I'm not sure but it would burn me up if he burned my house down.

• remorse • Pronunciation: rê- mors • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun, mass Meaning: A deep sense of regret, compunction, an embarrassment deriving from guilt combined with repentance. Notes: Today's word comes with a healthy happy family of derivations, all bearing clear resemblances to their father...

• disquisition • Pronunciation: dis-kwê- zi -shên • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. A diligent investigation, a thorough piece of research. 2. An elaborate analytical essay or a detailed treatise on a research project. Notes: Today's Good Word comes from a very old and distinguished famil...

• ajar • Pronunciation: ê-j ahr • Hear it! Part of Speech: Adjective, Defective Meaning: 1 . Slightly open (door, window). 2. Disconnected, at odds, out of kilter. Notes: Today's Good Word is what I call in my scholarly research "defective adjectives". I gave them that name (no one else h...

• intrepid • Pronunciation: in- tre -pid • Hear it! Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: Absolutely fearless. Notes: Today's Good Word is the negation of trepid "timid, fearful", a word we hear less often (Mickey is a trepid little mouse). The noun intrepidity sounds a little odd, so you mi...

• conjure • Pronunciation: kahn -jur • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb, transitive Meaning: 1. To bring forth by magical power or incantation. 2. To evoke, to bring forth from nowhere unexpectedly. Notes: Although respectable writers have used conjurement as a noun for today's verb, conjuration and c...

• lustration • Pronunciation: lês- tray -shên • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun, mass Meaning: Ceremonial purification, religious absolution of wrong-doing. Notes: English words based on luster are difficult to keep straight. Luster is a sheen, glowing, or glistening. Unsurprisingly, lustrous means &...

I'm hesitant to correct it since you guys have had so much fun with it.

• ambisinistrous • Pronunciation: æm-bê- sin -is-três • Hear it! Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1. Equally clumsy with either hand, ambilevous. 2. Clumsy. Notes: Since we have already discussed the more popular adjective, ambidextrous , it seems only fair that we discuss its ambisinistrous anto...

• trichotillomania • Pronunciation: tri-kê-ti-lê- may -ni-ê • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun, mass (no plural) Meaning: The irresistible urge to pull out your hair. Notes: Today's Good Word is dedicated to those who think that English doesn't have a word for everything. It is generally used in medic...

• adjunct • Pronunciation: æd -jêngkt • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: A subordinate or auxiliary person, place, or thing, something or someone that is dependent but inessential, not fully integrated. An adjunct professor teaches but has no academic privileges. An adjunct clause is one that...

• turpitude • Pronunciation: têr -pê-tyud • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun, mass (no plural) Meaning: Moral degeneracy, depravity. Notes: If you need the sense of this word in an adjective, turpitudinous is the one you want. You may add the suffix -ly to use it as an adverb. In Play: To lose tenure ...

Sluggo, I started with indurate but decided its meaning didn't diverge enough from obdurate to do both and, since obdurate was the more common, I would go with it. After working half an afternoon on obdurate , I discovered not only had I already done that word, but the first version was head and sho...

• obdurate • Pronunciation: ahb -dyê-rêt • Hear it ! Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1. Emotionally hardened, hard-hearted, unsympathetic. 2. Intractable, unrepentant, adamantly and unshakably stubborn. Notes: Writers have done a lot of experimentation with the noun from this adjective. Obduracy...

• ardent • Pronunciation: ahr -dênt • Hear it! Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1 Passionate, fervent, highly enthusiastic. 2. Fiery, burning, glowing, as though on fire. Notes: Although both ardency and ardentness have been used as nouns for this adjective, a noun with a completely different suf...