One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

This latest round of interesting words comes from Robin Hobb's Dragon Haven.

alacrity: Cheerful willingness; eagerness.

ameliorate: To make or become better; improve

bawd: A woman who keeps a brothel; a madam.

indolent: Disinclined to exert oneself; habitually lazy.

lunker: Something, especially a game fish, that is large for its kind.

sagacious: Having or showing keen discernment, sound judgment, and farsightedness.

treacle: Cloying speech or sentiment.

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One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

This latest round of interesting words comes from Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim.

alembic: An apparatus consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, formerly used for distilling liquids.

doubloon: A gold coin formerly used in Spain and Spanish America.

drachma: An ancient Greek silver coin.

gendarme: Originally, in France, a man-at-arms; a knight or cavalier armed at all points and commanding a troop; afterward, a member of a company or corps of cavalry; a cavalryman: sometimes also used for soldier in general.

mugwort: Any of several aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia, especially A. vulgaris,native to Eurasia and sometimes used as a condiment.

orrery: A me... [More]

One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

This latest round of interesting words comes from Kay Kenyon's Bright of the Sky.

alkaloid: Any of various organic compounds normally with basic chemical properties and usually containing at least one nitrogen atom in a heterocyclic ring, occurring chiefly in many vascular plants and some fungi.

archon: A high official; a ruler.

cyanogenic: Capable of producing cyanide.

demiurge: A powerful creative force or personality.

epicanthic: Of or pertaining to an epicanthis; growing in or upon a canthus or corner of the eye.

espalier: A tree or shrub that is trained to grow in a flat plane against a wall, often in a symmetrical pattern.

evanescent: Vanishing or likely to vanish like va... [More]

One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

This latest round of interesting words comes from Karl Schroeder's Sun of Suns.

armature: The rotating part of a dynamo, consisting essentially of copper wire wound around an iron core.

boatswain: A warrant officer or petty officer in charge of a ship's rigging, anchors, cables, and deck crew.

contrail: A visible trail of streaks of condensed water vapor or ice crystals sometimes forming in the wake of an aircraft. Also called vapor trail.

diatom: Any of various microscopic one-celled or colonial algae of the class Bacillariophyceae, having cell walls of silica consisting of two interlocking symmetrical valves.

gelid: Cold; very cold; icy.

ingenue: An innocent, unsophistica... [More]

One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

These interesting words were found in Peter V. Brett's The Warded Man.

alacrity: Cheerful willingness; eagerness.

garron: A small and usually disdained type of horse

poultice: A soft moist mass of bread, meal, clay, or other adhesive substance, usually heated, spread on cloth, and applied to warm, moisten, or stimulate an aching or inflamed part of the body.

tincture: A coloring or dyeing substance; a pigment.

vassalage: The condition of being a vassal.

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One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

These interesting words were found in Paul Kemp's Ephemera: Dark Stories from the mind of Paul S. Kemp.

apotheosis: the elevation of a person (as to the status of a god)

caravel: The caravel of the 16th century was a small vessel with broad bows, high, narrow poop, four masts, and lateen sails. Columbus commanded three caravels on his great voyage.

effigy: a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture

iconoclast: someone who tries to destroy traditional ideas or institutions

inchoate: only partly in existence; imperfectly formed

insensate: devoid of feeling and consciousness and animation

parturition: the process of giving birth

proclivities: a natural... [More]

One of the things I often do as I'm reading a novel or short story is keep track of words whose definitions I do not know or that I find interesting. Either way, these interesting words are ones I feel might be of use in my own writing. That, and it's good to expand one's vocabulary every once in a while.

These interesting words were found in S.C. Butler's Reiffen's Choice.

boom: any of various more-or-less horizontal spars or poles used to extend the foot of a sail or for handling cargo or in mooring

bootblack: a person who polishes shoes and boots

floe: a flat mass of ice (smaller than an ice field) floating at sea

gunwale: wale at the top of the side of boat; topmost planking of a wooden vessel

tiller: lever used to turn the rudder on a boat

wizarding: magic, a spell; though the word is made-up, I thought it well-used: "He gathered the tempest's power into himself, to use in the wizarding he would employ to take them away."

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