Suggest a Word

Got a pet word you couldn't find on the list? Got a favorite sentence that uses six different words the makers of the GRE wrote off as "too hard"? You can submit it to the site by e-mailing me.

Feel free to suggest any combination of words and/or quotations, or to point out any mistakes on the site. When submitting a word or quotation, please include the page number if you have a Del Ray paperback edition, or the chapter and approximate location (such as which chapter/paragraph it appears in) if you are using a different edition. I won't post words or quotations that I cannot verify as actually appearing in the Chronicles.

Extra Fun!

Tragically, Donaldson does not use every gigantic, archaic word in the English language. For non-Donaldsonian edification, here are a few of those words that fairly cried out to be used in the Chronicles but, to the best of my knowledge...weren't.

abreact - verb - to release (repressed emotions) by acting out, as in words, behavior, or the imagination, the situation causing the conflict

accrete - verb - 1. to make larger or greater, as by increased growth 2. to grow together 3. to adhere; to grow (to); to be added

acedia - noun - spiritual torpor and apathy; inactivity in the practice of virtue (personified as one of the deadly sins); ennui

apodictic - adjective - 1. necessarily or demonstrably true; incontrovertible 2. self-evident; intuitively true

armamentarium - noun - 1. the complete equipment of a physician or medical institution, including books, supplies, and instruments 2. the complete range of materials available or used for a task

armorial - adjective - of or relating to heraldry or heraldic arms - noun - a book or treatise on heraldry

autochthon - noun - 1. any of the earliest known inhabitants of a place; aborigine 2. any indigenous animal or plant

bathetic - adjective - effusively or insincerely emotional

bathos - noun - 1. a ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax 2. a) insincere or grossly sentimental pathos b) banality; triteness

bruit - verb - to spread news of; repeat - noun - [archaic] 1. a rumor 2. a din; a clamor

chthonic - adjective - 1. [Greek mythology] of or relating to the underworld 2. dark, primitive, and mysterious

congelation - noun - 1. the act or process of congealing; the state of being congealed 2. the product of congealing; a concretion; coagulation

connubial - adjective - relating to marriage or the married state; conjugal

contubernal - adjective - living or messing together; familiar; in companionship

coriaceous - adjective - consisting of or resembling, leather; leatherlike; tough

corporeity - noun - 1. material or physical nature or quality; materiality 2. the state of being material or corporeal; physical existence

coterminious - adjective - 1. having the same border or covering the same area 2. being the same in extent; coextensive in range or scope

deliquesce - verb - 1. to melt away 2. to disappear as if by melting 3. [chemistry] to solve and become liquid by absorbing moisture from the air 4. [botany] to branch out into numerous subdivisions that lack a main axis, as the stem of an elm 5. [botany] to become fluid or soft on maturing, as certain fungi

deliquescence - noun - the process of dissolving or of becoming liquid through the absorption of moisture from the atmosphere

depauperate - verb - to make poor; to impoverish

emollient - adjective - 1. softening and soothing, especially to the skin 2. making less harsh or abrasive; mollifying - noun - 1. an agent that softens or soothes the skin 2. an agent that assuages or mollifies

fosse - noun - a ditch or moat

fulgurate - verb - to emit flashes like lightning (N.B. also comes as a noun, fulguration)

fustian - noun - 1. a kind of coarse twilled cotton or cotton and linen stuff, including corduroy, velveteen, etc. 2. an inflated style of writing; pretentious speech or writing; pompous language - adjective - 1. made of or as if of fustian 2. pompous, bombastic, and ranting

gage - noun - 1. something deposited or pledged to ensure that an obligation will be fulfilled; security 2. a pledge to appear and fight, as a glove thrown down by a knight challenging another 3. a challenge 4. any of several varieties of plum, such as the greengage 5. a means of estimating or evaluating 6. an instrument for measuring or testing 7. a standard or scale of measurement - verb - 1. to measure 2. [archaic] to offer as a pedge; wager 3. [archaic] to bind by a pledge

glede - noun - any of several birds of prey, especially a European kite

gules - noun - [heraldry] the color red, indicated on a blazon by vertical lines

hythe - noun - [obsolete] a small haven

imbroglio - noun - 1. an intricate, complicated plot, as of a drama or work of fiction 2. a complicated and embarrassing state of things; a serious misunderstanding or complicated disagreement; a difficult or intricate situation; an entanglement 3. a confused heap; a tangle

immure - verb - 1. to inclose whithin walls, or as within walls; hence, to shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate 2. to build into or entomb in a wall 3. [obsolete] to wall around; to surround with walls

imparity - noun - [rare] disparity; lack of equality

instanter - adverb - without delay; instantly

internecine - adjective - 1. of or relating to struggle within a nation, organization, or group 2. mutually destructive; ruinous or fatal to both sides 3. characterized by bloodshed or carnage

lachrymose - adjective - 1. weeping or inclined to weep; tearful 2. causing or tending to cause tears

latibule - noun - [obsolete] a hiding place

lubricity - noun - 1. smoothness; freedom from friction; also, property, which diminishes friction; as, the lubricity of oil 2. slipperiness; instability 3. lasciviousness; propensity to lewdness; lewdness; lechery; incontinency

mandarin - noun - 1. a member of any of the nine ranks of high public officials in the Chinese Empire 2. a high government official or bureaucrat 3. a member of an elite group, especially a person having influence or high status in intellectual or cultural circles 4. the official national standard spoken language of China, which is based on the principal dialect spoken in and around Beijing 5. [botany] a small orange, with easily separable rind - adjective - marked by elaborate and refined language or literary style

manitou - noun - 1. in Algonquian religious belief, a supernatural power that permeates the world, possessed in varying degrees by both spiritual and human beings 2. a deity or spirit

marcescent - adjective - withering but not falling off, as a part of a plant

mere - noun - 1. a small lake, pond, or marsh 2. [archaic] a boundary (N.B. in addition to the common adjectival form)

meretricious - adjective - 1. attracting attention in a vulgar manner; tawdry 2. plausible but false or insincere; specious 3. of or relating to prostitutes or prostitution; having to do with harlots; lustful

minatory - adjective - menacing; threatening

oblation - noun - 1. the act of offering something, such as worship or thanks, especially to a deity 2. the act of offering the bread and wine of the Eucharist 3. something offered in a religious rite or as a charitable gift

orotund - adjective - 1. characterized by strength, fullness, richness, and clearness; sonorous 2. pompous or bombastic

otiose - adjective - 1. lazy; indolent 2. of no use 3. producing no result; ineffective; futile

palatine - adjective - 1. having royal privileges 2. of or pertaining to a count palatine, earl palatine, or county palatine 3. of or pertaining to a palace; palatial 4. of or pertaining to the Palatinate - noun - 1. a vassal exercising royal privileges in a province 2. an important officer of an imperial palace 3. a high official of an empire 4. a native or inhabitant of the Palatinate 5. one of the seven hills on which ancient Rome was built 6. a shoulder cape, usually of fur or lace, formerly worn by women

palatinate - noun - 1. either of two historic regions of Germany that constituted an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire: one (Lower Palatinate or Rhine Palatinate) is now part of Rhineland-Palatinate and the other (Upper Palatinate) is now part of Bavaria 2. a native or inhabitant of the Palatinate 3. the office, powers, or territory of a palatine

pavonine - adjective - of or pertaining to, resembling or characteristic of a peacock

peccant - adjective - 1. sinful; guilty 2. violating a rule or an accepted practice; erring 3. causing disease

pelisse - noun - 1. a long cloak or outer robe, usually of fur or with a fur lining 2. a woman's loose light cloak, often with openings for the arms

peripatetic - adjective - 1. walking about or from place to place; traveling on foot 2. of or relating to the philosophy or teaching methods of Aristotle, who conducted discussions while walking about in the Lyceum of ancient Athens - noun - 1. one who walks from place to place; an itinerant 2. a follower of the philosophy of Aristotle; an Aristotelian

pertinacious - adjective - 1. holding tenaciously to a purpose, belief, opinion, or course of action 2. stubbornly or perversely persistent

phatic - adjective - of, relating to, or being speech used to share feelings or to establish a mood of sociability rather than to communicate information or ideas

prolix - adjective - 1. tediously prolonged; wordy 2. tending to speak or write at excessive length

pulchritude - noun - physical beauty; comeliness

pullulate - verb - 1. to put forth sprouts or buds; germinate 2. to breed rapidly or abundantly 3. to teem; swarm

pusillanimous - adjective - destitute of a manly or courageous strength and firmness of mind; of weak spirit; mean-spirited; spiritless; lacking courage; cowardly

quidnunc - noun - a nosy person; a busybody

quietus - noun - 1. something that serves to suppress, check, or eliminate 2. release from life; that which silences claims; death 3. final discharge or acquittance, as from debt, duty, or obligation

quondam - adjective - that once was; former; having been formerly; sometime

quotidian - adjective - 1. everyday; commonplace 2. recurring daily; used especially of attacks of malaria

ruderal - adjective - growing in rubbish, poor land, or waste - noun - a plant that grows in rubbish, poor land, or waste

sesquipedalian - noun - a long word - adjective - 1. given to using long words 2. (of a word) containing many syllables 3. long and ponderous; polysyllabic

soi-disant - adjective - self-styled; so-called

solecism - noun - 1. a nonstandard usage or grammatical construction 2. a violation of etiquette 3. an impropriety, mistake, or incongruity

synecdoche - noun - a figure of speech, or trope, in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword)

tergiversate - verb - 1. to change repeatedly one's attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate 2. to turn renegade; to change sides; apostatize

tergiversation - noun - 1. falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language 2. the act of abandoning a party or cause

thirl - verb - to pierce or perforate

trapunto - noun - a kind of padded quilting with the design, in high relief, outlined with single stitches: used for upholstery and robes

trope - noun - 1. a) the use of a word or expression in a different sense from that which properly belongs to it; the use of a word or expression as changed from the original signification to another, for the sake of giving life or emphasis to an idea; a figure of speech; a metaphor; a figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways b) the word or expression so used 2. a word or phrase interpolated as an embellishment in the sung parts of certain medieval liturgies

velleity - noun - 1. volition at its lowest level 2. a mere wish or inclination

versant - noun - 1. slope of a mountain or mountain chain 2. the general slope, or declination, of a region

versicolor - adjective - 1. having many colors; variegated 2. changing in color, iridescent

vitreous - adjective - 1. of, relating to, resembling, or having the nature of glass; glassy 2. obtained or made from glass 3. of or relating to the vitreous humor