• fossick • Pronunciation: fah -sik • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive Meaning: 1. To search for bits and pieces of gold left behind in abandoned mines or mining sites. 2. To search or rummage for something casually, usually in a random fashion. Notes: Today's Good Word expresses a conce...

• slogan • Pronunciation: slo -gên • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. A motto expressing an opinion or position, repeated for effect. 2. The battle cry of a Scottish clan. Notes: "The battle cry of a Scottish clan?" I hear you asking. Wait for Word History. A person known for spe...

• disturb • Pronunciation: dis- têrb • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb, transitive Meaning: 1. To move out of place, upset, to change the arrangement of, as to disturb the items on someone's desk. 2. To interrupt or prevent from doing something, as to disturb someone resting. 3. To upset emotionally,...

• chicanery • Pronunciation: chi- kayn -êr-i • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun, mass (no plural) Meaning: 1. Quibbling, caviling, nit-picking. 2. Trickery, shiftiness, sneakiness, cheating. Notes: Today's good noun rests on a verb, (to) chicane , which also has a personal (agent) noun, chicaner . Chi...

• caterwaul • Pronunciation: kæd-êr-wawl • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive Meaning: 1. (Of cats) To bellow as cats do when they mate or fight. 2. To make loud, discordant, irritating sounds. 3. To have a loud, boisterous argument. Notes: Today's word has been in the English language sin...

My apologies for missing May Day. I have an article on May Day itself in the library. May Day was first proclaimed International Workers Day by the Second International in Paris in 1889 to commemorate the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886. It was so successful that it continued everywhere in the...

Larry't right--great ones. They're on tap for next April Fool's Day.

• majesty • Pronunciation: mæ -jes-ti • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. The glory of the greatest in size, beauty, power or position. 2. Breath-taking trappings of great power and riches, as the majesty of the throne room. 3. [Capitalized] An honorific title of address given to those of t...

• hectic • Pronunciation: hek -tik • Hear it! Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1. Feverishly active and confused, as a hectic day. 2. Feverish, related to a persistent fever, especially recurrent fevers accompanying tuberculosis. Notes: Today's Good Word is, unfortunately, much too necessary thes...

• ventriloquy • Pronunciation: ven- tril -ê-kwi • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun, mass (No plural) Meaning: Speaking without moving the lips, the voice in sync with the mouth movements of a dummy, so as to leave the impression that the ventriloquist is throwing his or her voice. Notes: Today's Good ...

• dint • Pronunciation: dint • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: Means, stroke, strength Notes: Though today's Good Word was once a noun in good standing, today its use is limited to the idiomatic phrase by dint of, which means "by means of, by a stroke of, on the strength of". It is...

• denouement • Pronunciation: day-nu- meN • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. The clarification and unraveling of all mystery at the end of a drama or other narrative work of art, usually following the climax. 2. The resolution of a complex set of events that makes everything clear to every...

• animosity • Pronunciation: æn-ê- mah -sê-ti • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: Bitter hostility, deep-seated hatred toward someone or something. Notes: Today's Good Word is no longer semantically related to the adjective it was historically derived from, animous (see Word History). The resu...

• androgynous • Pronunciation: æn- drah -jê-nês • Hear it! Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1. Indistinguishable as to gender by looks, clothing, or behavior. 2. [Biology] Having the physical characteristics of both sexes (plants and animals). Notes: Back in the 60s and 70s when the struggle for ...

• stigma • Pronunciation: stig -mê • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. A mark of shame on the character of someone left by a disgraceful act. 2. A spot or birthmark on the body, especially one indicative of some illness. 3. The marks of the Crucifixion or marks on the human body correspondi...