Random Rare Word

I was cruising through the dictionary when I came across this word. I like it! Hadn’t ever heard it before and wanted to share. Li-to-tes (noun) Ironic understatement, esp. the expressing of an affirmative by the negative of its contrary, e.g. no mean feat for some great accomplishment. [Late Latin from Greek litotes from litos …

Someone – I forget who it was – used this word recently in conversation. I’ve always known the general gist of what context the word can be used in and such, but I’ve never known the exact definition of it. So I looked it up in my trusty Canadian Oxford English Dictionary, and this is …

Definition of “éclat”.

The definition of “pepo” and its origins.

Courtesy of my friend Westwood, today’s random rare word is supererogation. She got it from a philosophy class some time ago and held onto it. Hurray for words! Supererogation (noun) The performance of more than duty requires. See also supererogatory (adjective), which comes from the Late Latin supererogatio from supererogare, which means to pay in …

I like grammar. Ablaut (noun) A change of vowel in related words or forms, esp. in Indo-European languages, arising from differences of accent and stress in the parent language, e.g. in sing, sang, sung. [German]

Today’s Random Rare Word is brought to you by the boyfriend! He used the word “ingrate” recently (not referring to me, of course…) and I had never heard of it before. He was surprised I hadn’t heard of it and maybe it’s one of those words that is incredibly common but for some reason has …