Fancy Ways of Saying Things

[Leeroy Atherton]

For those who may or may not remember, a synonym is a word that has the same meaning as another word; some synonyms, however, are more specific than others in meaning. I've decided to begin compiling a list of fancy synonyms for more common words that I have come across in literature, culture and various other sources over the years. Hopefully, these words will serve to enrich your posts as spices would enrich food, and strengthen the vocabulary that you already have. Feel free to add a few of your own, if you want.


28th September Words


~ "Between Charybdis and Scylla (or, Between Scylla and Charybdis)"

Another way of saying "between a rock and a hard place". Charybdis and Scylla were female monsters of Greek mythology, guarding an ocean passageway and attacking all who came near. The hero Odysseus lost several men to Scylla as he attempted to go through the aforementioned passageway.


~ "Caloric"

An old way of saying something is hot. It can also refer to something that has to do with calories.


~ "Hark"

An old word meaning "here". It is still used by some dialects of English, such as the West Country dialect of southwestern England.


~ "Hither"

An old way of saying "here".


~ "Polysyllabic"

Consisting of several syllables, usually four or more. The word itself could be described as polysyllabic.


~ "Thither"

Another old word, and meaning "there" or "far away".

[Leeroy Atherton]

29 September Words


~ "Arachnoid"

Web-like.


~ "Felicity"

Happiness; also used as a girl's name.


~ "Gaiety"

Cheerfulness; showiness.


~ "Ignoramous"

One who is ignorant.


~ "Lackadaisical"

Without or lacking life or spirit; lazy.


~ "Xanthous"

A colour of a yellow-brownish hue; the colour of an egg's yolk.

[Leeroy Atherton]

30 September Words


~ "Cerulean"

A sky-hued blue or a deep blue; a tincture of this colour in heraldry.


~ "Inertness"

Sluggishness; inactivity; lifelessness.


~ "Platonic"

Relating to the teachings of Plato; a love more towards the ideal or the spiritual, and not a physical one.


~ "Plutonian"

Like Pluto, or like Hell or the underworld.


~ "Stygian"

Hellish; dark.


~ "Variability"

A state of change or fluctuation; a quality of this.

[⊕ Owen Pearson]

I'll add a couple words of my own.

~"Scurrilous"

Vulgarly abusive.


~"Acquiesce"

To consent without enthusiasm or without protest.


~"Forestall"

To prevent by doing something ahead of time, or to act in advance of/anticipate.


~"Vicissitude"

A condition of constant change.



And Also,

THE GRAMMAR TIP OF THE DAY!

Compliment vs. Complement

These two words are often confused due to their pronunciations being the same (or similar). But to choose which to used while writing, remember that:

-Compliment should be used in forms of flattery or respect or when something is free (complimentary services). For example, "Owen compliments Addie on the creation of this thread." or "IO does not provide complimentary drinks to its users."

-Complement should be used when the object being discussed completes something. Examples would be, "This post complements the three preceding it."

[Leeroy Atherton]

Ah, thank you, Owen! Help is always appreciated in keeping this thread alive.

[Leeroy Atherton]

7 October Words


~ "Archaic"

Old; ancient; antique; something that is primitive.


~ "Hirsute"

Hairy.


~ "Monosyllabic"

Consisting of a single syllable.


~ "Tenacious"

To be clingy; to be persistent or stubborn; something adhesive.


~ "Vivacious"

Lively, high-spirited.


~ "Voracious"

Having a big appetite; to be eager.

[Leeroy Atherton]

8 October Words


~ "Apathetic"

To lack emotion; to lack interest.


~ "Codswallop"

A British term that is akin to the term "baloney", as in, "That's a load of baloney!"

Balogna?

~ "Demonym"

The name for a person from a certain place - for example, the demonym of someone from Britain would be the proper noun British.


~ "Iridescent"

Something shiny and/or rainbow-like.


~ "Phlegmatic"

A personality type in which one is unemotional and slow.


~ "Sanguine"

Blood-coloured; someone passionate and/or optimistic.

[Leeroy Atherton]

25 October Words


~ "Altruistic"

To be of unselfishness.


~ "Copious"

In great amounts; plenty.



~ "Infallible"

Never or unable to be wrong.



~ "Sophist"

One whose practices reasoning that is witty, and seeming sound and logical, but is not so.



~ "Svelte"

To be of a thin, slender nature; to be sophisticated.



~ "Tête-à-tête"

A private conversation; to be together in privacy; relating to two people in private.

[⊕ Owen Pearson]

Something a little bit different from the norm, but still grammar related.

25 Interesting Analogies

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.