Congenial Geniality

Congenial: adjective. 1. having the same taste, habits, or temperament; 2. pleasant, sociable; 3. agreeable, or suited to one's needs or nature.

Genial: adjective. 1. cheerful and friendly; 2. warm or mild, as in climate.

These words are obviously related to each other and the word Genius.

They are synonymous. And there are many congenial synonyms for genial:

Affable, amiable, cordial, easygoing, friendly, warm

This is what is missing from our society! Geniality. People have forgotten their manners and thrown pleasantries out the window.

Words of Sagacity

Sagacity is an impressive word. It means wisdom.It is related to the words, sagacious and sage.

Sagacious - adj. characterized by discernment, shrewdness and wisdom. From Latin. Noun forms: sagacity and sagaciousness.

Sage - n. a person of wisdom and prudence. It can also be used as an adjective: wise, prudent.

Prudent - adj. 1. cautious, discreet. 2. exercising sound judgement. 3. not extravagant. From Latin. Prudentially is also an official variation of this word.

Prudentially, I think I would rather be sagacious than shrewd, wise rather than prudent.

Thank you for indulging the sage philolog.

Imminent

Imminent means just about to happen, impending. It's an adjective, from Latin.

Emanent means prominant, outstanding. adjective, Latin, also.

Preemanent means emanant or superior. Just a bit better than emanent. Imminent and emanent are homonyms. I've got to check the spelling. It doesn't look right!

Stay tuned, more exciting emanent words and terms are imminent.

What a Predicament!

We are in a predicament.

I am reading a book by John C. Maxwell, called The Difference Maker. There is some good information in here, like how to know whether you have a problem or a predicament. Also how to handle Fear, Solve Problems, Manage Change, and more.

Predicament comes to us from Latin. It means an awkward or inconvenient situation.

Some synonyms: dilemma, quagmire, pickle or jam. I love these!

For a review of the book, see Verbal Impact.

Affluence

Affluent. I like the sound of that word, it's very mellifluous.

affluent -- adj. abounding, abundant. wealthy, opulent.

Affluence is the noun formation. From Latin.

Abounding? I've heard of abundant, but abounding? what is abounding?

abounding -- adj. form of

abound -- v.i. to be plentiful; to teem, overflow. From Latin

abundant -- existing in plentiful supply, ample. From the same root as abound.

The synonyms for the word abounding are abundant, maybe even affluent, or bountiful.

Ambassador

Ambassador is a grand word.

It means representative. But sounds more regal.

ambassador - n. a diplomat of the highest rank or personal representative. From Late Latin.

Deftly Adequate

Is "deft" a word?

Is it related to "adept?"

Is "inept' the opposite of adept?

adept -- highly skilled proficient. Latin.

adequate -- 1. fully sufficient 2. barely sufficient. From Latin.

deft- neat and skillful, adroit. From Old English.

It does not appear to be related to inept. "Inept" is from Latin, from "aptus" which means "to fit," and the "ept" in adept is supposedly from a different word, "apisci," which means "to get" in Latin. It certainly looks like the same root to me (ept)... I will have to consult my unabridged dictionary about this discrepancy!

And why does "adequate" sound so inadequate when your supervisor says your skills are adequate?!

I'd much rather be adept than adequate, and deft rather than adroit.

Is it better to be adequately deft or deftly adequate...?

Why do I always have more questions?

Lugubrious or Ludicrous

Sadly, this is a very sorrowful article. I feel lugubrious today.

Lugubrious means exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful.

It says it is from both Latin and Greek, because it is from a Latin word, which is "akin" to a word in Greek. Curious. Strange.

Lugubrious is possibly an antonym for ludicrous. Also from a Latin word, akin to a Greek word.

Ludicrous means laughable, amusing through obvious absurdity or exaggeration.

It would be ludicrous to be lugubrious about spilt milk.

Vile Villain

Vile is a monosyllabic word with several meanings.

1. common, of little value.
2. morally despicable or physically repulsive.
3. disgustingly or utterly bad. obnoxious, contemptible

It is from Latin.

I have never actually heard it used the first way.

It is related to villian, of course.

Villain means a scoundrel, criminal or uncouth person.

To Extol the Verb, EXTOL

Let me extol the virtues of Forgetting. If you really want to hear about the virtues of forgetting, it is on Musinglog, which has a link over there on the right side of this page.

Extol is a wonderful word, an action word, that means to praise highly, exalt. I'm sure it comes from Latin.

Dunderhead

On the same page as dubious is another powerful word, dunderhead.

Dunderhead comes from a Scottish dialect and means a stupid person. It is unequivocal and unambiguous, not dubious at all, perfectly clear. What's the word for that? Perspicuous?

Yes! I like it.

Perspicuous means having clarity of expression or style; lucid. From Latin.

So a dunderhead would rarely be perspicuous, though the meaning of the word is always crystal clear.

Dubious Implications

Dubious is an insidious, double-dealing word. Related to double? Probably Latin.

It means doubtful, equivocal, or suspicious. It comes from Dubium, Latin for doubt.

Equivocal means ambiguous, doubtful, or suspicious.

Insidious means subtly cunning or deceitful.

So dubious is less insidious than insidious. Insidious is more egregious.

Egregious is conspicuously bad, flagrant. From Latin also.

Whether somone is dubious or insidious would depend on whether they were intentionally ambiguous or just innocently unclear.

Facetious

Facetious comes to us from Latin via French. It means jocular, waggish, merry, or jocose. It also means jocose at an inappropriate time. Jocular and jocose apparently share etymology with the word "joke."

Waggish is a synonym for facetious. Droll also. Waggish has a bit more pizzazz, though. Waggish means like a wag.

Wag means someone who likes jokes and humorous antics, a merry rogue.

Rogue means a vagabond, rascal, scoundrel, or someone who is mischievous or fun-loving.

And now back to the beginning:

Facetious is also an unusual word, in that it has all of the vowels of our alphabet in alphabetical order! I wonder if there are any others? Readers, let me know if you are aware of any.

Elation

ELATION!

Yes!

Hypnotic elation!

Circle of elation.

Jubiliation.

Tintinabulation.

Elation comes from Latin and means state of joyfulness.

How to Avoid Jejune Speeches

I just came across an interesting word while cruising thru the J section of the dictionary, as I am wont to do when I am writing speeches to present at ToastMasters.

jejune - I suspect this comes from French, but my pronunciation key says to use the hard "j" sound, so it sounds like stuttering. It means lacking in substance or interest, dry, barren, dull. It also means callow, juvenile.

opposites: vivid, interesting, remarkable, sophisticated.

Lucrative

Lucrative. It is spelled weird, but I believe it comes from Italian, so probably from Latin. Lucre is Money in Italian.

Lucrative means producing or yielding gain, profit or wealth.

Lucre means money or riches.

My dictionary does not list any synonyms, but I will do my best to provide some:

Beneficial, profitable, productive, and rewarding.

That's why I love working here. They just provided everyone on the floor with a tiny Fun Size 100 Grand candy bar. Don't worry, it has 30% less fat than the leading chocolate snacks, so they are definitely concerned with our health and well-being. The chocolate is a reward for processing over 100,000 phone calls during the month of August.

Unlimited Bounty

Eureka! I think I found it! A word that means unlimited, boundless, infinite, without any negative prefix, like in- or un-, or suffix, like -less!

Bountiful.

Full of Bounty.

I thought of this at 4:30 this AM and thought it was genius. So am I full of bounty this morning, or full of ... something else??!

Bountiful - plentiful, generous, and of course bounteous is a synonym. Bounty and Bountiful come from Latin, bonita, and bounteous comes from Latin through French.

Eureka comes from Greek and means "I've found it!" according to my English dictionary. I will have to check this in my Greek dictionary.

before the dawn

I had a premonition this morning.



Premonition. Pre means before. Moni means ... what? . Must be Latin. Mono in Greek means one or alone, as in monopoly. Let's figure this out. Precognition means knowing beforehand. Cognition means a thought or insight, so that figures. Tion as a suffix means state of or quality of. And by the way, why does it sound like shun, anyway?

Moni in premonition comes from the Latin word meaning to advise. So a premonition is the receipt of advice before something happens.


I bet you knew I was going to say that!

Ecstasy

Where does the word ecstasy come from? "ec" as a suffix means out. So what is "stasy?"

I am ecstatic! Or should I say, I am euphorious! euphorious always means ecstatically joyous. Ecstasy can mean the extreme of any emotion, not just joy or happiness.

It says in the dictionary that ecstasy is a state of exalted delight, or a state of any emotion so intense that rational thought and self-control are obliterated. It comes from Greek through Latin, meaning to drive out of one's senses.

It also says that exaltation is more elevated than euphoria. Euphoria comes from Greek also.

Exaltation is from Latin, "up high."

Preposterous Infamy

Nefarious and preposterous.
Nefarious. Is that the same as infamous? Preposterous!

Infamous- adj. characterized by negative celebrity; having a reputation of the worst kind. From in- which is not or negative, and famous which is well-known. Antonym: illustrious. From Latin.
Infamy - n. evil reputation brought about by something criminal or shocking. (Latin)
Nefarious - adj. flagrantly wicked or impious. Synonym: vicious. From Latin.
Preposterous - adj. contrary to nature or reason, absurd.

So it is not preposterous to state that nefarious is synonymous with infamous, but it would not be accurate. Infamous means being famous for being nefarious. They are related, but not synonymous.

I do like that word, "illustrious." Yes. You may refer to me as the Illustrious Philolog.