petty

petty (comparative pettier or more petty, superlative pettiest or most petty)

pettier (comparative)
more petty (comparative)
pettiest (superlative)
most petty (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Middle English peti, pety (“little, small; minor”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman petit, Middle French petit, and Old French peti, petit, pitet (“young; little, small; inferior; insignificant”) (modern French petit), ultimately of imitative origin. It is no longer thought that the word is derived from Celtic. Doublet of petit and petite.
The noun is derived from the adjective.

Such literature may well be anathema to those who are too docile and petty for their own good.

That corporation is only slightly pettier than they are greedy, and they are overdue to reap the consequences.

[C]ommonly, it is leſſe diſhonourable, to abridge pettie Charges, then to ſtoope to pettie Gettings.

1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Expence”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 166:

I will give you the slightest, pettiest instance of the hindrance which the pettiest official can make out here, if so minded. […] [T]he Senior Purveyor at Balaclava refuses to cash my Cheques, for no other reason discoverable than the love of petty annoyance & the hope of injuring my credit, in the minds of ignorant servants.

1856 March 6, Florence Nightingale, “The ‘Confidential Report’ [Letter to Uncle Sam Smith]”, in Sue M. Goldie, editor, Florence Nightingale: Letters from the Crimea 1854–1856, Manchester, New York, N.Y.: Mandolin, Manchester University Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 225:

He began to walk up and down the room, and she grew more and more vexed at his dignified behaviour. She had counted on his being petty. It would have made things easier for her. By a cruel irony she was drawing but all that was finest in his disposition.

1908, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “Lying to Cecil”, in A Room with a View, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC, part II, page 264:

But while in the beginning those political criteria [in Italian railway construction] were grandiose and national, just and even necessary, later they were to become pettier and pettier, to the point that they were almost always more regional than rational.

2013, Tim Parks, “Verona–Milano”, in Italian Ways: On and Off the Rails from Milan to Palermo, London: Harvill Secker, →ISBN, page 87:

Their conversations had become more fearful, even superstitious in the past month. They called her a ghost, or a demon, or a monster. She once found one of them crying in the graveyard after midnight, praying in Latin, begging forgiveness, and she gave it to him after putting the scissor blade through his aorta. She didn't see any point in being petty. They were all going to die, and that would settle their accounts with her.

2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-05-22:

Of persons or their behaviour: marked by or reflective of undesirably limited interests, sympathies, or views; begrudging, selfish, small-minded; also, preoccupied with subjects having little or no importance and not mindful of broader concerns.

մանր

of persons or their behaviour: marked by or reflective of undesirably limited interests, sympathies, or views; preoccupied with subjects having little or no importance and not mindful of broader concerns

My cousin is so petty—I forgot his birthday and he's been making snarky comments all week.

All of the horrors that happen in the book are based on real incidents, including the burning of her father's books in their front yard. "It was just a very petty, ugly thing to do, to say 'Fuck you' to academics and intellectuals," she says. " I can't imagine losing my books, the books I love."

2020 November 14, Lisa Allardice, “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: 'America under Trump felt like a personal loss'”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-29:

Your manager is just being petty. Ignore her silly provocations.

2021 April 2, Roxane Gay, “Sorry, Sometimes You Do Have to Be Uncomfortable”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-30:

(informal) Inclined to cause frustration or annoyance to others out of spite over minor grievances; extremely vindictive.

petty cash    petty officer

3. Out[law]. […] My ſelfe vvas from Verona baniſhed, / For practiſing to ſteale avvay a Lady, / And heire and Neece, alide vnto the Duke. / […] / 1. Out[law]. And I, for ſuch like petty crimes as theſe.

c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 32, column 2:

With his [Robert Brown's] assistant, Richard Harrison, a petty pedagogue, they inveighed against bishops, ecclesiastical courts, ceremonies, ordination of ministers, and what not; fancying here on earth a platform of a perfect church, without any faults (understand it thus, save those that are made by themselves) therein.

1655, Thomas Fuller, “Section IV. To the Master, Wardens, and All the Members of the Honourable Company of Mercers, of London.”, in The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), subsection 3–7 (Brown’s Opinions. […]), page 64:

Fearleſs of danger, like a petty God / I walk'd about admir'd of all and dreaded / On hoſtile ground, none daring my affront.

1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 37, lines 530–532:

At the time the poem we are now treating of was written, the dissensions of the barons, who were then so many petty princes, ran very high, whether they quarrelled among themselves, or with their neighbours, and produced unspeakable calamities to the country.

1711 June 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, May 21, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 70; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 425:

Can there an Example be given in the whole Courſe of this War, where we have treated the pettieſt Prince, with whom we had to deal, in ſo contemptuous a manner?

1711 December 8 (Gregorian calendar), [Jonathan Swift], The Conduct of the Allies, and of the Late Ministry, in Beginning and Carrying on the Present War, 4th edition, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC, page 53:

Under moderate governments, the law is prudent in all its parts, perfectly well known, and the pettieſt magiſtrates are capable of following it. But in a deſpotic ſtate where the prince's will is the law, though the prince were wiſe, yet how could the magiſtrate follow a will he does not know?

1750, [Charles-Louis] de Secondat, Baron [de La Brède et] de Montesquieu, “Of the Communication of Power”, in Thomas Nugent, transl., The Spirit of Laws. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] Nourse, and P. Vaillant, […], →OCLC, book V (That the Laws Given by the Legislature Ought to be Relative to the Nature of Government), page 94:

Fear, pity, juſtice, indignation ſtart, / Tear off reſerve, and bare my ſwelling heart; / 'Till half a patriot, half a coward grown, / I fly from petty tyrants to the throne.

1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or A Prospect of Society. A Poem. […], London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […], →OCLC, pages 19–20:

[I]n treſpaſs all are principals, becauſe the law, quae de minimis non curat, does not deſcend to diſtinguiſh the different ſhades of guilt in petty miſdemeſnors. It is a maxim, that acceſſorius ſequitur naturam ſui principalis: and therefore an acceſſory cannot be guilty of a higher crime than his principal; being only puniſhed, as a partaker of his guilt. So that if a ſervant inſtigates a ſtranger to kill his maſter, this being murder in the ſtranger as principal, of courſe the ſervant is acceſſory only to the crime of murder; though, had he been preſent and aſſiſting, he would have been guilty as principal of petty treaſon, and the ſtranger of murder.

1769, William Blackstone, “Of Principals and Accessories”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 36:

The ire of the monarch was not to be appeased. He had suffered in his person, and he had suffered in his purse; his dignity too had been insulted, and that went for something; for dignity is always more irascible the more petty the potentate.

1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Buckthorne, or The Young Man of Great Expectations”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 2 (Buckthorne and His Friends), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, pages 116–117:

Secondary in importance or rank; minor, subordinate.


petty

If these houses had been built by his Lordship every one would have had his petty, at all events dividing the odour & also having a chance that some of the occupiers would clean out—but a common occupation is nobody's business, unless the owner of all the buildings takes it in hand.

1848 September 27, Maria Josepha Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley, “[Letter 245]”, in Nancy Mitford, editor, The Ladies of Alderley: Being the Letters between Maria Josepha, Lady Stanley of Alderley, and Her Daughter-in-law Henrietta Maria Stanley during the Years 1841–1850, London: Hamish Hamilton, published 1967, →OCLC, page 172:

Cottages occupied by Betty Hines and others; petty in a very filthy state, wants walling. Two petties belonging to Mr. James Parr to be walled, and one next Thomas Wilkinson's to be removed further off.

1852, Robert Rawlinson, “Appendix”, in Report to the General Board of Health on a Preliminary Inquiry into the Sewerage, Drainage, and Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Condition of the Inhabitants of the Township of Barton-upon-Irwell, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, London: […] George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, […] for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, page 47:

We have an evil in the excretal deposits, and in the ashes an antidote; but instead of applying the antidote, we keep the evil to itself, and suffer it to exercise its unmitigated power over the health of the household. […] Now the simple remedy for this would be, to construct the petties with several steps upward and backward, so as to be more over the centre of the ash-pit. […] Such an arrangement would ensure the mingling of the ashes with the excreta, by which the latter would be deodorised, and the evil suppressed.

1868 January 1, “The Sanitary Condition of Manchester”, in The Manchester Monthly Record and Advertiser, Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.; and Heywood and Co., […], →OCLC, page 32:

(dialectal, euphemistic, informal) An outbuilding used as a lavatory; an outhouse, a privy.

[S]ome of them, which were the Petties and Punies of that ſchoole, whereof old Martin [Marprelate] was the maſter; though then he was but as ſome blinde and obſcure pariſh Clarke that taught in the Belfrie, not preſuming, as hee doth nowe, to preſſe into the Church, (that place in reſpect of the appurtenances being fitter for him) began but rawly with their little a, b, c.

1589, attributed to Thomas Nashe, “To the Discreet and Indifferent Reader”, in Martins Months Minde, that is, A Certaine Report, and True Description of the Death, and Funerals, of Olde Martin Marre-prelate, the Great Makebate of England, and Father of the Factions. […]; republished in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Complete Works of Thomas Nashe. […] (The Huth Library), volume I, [London; Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire: […] Hazell, Watson, and Viney] for private circulation only, 1883–1884, →OCLC, page 150:

As the maiden therefore vvas comming into the market place, (for there vvere the ſchools for peties kept, of reading and vvriting) the Decemvirs man (a broker to ſerve his maſters luſt) laid hold upon her, avovving that ſhe vvas his bond-ſervants daughter, and therefore his bond-maid: commanding her to follovv him, and threatning beſides, that if ſhe made any ſtays, he vvould have her avvay perforce.

1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book III]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, page 97:

The Free Grammar School, at Cartmel, was originally only a parochial seminary, under the superintendence of the churchwardens and sidesmen of the parish, who, for a series of years, hired a master to whom they paid the interest of a few small bequests, the remainder of his salary being made up by quarterage from the scholars, except the children of poor parents, who were taught free. In 1635, the quarterage from grammarians was sixpence, and for petties, little ones, fourpence. […] In 1674, the quarterage for grammarians was raised to 8d., but no alteration was made for the petties.

1849, P. J. Mannex, “History, Topography, and Directory, of Furness and Cartmel, in Lancashire”, in History, Topography, and Directory, of Westmorland; and Lonsdale North of the Sands, in Lancashire; […], London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., […]; Beverley, Yorkshire: […] W. B. Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 377:

(obsolete, chiefly in the plural, also figuratively) A little schoolboy, either in grade or size.


pious

en-adj

pious (comparative more pious, superlative most pious)

more pious (comparative)
most pious (superlative)

impious

antonym(s) of “of or pertaining to piety”

Borrowed from Latin pīus (“pious, dutiful, blessed, kind, devout”), from Proto-Indo-European *pewH- (“pure”). Cognate with Old English fǣle (“faithful, trusty, good; dear, beloved”). More at feal.

cog

Insisting on or making a show of one's own virtue, especially in comparison to others; sanctimonious, condescending, judgmental.


vanilla

en-noun

vanilla (countable and uncountable, plural vanillas)

Borrowed from Spanish vainilla, a diminutive form of vaina (“pod”). "plain" senses derive from the perceived plainness of vanilla ice cream.

vanilla:

A yellowish-white colour, like that of vanilla ice cream.


belligerent

en-adj

belligerent (comparative more belligerent, superlative most belligerent)

more belligerent (comparative)
most belligerent (superlative)

From Latin belligerans (“waging war”), present active participle of belligerō (“I wage war”), from belliger (“waging war, warlike”), from bellum (“war”) + -ger (from gerō (“I lead, wage, carry on”)).

England were not allowed to give their chariot the momentum it had a week ago. It was stopped dead in its tracks by a belligerent Springboks defence that simply refused to yield.

2019 November 3, Liam de Carme, “Boks, you beauties”, in Sunday Times:

(by extension) Aggressively hostile, eager to fight.


oily

oily (comparative oilier, superlative oiliest)

oilier (comparative)
oiliest (superlative)

From Middle English oylei, equivalent to oil + -y. Compare German ölig (“oily”), Swedish oljig (“oily”).

Coordinate term: soapy

Near-synonyms: slick; smarmy

[…] for I want that glib and oyly Art,
To ſpeake and purpoſe not, ſince what I well entend
Ile do’t before I ſpeake, […]

c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

Mr. Carker the Manager, sly of manner, sharp of tooth, soft of foot, watchful of eye, oily of tongue, cruel of heart, nice of habit, sat with a dainty stedfastness and patience at his work, as if he were waiting at a mouse’s hole.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “A Trifle of Management by Mr. Carker the Manager”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 211:

‘He had an inflexible will beneath all that oily kindness which passed for spiritual […]’

en:excessively friendly or polite but insincere

(figuratively) Excessively friendly or polite but insincere.


awkward

awkward (comparative awkwarder or more awkward, superlative awkwardest or most awkward)

awkwarder (comparative)
more awkward (comparative)
awkwardest (superlative)
most awkward (superlative)

I'm very awkward at parties.

Things got awkward when my boss tried a cheesy pick-up line on me.

Lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction.

retret

lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction


sec

fr-adj

sec (feminine sèche, masculine plural secs, feminine plural sèches)

sèche (feminine)
secs (masculine plural)
sèches (feminine plural)

→ Dutch: sec

→ Turkish: sek

Inherited from Old French sec, from Latin siccus (“dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyk-.

Désolé si j’ai été un peu sec.


malin

malin (feminine maligne or maline, masculine plural malins, feminine plural malignes or malines)

maligne (feminine)
maline (feminine)
malins (masculine plural)
malignes (feminine plural)
malines (feminine plural)

Inherited from Middle French malin(g), backformation from Old French maligne m (12th c.), a borrowing from Latin malignus. Compare the same backformation in bénin and, on the other hand, the original common-gender form preserved in digne.

prendre un malin plaisir à faire quelque chose

to take perverse pleasure in doing something

(chiefly dated or biblical) malicious, sadistic (which likes to do or say hurtful things for fun)

malin comme un singe

avoir l’air malin

C’est malin !

C’est inhumain / De me laisser seul / J’ai l’air malin / Sous mon parasol

1982, “Un été sans toi”, performed by Charles Aznavour:

It's inhuman / To leave me alone / I look silly / Under my umbrella

(informal) smart and quick-thinking, and often tricksterish; cunning, crafty

(Quebec) aggressive (of an animal); petulant (of a person)


malin

fr-noun

malin m (plural malins, feminine maligne or maline)

malins (plural)
maligne (feminine)
maline (feminine)


triste

es-adj

triste m or f (masculine and feminine plural tristes, superlative tristísimo)

tristes (feminine masculine plural)
tristísimo (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin trīstis. Compare the Old Spanish tristo, inherited from Vulgar Latin trīstus.


sassy

en-adj

sassy (comparative sassier, superlative sassiest)

sassier (comparative)
sassiest (superlative)

A modification of saucy, equivalent to sass + -y, originally used in American English.

Olives and preserved lemons add sassy tartness to salads, chicken tagines, and fish dishes […]

2012, Jeff Koehler, Morocco: A Culinary Journey with Recipes from the Spice-scented Markets of Marrakech to the Date-filled Oasis of Zagora, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 10:

Talk-back or sass per Bell Hooks is "a gesture of defiance that heals...liberated voice" […]

2015, Gwendolyn D. Pough, Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere, Boston, Massachusetts: Northeastern University, →ISBN, page 80:


chatty

chatty (comparative chattier, superlative chattiest)

chattier (comparative)
chattiest (superlative)

From chat (“informal conversation”) + -y.

Chatty error messages may help attackers to compromise your server.

(computing) Supplying more information than necessary; verbose.


catty

From Malay kati, from Tamil கட்டி (kaṭṭi).

16 Mess, make a Tale, which here is 20 s. English, 5 Tale make a Bancal, a weight so called, and 20 Bancal make a Catty, another weight.

1699, Captain William Dampier, A new voyage round the world, Volume 1:

Transparent yellow pieces are the best; the price is from eight to fourteen dollars per catty, according to size and quality.

1847, Robert Montgomery Martin, China; Political, Commercial, and Social, volume 2, James Madden, page 124:

To limit team members' consumption, it issued food stamps to the villagers and allowed everyone to eat one catty of rice a day.

2009, Huaiyin Li, Village China Under Socialism and Reform: A Micro-History, 1948-2008, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 94:

A (unit of) weight used in China which is metricated in Mainland China as exactly 0.5 kg, and approximately 0.6 kg for other places.


catty

“Give me your slingshot, and I'll let you have it back after school this afternoon,” she said firmly. […] I stuck the 'catty' into my back pocket and ran outside to meet the others.

2009, Sheldon Arensen, The Carjackers, page 43:

You could also keep a tennis ball and a frog, or a catapult and a frog, but not all three together. I know because I tried it. The frog got a bit squashed between the ball and the handle of the catty.

2017, David Cooper, Christiaan Barnard: The Surgeon Who Dared:


grave

→ Norwegian Bokmål: grave

Inherited from Middle French grave, borrowed from Latin gravis. Doublet of grief.


foolish

foolish (comparative more foolish, superlative most foolish)

more foolish (comparative)
most foolish (superlative)

From Middle English folisch; equivalent to fool + -ish.

a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

Next season will, as ever, be a different matter, another problem for Conte to solve as he looks to extend his personal record of four straight league titles in club football across England and Italy. Given his hunger for more – more time, more detail, more work – only the brave or the foolish would bet against him.

2017 May 13, Barney Ronay, “Antonio Conte’s brilliance has turned Chelsea’s pop-up team into champions”, in the Guardian:

As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.

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

(of a person, an action, etc.) Lacking good sense or judgement; unwise.


forward

restrained

antonym(s) of “without customary restraint”

From Middle English foreward, from Old English foreweard (“forward, inclined to the front, fore, early, former”), from Proto-Germanic *fura- (“fore-”), *warþaz (“turned”), equivalent to fore + -ward. Cognate with Dutch voorwaarts (“forward”), German vorwärts (“forward”).

der

She is a very forward young lady, not afraid to speak her mind.

[…] the lady conceived the same desires with himself, and was on her side contriving how to give the captain proper encouragement, without appearing too forward; for she was a strict observer of all rules of decorum.

1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

He said that if one offered himself to be a soldier under him, who was forward to tell what he could or would do, if he could only get sight of the enemy, he had but little confidence in him.

1859, Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown:

"Would you think it forward of me to kiss you?" asked Tristran.

1999:, Neil Gaiman, Stardust, pg. 44 (2001 Perennial paperback edition)

Without customary restraint or modesty; bold, cheeky, pert, presumptuous or pushy.


forward

en-verb

forward (third-person singular simple present forwards, present participle forwarding, simple past and past participle forwarded)

forwards (present singular third-person)
forwarding (participle present)
forwarded (participle past)
forwarded (past)

Dutch: forwarden

I'll be glad to forward your mail to you while you're gone.

One of the most important aspects of the social service operation was the maintaining of a telephone "hot line," supposedly available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week […] This unbelievable achievement was accomplished with the expedient of "call forwarding" which made it possible for all the calls coming in to the CHAT office to be sent by means of technical magic to any other telephone in the area.

1981 April 4, Steve Owens, “We Are God's Children Too”, in Gay Community News, page 9:

(transitive) To send (a letter, email etc.) on to a third party.

aanstuur

send (something received) to a third party

pass on

send (something received) on to a third party


creative

en-adj

creative (comparative more creative, superlative most creative)

more creative (comparative)
most creative (superlative)

Borrowed from Late Latin creativus, from Latin creō. Equivalent to create + -ive. Displaced native Old English orþanclīċ.

a creative new solution to an old problem

(of a created thing) Original, expressive and imaginative.


Tigger

From the initials of The Independent Group + -er.

Nor is there any sign that Corbyn is at present willing to make any overtures to the eight Tiggers and those who may be contemplating joining them.

2019 February 25, John Crace, “The Independent Group may have secured another Tory government. That's not an accident”, in British GQ:

For one Tigger in particular, Chuka Umunna, 2019 was quite a rollercoaster. Over the course of the year, he was an MP for Labour, an MP for The Independent Group, an MP for the Lib Dems, and then an MP for no one.

2020 January 31, Michael Deacon, “The 20 funniest moments of Brexit”, in The Telegraph:

In fact, Joan Ryan MP (the first Labour MP to jump ship to the Tiggers/Change UK) said, after I'd confessed to her about the dog shampoo, ‘Well, I think your coat looks very nice.’

2020 March 19, Rachel Johnson, Rake's Progress: My Political Midlife Crisis, →ISBN:

(informal, UK politics, historical) A member of The Independent Group for Change, a pro-European British political party that existed in 2019.


serious

serious (comparative more serious, superlative most serious)

more serious (comparative)
most serious (superlative)

General American, Canada, mirror–nearer merger

From Middle English seryows, from Old French serieux, from Medieval Latin sēriōsus, an extension of Latin sērius (“grave, earnest, serious”), from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”). Cognate with German schwer (“heavy, difficult, severe”), Old English swǣr (“heavy, grave, grievous”). More at swear, sweer.

cog

deadly serious

It was a surprise to see the captain, who had always seemed so serious, laugh so heartily.

Without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition

ernstig

without humor or expression of happiness


ingenue

Borrowed from French ingénue, the feminine form of ingénu (“guileless”), originally from the Latin ingenuus (“ingenuous”).

She was seen as a gifted pop-country ingenue when, in a now infamous moment, Kanye West interrupted Swift onstage at the 2009 VMAs while she was accepting an award. The incident set in motion a chain of events that would shape the next decade of both artists’ lives.

2023 December 6, Sam Lansky, “Person of Year 2023 : Taylor Swift”, in Time:

An innocent, unsophisticated, naïve, wholesome girl or young woman.


obsequious

en-adj

obsequious (comparative more obsequious, superlative most obsequious)

more obsequious (comparative)
most obsequious (superlative)

From Middle English obsequyous, from Latin obsequiōsus (“complaisant, obsequious”), from obsequium (“compliance”), from obsequor (“comply with, yield to”), from ob (“in the direction of, towards”) + sequor (“follow”) (cf. sequel).

der

Personally I felt shy and uncomfortable at this obsequious adoration, and I read the same feeling in the faces of Lord John and Summerlee, but Challenger expanded like a flower in the sun.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘Those Were the Real Conquests’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 259:

Translation falls especially short of this conceit which carries the whole flamboyance of the Spanish language. It was intended as an obsequious flattery of the Condesa, and was untrue.

1927, Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, page 20:

[S]he complained pettishly of the heat and the flies and at length of the walk, and reduced Robert to the antics of an obsequious dog.

1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 118:

Excessively eager and attentive to please or to obey instructions; fawning, subservient, servile.


taciturn

en-adj

taciturn (comparative more taciturn, superlative most taciturn)

more taciturn (comparative)
most taciturn (superlative)

Back-formation from taciturnity, from Middle English taciturnite, from Latin taciturnitās; or alternatively from French taciturne, likely reinforced by Latin taciturnus, from tacitus (“secret, tacit”).

The two sisters could hardly have been more different, one so boisterous and expressive, the other so taciturn and calm.

We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the eclat of a proverb.

1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 18:

We spent a lot of time up on the staging of the great furnaces, trying to pick up the tricks of the trade from the taciturn furnacemen who sat around placidly smoking, or chewing twist, and occasionally throwing in more pig iron to the molten white-hot metal.

1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 14:

Silent; temperamentally untalkative; disinclined to speak.


garrulous

garrulous (comparative more garrulous, superlative most garrulous)

more garrulous (comparative)
most garrulous (superlative)

/ˈɡæɹ.ʊ.ləs/

/ˈɡɛɹ.ə.ləs/

/ˈɡæɹ.ə.ləs/

Borrowed from Latin garrulus (“talkative”), from the verb garriō (“I chatter”).

She lingered for a few moments, and was garrulous over some detail of the household.

1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:

Crammed with gossip, anecdotes, and confessions . . ., his garrulous, untidy narratives read like a good novel.

1984 Dec, James Atlas, “A Modern Whitman”, in The Atlantic:


mild

mild (comparative milder, superlative mildest)

milder (comparative)
mildest (superlative)

From Middle English milde, from Old English milde (“mild”), from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz (“mild”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to beat, pound, grind”).
Cognate with Scots mild, myld (“mild”), Saterland Frisian milde (“mild”), West Frisian myld (“mild”), Dutch mild (“mild”), Low German milde (“mild”), German mild (“mild”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål mild (“mild”), Icelandic mildur (“mild”), Latin mollis (“soft, gentle”), Lithuanian malonus (“pleasing, pleasant, kind”), Old Norse mildr.

cog

a mild man


urbane

en-adj

urbane (comparative urbaner or more urbane, superlative urbanest or most urbane)

urbaner (comparative)
more urbane (comparative)
urbanest (superlative)
most urbane (superlative)

A variant of urban + -ane (a variant of -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives)). Urban is borrowed from Middle French urbain (“belonging to a city, urban; courteous, refined, urbane”) (modern French urbain), or from its etymon Latin urbānus (“of or belonging to a city, urban; of manners or style: like those of city dwellers: cultivated, polished, refined, sophisticated”), from urbs (“city; walled town; Rome”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to encircle, enclose; a belt; an enclosure, fence”) or *werbʰ- (“to enclose”)) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).

der

We took advantage of our acquaintance with the urbane Frenchman to join his party; the conversation turned almost entirely on literary subjects.

1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XV, in Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 93–94:

Newman, at this juncture, fell to admiring the duchess for her fine manners. He felt, most accurately, that she was not a grain less urbane than she would have been if his marriage were still in prospect; but he felt also that she was not a particle more urbane.

1877 May, Henry James, Jr., chapter XXV, in The American, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, […], published 5 May 1877, →OCLC, pages 441–442:

However, there was nothing for it but to welcome her with all the heartiness I could summon. The sepulchral atmosphere of the parlor had chilled and dampened the spirits of this usually urbane woman, while disappointment and disgust were written in every line of that strong face.

1897 March, Maria Weed, “Disillusioned”, in The Midland Monthly, volume VII, number 3, Des Moines, Iowa: Johnson Brigham, →OCLC, chapter II (continued), page 245, column 2:

Our people must have some control over our destiny," reasons Wilma Muth, an urbane woman who serves as Inyo County supervisor.

1976, National Geographic, volume 149, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 106:

Mme de Chartres' advice to her daughter consisted only of prohibitions from which we might infer that the virtuous urbane woman was both inactive and invisible, obviously not a particularly suitable subject for the elaboration of engaging tales.

1992, Thomas DiPiero, “Mastery and Seduction in Eighteenth-century Fiction”, in Dangerous Truths and Criminal Passions: The Evolution of the French Novel, 1569–1791, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, part 2 (The Development of the Modern Novel), page 237:

Of a person (usually a man): having refined manners; courteous, polite, suave.

изискан

of a person (usually a man): having refined manners — see also courteous, polite, suave


urbain

fr-adj

urbain (feminine urbaine, masculine plural urbains, feminine plural urbaines)

urbaine (feminine)
urbains (masculine plural)
urbaines (feminine plural)


loyal

en-adj

loyal (comparative more loyal, superlative most loyal)

more loyal (comparative)
most loyal (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-loyal.wav

Borrowed from Middle French loyal, from Old French loial, leial, leal, from Latin lēgālis. Doublet of legal and leal.

We must remain loyal to the mission.


loyal

fr-adj

loyal (feminine loyale, masculine plural loyaux, feminine plural loyales)

loyale (feminine)
loyaux (masculine plural)
loyales (feminine plural)

Inherited from Old French loial (with various alternative forms: leial, leal, loyel) from Latin lēgālis. Equivalent to loi + -al. Doublet of légal.


industrious

en-adj

industrious (comparative more industrious, superlative most industrious)

more industrious (comparative)
most industrious (superlative)

From Middle French industrieux, from Late Latin industriosus (“diligent, active, industrious”), from Latin industria (“diligence, industry”); see industry.

der

She was a very industrious student at school.

The ant has made himself illustrious / Through constant industry industrious. / So what? / Would you be calm and placid / If you were full of formic acid?

1941, Ogden Nash, The Face is Familiar, Garden City Publishing Company, The ant, page 224:


tight

en-adj

tight (comparative tighter, superlative tightest)

tighter (comparative)
tightest (superlative)

baggy

firmly held together; of clothing or other material

slack

antonym(s) of “well-rehearsed and accurate”

From Middle English tight, tyght, tyȝt, tiht, variants of thight, thiht, from Old English *þiht, *þīht (attested in meteþiht), from Proto-West Germanic *þį̄ht(ī), from Proto-Germanic *þinhtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *tenkt- (“dense, thick, tight”), from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, pull”).
Cognate with Scots ticht, West Frisian ticht, Danish tæt, Icelandic þéttur (“dense”), Norwegian tett, Swedish tät, Dutch dicht (“dense”), German dicht (“dense”).
The current form with t- /t/ rather than etymologically-expected th- /θ/ arose in Middle English under the influence of the etymologically-unrelated verbs tighten and tight.


brazen

en-adj

brazen (comparative more brazen, superlative most brazen)

more brazen (comparative)
most brazen (superlative)

From Middle English brasen, from Old English bræsen (“brazen, of brass”); equivalent to brass + -en (compare golden, wooden, etc.).
The word originally meant “of brass”; the figurative verb sense (as in brazen it out (“face impudently”)) dates from the 1550s (perhaps evoking the sense “face like brass, unmoving and not showing shame”), and the adjective sense “impudent” from the 1570s. Compare bold as brass.

And now the Trumpets terribly from far, / With rattling Clangor, rouze the sleepy War. / The Souldiers Shouts succeed the Brazen Sounds, / And Heav'n, from Pole to Pole, the Noise rebounds.

1697, Virgil; John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse; […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 839376905; republished as The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. Translated into English Verse by Mr. Dryden. In Three Volumes, volume III, 5th edition, London: Printed by Jacob Tonson […], 1721, OCLC 181805247, book IX, page 822, lines 667–670

Often a traveller, when the air is quiet, / Will make the night reverberate with this riot / Of brazen sounds, whose singing cadence swells / The harmony of bleating and lambs' bells.

2001, R[alph] N[ixon] Currey, “The Horn”, in Collected Poems, Oxford: James Currey; Cape Town: David Philip Publishers, →ISBN, page 246:

Sounding harsh and loud, like brass cymbals or brass instruments.

She was brazen enough to deny stealing the handbag even though she was caught on camera doing so.

He looked at her for a long moment. Slowly, a smile lit in his eyes. "Never a shrew. A fighter and a brazen hussy." / Placing a finger beneath her chin, he tilted her face up. "And, I'd say, you're the only brazen hussy who blushes." / A brazen hussy. She should be offended. But the smile in his eyes, the touch of his finger moving slowly and feather-light from chin to throat and along the sensitive skin of her neck made it impossible to concentrate on rebuke.

1993, Karla Hocker, A Deceitful Heart (Zebra Regency Romance), New York, N.Y.: Zebra Books, Kensington Books, →ISBN:

If one had to lie at all, the brazen lie was better because brazen lies were so outrageous many people failed to question them.

2012, Michelle West, Skirmish: A House War Novel (DAW Books Collectors; no. 1571), New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, →ISBN:

This brazen action further helps convince Kurita that the Johnston is actually a cruiser, since, obviously, no mere destroyer would dare risk this kind of charge, nor achieve this kind of damage!

2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 18:25 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 2022-11-03:

Shameless or impudent; shocking or audacious; brash.


brazen

en-verb

brazen (third-person singular simple present brazens, present participle brazening, simple past and past participle brazened)

brazens (present singular third-person)
brazening (participle present)
brazened (participle past)
brazened (past)

And though the word doth eat up all they can ſay, as Moſes rod did: yet they harden their hearts with Pharaoh, they brazen their brows with him in the text, that ſaid I will not: Nay ſaid the Iſraelites, but we will have a King. [Commentary on Matthew 21:29.]

1656, John Trapp, “A Commentary or Exposition upon the Gospel According to St. Matthew”, in A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the New Testament. […], 2nd enlarged edition, London: Printed by R. W. and are to be sold by Nath. Ekins, […], →OCLC, page 274:

His impudence is only less than his ignorance, in referring his questioner to [John] Milton, in proof of the scriptural angels being celestial women. That gentleman mildly remarks, "Milton's angels are not Ladies." Instead of blushing, he brazens it out, and replies, "No—but some scriptural angels are Ladies—I believe"—shewing that he is as ignorant of his Bible as of Milton.

1832 November, “Noctes Ambrosianæ. No. LXIV.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXXII, number CCI, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, […]; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 870:

Sabina brazened it out before Mrs. Wygram; but inwardly she was resolved to be a good deal more circumspect.

1887, William Black, “Flight”, in Sabina Zembra […], volume I, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 171:

[T]he historically minded modernist poet is uncertain whether there is any excuse at all for the existence of poets. He brazens out the dilemma by making cruel jokes at his own expense—jokes which he expects no one to see or to laugh at if seen.

1949, Robert Graves, “Modernist Poetry (with Laura Riding, 1926)”, in The Common Asphodel, Collected Essays on Poetry, 1922–1949, London: Hamish Hamilton, →OCLC, page 151:

[...] I've come to rely on a mental technique that I call powering through. [...] It's equivalent to brazening out an awkward social situation—accidentally squeezing the butt of a stranger wearing the same costume as your boyfriend at a Halloween party, say. Powering through or brazening out is almost always what I end up doing, but only after stifling my initial impulse to surrender or sink through the floor.

2007, Jennifer Brice, “Blue Storm”, in Unlearning to Fly, Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 169:

The drivers of the 507s Lost Convoy knew they were in a world of deep fecal matter. Could they brazen a path through the city once more and pick up Route Blue on the other side? Or would this morning's chain of unfortunate events finally catch up with them?

2008, Charles W. Sasser, God in the Foxhole: Inspiring True Stories of Miracles on the Battlefield, New York, N.Y.: Threshold Editions, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN:

(transitive) Generally followed by out or through: to carry through in a brazen manner; to act boldly despite embarrassment, risk, etc.


pusillanimous

en-adj

pusillanimous (comparative more pusillanimous, superlative most pusillanimous)

more pusillanimous (comparative)
most pusillanimous (superlative)

Derived from Latin pusillanimis (“faint-hearted, timid”) + -ous.

af

The soldier deserted his troop in a pusillanimous manner.

Therefore, the wise thing is for us diligently to train ourselves to lie thoughtfully, judiciously; to lie with a good object, and not an evil one; to lie for others' advantage, and not our own; to lie healingly, charitably, humanely, not cruelly, hurtfully, maliciously; to lie gracefully and graciously, not awkwardly and clumsily; to lie firmly, frankly, squarely, with head erect, not haltingly, tortuously, with pusillanimous mien, as being ashamed of our high calling.

1882, Mark Twain, On the Decay of the Art of Lying:

(Aaron Burr and Andrew Jackson ride together in Tennessee; Burr narrates): Jackson shouted at me his view of the duel. "Never read such a damned lot of nonsense as the press has been writing! All that hypocritical caterwauling for that Creole bastard (referring to Alexander Hamilton) who fought you of his own free will, just like a gentleman which he wasn't, if you'll forgive me, Colonel! I know you couldn't have met him unless you thought he was one, but he was not, Sir. He was the worst man in this union, as you, Sir, are the best. The best, and that goes for that pusillanimous spotted caitiff of a president (referring to Thomas Jefferson) we got.

Octavian, by contrast, was pusillanimous in battle ... but proved himself extremely adept in the political arena

2007, David Potter, chapter 1, in The Emperors of Rome, page 36:

Showing ignoble cowardice, or contemptible timidity.


firecracker

She said she was awakened abruptly Friday night by the kid next door setting off a firecracker.

2011, Ken Casper, As the Crow Dies, page 120:

A small explosive device, typically containing a small amount of gunpowder in a tightly-wound roll of paper, primarily designed to produce a large bang.

Alice B. Toklas brownie
Alice B. Toklas brownie

(slang, informal) A peanut butter cracker baked with marijuana, similar in concept to an Alice B. Toklas brownie.

Jude Bellingham became the nation’s second youngest World Cup scorer behind Michael Owen when he started the rout – the centrepiece of a performance of power, skill and precision – while Bukayo Saka deserved his two goals, the first a firecracker, as he radiated menace with his every involvement.

2022 November 21, David Hytner, “England open World Cup in style with Bukayo Saka double in 6-2 rout of Iran”, in The Guardian:

(slang, informal) An individual who is quick-tempered, rambunctious, or unpredictable.


considerate

en-adj

considerate (comparative more considerate, superlative most considerate)

more considerate (comparative)
most considerate (superlative)

It was very considerate of you to give up your place for your friend.

Consciously thoughtful and observant (often of other people and their rights, needs, feelings and comfort).


drôle

Louisiana Creole: drol, dròl

→ English: droll

⇒ Esperanto: drola

Inherited from Middle French drolle (“a merry fellow, pleasant rascal”) from Old French drolle (“one who lives luxuriously”), from Middle Dutch drol (“fat little man, goblin”), itself from Old Norse troll, from Proto-Germanic *truzlą.

der

C’est drôle, mais c’est comme ça...

1882, Guy de Maupassant, Madame Baptiste:

C’était un bien drôle de petit homme que le père Langevin, tailleur et porteur de contraintes au Grand-Fougeray.

1901, Adolphe Orain, Contes de l’Ille-et-Vilaine, page 207:

He was quite an odd little man, that Father Langevin, mason and "porteur de contraintes" in Grand-Fougeray

Tu voulais m’épouser, quelle drôle d’idée, tu n’avais pas 15 ans

1977, “Dix ans plus tôt”, performed by Michel Sardou:

You wanted to marry me, what an odd idea, you were only fifteen

(sometimes with "de") strange, weird, bizarre


argumentative

en-adj

argumentative (comparative more argumentative, superlative most argumentative)

more argumentative (comparative)
most argumentative (superlative)

/ˌɑːɡjʊˈmɛntətɪv/

/ˌɑːɡjʊmɛnˈteɪtɪv/

From Late Middle English argumentatif (“syllogistic, sophistic”), from Old French argumentatif, argumentative (modern French argumentatif (“argumentative”)) and Medieval Latin, Late Latin argūmentātīvus, from Latin argūmentātor + -īvus (suffix forming adjectives).

inh

I proceed next to treat of the argumentative or reaſoning Part of a Diſcourſe. In whatever place, or on whatever ſubject one ſpeaks, this beyond doubt is of the greateſt conſequence.

1783, Hugh Blair, “Lecture XXXII. Conduct of a Discourse—The Argumentative Part—The Pathetic Part—The Peroration.”, in Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, volume II, London: W[illiam] Strahan; T[homas] Cadell, […]; Edinburgh: W[illiam] Creech, →OCLC, page 179:

There muſt be a Special Demurrer to a Negative Pregnant, that is, a Negative Plea, which doth alſo contain in it an Affirmative; and to an Argumentative Plea, that is a Plea which concludes nothing directly, but only by Way of Argument or Reaſoning, for the Court will intend every Plea to be good till the contrary doth appear.

1793, Matthew Bacon [i.e., Mathew Bacon], T. Cunningham, “Demurrer”, in A New Abridgment of the Law, […] In Five Volumes. […], 6th edition, volume IV, Dublin: Luke White, →OCLC:

Discourses to an academical audience ought undoubtedly to be of a more learned and recondite class than those which are addressed to ordinary congregations. They should be mostly of the argumentative cast; rather adapted to inform the understandings and exercise the reasoning faculties of the hearers, than to awaken the affections or work upon the passions.

1812 June, “Art. IV.—Sermons on Various Subjects, Doctrinal and Practical, Preached before the University of Oxford. By John Eveleigh, […] 8vo. pp. 441. Oxford; Cooke and Parker. [book review]”, in John Taylor Coleridge, editor, The Quarterly Review, volume VII, number XIV, London: […] John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 293:

Yet with all its straight-forwardness and argumentative rigor, its prime motive was the loving desire to bring back, if not absolute identity of thought and teaching, certainly an obedience to what is the essence of Christian life, brotherly love and the mutuality which requires freedom and toleration.

1911, “The Twelve Questions or Arguments against Impanation: July? 1525”, in Chester David Hartranft, editor, Letters and Treatises of Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig: June 11, 1524–1527 (Corpus Schwenckfeldianorum; II), Norristown, Pa.: Board of Publication of the Schwenckfelder Church; Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, →OCLC, page 129:

The previous chapter discussed the external structure of argumentation, that is to say, it was concerned with the prerequisites for a meaningful argumentative process. [...] [T]his chapter will discuss the relation between leadership and argumentation and will deal with the issue of how leadership can influence the argumentative process in a positive way.

2007, Eric-Hans Kramer, “Leadership and the Internal Structure of Argumentation”, in Stewart R. Clegg, Ralph Stablein, editors, Organizing Doubt: Grounded Theory, Army Units and Dealing with Dynamic Complexity (Advances in Organizaton Studies), Malmö, Sweden: Liber; Copenhagen, Denmark: Copenhagen Business School Press, →ISBN, part III (Analytical Framework: Organizing Doubt in an Organizational System), page 130:

Of or relating to argumentation; specifically, presenting a logical argument or line of reasoning; argumentive, discursive.

argumentativo

of or relating to argumentation; specifically, presenting a logical argument or line of reasoning — see also argumentive


magnetic

en-adj

magnetic (comparative more magnetic, superlative most magnetic)

more magnetic (comparative)
most magnetic (superlative)

antimagnetic

antonym(s) of “of, relating to, caused by, or operating by magnetism”

geographic

antonym(s) of “determined by earth's magnetic fields”

repulsive

antonym(s) of “having an extraordinary ability to attract”

He has a magnetic personality.

she that had all magnetic force alone

1611, John Donne, An Anatomy of the World—The First Anniversery:

Having an extraordinary ability to attract.


curt

curt (comparative curter, superlative curtest)

curter (comparative)
curtest (superlative)

From the Latin curtus (“shortened”). Cognate with Dutch kort, German kurz, Galician curto, French court, Italian corto, Portuguese curto, and Spanish corto. Doublet of short.

Again I begged her to keep an eye on her blood pressure and not get so worked up, and once more she brushed me off, this time with a curt request that I would go and boil my head. [...] Beginning with a curt “Listen, Buster,” she proceeded to sketch out with admirable clearness the salient points in the situation as she envisaged it […]

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

Brief or terse, especially to the point of being rude.

лаконичен

brief or terse, especially to the point of being rude


recalcitrant

recalcitrant (comparative more recalcitrant, superlative most recalcitrant)

more recalcitrant (comparative)
most recalcitrant (superlative)

compliant

antonym(s) of “stubbornly unwilling to obey authority”

amenable

antonym(s) of “difficult to operate or deal with”

orthodox

antonym(s) of “not viable for long period”

Borrowed from French récalcitrant, from Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre (“be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]”), from calx (“heel”), 1820s.

His nimble fancy was recalcitrant to mental discipline.

1908, Edith Wharton, “In Trust”, in The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories:

There was something in her manner so reminiscent of the school teacher reprimanding a recalcitrant pupil that Mr. Snyder's sense of humor came to his rescue.

1914, P. G. Wodehouse, Death at the Excelsior:

Kenya's official "Cowan Plan," named after a colonial prison administrator, decreed that recalcitrant prisoners "be manhandled to the site and forced to carry out the task."

1959 June 8, “Kenya: The Hola Scandal”, in Time:

Marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey authority.

непокорен

marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey figures of authority

The more labile organic constituents of complex dissolved and particulate organic matter are commonly hydrolyzed and metabolized more rapidly than more recalcitrant organic compounds that are less accessible enzymatically.

2003, Robert G. Wetzel, “Solar radiation as an ecosystem modulator”, in E. Walter Helbling, Horacio Zagarese, editors, UV Effects in Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems, page 13:

The Hansa had no legal status, independent finances or a common institutional framework, while the major weapon against recalcitrant members (or opponents) was the threat of embargo.

2004, Derek W. Urwin, Germany: From Geographical Expression to Regional Accommodation, in Michael Keating (editor), Regions and Regionalism in Europe, page 47

Particularly recalcitrant examples which made it impossible to remove actual words while maintaining the balance of the set were resolved by altering a consonant in the base word to create a new base form.

2006, Janet Pierrehumbert, “Syllable structure and word structure: a study of triconsonantal clusters in English”, in Patricia A. Keating, editor, Phonological Structure and Phonetic Form, page 179:

However, when a clinician is faced with a more recalcitrant case, it is important to remember to ask the patient whether psychological, social, or occupational stress might be contributing to the activity of the skin disorder.

2010, Brian J. Hall, John C. Hall, Sauer's Manual of Skin Diseases, page 251:

The temptation is to regard him [John Ogdon] as an idiot savant, a big talent bottled inside a recalcitrant body and accompanied by a personality that seems not just unremarkable, but almost entirely blank.

2014 May 11, Ivan Hewett, “Piano Man: a Life of John Ogdon by Charles Beauclerk, review: A new biography of the great British pianist whose own genius destroyed him [print version: A colossus off-key, 10 May 2014, p. R27]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review):


ignoble

ignoble (comparative ignobler, superlative ignoblest)

ignobler (comparative)
ignoblest (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French ignoble, from Latin ignōbilis, from in- (“not”) + gnōbilis, later nōbilis (“noble”).

I was not ignoble of descent.

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

A base, ignoble mind, / That mounts no higher than a bird can soar.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife

1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:

Not a true or "noble" falcon; said of certain hawks, such as the goshawk.


ignoble

Inherited from Middle French ignoble, borrowed from Latin ignōbilis, from in- (“not”) + gnōbilis, later nōbilis (“noble”).


flexible

flexible (comparative more flexible, superlative most flexible)

more flexible (comparative)
most flexible (superlative)

From Middle French flexible, from Latin flexibilis, from flectō (“I bend, curve”).
Morphologically flex + -ible.

When the splitting wind Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks.

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking.

Phocion the Athenian (a man of great severity, and no ways flexible to the will of the people[…]

1625, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the chapter)”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible.

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

Willing or prone to give way to the influence of others; not invincibly rigid or obstinate.


pleasant

From Middle English plesaunte, from Old French plaisant. Present participle of English please. Related to Dutch plezant (“full of fun or pleasure”). Partly displaced Old English wynsum, which became Modern English winsome.

cog

[…] Galba was no better than one of the buffons or pleasants that professe to make folke merry and to laugh.

1603, Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, commonlie called the Morals written by the learned philosopher Plutarch of Chæronea, London, page 1144:

1696, uncredited translator, The General History of the Quakers by Gerard Croese, London: John Dunton, Book 2, p. 96,
Yea, in the Courts of Kings and Princes, their Fools, and Pleasants, which they kept to relax them from grief and pensiveness, could not show themselves more dexterously ridiculous, than by representing the Quakers, or aping the motions of their mouth, voice, gesture, and countenance:

(obsolete) A wit; a humorist; a buffoon.


polite

en-adj

polite (comparative politer or more polite, superlative politest or most polite)

politer (comparative)
more polite (comparative)
politest (superlative)
most polite (superlative)

From Latin polītus (“polished”), past participle of poliō (“I polish, smooth”); see polish.

rays of light […]falling on […]a polite surface

1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:


hardworking

hardworking (comparative more hardworking, superlative most hardworking)

more hardworking (comparative)
most hardworking (superlative)

“My team and manager are exceptional; they are hardworking, talented, and supportive,” noted one respondent. “The company as a whole really focuses on their employees and that is very important to me.”

2022 June 21, Erin Cooper, “The Washington Post Names MIL a 2022 Top Workplace in the D.C. Area”, in MIL:

It exacerbates homelessness, slows family formation, prevents workers from moving to opportunity and puts an enormous strain on the budgets of hardworking people.

2024 August 20, Megan McArdle, “Why Harris’s housing plan won’t work”, in The Washington Post:

Of a person, taking their work seriously and doing it well and rapidly.

مُجْتَهِد

taking their work seriously and doing it well and rapidly — see also industrious


goofy

From the way the Disney character Goofy was first depicted surfing, with right foot forward.

(surfing, snowboarding) Riding with the right foot forward.


fiery

fiery (comparative more fiery or fierier, superlative most fiery or fieriest)

more fiery (comparative)
fierier (comparative)
most fiery (superlative)
fieriest (superlative)

From Middle English fyry, from fyr (“fire”). Equivalent to fire + -y.

A fiery streak penetrates your skull, trying to force your eyes open. It's a sound. A clarion call from hell.

2019 October 15, ZA/UM, Robert Kurvitz, quoting Limbic System, Disco Elysium, →OCLC:


wild

wild (comparative wilder, superlative wildest)

wilder (comparative)
wildest (superlative)

From Middle English wild, wilde, from Old English wilde, from Proto-West Germanic *wilþī, from Proto-Germanic *wilþijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“hair, wool, grass, ear (of corn), forest”).
Cognates
Cognate with West Frisian wyld, Dutch wild, German wild, Danish vild, Swedish vild, Norwegian vill, Icelandic villtur.

wild chamomile

Matricaria discoidea or Tripleurospermum inodorum

wild pink

Silene caroliniana or Dianthus sect. Fimbriatum spp.

The fraternity was infamous for its wild parties, which frequently resulted in police involvement.

Those most rural routes will not get overhead wires. As Reeve told the seminar: "Even in my wildest dreams, I can't see a business case for electrifying the Far North Line."

2022 August 10, Philip Haigh, “Scotland switched on to electrification”, in RAIL, number 963, page 35:

City, in contrast, were lethargic in every area of the pitch and their main contribution in the first half-hour was to keep referee Phil Dowd busy, with Micah Richards among four of their players booked early on, in his case for a wild lunge on Young.

2011 August 7, Chris Bevan, “Man City 2-3 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:

Her mother was wild with fear when she didn't return home after the party.

In this card game, aces are wild: they can take the place of any other card.

We define a pattern as a valid GP subtree that might contain wild characters [i.e. wildcards] in any of its nodes.

2009, Leonardo Vanneschi, Steven Gustafson, Alberto Moraglio, Genetic Programming: 12th European Conference:

Able to stand in for others, e.g. a card in games, or a text character in computer pattern matching.


spine

From late Middle English spyne, from Old French espine (French épine) or its source, Latin spīna (“a thorn; a prickle, spine; the backbone”). Doublet of spina.

Trademark Owners will nevertheless try to dictate how their marks are to be represented, but dictionary publishers with spine can resist such pressure.

2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 409:

(anatomy, zootomy) A series of bones situated at the back from the head to the pelvis of a human, or from the head to the tail of an animal, enclosing the spinal cord and providing support for the thorax and abdomen.

रीढ़ की हड्डी

rīṛh kī haḍḍī

رِیڑھ کی ہَڈّی

rīṛh kī haḍḍī


logical

en-adj

logical (comparative more logical, superlative most logical)

more logical (comparative)
most logical (superlative)

/ˈlɒd͡ʒɪkəl/

/ˈlɑd͡ʒɪkəl/

Logical memory appears contiguous to an application program, but may well be stored on several physical devices, including in RAM and on hard-disks, as determined by the operating system.

It is, of course, vital to restore the logical colours to their normal value at the end of the program[…]

1986, Noel Malcolm Morris, Computer graphics and CAD fundamentals: BBC Micro version:

(computing) Relating to the conceptual model of a system rather than its physical expression

arorau

non-physical or conceptual underpinning something physical or actual


classy

classy (comparative classier, superlative classiest)

classier (comparative)
classiest (superlative)

From class + -y. Piecewise doublet of classic.

That's a very classy outfit you're wearing.


elegant

elegant (comparative more elegant, superlative most elegant)

more elegant (comparative)
most elegant (superlative)

From Late Middle English elegaunt, from Middle French elegant, ultimately from Latin ēlegāns.

You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.

2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, →ISBN, page 192:

Characterised by or exhibiting elegance.


heroic

heroic (comparative more heroic, superlative most heroic)

more heroic (comparative)
most heroic (superlative)

Partly from Middle French heroïque and partly from Latin hērōicus. By surface analysis, hero + -ic.

To stand upon the ramparts and die for our principles is heroic. To sally forth to battle and win for our principles is something more than heroic.

1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Happy Warrior Alfred E. Smith, Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC, →OL, page 40:

Now, we go out there and we half-ass it because we're scared, all we're left with is an excuse. We're always gonna wonder. But, we go out there and we give it absolutely everything… that's heroic.

1999, W. Peter Iliff, Varsity Blues, spoken by Mox (James Van Der Beek):


geeky

geeky (comparative geekier, superlative geekiest)

geekier (comparative)
geekiest (superlative)

Buddy Holly is a slightly more contentious inclusion, even if he did live fast, die young and leave a geeky-looking corpse.

2 July 2004, Fiona Shepherd, “Return of the Sun King”, in The Scotsman:


spiritual

spiritual (comparative more spiritual, superlative most spiritual)

more spiritual (comparative)
most spiritual (superlative)

/ˈspɪɹɪtʃʊəl/

/ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/

/ˈspɪɹɪ̈t͡ʃul̩/

From Middle English spiritual, spirituel, from Old French spirituel, from Late Latin spiritualis, from Latin spiritus. Equivalent to spirit + -ual.

Of or relating to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind; mental; intellectual.

spiritueel

of or relating to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind


식도

Sino-Korean word from 食刀, from 食 (“eat”) + 刀 (“knife”).


blunt

en-adj

blunt (comparative blunter, superlative bluntest)

blunter (comparative)
bluntest (superlative)

From Middle English blunt, blont, from Old English *blunt (attested in the derivative Blunta (male personal name) (> English surnames Blunt, Blount)), probably of North Germanic origin, possibly related to Old Norse blunda (“to doze”) (> Icelandic blunda, Swedish blunda, Danish blunde).

gloss

I was taken aback by the blunt admission that he had never liked my company.

a plain, blunt man

1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.

Slow or deficient in feeling: insensitive.


blunt

A fencer's practice foil with a soft tip.

[…] to make his point, lead rapper B-Real fired up a blunt in front of the cameras and several hundred thousand people and announced, “I'm taking a hit for every one of y'all!”

2004, Martin Torgoff, “The Temple of Accumulated Error”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 461:


lazy

en-adj

lazy (comparative lazier, superlative laziest)

lazier (comparative)
laziest (superlative)

Attested since 1540, origin uncertain. Probably from Low German and Middle Low German lasich (“slack, feeble, lazy”), from las, from Proto-Germanic *lasiwaz, *laskaz (“feeble, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *las- (“weak”).
Akin to Dutch leuzig (“lazy”), Old Norse lasinn (“limpy, tired, weak”), Old English lesu, lysu (“false, evil, base”). More at lush.
An alternate etymology traces lazy to Early Modern English laysy, a derivative of lay (plural lays + -y) in the same way that tipsy is derived from tip. See lay.

der

the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

We strolled along beside a lazy stream.


paresseux

fr-noun

paresseux m (plural paresseux, feminine paresseuse)

paresseux (plural)
paresseuse (feminine)

From paresse + -eux. Compare Spanish perezoso.


boorish

en-adj

boorish (comparative more boorish, superlative most boorish)

more boorish (comparative)
most boorish (superlative)


snobby

snobby (comparative snobbier, superlative snobbiest)

snobbier (comparative)
snobbiest (superlative)

His tastes are snobby.


gobby

gobby (comparative gobbier, superlative gobbiest)

gobbier (comparative)
gobbiest (superlative)

From gob (“mouth”) + -y. The meaning "inclined to talk" is probably related to gabby.

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang, derogatory, said of a person) Inclined to speak in a loud and offensive manner.


compulsive

compulsive (comparative more compulsive, superlative most compulsive)

more compulsive (comparative)
most compulsive (superlative)

Borrowed from French compulsif, formed from Latin compulsus, past participle of compellere (“to compel”), from com- (“together”) + pellere (“to drive”).

Religion is […] inconsistent with all compulsive Motives.

a. 1729, Samuel Clarke, The Doctrines of Religion reasonable to be believed:

Having power to compel; exercising or applying compulsion.


impertinent

impertinent (comparative more impertinent, superlative most impertinent)

more impertinent (comparative)
most impertinent (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English impertinent, from Middle French impertinent, from Old French impertinent, from Latin impertinēns; by surface analysis, im- + pertinent.

inh+

“Divine receptacle of excellence, let it not be deemed impertinent, or deviating from the rules of propriety, if I propound one queſtion which now labours in my breaſt; aſſuring me firſt, you will not let the ſceptre of true judgment depart from your right hand.”

1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page 11:

Insolent, ill-mannered or disrespectful; Disregardful.


impertinent

fr-adj

impertinent (feminine impertinente, masculine plural impertinents, feminine plural impertinentes)

impertinente (feminine)
impertinents (masculine plural)
impertinentes (feminine plural)

Learned borrowing from Late Latin impertinentem. Morphologically, from in- + pertinent.


zealous

en-adj

zealous (comparative more zealous, superlative most zealous)

more zealous (comparative)
most zealous (superlative)

From Middle English zelose, from Latin zēlōsus, from zēlus + -ōsus, from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”), from ζηλόω (zēlóō, “to emulate, to be jealous”). By surface analysis, zeal + -ous. Doublet of jealous.

der

I had almoſt forgotten to acquaint your honor, that one major Alford (who was in mr. Love's conſpiracy) was of the graund inqueſt at Saliſbury, and was very zealous in his highneſſe ſervice here, and his good affection and wiſe carriage here, did much advantage the buſſineſe.

1655 April 21, “Mr. Ja. Nutley to ſecreary Thurloe.”, in A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Eſq; […], volume III, London: […] the Executor of the late Mr. Fletcher Gyles; Thomas Woodward, […] Charles Davis, […], published 1742, page 399:

Johnson was truly zealous for the success of "The Adventurer;" and very soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter:

1791, James Boswell, “(please specify the year)”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC:

Doubtless many will exclaim against the Roman Catholic Church for this; but the simple truth is that Protestantism was no less zealous against the new scientific doctrine.

1896, Andrew Dickson White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, published 2004, page 122:

[…]and there were few more zealous dancers at the fashionable balls in the Raleigh Tavern at Williamsburg.

1940, Foster Rhea Dulles, America Learns to Play: A history of popular recreation, 1607-1940, page 61:

Newt Gingrich […]left Congress in 1998, following GOP midterm-election losses that many blamed on his zealous pursuit of Bill Clinton's impeachment.

2011 April 4, “Newt Gingrich”, in Time, retrieved 2013-09-09:

Full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion.


ardent

fr-adj

ardent (feminine ardente, masculine plural ardents, feminine plural ardentes)

ardente (feminine)
ardents (masculine plural)
ardentes (feminine plural)

Inherited from Old French ardent, borrowed from Latin ardentem.


passionate

en-adj

passionate (comparative more passionate, superlative most passionate)

more passionate (comparative)
most passionate (superlative)

From Middle English passionat, from Medieval Latin passionatus, perfect past participle of passiono (“to be affected with passion”). Equivalent to passion + -ate (adjective-forming suffix). Compare French passionné.

af

She is sad and passionate at your highness’ tent.

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], line 544:

Poor, forlorn Proteus, passionate Proteus,

c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], line 124:


assay

English: assay, say

Scots: assay, say, sey

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman assai, from Late Latin exagium.

(rare) One's personality; the nature of something or someone.


brassy

en-adj

brassy (comparative brassier, superlative brassiest)

brassier (comparative)
brassiest (superlative)

From brass + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning “having the quality of”).

suffix

y<pos:suffix forming adjectives meaning “having the quality of”><id:adjectival>

Don’t get brassy with me, young lady!


chic

→ Czech: šik

→ Dutch: chic, sjiek

→ English: chic

→ Esperanto: ŝika

→ Finnish: chic

→ German: schick

→ Greek: σικ (sik)

→ Limburgish: sjiek

→ Polish: szyk

→ Portuguese: chique

→ Romanian: șic

→ Slovak: šik

→ Spanish: chic

→ Turkish: şık

→ Persian: شیک (šik)

→ Ukrainian: шик (šyk)

Probably from German Schick (“elegant appearance; tasteful presentation”). The word is akin to Dutch schielijk (“hasty”), schikken (“to arrange”), Old English sċēon (“to happen”).


ornery

en-adj

ornery (comparative ornerier, superlative orneriest)

ornerier (comparative)
orneriest (superlative)

A contracted or dialectal pronunciation of ordinary. Sense 3 (“ordinary, commonplace”) was the earliest sense; the meaning of the word then shifted to “inferior, plain-looking, unpleasant”—presumably due to ordinariness—and finally to sense 1 (“disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with”).

Seemingly here was an intruder who was violating custom. Moreover, the partners had come to look upon this exceedingly rich district as their exclusive property. And so their indignation was extreme. "The low-down, ornery cuss!" said Dobbs. "The nerve of him, crowdin' in on us, just as if there wasn't lots of other places for him to go!"

1922 November 25, A[rthur] M[urray] Chisholm, “A Thousand a Plate. Chapter II.”, in Western Story Magazine, volume XXX, number 4, New York, N.Y.: Street & Smith, →OCLC, page 90, column 2:

Through Michael sped the thought: 'Could I make her jealous?' And he was shocked at it. A low-down thought—mean and ornery!

1924 October, John Galsworthy, “Sleuth”, in The White Monkey, London: William Heinemann, published November 1924, →OCLC, part II, page 196:

I ain't sayin' I don't share your sentiments, Buck, but you're a born fool. First place Luke would kill the Kid in a gun-fight. Second place if Luke did get shot he's got two brothers just as ornery as he is, and if Ike Plummer didn't kill the Kid then Hank Plummer would.

1939 February 2, Dudley Nichols, Stagecoach (motion picture), spoken by Marshal Curley Wilcox (George Bancroft), Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.: United Artists, →OCLC:

[“S]he was a girl and girls are less ornery than boys. Though I guess Mim was ornery in her way. Once she got to be sixteen, she put my parents through hell.” / “Grandpa, what’s ‘ornery’?” / “Oh, you know. Mean. Contrary. Rebellious.” / “Like Daddy?” / “I don’t think of your daddy as ornery, just, what‘s the word?—very uptight about things. People get to him more than they do to most people.”

1990, John Updike, “FL”, in Rabbit at Rest (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, →ISBN, page 77:

After a lifetime of being sweet as pie, once Grandpa died, she got kinda ornery.

2013 January 20, Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight (motion picture), spoken by Jesse (Ethan Hawke), New York, N.Y.: Sony Pictures Classics, →OCLC:

But in many instances, the complainers are not just being ornery [about noisy eating]; they could have a condition called misophonia, in which one experiences strong negative feelings to specific sounds—like the proverbial nails on a chalkboard.

2020 May 25, Abby Ellin, “Couples who eat together may not stay together”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-17:

(originally and chiefly US, especially Appalachia, informal) Disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with; cantankerous.

مُشَاكِس

disagreeable, stubborn, and troublesome to deal with — see also cantankerous


phobic

phobic (comparative more phobic, superlative most phobic)

more phobic (comparative)
most phobic (superlative)

Anything can become a phobic stimulus.

The mail carrier was phobic of dogs.

Even so, in many cases the homophobe truly is phobic of gays and lesbians, […]

2009, Martin Kantor, Homophobia: The State of Sexual Bigotry Today, 2nd Edition, →ISBN:

Yes, our society is backwards, full of violent phobic unexamined idiot fear people constantly throw at innocent others.

2019, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 40:

Experiencing or expressing phobia (strong fear and/or dislike).


sage

Inherited from Middle French sage, from Old French sage, from Vulgar Latin *sapium from the Classical Latin verb sapiō.

(of a person) wise: prudent, cautious, and judicious

(of a woman) Chaste, modest, irreproachable in conduct

Alors, tu vas être sage pour maman dans le magasin ?

Now, are you going to be good for mommy in the store?

(of a child) good, well-behaved, not naughty


sage

a person who is prudent, cautious, and judicious


artful

artful (comparative more artful, superlative most artful)

more artful (comparative)
most artful (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-artful.wav

From art (“skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation”) + -ful (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, with the sense of being full of, tending to, or thoroughly possessing the quality expressed by the noun).

suffix

The nights ſtrange proſpects, made to feede the eyes; / With Artfull fyres, mounted in the skies: / Graced with horred claps of ſulphury thunders; / May make your mind, Iehouahs greater wonders.

1613 (indicated as 1612), George Wither, “Epithalamion”, in Epithalamia: or, Nuptiall Poems upon the Most Blessed and Happie Mariage betweene the High and Mightie Prince Frederick the Fifth, Count Palatine of the Rhein, Duke of Bauier, &c., And the Most Vertuous, Gracious and Thrice Excellent Princesse, Elizabeth, Sole Daughter to Our Dread Soueraigne, Iames by the Grace of God King of Great Britaine, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.; Celebrated at White-Hall the Fourteenth of Februarie, 1613, London: […] [F. Kingston] for Edward Marchant, […], →OCLC:

The doctrine that we can discover facts, detect the hidden processes of nature, by an artful manipulation of language, is so contrary to common sense, that a person must have made some advances in philosophy to believe it; […]

1843, John Stuart Mill, “The Same Subject Continued [Of Demonstration, and Necessary Truths]”, in A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, being a Connected View of the Principles of Evidence, and the Methods of Scientific Investigation. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC, § 2, page 331:

Characterized by, or performed with, cleverness or contrivance; clever, ingenious.

Here, again, were shadows on the window-blind of guests assembling; and there a group of handsome girls, all hooded and fur-booted, and all chattering at once, tripped lightly off to some near neighbour's house; where, wo upon the single man who saw them enter—artful witches: well they knew it—in a glow!

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 100–101:

"Now, this is a very artful dog," said Mr. Boffin, with a deep look. "This is a longer-headed schemer than I thought him.["]

1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “The Golden Dustman at His Worst”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1865, →OCLC, book the third (A Long Lane), page 134:

But now he was little more than a whimpering oyster led to be devoured on the sands of a Southern sea by the artful walrus, Circumstance, and the implacable carpenter, Fate.

1904 November, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Remnants of the Code”, in Cabbages and Kings, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., page 212:

Where the Czech upstart [Lukáš] Rosol, ranked 100 in the world, all but blew [Rafael] Nadal's head off with his blunderbuss in a fifth set of unrivalled intensity on Thursday night, [Julien] Benneteau, a more artful citizen, used a rapier to hurt his vaunted foe before falling just short of a kill. In the end, it was he who staggered from the scene of the fight.

2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-11-15:

(especially) Skilful at using dishonest or unfair means to achieve a purpose; crafty, cunning.

artificieux

skilful at using dishonest or unfair means to achieve a purpose — see also crafty, cunning

(obsolete) Knowledgeable about the liberal arts; learned, wise.


benevolent

en-adj

benevolent (comparative more benevolent, superlative most benevolent)

more benevolent (comparative)
most benevolent (superlative)

From Old French benevolent, borrowed from Latin benevolēns ("well wishing"). Displaced native Old English welwillende.

Possessing or manifesting love for mankind.

човеколюби́в

possessing or manifesting love for mankind


bland

bland (comparative blander, superlative blandest)

blander (comparative)
blandest (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin blandus (“pleasant, flattering”).

Where didst thou find, young Bard, thy sounding lyre? / Where the bland accent, and the tender tone?

“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

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

(now rare) Mild; soft, gentle, balmy; smooth in manner; suave.

мек

mild; soft; gentle; smooth in manner; suave


cavalier

cavalier (comparative more cavalier, superlative most cavalier)

more cavalier (comparative)
most cavalier (superlative)

First appears c. 1562 in a translation by Peter Whitehorne. Borrowed from Middle French cavalier (“horseman”), itself borrowed from Old Italian cavaliere (“mounted soldier, knight”), borrowed from Old Occitan cavalier, from Late Latin caballārius (“horseman”), from Latin caballus (“horse”), probably from Gaulish caballos 'nag', variant of cabillos (compare Welsh ceffyl, Breton kefel, Irish capall), akin to German (Swabish) Kōb 'nag' and Old Church Slavonic кобꙑла (kobyla) 'mare'. Previous English forms include cavalero and cavaliero. Doublet of caballero and chevalier.


cavalier

A gentleman of the class of such officers, particularly:

(historical) A courtesan or noble under Charles I of England, particularly a royalist partisan during the English Civil War which ended his reign.


churlish

en-adj

churlish (comparative more churlish, superlative most churlish)

more churlish (comparative)
most churlish (superlative)

From Middle English churlysshe, cherlissh, from late Old English ċeorlisċ, ċierlisċ (“of or pertaining to churls”), equivalent to churl + -ish.

[A]nd it is without all controuerſie, that learning doth make the minds of men gentle, generous, maniable, and pliant to gouernment; whereas Ignorance makes them churliſh, thwart, and mutinous; […]

1605, Francis Bacon, “The First Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC, folio 11, recto:

Especially in the post-2008 recession, the need for charity was more pronounced than ever, and so it seemed churlish, even Scrooge-like, to question whether the Gateses really knew as much about solving the world’s problems as they claimed.

2021 May 25, Linsey McGoey, “Why Billionaires Like Bill Gates Can’t Fix the Problems They Helped Create”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:


crafty

crafty (comparative craftier, superlative craftiest)

craftier (comparative)
craftiest (superlative)

From Middle English crafty, crefty, craftiȝ, from Old English cræftiġ (“ingenious; skilful; crafty; cunning; virtuous; powerful”), from Proto-West Germanic *kraftag, *kraftīg, *kraftug, from Proto-Germanic *kraftugaz (“powerful”), equivalent to craft + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kräftich, krääftig, West Frisian krêftich, Dutch krachtig, German Low German krachtig, German kräftig.

inh

I took a crafty look at his hand of cards while he was out of the room.


diffident

en-adj

diffident (comparative more diffident, superlative most diffident)

more diffident (comparative)
most diffident (superlative)

From Latin diffīdentem, present participle of diffīdere (“to mistrust”). Doublet of defiant.

Having therefore—but hold, as we are diffident of our own abilities, let us here invite a superior power to our assistance.

1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VIII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV:

Emma is spoiled by being the cleverest of her family. At ten years old, she had the misfortune of being able to answer questions which puzzled her sister at seventeen. She was always quick and assured: Isabella slow and diffident.

1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume I, chapter 5:

At an early point in these exchanges I had started to sidle to the door, and I now sidled through it, rather like a diffident crab on some sandy beach trying to avoid the attentions of a child with a spade.

1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VIII:


earnest

From Middle English ernest, eornest, from Old English eornest, eornost, eornust (“earnestness, zeal, seriousness, battle”), from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz (“earnest, strength, solidity, struggle, fight”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *arniz (“efficient, capable, diligent, sure”), from Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to cause to move, arouse, increase”).
Cognate with West Frisian earnst (“earnest, seriousness”), Dutch ernst (“seriousness, gravity, earnest”), German Ernst (“seriousness, earnestness, zeal, vigour”), Icelandic ern (“brisk, vigorous”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌽𐌹𐌱𐌰 (arniba, “secure, certain, sure”).
The adjective is from Middle English eornest, from Old English eornoste (“earnest, zealous, serious”), from the noun. Cognate with North Frisian ernste (“earnest”), Middle Low German ernest, ernst (“serious, earnest”), German ernst (“serious, earnest”).

inh

Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest.

a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

That high All-Seer which I dallied with / Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head / And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

1914, February 13, The Times, Obituary: Canon Augustus Jessopp
He wrote well in a forcible, colloquial style, with the air of being tremendously in earnest, and full of knowledge which overflowed his pages, tricked out with somewhat boisterous illustrations.


earnest

en-adj

earnest (comparative earnester or more earnest, superlative earnestest or most earnest)

earnester (comparative)
more earnest (comparative)
earnestest (superlative)
most earnest (superlative)

(said of an action or an utterance) Serious, sincere, ingenuous.

earnest attention

Intent; focused; showing a lot of concentration.

an earnest disposition

(said of a person or a person's character) Possessing or characterised by seriousness.

Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; important.


fake

→ Japanese: フェイク (feiku)

The origin is not known with certainty, although first attested in 1775 C.E. in British criminals' slang. It is probably from feak, feague (“to give a better appearance through artificial means, spruce up, embellish”), itself from German Low German fegen, from Middle Low German vēgen, from Old Saxon fegōn, from Proto-West Germanic *fegōn (“to clean up, polish”).
Akin to Dutch veeg (“a swipe”), Dutch vegen (“to sweep, wipe”); German fegen (“to sweep, to polish”). Compare also Old English fācn (“deceit, fraud”). Perhaps related also to Old Norse fjúka (“to fade, vanquish, disappear”), Old Norse feikn (“strange, scary, unnatural”).

unk

not known

m+

I suspect this passport is a fake.

Among other interesting and weighty opinions, which were in general agreement with our contentions, was one by Mr. H. A. Staddon of Goodmayes, a gentleman who had made a particular hobby of fakes in photography. His report is too long and too technical for inclusion, but, under the various headings of composition, dress, development, density, lighting, poise, texture, plate, atmosphere, focus, halation, he goes very completely into the evidence, coming to the final conclusion that when tried by all these tests the chances are not less than 80 per cent. in favour of authenticity.

1922, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Coming of the Fairies:

Something which is not genuine, or is presented fraudulently.

geydirmə

something which is not genuine, or is presented fraudulently


fearless

en-adj

fearless (comparative more fearless, superlative most fearless)

more fearless (comparative)
most fearless (superlative)

"Our fearless reporter"... I'm not fearless, John. I don't like this.

1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 3:

England's wicket-keeper in the 50s, he was fearless about standing on the stumps to fastish bowlers[.]

1990, Ashes: Battles and Bellylaughs, Byron Bay: Swan Publishing, page 207:


flaky

flaky (comparative flakier, superlative flakiest)

flakier (comparative)
flakiest (superlative)

Consisting of flakes or of small, loose masses; lying, or cleaving off, in flakes or layers; flakelike.

люспест

Consisting of flakes; lying, or cleaving off, in flakes; flakelike


genuine

genuine (comparative more genuine, superlative most genuine)

more genuine (comparative)
most genuine (superlative)

/ˈd͡ʒɛnjuːˌɪn/

From Latin genuīnus (“innate, native, natural”), from genus, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁-.

der

a genuine text; a genuine production; genuine materials; genuine friendship

[…] and before you could say 'scissors' that customer had forgotten all about the genuine article, and was out of the shop with the bijoutry.

1906, Violet Tweedale, Lady Sarah's Son, page 141:

Not counterfeit, spurious, false, or adulterated


gloomy

en-adj

gloomy (comparative gloomier, superlative gloomiest)

gloomier (comparative)
gloomiest (superlative)

From gloom + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian glumig (“dark, gloomy”).

cog

The cavern was gloomy.

Not very illuminated; dim because of darkness, especially when appearing depressing or frightening.

a gloomy temper or countenance

Suffering from gloom; melancholy; dejected.

كَئِيب

affected with, or expressing, gloom; melancholy


gloomy

A word, finally, on how to go about this publicity business. If it should prove difficult to announce casts in the dailies, or at least in the weekly gloomies, it could surely be arranged that information be available, as soon as the casts are settled, at the opera house in question.

c. 1946–1947, Hans Keller, edited by Christopher Wintle and Alison Garnham, Music and Psychology: From Vienna to London, 1939–52 (The Hans Keller Archive), London: Plumbago Books, published 2003, →ISBN, page 240:

As well, Russians did not use the confusion of Y2K to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States, as Internet "gloomies" had cautioned, now wagging their online tails in Internet chat rooms as "pollies" (Pollyannas) rubbed salt in their paranoid wounds.

2009, Lawrence R. Samuel, “The Matrix, 1995–”, in Future: A Recent History, Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, →ISBN, pages 178–179:

He lately sports a look known as "Goth," the most outre aspect of which is, in his case, black nail polish. Really serious Goths, who wear black clothing and spectral makeup, are known as "gloomies," or so Owen tells me. He's not one of them.

2012, Tetman Callis, High Street: A Memoir: Lawyers, Guns & Money in a Stoner’s New Mexico, San Francisco, Calif.: Outpost 19, →ISBN, page 200:

Yikes! I was to be alone with the smacker and my non-smiling sister. After all the joy with my two boys in our family, I was to be left alone with the two gloomies. Well, I guess I will have to find something else to keep me busy.

2020 May 22, Wynter Rose Thorne, “And Then It Happened …”, in The Passions of Rosie, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN:

(informal) Someone or something that is gloomy or pessimistic.


gritty

en-adj

gritty (comparative grittier, superlative grittiest)

grittier (comparative)
grittiest (superlative)

(film, literature) Intense and starkly realistic; depicting harsh reality, especially violence.

drsný

intense and starkly realistic, especially if violent


hidebound

hidebound (comparative more hidebound, superlative most hidebound)

more hidebound (comparative)
most hidebound (superlative)

From hide (“animal skin”, noun) + bound (“tied”, adjective).

compound

And how can a man teach with autority, which is the life of teaching, how can he be a Doctor in his book as he ought to be, or else had better be silent, whenas all he teaches, all he delivers, is but under the tuition, under the correction of his patriarchal licencer to blot or alter what precisely accords not with the hidebound humor which he calls his judgement.

1644, Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, archived from the original on 2016-06-01:

In fact, such unfortunate persons have no resource but to become what we call Pedants; to ensconce themselves in a safe world of habitudes, of applicable or inapplicable traditions; not coveting, rather avoiding the general daylight of common-sense, as very extraneous to them and their procedure; by long persistence in which course they become Completed Pedants, hidebound, impenetrable, able to defy the hostile extraneous element; an alarming kind of men

1850 April 1, Thomas Carlyle, “No. III. Downing Street.”, in Latter-Day Pamphlets, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 83:

Oh, I know he's a good fellow—you needn't frown—an excellent fellow, and I always mean to see more of him; but a hide-bound pedant for all that; an ignorant blatant pedant.

1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 31:

But things change; class distinctions were not always so hard and fast as they have now become. The Elizabethan age was far more elastic in this respect than our own; we, on the other hand, are far less hide-bound than the Victorians.

1932, Virginia Woolf, “The Niece of an Earl”, in The Common ReaderFirst and Second Series Combined in One Volume, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, published 1948, →OCLC:

That optimistic baby had come on so like the private eye in any long-ago radio drama, believing all you needed was grit, resourcefulness, exemption from hidebound cops' rules, to solve any great mystery.

1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 5, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 91:

After earlier years when the family had been accused of being stuffy and hidebound, members now started behaving as though they were in a never-ending soap opera.

2022 September 8, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian:

(figurative, of a person) Stubborn; narrow-minded; inflexible.


hostile

en-adj

hostile (comparative more hostile, superlative most hostile)

more hostile (comparative)
most hostile (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French hostile, from Latin hostīlis, from hostis (“enemy”). Displaced Old English fēondlīċ.


immoral

fr-adj

immoral (feminine immorale, masculine plural immoraux, feminine plural immorales)

immorale (feminine)
immoraux (masculine plural)
immorales (feminine plural)

desc

безнра́вственный

Russian: безнра́вственный (beznrávstvennyj) (calque)


indefatigable

en-adj

indefatigable (comparative more indefatigable, superlative most indefatigable)

more indefatigable (comparative)
most indefatigable (superlative)

From Middle French, from Latin indēfatīgābilis (“untiring”), from in- (“not”) + dēfatīgō (“to tire out”).

[...] But he was at the ſame Time an excellent Scholar, and moſt indefatigable in teaching the two Lads.

1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing Two Letters in Very Different Stiles”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume VI, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XVIII, page 196:

He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to public business.

1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 39:

All night long the Martians were hammering and stirring, sleepless, indefatigable, at work upon the machines they were making ready, and ever and again a puff of greenish-white smoke whirled up to the starlit sky.

1895–1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Friday Night”, in The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, published 1898, →OCLC, book I (The Coming of the Martians), pages 54–55: