And yet, the number of words I don't know still seems as large and limitless as it did when I was three years old, and the only word I recognized when my mother would read The Monster at the End of This Book: Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover to me, was "strength."
The point I am slowly meandering toward is that this novel—aside from provoking me into envying Rivka Galcehn's intelligence, command of language, and ability to produce an engaging plot—taught me a lot of new words (see below). And when I think back upon the countless number of books I have read over the course of my life, it frightens me to imagine how much less knowledgeable I would now be without having done so. What I'm saying is this: Please read.
homunculus (hō-ˈməŋ-kyə-ləs)
Function: noun
1 : a little man : manikin
2 : a miniature adult that in the theory of preformation is held to inhabit the germ cell and to produce a mature individual merely by an increase in size
mesoscale ('me-zə-ˌskāl)
Function: adjective
: of intermediate size; especially : of or relating to a meteorological phenomenon approximately 10 to 1000 kilometers in horizontal extent
schizotypal (ˌskit-sə-tī-pəl)
Function: adjective
: pertaining to a personality type in which mild symptoms of schizophrenia are present
endogenous (en-ˈdä-jə-nəs)
Function: adjective
1 : growing or produced by growth from deep tissue
2 a : caused by factors inside the organism or system b : produced or synthesized within the organism or system
ersatz (ˈer-ˌsäts, -ˌzäts, er-ˈ; ˈər-ˌsats)
Function: adjective
: being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation
tannin (ˈta-nən)
Function: noun
1 : any of various soluble astringent complex phenolic substances of plant origin used especially in tanning leather and dyeing fabric, manufacturing ink, clarifying wine and beer, and in medicine
2 : a substance that has a tanning effect
topiary (ˈtō-pē-ˌer-ē)
Function: adjective
: of, relating to, or being the practice or art of training, cutting, and trimming trees or shrubs into odd or ornamental shapes; also : characterized by such work
desiccate (ˈde-si-ˌkāt)
Function: verb
transitive verb
1 : to dry up
2 : to preserve (a food) by drying : dehydrate
3 : to drain of emotional or intellectual vitality
intransitive verb
: to become dried up
parallax (ˈpa-rə-ˌlaks)
Function: noun
: the apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object; especially : the angular difference in direction of a celestial body as measured from two points on the Earth's orbit
hemochromatosis (ˌhē-mə-ˌkrō-mə-ˈtō-səs)
Function: noun
: a hereditary disorder of metabolism involving the deposition of iron-containing pigments in the tissues that is characterized especially by joint or abdominal pain, weakness, and fatigue and that may lead to bronzing of the skin, arthritis, diabetes, cirrhosis, or heart disease if untreated
tragus (-ˈtrā-gəs)
Function: noun
: the prominence in front of the external opening of the outer ear
antitragus ('an-ˌtī-ˈtrā-gəs)
Function: noun
: a prominence on the lower posterior portion of the concha of the external ear opposite the the tragus
pensione (päⁿs-ˈyōⁿ / pen(t)-ˈsyō-(ˌ)nā)
Function: noun
a : accommodations especially at a continental European hotel or boardinghouse : room and board b : a hotel or boardinghouse especially in continental Europe
Rosicrucian (ˌrō-zə-ˈkrü-shən, ˌrä-)
Function: noun
1 : an adherent of a 17th and 18th century movement professing esoteric and occult wisdom with emphasis on mysticism and spiritual enlightenment
2 : a member of one of several organizations held to be descended from the Rosicrucians
Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
Function: noun
: a form of synchronicity in which one happens upon an obscure piece of information and soon afterward encounters the same subject again
nap (ˈnap)
Function: noun
: a hairy or downy surface (as on a fabric)
nevus (ˈnē-vəs)
Function: noun
: a congenital or acquired usually highly pigmented area on the skin that is either flat or raised : mole
anelastic (ˌa-nə-ˈlas-tik)
Function: adjective
: relating to the property of a substance in which there is no definite relation between stress and strain
Gauss
Function: biographical name
: Carl Friedrich 1777 – 1855, German mathematician and astronomer
Cray (ˈkrā)
Function: trademark
: a supercomputer manufacturer based in Seattle, Washington
jeremiad (ˌjer-ə-ˈmī-əd, -ˌad)
Function: noun
: a prolonged lamentation or complaint; also : a cautionary or angry harangue
theremin (ˈther-ə-mən)
Function: noun
: a purely melodic electronic musical instrument typically played by moving the hands in the electromagnetic fields surrounding two projecting antennae
katabatic (ˌka-tə-ˈba-tik)
Function: adjective
: relating to or being a wind produced by the flow of cold dense air down a slope (as of a mountain or glacier) in an area subject to radiational cooling
shibboleth (ˈshi-bə-ləth also -ˌleth)
Function: noun
1 a : a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning b : a widely held belief c : truism, platitude
2 a : a use of language regarded as distinctive of a particular group b : a custom or usage regarded as distinguishing one group from others
Tehuelche (tə-wěl'chē, tā-wěl'chā)
Function: noun
1 : member of a South American Indian people formerly inhabiting most of Patagonia, with a small present-day population in southern Argentina
2 : the language of the Tehuelche
infarct (ˈin-ˌfärkt, in-ˈ)
Function: noun
: an area of necrosis in a tissue or organ resulting from obstruction of the local circulation by a thrombus or embolus
deglutition (ˌdē-glü-ˈti-shən, ˌde-glü-)
Function: noun
: the act or process of swallowing
etiology (ˌē-tē-ˈä-lə-jē)
Function: noun
1 : cause, origin; specifically : the cause of a disease or abnormal condition
2 : a branch of knowledge concerned with causes; specifically : a branch of medical science concerned with the causes and origins of diseases
sententious (sen-ˈten(t)-shəs)
Function: adjective
1 a : given to or abounding in aphoristic expression b : given to or abounding in excessive moralizing
2 : terse, aphoristic, or moralistic in expression : pithy, epigrammatic
neurocysticercosis (nu̇-ˈrō-ˌsis-tə-(ˌ)sər-ˈkō-səs)
Function: noun
: infection of the central nervous system with cysticerci of the pork tapeworm
attenuated (ə-ˈten-yə-ˌwāt, -yü-ˌāt)
Function: verb
transitive verb
1 : to make thin or slender
2 : to make thin in consistency : rarefy
3 : to lessen the amount, force, magnitude, or value of : weaken
4 : to reduce the severity, virulence, or vitality of
intransitive verb
: to become thin, fine, or less
stereoscope (ˈster-ē-ə-ˌskōp, ˈstir-)
Function: noun
: an optical instrument with two eyepieces for helping the observer to combine the images of two pictures taken from points of view a little way apart and thus to get the effect of solidity or depth
cavil (ˈka-vəl)
Function: verb
intransitive verb
: to raise trivial and frivolous objection
transitive verb
: to raise trivial objections to
provenance (ˈpräv-nən(t)s / ˈprä-və-ˌnän(t)s)
Function: noun
1 : origin, source
2 : the history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature
pith (ˈpith)
Function: noun
1 a : a usually continuous central strand of spongy tissue in the stems of most vascular plants that probably functions chiefly in storage b : any of various loose spongy plant tissues that resemble true pith c : the soft or spongy interior of a part of the body
2 a : the essential part : core b : substantial quality (as of meaning)
3 : importance
Note: definitions gathered from Merriam-Webster, The Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary.com, and Wikipedia
