“supple”), Dutch muik (“soft, overripe”), dialectal German mauch (“dry and decayed, rotten”), Mauche (“malanders”). Compare as well Welsh mwyth (“soft, weak”), Latin ēmungō (“to blow one's nose”), Tocharian A muk- (“to let go, give up”), Lithuanian mùkti (“to slip away from”), Old Church Slavonic мъчати (mŭčati, “to chase”), Ancient Greek μύσσομαι (mússomai, “to blow the nose”), Sanskrit मुञ्चति (muñcati, “to release, let loose”).

cog

What if they were wolves instead of lambs? They'd eat her all the sooner if she was meek to them. Fight or be eaten.

1920, Sinclair Lewis, Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC:


hippie

From 1953, a usually disparaging variant of hipster. See also etymology of hippie.

(1950s slang) A teenager who imitated the beatniks.

(1960s slang; still widely used in reference to that era) One who chooses not to conform to prevailing social norms: especially one who subscribes to values or actions such as acceptance or self-practice of recreational drug use, liberal or radical sexual mores, advocacy of communal living, strong pacifism or anti-war sentiment, etc.

1960s slang; still widely used in reference to that era; 1960s slang; still widely used in reference to that era

(modern slang) A person who keeps an unkempt or sloppy appearance and has unusually long hair (for males), and is thus often stereotyped as a deadbeat.


anal

en-adj

anal (comparative more anal, superlative most anal)

more anal (comparative)
most anal (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin ānālis.
Psychological sense shortened from anal-retentive.

Please don't touch his furniture, as he can get very anal about things like that.

He was a model of anal defensiveness: fastidious in his dress and appearance, a collector and putter of things in order, a classifier and labeler.

1995, Leonard Shengold, Delusions of Everyday Life, page 39:

(psychology, also vulgar informal) Of a person, compulsive and stubborn, obsessed with neatness and accuracy, supposedly from not having progressed beyond the anal stage. [from 20th c.]


top

top; shirt or garment covering the upper body


rude

rude (comparative ruder, superlative rudest)

ruder (comparative)
rudest (superlative)

From Middle English rude, from Old French rude, ruide, from Latin rudis (“rough, raw, rude, wild, untilled”).

der

A comfortable house for a rude and hardy race, that lived mostly out of doors, was once made here almost entirely of such materials as Nature furnished ready to their hands.

Hearty, vigorous; found particularly in the phrase rude health.


rude

Inherited from Old French rude, a borrowing from Latin rudis (“unwrought”).


practical

en-adj

practical (comparative more practical, superlative most practical)

more practical (comparative)
most practical (superlative)

theoretical

antonym(s) of “based on practice or action”

impractical

antonym(s) of “likely to be effective and applicable to a real situation”

From Middle English practical, practicale, praktycall, from Medieval Latin practicālis.

Practical lighting can help sell the illusion that the film is a real situation.

(film) Light fixtures used for set lighting and seen in the frame of a shot as part of the scenery.


practical

(British) A part of an exam or series of exams in which the candidate has to demonstrate their practical ability

практика

a part of an exam or series of exams in which the candidate has to demonstrate their practical ability

A naturalistic set is normally dressed with all the furnishings and props to be found in a real room. This includes electric light fittings which, when they actually light, are known as practicals.

2001, Francis Reid, The Stage Lighting Handbook, page 124:

(film) A light fixture used for set lighting and seen in the frame of a shot as part of the scenery.


vain

vain (comparative vainer or more vain, superlative vainest or most vain)

vainer (comparative)
more vain (comparative)
vainest (superlative)
most vain (superlative)

From Middle English veyn, from Old French vain, from Latin vānus (“empty”).

Yet ſhall (my Lord) your juſt, your noble Rules / Fill half the land with imitating Fools: / VVho random dravvings from your ſheets ſhall take, / And of one beauty many blunders make; / Load ſome vain Church with old Theatric State, / Turn Arcs of Triumph to a Garden-gate, […]

1735, Alexander Pope, “Epistle 4”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 40, lines 25–30:


vain

fr-adj

vain (feminine vaine, masculine plural vains, feminine plural vaines)

vaine (feminine)
vains (masculine plural)
vaines (feminine plural)

Inherited from Old French vain, from Latin vānus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“empty”).


idiot

From Middle English idiote, ydiote, from Old French idiote (later idiot), from Latin idiota, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “a private citizen, one who has no professional knowledge, layman”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one's own, pertaining to oneself, private”). Doublet of idiota.

der

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 450a. Absence of intellect

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 499. Imbecility

Idiots were thought to be peculiarly under the care of the Deity, and it was believed that those who treated them kindly would be blessed.

1896, Clifton Johnson, “Folks”, in What They Say in New England (non-fiction), Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Lee and Shepard Publishers, page 105:

It is an offence for a man to have unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman whom he knows to be an idiot or imbecile.

1956, Parliament of the United Kingdom, “Part I, section 7”, in Sexual Offences Act 1956, page 2:

(obsolete, medicine, psychology) A person of the lowest intellectual standing, a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal four-year-old; a person with an IQ below 30.


idiot

fr-noun

idiot m (plural idiots, feminine idiote)

→ Polish: idiota

From Old French idiot (cf. also the older form idiote), borrowed from Latin idiōta, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “layman”) from ἴδιος (ídios, “private”).


independent

en-adj

independent (comparative more independent, superlative most independent)

more independent (comparative)
most independent (superlative)

Niinisto pointed out that he had already told Putin at their first meeting in 2012 that “each independent nation would maximize its own security.”
“That is still the case. By joining NATO, Finland will strengthen its own security and assume its responsibilities. It is not something away from anybody,” Niinisto said.

2022 May 14, Jari Tanner, “Putin warns Finland NATO membership would harm relations”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2022-05-14:

Not dependent; not contingent or depending on something else; free.

onafhanklik

not dependent; not contingent or depending on something else; free


tender

tender (comparative tenderer, superlative tenderest)

tenderer (comparative)
tenderest (superlative)

From Middle English tender, tendere, from Anglo-Norman tender, Old French tendre, from Latin tener, tenerum (“soft, delicate”).

Our Bodies are not naturally more Tender than our Faces.

1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.

Suzanne was such a tender mother to her children.

You, that are thus so tender o'er his follies,
 Will never do him good.

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, James 5:11:

Lord. VVHen thou ſhalt viſit me vvith a ſharp diſeaſe, I fear I ſhall be impatient. For I am Cholerick by my Nature, and tender by my Temper, and have not been acquainted vvith Sickneſſe all my life time.

1645, Thomas Fuller, “Personall Meditations”, in Good Thoughts in Bad Times, […], Exeter, Devon: […] Thomas Hunt, →OCLC, section II, page 3:


colorful

colorful (comparative more colorful, superlative most colorful)

more colorful (comparative)
most colorful (superlative)

One of the most colourful people in motor racing, he writes in a colourful manner.

1895, H. Walter Staner, Henry Sturmey, The Autocar:

Interesting, multifaceted, energetic, distinctive.


responsible

responsible (comparative more responsible, superlative most responsible)

more responsible (comparative)
most responsible (superlative)

From Middle French responsable, from Old French responsable, responsible, formed from the root of Latin responsus, from respondere. The spelling of the English word is taken from the Old French variant responsible.

He looks like a responsible guy.

Able to be trusted; reliable; trustworthy.

مُلام

able to answer reasonably for one's conduct


dependent

From Middle English dependaunt, dependent, from Middle French dependant (present participle of dependre (“to depend”)) and Latin dēpendēns (present participle of dēpendeō (“to depend”)). By surface analysis, depend + -ent.

(philosophy) dependent (origination), in Buddhism, the idea that the existence of everything is conditional and dependent on a cause, and that nothing happens fortuitously or by chance.


mundus

la-adj

mundus (feminine munda, neuter mundum, comparative mundior, superlative mundissimus, adverb munditer); first/second-declension adjective

munda (feminine)
mundum (neuter)
mundior (comparative)
mundissimus (superlative)
munditer (adverb)
mundus (masculine nominative singular)
munda (feminine nominative singular)
mundum (neuter nominative singular)
mundī (masculine nominative singular)
mundae (feminine nominative plural)
munda (neuter nominative plural)
mundī (genitive masculine singular)
mundae (feminine genitive singular)
mundī (genitive neuter singular)
mundōrum (genitive masculine singular)
mundārum (feminine genitive plural)
mundōrum (genitive neuter plural)
mundō (dative masculine singular)
mundae (dative feminine singular)
mundō (dative neuter singular)
mundīs (dative feminine masculine neuter)
mundum (accusative masculine singular)
mundam (accusative feminine singular)
mundum (accusative neuter singular)
mundōs (accusative masculine singular)
mundās (accusative feminine plural)
munda (accusative neuter plural)
mundō (ablative masculine singular)
mundā (ablative feminine singular)
mundō (ablative neuter singular)
mundīs (ablative feminine masculine neuter)
munde (masculine singular vocative)
munda (feminine singular vocative)
mundum (neuter singular vocative)
mundī (masculine singular vocative)
mundae (feminine plural vocative)
munda (neuter plural vocative)

[ˈmʊn̪d̪ʊs̠]

Two possibilities include:
* From Etruscan 𐌌𐌖𐌈 (muθ, “pit, mundus”).
* From Proto-Indo-European *mh₂nd- (“to adorn”) and cognate with Old High German mandag (“joyful, happy, dashing”); an Etruscan form 𐌈𐌍𐌖𐌌 (munθ) "order, kit, ornament" is attested also. Possibly also conflated in the sense of "clean, neat" with Proto-Indo-European *mewH- (“to wash, wet”).


mundus

la-noun

mundus m (genitive mundī); second declension

mundī (genitive)
mundus (nominative singular)
mundī (nominative plural)
mundī (genitive singular)
mundōrum (genitive plural)
mundō (dative singular)
mundīs (dative plural)
mundum (accusative singular)
mundōs (accusative plural)
mundō (ablative singular)
mundīs (ablative plural)
munde (singular vocative)
mundī (plural vocative)

Basque: mundu

Corsican: munnu

Esperanto: mondo

Ido: mondo

Interlingua: mundo

Istriot: mondo

Italian: mondo

Navarro-Aragonese:

Aragonese: mundo

Neapolitan: munno

Old French: monde, mont, mund

Middle French: monde

desctree

French: monde
Saint Dominican Creole French: monde
Haitian Creole: moun
→ English: monde

Norman: maonde

Walloon: monde

Old Leonese:

Asturian: mundiu, mundu

Extremaduran: mundu

Leonese: mundiu

Mirandese: mundo

Old Occitan: mon

Catalan: món

Occitan: mond

Old Galician-Portuguese: mundo

Galician: mundo

Portuguese: mundo, mũdo (obsolete, abbreviation)
Kabuverdianu: mundu
Papiamentu: mundu
→ Tetum: mundu

Old Spanish: mundo

Ladino: mundo / מונדו

Spanish: mundo, mondo (archaic)
→ Tagalog: mundo

Rhaeto-Romance:

Friulian: mond

Ladin: mond

Romansch: mund, mond, muond

Sardinian: mundhu, mundu, munnu

Sicilian: munnu

Venetan: móndo

From mundus (adjective). In the sense “universe”, calque of Ancient Greek κόσμος (kósmos).

miserīque fuit spēs inrita mundī, / posse ducēs parvā campī statiōne diremptōs / admōtum damnāre nefās.

61 CE – 65 CE, Lucan, Pharsalia 5.469–471

The unfortunate world's hope turned out in vain, the hope that the leaders, separated by a small field distance, could condemn the impiety drawing near.

Sic enim dilexit Deus mundum ut filium suum unigenitum daret, ut omnis qui credit in eum non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeternam.

405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Evangelium secundum Ioannem.3.16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.


maniac

→ Cebuano: manyak, manyakis

→ Malay: maniak

→ Tagalog: manyak, manyakis

From mania + -ac. Borrowed from French maniaque, from Late Latin maniacus, from Ancient Greek μανιακός (maniakós), adjectival form of μανία (manía, “madness”). Doublet of manic.

He's a manga maniac.

She's a maniac, maniac on the floor / And she's dancing like she's never danced before

1983, Michael Sembello, Dennis Matkosky (lyrics and music), “Maniac”:

(figurative) A fanatic, a person with an obsession.


confident

en-adj

confident (comparative more confident, superlative most confident)

more confident (comparative)
most confident (superlative)

From Middle French confident, from Latin confidens (“confident, i.e. self-confident, in a good or bad sense, bold, daring, audacious, impudent”), present participle of confidere (“to trust fully, confide”). See confide.

der

I was rated as the most confident ruffian, for daring to approach her room at that hour of night.

1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Duenna, I.2:

(obsolete, derogatory) Forward, impudent.


admirable

en-adj

admirable (comparative more admirable, superlative most admirable)

more admirable (comparative)
most admirable (superlative)

From Middle English admyrable, partly from Middle French admirable and partly from its etymon, Latin admirābilis. By surface analysis, admire + -able.

The act of putting out the burning fires was admirable.


admirable

Inherited from Middle French admirable, borrowed from Latin admirābilis.


admirable

tl-adj

admirable (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜇ᜔ᜋᜒᜇᜊ᜔ᜎᜒ)

ᜀᜇ᜔ᜋᜒᜇᜊ᜔ᜎᜒ (Baybayin)

Borrowed from Spanish admirable, from Latin admirābilis.


adventurous

en-adj

adventurous (comparative more adventurous, superlative most adventurous)

more adventurous (comparative)
most adventurous (superlative)

From Middle English aventurous, aunterous, auntrous, from Old French aventuros (whence French aventureux). By surface analysis, adventure + -ous.

The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile.

2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects as chefs put bugs back on the menu”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:

(of a person) Inclined to adventure; willing to take risks; prone to embark on hazardous enterprises; daring.

take an adventurous viewpoint

(of an act or product) Full of risks; risky; liable to be in danger; requiring courage; rash.


affable

affable (comparative more affable, superlative most affable)

more affable (comparative)
most affable (superlative)

Borrowed from French affable, from Latin affābilis, from affor (“I address”), from ad + for (“speak, talk”). See fable.

Furthermore, I may say, that the Sultan was always most affable to me in my interviews with him, even when I had to discuss some missionary questions. In fact, I never saw any traces of the difficulties which Mr. Terrell reported.

1912, James Burrill Angell, “chapter ix Mission To The Ottoman Empire”, in The Reminiscences Of James Burrill Angell:

[…] He stood bolt upright instead with his stumpy arms resting comfortably on the backsof the pilot's and co-pilot's seats, pipe in hand, making affable small talk to McWatt and whoever happened to be co-pilot and pointing out amusing trivia in the sky to the two men, who were too busy to be interested.

1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “Chief White Halfoat”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 45:

Receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner; friendly, courteous, sociable.


affectionate

affectionate (comparative more affectionate, superlative most affectionate)

more affectionate (comparative)
most affectionate (superlative)

/əˈfɛkʃənət/

Partly from Latin affectionatus, partly from affection + -ate. Doublet of aficionado.

(obsolete) Eager; passionate; strongly inclined toward something.


materialistic

materialistic (comparative more materialistic, superlative most materialistic)

more materialistic (comparative)
most materialistic (superlative)

But to me his very spiritualism seemed more materialistic than his physics.

1852, Charles Kingsley, Phaeton, or Loose Thoughts for Loose Thinkers:

Of or concerning philosophical materialism.

materialista

of or concerning philosophical materialism


aggressive

aggressive (comparative more aggressive, superlative most aggressive)

more aggressive (comparative)
most aggressive (superlative)

From aggress + -ive. Compare with French agressif.

rīrā

Spreading rapidly of a disease or tumour

an aggressive policy, war, person, nation

When a new aggressive fish is added to an aquarium with an already-established, territorial fish, the established fish will probably fight to protect its territory (the whole tank).

2011, Judith S. Weis, Do Fish Sleep, Rutgers University Press, →ISBN, page 63:

This highly-aggressive approach had results, but briefly caused a major uproar in parts of the United States, which was mitigated by the Webster–Ashburton Treaty in 1842, which formalised the U.S. Navy's contribution to the antislavery efforts.

2018 December 1, Drachinifel, 8:56 from the start, in Anti-Slavery Patrols - The West Africa Squadron, archived from the original on 2024-11-29:

Characterized by aggression; highly combative; prone to behave in a way that involves attacking (especially if unjustly) or arguing.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:aggressive.

(US, LGBTQ, Black lesbian slang) Female but having a male or masculine gender presentation: butch.


aggressive

[...]; usually the femme is the ho [at the costume party], and the butch/aggressive is the pimp. [...] An aggressive is a masculine-identified woman like the category of butch; aggressive is the contemporary term among younger masculine-identified women.

2012 February 1, Siobhan Brooks, Unequal Desires: Race and Erotic Capital in the Stripping Industry, State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 110:

(US, LGBTQ, Black lesbian slang) A (Black) woman who presents as masculine; a butch.


agreeable

agreeable (comparative more agreeable, superlative most agreeable)

more agreeable (comparative)
most agreeable (superlative)

From Middle English agreable, from Old French agreable. Equivalent to agree + -able.

These Frenchmen give unto the said captain of Calais a great sum of money, so that he will be but content and agreeable that they may enter into the said town.

1529, Hugh Latimer, sermon in Cambridge:

(dated) Willing; ready to agree or consent.


superficial

superficial (comparative more superficial, superlative most superficial)

more superficial (comparative)
most superficial (superlative)

Borrowing from Late Latin superficiālis (“of or belonging to the surface”), from superficiēs (“top, surface”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

pintapuolinen

not thorough, concerned with the obvious or apparent

These infamous little green men appeared during the decisive seizures or buildings and facilities, only to disappear when associated militias and local troops arrived to consolidate the gains. In this way they provided a measure of deniability—however superficial or implausible—for Moscow.⁴⁰

2014, "Little Green Men": A Primer on Modern Russian Unconventional Warfare, Ukraine 2013–2014, Fort Bragg, North Carolina: The United States Army Special Operations Command, page 43:

Not thorough, deep, or complete; concerned only with the obvious or apparent.

Lacking depth of character or understanding; lacking substance or significance.


ambitious

en-adj

ambitious (comparative ambitiouser or more ambitious, superlative ambitiousest or most ambitious)

ambitiouser (comparative)
more ambitious (comparative)
ambitiousest (superlative)
most ambitious (superlative)

From Middle English ambitious, from Middle French ambitieus, from Latin ambitiosus, from ambitio; see ambition. Compare with French ambitieux.

an ambitious person

someone's ambitious nature

I was ambitious—have you known
The passion, father? You have not:
A cottager, I mark’d a throne
Of half the world as all my own,
And murmur’d at such lowly lot— […]

1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:

As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my real occupation.

1891, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Man with the Twisted Lip:

(of a person or their character) Having or showing ambition; wanting a lot of power, honor, respect, superiority, or other distinction.


fussy

fussy (comparative fussier, superlative fussiest)

fussier (comparative)
fussiest (superlative)

It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

Anxious or particular about petty details; hard to please.


amiable

amiable (comparative more amiable, superlative most amiable)

more amiable (comparative)
most amiable (superlative)

From Middle English amyable, from Old French amiable, from Late Latin amīcābilis (“friendly”), from Latin amīcus (“friend”), from amō (“love”, verb). The meaning has been influenced by French amiable and Latin amābilis (“loveable”) (whence English aimable and amable). Doublet of amicable. Compare with amorous, amability.

an amiable temper

amiable ideas

The sums I have lent him! indeed—I have been exceedingly to blame—it was an amiable weakness!

1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, V.i:

A short time afterward at the opera Gerald dragged him into a parterre to say something amiable to one of the amiable débutante Craig girls—and Selwyn found himself again facing Alixe.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

an amiable person

My deyſy delectabyll
My prymerose commendabyll
My vyolet amyabyll
My ioye in explicabill
Nowe torne agayne to me

Of a pleasant and likeable nature; kind-hearted; easy to like


stodgy

stodgy (comparative stodgier or more stodgy, superlative stodgiest or most stodgy)

stodgier (comparative)
more stodgy (comparative)
stodgiest (superlative)
most stodgy (superlative)

Unknown, but possibly from stodge (“to stuff”), from stog, or a blend of stuffy + podgy.


annoying

annoying (comparative more annoying, superlative most annoying)

more annoying (comparative)
most annoying (superlative)

Having flies in your bedroom when you're trying to sleep is really annoying.

Causing irritation or annoyance; troublesome; vexatious.


anxious

anxious (comparative more anxious or anxiouser, superlative most anxious or anxiousest)

more anxious (comparative)
anxiouser (comparative)
most anxious (superlative)
anxiousest (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin anxius, from angō (“to cause pain, choke”); akin to Ancient Greek ἄγχω (ánkhō, “to choke”). See anger; angst.


apathetic

apathetic (comparative more apathetic, superlative most apathetic)

more apathetic (comparative)
most apathetic (superlative)

He then added a few general offers of service, but offered as if he would be glad if they were accepted; and when Guido knelt for his parting benediction, it was given with a warmth and sincerity not often used by the apathetic and haughty minister.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 167:

Void of feeling; not susceptible of deep emotion.


bubbly

bubbly (comparative bubblier, superlative bubbliest)

bubblier (comparative)
bubbliest (superlative)

She has a bubbly personality.

“Our priority is to make relationships with people,” says Mariana Gomes, a bubbly social worker who methodically jots down whom she meets and what they need in a giant binder.

2024 July 12, Dominique Soguel, “How Portugal became a world leader in fighting drug addiction”, in The Christian Science Monitor:


mighty

From Middle English mighty, mightie, mighti, myghty, miȝty, maȝty, from Old English mihtiġ, mehtiġ, meahtiġ, mæhtiġ (“mighty”), from Proto-West Germanic *mahtīg (“mighty”), from Proto-Germanic *mahtīgaz (“mighty”), equivalent to might + -y.
Cognate with Scots michty, mychty, Saterland Frisian machtich, Dutch machtig, German Low German machtig, German mächtig, Swedish mäktig.

And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighties.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Chronicles 11:12:

(obsolete, rare) A warrior of great strength and courage.


passive

passive (comparative more passive, superlative most passive)

more passive (comparative)
most passive (superlative)

From Middle English passyf, passyve, from Middle French, French passif, from Latin passivus (“serving to express the suffering of an action; in late Latin literally capable of suffering or feeling”), from passus, past participle of pati (“to suffer”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hurt”); compare patient.

der

(psychology) Being inactive and submissive in a relationship, especially in a sexual one.

被動 /被动

psychology: being inactive and receptive in a relationship

a passive balloon

a passive aeroplane

passive flight, such as gliding and soaring

(electronics) Of a component: that consumes but does not produce energy, or is incapable of power gain.


passive

If you want to improve your organization's NPS, you need to follow up with your detractors, passives, and promoters to understand why they answered your question as they did and what you can do better in the future.

2014, Roy Barnes, Bob Kelleher, Customer Experience For Dummies, page 266:

(marketing) A customer who is satisfied with a product or service, but not keen enough to promote it by word of mouth.

Reductions In Both Size And Weight Offered By Integrated Passives
You may not know it yet, but if you're like most consumers, you want integrated passives.

2001, The Virginia Engineer, volume 50, page 20:

The components include active devices such as logic, memory, processors, etc.; passives such as capacitors, resistors, crystal oscillators, inductances, etc.; […]

2010, Sridhar Canumalla, Puligandla Viswanadham, Portable Consumer Electronics: Packaging, Materials, and Reliability:

(electronics) Any component that consumes but does not produce energy, or is incapable of power gain.


jolly

en-adj

jolly (comparative jollier, superlative jolliest)

jollier (comparative)
jolliest (superlative)

From Middle English joli, jolif (“merry, cheerful”), from Old French joli, jolif (“merry, joyful”)
It is uncertain whether the Old French word is from Old Norse jól ("a midwinter feast, Yule", hence "fest-ive"), in which case, equivalent to yule + -ive, compare Dutch jolig (“happy, festive, frolicsome, jolly”), West Frisian joelich, joalich (“merry, jolly”), Middle High German jœlich (“hooting, jubilant”); however, OED considers this etymology unlikely. Alternatively, the Old French adjective originates from Vulgar Latin *gaudivus (from Latin gaudeō, more at joy), which would require that Early Old French ⟨d⟩ /ð/ irregularly turns up as ⟨l⟩ in jolif instead of being regularly dropped (alternatively, /l/ may be a hiatus filler inserted into expected *joïf). Possible parallels are found in French cigale and Provençal cigala from cigāda, and French Valois from Vadensis. For the loss of final -f compare tardy, hasty, hussy, etc.

cog

"Full jolly Knight he seemed […] full large of limb and every joint / He was, and cared not for God or man a point."

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, , stanzas xi-xii:

"A jolly place," said he, "in times of old! / But something ails it now: the spot is curst. ..."

1815, William Wordsworth, Hart-Leap Well, Part Second:

[…] he is swelled into jolly dimensions by frequent potations of malt liquors […]

1819, Washington Irving, “The Stage Coach”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.:

Full of merriment and high spirits; jovial; joyous; merry.

Jo silently notices how white and small her hand is and what a jolly servant she must be to wear such sparkling rings.

1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 16, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

(colloquial, dated) Splendid, excellent, pleasant.


jolly

I'm a Jolly — 'Er Majesty's Jolly — soldier an' sailor too!

1896, Rudyard Kipling, Soldier an' Sailor Too:

(slang, dated) A marine in the English navy.


jolly

en-verb

jolly (third-person singular simple present jollies, present participle jollying, simple past and past participle jollied)

jollies (present singular third-person)
jollying (participle present)
jollied (participle past)
jollied (past)

I do not believe in 'jollying' and 'soft soaping' a man when his work is really bad.

1898, Marketing/Communications, volume 23, page 52:

(transitive, informal, archaic) To praise or talk up.


patient

en-adj

patient (comparative more patient, superlative most patient)

more patient (comparative)
most patient (superlative)

From Middle English pacient, from Middle French patient, from Old French pacient, from Latin patiens, present participle of patior (“to suffer, endure”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate, hurt”).

der

Be patient: your friends will arrive in a few hours.

Asari Cultural VI: Due to our lifespan-sometimes reaching 1,000 years of age-we are patient in our decisions, and prefer long-term solutions over short-term gains.

2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Nexus:

(of a person) Willing to wait if necessary; not losing one's temper while waiting.


patient

Coordinate term: case

Hello, is your practice currently accepting new patients? I'd like to become a patient there if so.

At the veterinary clinic, caring for the patients successfully and dealing with the patients’ owners successfully are both necessary skills.

The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic[…]real kidneys[…]. But they are nothing like as efficient, and can cause bleeding, clotting and infection—not to mention inconvenience for patients, who typically need to be hooked up to one three times a week for hours at a time.

2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

en:person or animal that receives health care

A person or animal that receives health care from a doctor, nurse, dentist, allied health practitioner, or other person educated in health care.

pasiënt

someone who receives treatment from a doctor

The subject of a passive verb is usually a patient.

The number of a first or second person participant is generally marked for both agent and patient in all aspects.

1982, Paul J. Hopper, Tense-aspect: Between Semantics & Pragmatics, →ISBN:

Since we have argued that the absolutive argument in Dyirbal is the grammatical subject of its clause, we must conclude that in the antipassive construction the agent replaces the patient as grammatical subject.

2004, Paul Kroeger, Analyzing Syntax: A Lexical-Functional Approach, →ISBN, page 292:

on the receiving end
on the receiving end

(linguistics, grammar) The noun or noun phrase that is semantically on the receiving end of a verb's action.

Malice is a passion so impetuous and precipitate, that it often involves the agent and the patient.

c. 1658, Dr. Henry More, Government of the Tongue:

For it seems clear that the subject of change is the changed, i.e. the patient -- on one proviso. the proviso is that there be an agent or changer.

1988, Sarah Waterlow, Sarah Broadie, Nature, Change, and Agency in Aristotle's Physics, →ISBN, page 159:

How does a person change from a patient to an agent in shaping and living a course of life?

1994, Larry Cochran, Joan Laub, Becoming an Agent: Patterns and Dynamics for Shaping Your Life, →ISBN:

According to the tradition, when an agent acts on a patient, the change is located in the patient. If the patient reacts on the agent, then the agent is a patient in the new relation.

1999, Lloyd P. Gerson, Aristotle: Logic and metaphysics, →ISBN, page 127:

The starting point is that all events involve an agent and a patient. Agents and patients are modelled as (material or non-material) objects, and can therefore be represented as points in conceptual spaces.

2010, Mohua Banerjee, Anil Seth, Logic and Its Applications: Fourth Indian Conference, ICLA 2011, →ISBN, page 7:

One who, or that which, is passively affected; a passive recipient.


patient

fr-noun

patient m (plural patients, feminine patiente)

Inherited from Middle French patient, from Old French patient, borrowed from Latin patientem.

(dated) condemned man, person who has been sentenced to death


stoic

en-adj

stoic (comparative more stoic, superlative most stoic)

more stoic (comparative)
most stoic (superlative)

From Latin stōicus (noun via Middle English Stoycis pl), from Ancient Greek Στωϊκός (Stōïkós), from Ποικίλη Στοά (Poikílē Stoá, “the Stoa Poikile”, literally “painted portico”), the portico in Athens where Zeno of Citium was teaching.


impatient

impatient (comparative more impatient, superlative most impatient)

more impatient (comparative)
most impatient (superlative)

From Old French impacient (modern French impatient), from Latin impatiēns. By surface analysis, im- + patient.

For, if (ſaid he) you throw among five Yahoos as much Food as would be ſufficient for fifty, they will, inſtead of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each ſingle one impatient to have all to itſelf; […]

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Great Love of His Native Country. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 258:

Anxious and eager, especially to begin or have something.


impatient

fr-noun

impatient m (plural impatients, feminine impatiente)

impatients (plural)
impatiente (feminine)

Borrowed from Latin impatientem. Morphologically analyzable as im- + patient.


snob

C’est un snob.


busybody

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-busybody.wav

Se that none of you ſuffre as a murtherer / or as a thefe / or an evyll doar / or as a buſybody in wother mens matters.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, 1 Peter iiij:[15], folio ccxc, verso:

Candidly speaking, I thought her a little busy-body; but her father, blind like other parents, seemed perfectly content to let her wait on him, and even wonderfully soothed by her offices.

1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Paulina”, in Villette. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 22:

But I couldn’t—and I can’t tell you, either, what it’s meant to me these two years to believe you were going to marry him, and be told every week by some busybody that your engagement was on the point of being announced.

1915, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Love Takes Up the Glass of Time”, in Anne of the Island, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, →OCLC, page 325:

Someone who interferes with others; one who is nosy, intrusive or meddlesome.

marplot

one who interferes or is nosy or intrusive


prude

Back-formation from prudefemme, feminine of prud’homme (“good man”).


moral

en-adj

moral (comparative more moral, superlative most moral)

more moral (comparative)
most moral (superlative)

From Middle English moral, from Old French moral, from Latin mōrālis (“relating to manners or morals”)
(first used by Cicero, to translate Ancient Greek ἠθικός (ēthikós, “moral”)), from mos (“manner, custom”).

der

a moral action

The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

Conforming to a standard of right behaviour; sanctioned by or operative on one's conscience or ethical judgment.

բարոյական

conforming to a standard of right behavior

incorruptible

conforming to a standard of right behaviour

a moral victory; moral support

Positively affecting the mind, confidence, or will.

moralisk

positively affecting the mind, confidence or will


moral

The moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that if you repeatedly lie, people won't believe you when you tell the truth.

We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters.

1841, Thomas Macaulay, Comic Dramatists of the Restoration (printed in Edinburgh Review, January 1841)

(of a narrative) The ethical significance or practical lesson.

عِظَة

the moral significance or practical lesson

(of a media) A depiction of good or heroic actions.


moral

fr-adj

moral (feminine morale, masculine plural moraux, feminine plural morales)

morale (feminine)
moraux (masculine plural)
morales (feminine plural)

Inherited from Middle French moral, from Old French moral, borrowed from Latin morālis.


godly

en-adv

godly (comparative more godly, superlative most godly)

more godly (comparative)
most godly (superlative)

All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. — 2. Tim. iii. 12.

In a godly manner; piously; devoutly; righteously.


smart

en-adj

smart (comparative smarter or more smart, superlative smartest or most smart)

smarter (comparative)
more smart (comparative)
smartest (superlative)
most smart (superlative)

→ Danish: smart

→ German: smart

→ Norwegian:

Norwegian Bokmål: smart

Norwegian Nynorsk: smart

→ Swedish: smart

From Middle English smert, smart, from Old English smeart (“smarting, smart, painful”), from Proto-Germanic *smartaz (“hurting, aching”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert (“painful, smart”), Old Frisian smert (“sharp, painful”).

der

I always preferred the church, and I still do. But that was not smart enough for my family. They recommended the army. That was a great deal too smart for me.

1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 19, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.

The stars shine smarter.

1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

(archaic) Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.

a smart gown


smart

head

smart (comparative smartare, superlative smartast)

smartare (comparative)
smartast (superlative)
smart (indefinite positive)
smartare (comparative indefinite)
smartast (indefinite superlative)
smart (indefinite neuter positive singular)
smartare (comparative indefinite neuter singular)
smartast (indefinite neuter singular superlative)
smarta (indefinite plural positive)
smartare (comparative indefinite plural)
smartast (indefinite plural superlative)
smarte (archaic indefinite masculine plural positive)
smartare (archaic comparative indefinite masculine plural)
smartast (archaic indefinite masculine plural superlative)
smarte (definite masculine positive singular)
smartare (comparative definite masculine singular)
smartaste (definite masculine singular superlative)
smarta (definite positive)
smartare (comparative definite)
smartaste (definite superlative)


wise

From Middle English wise, from Old English wīse, from Proto-Germanic *wīsō. Cognate with Dutch wijze, German Weise, Norwegian vis, Swedish visa, vis, Italian guisa, Spanish guisa. Compare -wise. Doublet of guise.

In such wise that all the beasts, great and small, came to the court save Reynard the Fox.

1481, William Caxton, The History of Reynard the Fox^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Historye_of_Reynard_the_Foxe/capitulo_.primo._(2)):

Now the birth of Iesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Ioseph (before they came together) shee was found with childe of the holy Ghost.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 1:18:

[…] the prize
Dead Greece vouchsafes to living eyes, —
Her Art for ever in fresh wise
From hour to hour rejoicing me.

1850, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Burden of Nineveh, lines 2–5:

A riven hood was pulled across his eyes;
The token of him being upon this wise
Made for a sign of Lust.

1866, Algernon Swinburne, A Ballad of Life, lines 28–30:

And within a few minutes the rest of us were on our way too, judiciously instructed by Parkapple and the Brighton official, and disposed of in two taxi-cabs, the drivers of which were ordered to convey us to Rottingdean in such wise that each set his load of humanity at different parts of the village and at the same time that the bus was due to arrive at the hotel.

1926, J. S. Fletcher, Sea Fog, page 308:

Meantime a serious question came up for discussion.[…]The discussion arose somewhat in this wise. The President of the Society was Mr. Hills, proprietor of the Thames Iron Works. He was a puritan. […]

1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, chapter XVIII, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC:

Then, at least, we shall be able to program consciousness in such wise that it cannot be numbed nor distracted by the Narcissus illusions of the entertainment world that beset mankind when he encounters himself extended in his own gimmickry.

1964, Marshall McLuhan, chapter 6, in Understanding Media, 2nd edition:


honest

en-adj

honest (comparative more honest or (nonstandard) honester, superlative most honest or (nonstandard) honestest)

more honest (comparative)
honester (comparative nonstandard)
most honest (superlative)
honestest (nonstandard superlative)

→ Welsh: gonest

From Middle English honest, honeste (“honourable, appropriate, excellent”), from Old French honeste, from Latin honestus, from honor. For the verb, see Latin honestāre (“to clothe or adorn with honour”), and compare French honester. Displaced native Old English sōþfæst (literally “truth-firm”).

inh

brutally honest

We’re the most honest people you will ever come across.

A true and honest physician is excused for leaving his patient, when he finds the disease grown desperate

c. 1680, William Temple, Of Popular Discontents:

(of a person or institution) Scrupulous with regard to telling the truth; not given to swindling, lying, or fraud; upright.

i ndershëm

scrupulous with regard to telling the truth

an honest mistake

an honest day's work

Behold what honest clothes you send forth to bleaching!

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

[…] Vpon the verge of the Riuer there are fiue houſes, wherein liue the honeſter ſort of people, as Farmers in England, and they keepe continuall centinell for the townes ſecuritie.

1624, William Simons, “The Gouernment Returned againe to Sir Thomas Gates, 1611”, in Iohn Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, book 4; reprinted in The Generall Historie of Virginia, … (Bibliotheca Americana), Cleveland, Oh.: The World Publishing Company, 1966, →OCLC, page 111:

[T]here are Wolf-Whelps in Palaces, and Governments, as well as in Cottages, and Forreſts. […] They go out however, as there is Occaſion, and Hunt and Growle for Company; but at the ſame time, they give the Sign out of their Maſters hand, hold Intelligence with the Enemy; and Make uſe of their Power and Credit to Worry Honeſter Men them Themſelves.

1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] CLV. A Shepherd and a Wolves Whelp [Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 140:

(obsolete) Decent; honourable; suitable; becoming.

Wives may be merry, and yet honest too.


quixotic

en-adj

quixotic (comparative more quixotic, superlative most quixotic)

more quixotic (comparative)
most quixotic (superlative)

Derived from Spanish Quixote, the surname of Don Quixote, the title character in the novel by Miguel de Cervantes, + -ic.

Olivier, as you know, was quixotic, and would not permit a secret service and spies.

1911 January 7, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Sign of the Broken Sword”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, London, New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, published 1911, →OCLC:

The message is not subliminal. […] Characters aren’t just quixotic, they cite Cervantes to one another.

2012 June 21, Alessandra Stanley, “So Sayeth the Anchorman”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The war triggered in [Miguel de] Unamuno the realization that, in hopeless times, quixotic lunacy could save people from the paralysis that often accompanies defeatism.

2017 May 29, Mariana Alessandri, “In Praise of Lost Causes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

In the digital age, building a new library filled with old-fashioned printed books seems idealistic, almost quixotic.

2022 April 17, Stephen Burgen, “Barcelona honours Gabriel García Márquez with new library”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

Resembling or characteristic of the Spanish chivalric hero Don Quixote; possessed with or resulting from the desire to do noble and romantic deeds, without thought of realism and practicality; exceedingly idealistic.

դոնկիխոտյան

Resembling or characteristic of Don Quixote


fin

fr-adj

fin (feminine fine, masculine plural fins, feminine plural fines)

fine (feminine)
fins (masculine plural)
fines (feminine plural)


amicus

la-adj

amīcus (feminine amīca, neuter amīcum, comparative amīcior, superlative amīcissimus, adverb amīcē); first/second-declension adjective

amīcus (canonical)
amīca (feminine)
amīcum (neuter)
amīcior (comparative)
amīcissimus (superlative)
amīcē (adverb)
amīcus (masculine nominative singular)
amīca (feminine nominative singular)
amīcum (neuter nominative singular)
amīcī (masculine nominative singular)
amīcae (feminine nominative plural)
amīca (neuter nominative plural)
amīcī (genitive masculine singular)
amīcae (feminine genitive singular)
amīcī (genitive neuter singular)
amīcōrum (genitive masculine singular)
amīcārum (feminine genitive plural)
amīcōrum (genitive neuter plural)
amīcō (dative masculine singular)
amīcae (dative feminine singular)
amīcō (dative neuter singular)
amīcīs (dative feminine masculine neuter)
amīcum (accusative masculine singular)
amīcam (accusative feminine singular)
amīcum (accusative neuter singular)
amīcōs (accusative masculine singular)
amīcās (accusative feminine plural)
amīca (accusative neuter plural)
amīcō (ablative masculine singular)
amīcā (ablative feminine singular)
amīcō (ablative neuter singular)
amīcīs (ablative feminine masculine neuter)
amīce (masculine singular vocative)
amīca (feminine singular vocative)
amīcum (neuter singular vocative)
amīcī (masculine singular vocative)
amīcae (feminine plural vocative)
amīca (neuter plural vocative)

From amō (“I love”) + -īcus, with the ending perhaps derived from Proto-Indo-European *-ih₁ (instrumental suffix) + *-kos, as also in pudīcus, mendīcus.


brave

From Middle French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself of uncertain origin (see there). Doublet of bravo.


brave

Probably borrowed from Italian bravo. Compare Spanish, Portuguese bravo. Doublet of bravo.


sobre

Inherited from Old French sobre, borrowed from Latin sobrius.


timorous

en-adj

timorous (comparative more timorous, superlative most timorous)

more timorous (comparative)
most timorous (superlative)

Borrowed into late Middle English from Old French temoros, from Medieval Latin timorosus, from Latin timor (“fear”), from timeō (“I fear”). Doublet of timoroso.

He [the Devil] marketh well […] mennes complexions within thẽ [them], health, or ſicknes, good humours or badde, by which they be light hearted or lumpiſh, ſtrong hearted, or faynt & fieble of ſpirite, bolde and hardy, or timorous and fearefull of courage.

1534 (date written; published 1553), Thomas More, “A Dyalogue of Comforte agaynste Tribulacyon, […]. XVI. Of Hym that were Moued to Kyl Himself by Illusion of the Dyuel, which He Rekened for a Reuelation.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, pages 1195–1196:

Wee sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie, / Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie!

1786, Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume I, Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] John Wilson, →OCLC; reprinted Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, 1867, →OCLC:

[H]e was one of those weak creatures full of a shifty cunning - who face neither God nor man, who face not even themselves, void of pride, timorous, anæmic, hateful souls.

1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Days of Imprisonment”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book II (The Earth under the Martians), page 219:

He turned a long you are wrong gaze on Stephen of timorous dark pride at the soft impeachment with a glance also of entreaty for he seemed to glean in a kind of a way that it wasn't all exactly.

1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

The suspect was a man of forty, with a grey, timorous face, dressed only in a ragged longyi kilted to the knee, beneath which his lank, curved shins were specked with tick-bites.

1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC:


mendacious

mendacious (comparative more mendacious, superlative most mendacious)

more mendacious (comparative)
most mendacious (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French mendacieux, from Latin mendācium (“lie, untruth”), from mendāx (“lying”).

(of a person) Lying, untruthful or dishonest.


simplex

la-adj

simplex (genitive simplicis, comparative simplicior, superlative simplicissimus, adverb simpliciter); third-declension one-termination adjective

simplicis (genitive)
simplicior (comparative)
simplicissimus (superlative)
simpliciter (adverb)
simplex (feminine masculine neuter nominative singular)
simplicēs (feminine masculine nominative singular)
simplicia (neuter nominative plural)
simplicis (feminine genitive masculine neuter singular)
simplicium (feminine genitive masculine neuter)
simplicī (dative feminine masculine neuter singular)
simplicibus (dative feminine masculine neuter)
simplicem (accusative feminine masculine singular)
simplex (accusative neuter singular)
simplicēs (accusative feminine masculine singular)
simplicia (accusative neuter plural)
simplicī (ablative feminine masculine neuter singular)
simplicibus (ablative feminine masculine neuter)
simplex (feminine masculine neuter singular vocative)
simplicēs (feminine masculine singular vocative)
simplicia (neuter plural vocative)

Italian: sempice, semprice, semplice (latinized)

Friulian: sempliç (latinized)

Sicilian: sìmprici, sìmplici (latinized)

→ Asturian: simple

→ Catalan: simple

→ Dutch: simpel

→ English: simplex

→ Galician: simple

→ German: simpel

→ Norwegian: simpel

→ Middle Low German: simpel

→ Old Swedish: simpel

Swedish: simpel
→ Finnish: simppeli

desctree

→ Old French: simple, sinple
French: simple
→ Romanian: simplu
→ Middle English: symple, simple
Scots: semple
English: simple

→ Old Leonese:

Mirandese: simples

→ Old Galician-Portuguese: simplez

Portuguese: simples, símplice

→ Romansch: simpel, sempel

→ Spanish: simple
Chavacano: simple

→ Proto-Brythonic: *sɨml

Middle Welsh: symyl

Welsh: syml

[ˈs̠ɪmpɫ̪ɛks̠]

From Proto-Italic *sempleks, from the same root as semel + -plex.

male crēditis hostī: simplex nōbilitās, perfida tēla cave!

You do wrong to trust the enemy: Guileless nobles, beware of treacherous weapons!

sincere, naive, frank, open, without guile, guileless, unsuspecting, innocent


chivalrous

en-adj

chivalrous (comparative more chivalrous, superlative most chivalrous)

more chivalrous (comparative)
most chivalrous (superlative)

From Middle English chivalerous, from Old French chevalerous; see chivalry.

Among boys there are laws of honour and chivalrous codes, not written, or formally taught, but intuitively understood by all, and invariably acted upon by the loyal and the true.

1859, George Meredith, chapter 5, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:

It amazed me that I could have allowed myself to be let in for a binge of this description simply because a woman wished it. Too bally chivalrous for our own good, we Woosters, and always have been.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “VII AND XXI”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

(of a man) Honourable, especially to women; gallant.


prima donna

en-noun

prima donna (plural prima donnas or prime donne or (nonstandard) primae donnae)

prima donnas (plural)
prime donne (plural)
primae donnae (nonstandard plural)

/ˌpɹiːməˈdɒnə/

From Italian prima donna (“first lady”).

I've had enough of watching scenes / With schizophrenic, egocentric, paranoiac, prima-donnas

1971, John Lennon (lyrics and music), “Gimme Some Truth”, in Imagine:

This year Mata has done more than anyone to give fresh belief that professional football is not only built on greed and staggering wages for its strutting prima donnas. The Manchester United and Spain midfielder, instead, has broken new ground and begun to use football’s power and wealth to help ordinary people around the world.

2018 January 1, Donald McRae, “The Guardian footballer of the year 2017: Juan Mata”, in the Guardian:

(derogatory) A person who considers themself much more important than others, has high expectations of others and becomes angry when their standards or demands are not met.

布馬多娜 /布马多娜

person who considers themselves important


gai

fr-adj

gai (feminine gaie, masculine plural gais, feminine plural gaies)

gaie (feminine)
gais (masculine plural)
gaies (feminine plural)

Louisiana Creole: gé

From Old French gai, from Old Occitan gai, from Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹𐍃 (*gaheis, “impetuous”); or from Frankish *gāhi (“fast, sudden, impetuous”), Frankish *wāhi (“pretty”), both from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz (“lively, fast, quick”); or (per Liberman, Chance, Meier) from Latin vagus (“wandering, inconstant, flighty”), with *[w] → [ɡ] as in French gaine. Doublet of vague in that case.
Cognate with English gay and Italian gaio.


ghoul

Portuguese: ghoul

From Persian غول (ğul) from Arabic غُول (ḡūl). Compare French goule, of the same origin.

(derogatory, slang) A person with a callous or uncaring attitude to human life and suffering, particularly when prioritizing economic concerns.


calm

en-adj

calm (comparative calmer or more calm, superlative calmest or most calm)

calmer (comparative)
more calm (comparative)
calmest (superlative)
most calm (superlative)

From Middle English calm, calme, from Middle French calme, probably from Old Italian calma, of uncertain origin. Calma may derive from Late Latin cauma (“heat of the midday sun”), from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma, “heat, especially of the sun”), from καίω (kaíō, “I burn”), or possibly from Latin caleō. Compare also Lombardic *chalm, *chalma (“frozenness”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kalmaz (“frozenness, cold”).
Displaced native Middle English smilte (“quite, still, gentle”) from Old English smylte (“quiet, tranquil, calm, serene”).

ncog

(of a person) Peaceful, quiet, especially free from anger and anxiety.


frank

en-adj

frank (comparative franker, superlative frankest)

franker (comparative)
frankest (superlative)

From Middle English frank, from Old French franc (“free”), in turn from the name of an early Germanic confederation, the Franks, from Proto-West Germanic *frankō (“javelin, spear”). Doublet of Frank, franc, and farang.

der

May I be frank with you?

Honest, especially in a manner that seems slightly blunt; candid; not reserved or disguised.


offbeat

From off- + beat; not following the beat (e.g., of a drum that sounds out cadence).

No one dignified such offbeats by responding to their outcries. Today, the "knockers of progress" have become a force that cannot be ignored.

1977, Lyle W. Dorsett, The Queen City: A History of Denver:

Being an oddball, an offbeat, or a creative person, as Jourard sees the committed professional, is something all nurses should risk.

1980, Eleanor C. Hein, Communication in nursing practice, →ISBN, page 16:

In addition to creating a web of stories that will be passed through many generations, these offbeats usually strengthen the fiber of their particular hobby […]

2001, Andrew Yoder, Pirate Radio Stations:

(slang) An unconventional person, someone who does not follow the beat, who chooses not to conform.


offbeat

en-adj

offbeat (comparative more offbeat, superlative most offbeat)

more offbeat (comparative)
most offbeat (superlative)

He has such an offbeat sense of humor that hardly anyone finds his jokes amusing.


flighty

flighty (comparative flightier, superlative flightiest)

flightier (comparative)
flightiest (superlative)

From flight + -y. Compare Dutch vluchtig (“volatile; fleeting; cursory”), German flüchtig (“volatile; fleeting; momentary; quick”), Danish flygtig (“elusive; evasive”), Swedish flyktig.

cog

"We know that flighty birds suffer from greater risk of raptor predation, and I assume that it is useful to understand the effects of urbanization because flighty species may be more vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbance."

2013, Diego Gil, Henrik Brumm, Avian Urban Ecology:


doux

fr-adj

doux (feminine douce, masculine plural doux, feminine plural douces)

douce (feminine)
doux (masculine plural)
douces (feminine plural)

Inherited from Old French dous, from Latin dulcem (“sweet”).

une pente douce


fou

fr-noun

fou m (plural fous or (obsolete) foux, feminine folle)

fous (plural)
foux (obsolete plural)
folle (feminine)

Mauritian Creole: fol

Inherited from Middle French fol, from Old French fol, from Latin follem. Cognate with English fool.


eccentric

en-adj

eccentric (comparative more eccentric, superlative most eccentric)

more eccentric (comparative)
most eccentric (superlative)

concentric

antonym(s) of “against the contraction of a muscle”

→ Japanese: エキセントリック (ekisentorikku)

From Middle French excentrique, from Medieval Latin eccentricus, from Ancient Greek ἔκκεντρος (ékkentros, “not having the earth as the center of an orbit”), from ἐκ (ek, “out”) + κέντρον (kéntron, “point”). Equivalent to ex- + -centric.

der

1801, Author not named, Fyfield (John), entry in Eccentric Biography; Or, Sketches of Remarkable Characters, Ancient and Modern, page 127,
He was a man of a most eccentric turn of mind, and great singularity of conduct.

Such is not the case with Mr. Martin Van Butchell, one of the most eccentric characters to be found in the British metropolis, and a gentleman of indisputable science and abilities, but whose strange humors and extraordinary habits, have rather tended to obscure than to display the talents he possessed.

1807, G. H. Wilson, editor, The Eccentric Mirror, volume 3, page 17:

There can be no doubt that as a matter of fact a religious life, exclusively pursued, does tend to make the person exceptional and eccentric.

1902, William James, “Lecture I”, in The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature […] , New York, N.Y.; London: Longmans, Green, and Co. […], →OCLC:

Khedron was the only other person in the city who could be called eccentric—and even his eccentricity had been planned by the designers of Diaspar.

1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, published 2012, unnumbered page:

(of a person) Deviating from the norm; behaving unexpectedly or differently; unconventional and slightly strange.


eccentric

(slang) A kook; a person of bizarre habits or beliefs.

Research tells us that eccentrics, heavy partials, and static exercise may require several days or weeks of recovery time.

2021, Edward L. Wallace, Omniflex: A Unified System of Strength Training:

(physiology) An exercise that goes against or in the opposite direction of contraction of a muscle.


pert

en-adj

pert (comparative perter, superlative pertest)

perter (comparative)
pertest (superlative)

From Middle English pert, perte, aphetic form of apert.

Goe Philoſtrate, / Stirre vp the Athenian youth to merriments, / Awake the peart and nimble ſpirit of mirth, / Turne melancholy foorth to funerals: […]

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

He was instantly attracted to Gladys's pert, fey humor and her good nature.

2001, Donald Spoto, chapter 1, in Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, page 11:

Says Mrs. Jervis, Pamela, don’t be pert to his Honour? You ſhould know your Diſtance; you ſee his Honour was only in Jeſt.

1741, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVI”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 37:

[T]he Major began to think that Pen was growing exceedingly pert and conceited, and that the world made a great deal too much of him.

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

[…]so that I couldn't help telling her, sir, that in our country, leastways in Virginia (they say the Yankees are very pert), young people don't speak of their elders so.

1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter XXXIV, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, →OCLC:

“Then you didn't find her so amusing as Tom does?”
“I found her pert. There's no other word for it. She says things to puzzle you and put you out.”

1885, William Dean Howells, chapter XII, in The Rise of Silas Lapham:

"You'll not be so pert when the Cornish seize you. They spit children like you and roast them on bonfires."

2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 333:

(archaic) Especially of children or social inferiors: cheeky, impertinent.

устат

indecorously free, or presuming; saucy; bold; impertinent