@grandiloquentwords.bsky.social
Fancy words, witty descriptions, and vintage illustrations to educate and entertain. My Book! https://wwnorton.com/books/9781682687994 Calendars! https://tinyurl.com/2026Kickstarter
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of Teddy Roosevelt clubbing someone over the head.
Crunt [krunt]
(n.)
- A blow on the head with a club.
Used in a sentence:
“Elbert, having been the unlucky recipient of a crunt during yesterday’s ballgame with the neighborhood boys, awoke to find a most inconvenient lump he’d soon have to justify to his fretful mother.”
Used in a sentence:
“One must, of course, cry peccavi when one has mislaid both morals and trousers; yet I confess that I find myself regretting neither as much as etiquette demands.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a woman on her knees, praying.
Peccavi [pek-AH-vee]
(int.) & (n.)
- A word used as a confession or acknowledgement of one's guilt or responsibility for a mistake or wrongdoing – e.g. “My bad!”.
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a sphygmomanometer in use.
Sphygmomanometer [sfig-moh-muh-NOM-ih-tur]
(n.)
- An instrument used for the measuring of one’s blood pressure.
Used in a sentence:
“Sir, that’s not the propper appendage to check your blood pressure—and in any case, we don’t even have a sphygmomanometer cuff small enough for it.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a lion's head.
Rimbombo [rim-BOM-bo]
(n.)
- A deep loud reverberation; a deeply resonant or thunderous sound; a booming noise.
Used in a sentence:
“He perched, tightened, and prayed for discreet flatulence, but his wooden chair betrayed him with a resonant rimbombo, bringing the restaurant to a startled hush.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a frog sat upon a stone.
Batrachophagous [BAT-ruh-KOH-fuh-jus]
(adj.)
- Feeding on frogs; pertaining to one that devours frogs.
Used in a sentence:
“I am not, nor do I harbor any desire to be batrachophagous, and as such, I must decline your dubious offer of fine French cuisine.”
Yikes! Did you break anything (besides the velocipede)?
29.09.2025 22:36 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0That's great! I've called umbrellas "bumbershoots" ever since I learned the word ages ago.
29.09.2025 22:33 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0stilts
29.09.2025 22:32 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a haunted velocipede.
Velocipede [vuh-LAH-suh-peed]
(n.)
- An early form of the bicycle, usually having two or three wheels, that is propelled by the rider. A ‘bone-shaker’.
Used in a sentence:
“The velocipede was discovered days later, leaning gently against a locked door, its handlebars inexplicably damp.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of two Roman men wearing cloaks.
Paludamentum [puh-loo-duh-MEN-tum]
(n.)
- A royal cloak modeled after ones that were worn by Roman generals and chief officers.
Used in a sentence:
“Just a tad overdressed for the debutante ball, Lester wore a rich scarlet paludamentum that was fastened by an ornate clasp over his left shoulder.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a pair of woebegone women crying over the body of a knight.
Woebegone [WOH-buh-gon]
(adj.)
- Sad or miserable; afflicted by misfortune or grief.
Used in a sentence:
“Wendy, the woebegone widow, wandered wistfully through the withered winter woods and wondered whether warmth was but a whimsical wish.”
SUR-uh-gril
26.09.2025 22:07 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Used in a sentence:
“After realizing that his quills inspired neither fear nor respect, the cirogrille enrolled in a confidence-building seminar where fate consigned him to a folding chair between an amorous armadillo with boundary issues and a salty sea urchin brimming with briny resentment.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a hedgehog.
Cirogrille [SUR-uh-gril]
(n.)
- Middle English word for hedgehog.
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a group of children frolicking and playing with a May pole.
Macarism [MAK-uh-riz-um]
(n.)
- A philosophy in which one derives their pleasure from the inspiration of joy in others; a beatitude.
Used in a sentence:
“He lived a life of macarism, quick to notice the kindness of a neighbor, and to turn them into moments of gentle celebration.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a man professing his love to a woman who is swooning.
Schmaltz [shmalts]
(n.)
- Extreme or excessive sentimentality, esp. in the arts or entertainment.
Used in a sentence:
“When Lady Pettigrew reeled theatrically into the footman’s arms, the air thickened with schmaltz so thick it might have been ladled over the aspic.”
I am a bookwright, so if you've not already procured yourself a copy, you can do so here:
wwnorton.com/books/978168...
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a man operating a printing press.
Bookwright [BUHK-rahyt]
(n.)
- A writer of books; an author.
- A printer or binder of books.
Used in a sentence:
“I'm a bookwright in the truest sense because I write novels, print them using a letterpress, then painstakingly bind them in embossed leather with gold accents… I don’t date much.”
Have you eaten any? Are they good?
21.09.2025 22:49 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an old ad for a mirliton.
Mirliton [MUR-lit-on]
(n.)
- The eunuch flute, a kind of kazoo or membranophone.
A borrowing from French.
Used in a sentence:
“They ended up firing that guy who was always goofing around with the mirliton after he did a little ‘oom-pa-pa’ routine to mimic the boss’s walk as he was strolling by.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a pair of maple spinners.
Schizocarp [SKIT-so-karp]
(n.)
- Dry fruits which break up into two or more one-seeded mericarps without dehiscing such as the winged seed pod of maple trees.
Used in a sentence:
“Your selcouth coiffure, dear, reminds one of a schizocarp in its final spin.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a man laughing.
Cachinnate [KAK-uh-neyt]
(v.)
- To laugh loudly, or convulsively.
From the Latin verb “cachinnare” (to laugh loudly)
Used in a sentence:
“Despite the solemn occasion, Rafferty found it impossible to resist the urge to cachinnate at the remarks of the addlepated dotard.”
Grandiloquent Word of the Day logo - Sepia-toned graphic with a baroque Victorian typeface and an illustration of a corpulent individual with a prominent grog-blossom.
Grog-Blossom [GROG-blos-um]
(n.)
- Vascular dilation causing redness and enlargement of the nose or face of persons who drink ardent spirits to excess; rhinophyma.
Used in a sentence:
“The magistrate, eyeing the witness’s grog-blossom, required no further proof of habitual intemperance.”
Thank you so much for sharing that, what a wonderful thing! I hope you will enjoy G.W.O.T.D.
18.09.2025 00:49 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Excogitate [eks-KOJ-it-ayt]
(v.)
- To think out; to construct, frame, or develop in thought; to contrive, devise.
Used in a sentence:
“The unusual situation required a creative solution, so I sat down to excogitate until a sufficiently workable solution presented itself.”
The other definition that I wrote:
- A rare and noble individual possessed of argute sensibilities, and the only other person in this benighted room—besides oneself—worth listening to.
