salvific (adjective)
Something that’s salvific (sal-VIH-fik) has the intention or power to save or redeem. As used by Michelle Huneven: “For many years now, my source for salvific chicken soup has been the Sanamluang Café on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Kinglsey Drive: crystalline broth, flecks of fried garlic, and a moist, steamed bird nesting on thick rice noodles and bean sprouts has stanched many a misery.”
burgeon (verb)
To burgeon (BUR-jun) is to flourish, to grow or develop quickly. As used by Ellis Peters: “Truth, like the burgeoning of a bulb under the soil, however deeply sown, will make its way to the light.”
synecdoche (noun)
Synecdoche (sih-NEK-duh-kee) is a figure of speech in which the part is used for the whole. A few examples: the head for cattle, wheels for the car, hands for individuals, suits for businessmen.
encroach (verb)
To encroach (en-KROHCH) is to advance beyond the usual or proper limits. As used by Pasquier Quesnel: “Zeal is very blind, or badly regulated, when it encroaches upon the rights of others.”
sedulous (adjective)
Sedulous (SEJ-uh-lus) means diligent, with careful perseverance. As used by President John Tyler: “So far as it depends on the course of this government, our relations of good will and friendship will be sedulously cultivated with all nations.”
voluble (adjective)
Voluble (VOL-yuh-buhl) refers to a ready and continuous flow of words; spoken language that is fluent and glib. As used by Derek Walcott: “You would hear people talking in Barbados in the exact melody as a minor character in Shakespeare. Because here you have a thing that was not immured and preserved and mummified, but a voluble language, very active, very swift, very sharp.”
assiduous (adjective)
Assiduous (uh-SIJ-oo-us) means constant, unremitting. As I used it today: “This proposal is very well done from an outside perspective. It’s logical. It addresses all the usual subjects. It evinces assiduous research. But it doesn’t indicate that they have any understanding of the business’s inside secrets of success.”
insipience (noun)
Insipience (in-SIP-ee-uns) is lack of wisdom; foolishness. As used by Richard Hellman in an article in The Courier: “It has to be frustrating to know that you’re surrounded by intelligent, earnest individuals who are prone to moments of public insipience, usually when their fingers are on the voting button.”
hapless (adjective)
Hapless (HAP-lis) means unfortunate; unlucky and deserving of pity. As used by Carroll O’Connor: “The reviewer is a singularly detested enemy because he is, unlike the hapless artist, invulnerable.”
animus (noun)
Animus (AN-ih-mus) is strong dislike; hostility. As used by Ben Domenech: “One of the things I endeavor to remind people of consistently when I am asked to speak to groups around the country is to consider the possibility that we are led by a pack of idiots. This is not out of any animus toward our leadership class, but borne out of experience.”