May I Have the Definition Please?

An article in the New York Times Tuesday talked about a contest that took place at the New York Public Library on Monday. No, not a spelling bee. It was the National Vocabulary Championship, and the winner walked away with $40,000 toward his college tuition. I personally liked the headline: "A Contest Where the Competitors Flex Their Lexicons."

The Princeton Review came up with the questions, which is the company that all but guarantees elevated standardized test scores. I am an avid reader, a grammar aficionado and I love to learn new words. Having taken both the SAT and GRE, whose verbal constituents I consider to be nothing more than glorified vocabulary tests (or, perhaps, a test of whether a student has studied Latin), I was excited to read the coverage in the Times because there were many words I did not know. So I have taken the liberty to define them, more for my own satisfaction than anything else. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm usually armed with the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

perspicuous - adj: plain to the understanding - perspicuity, n. I guess I should have known.

poecilonym - this one's not in my dictionary, but it is a synonym for synonym, and one of my personal favorites.

pusillanimous - adj: contemptibly timid: cowardly - pusillanimity, n.

pulchritudinous - adj: beautiful - pulchritude, n. This one I actually knew; I think it's an SAT word. Or maybe it's because I embody it's significance. (Ha)

pulverulent - this one's not in my dictionary either. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines it this way: "1. Made of, covered with, or crumbling to fine powder or dust. 2. Dusty; crumbly." It makes sense, because it is derived from Latin, and the Spanish word for 'dust' is polvo.

nidicolous - also not in the dictionary. The New York Times says it means "remaining in the nest for some time after hatching, as some birds; or living in the nest of another species."

nidifugous - starting to lose faith in my dictionary. It's an adjective, and seems to be the opposite of nidicolous. It means "Leaving the nest a short time after hatching. Used of a bird."

Brobdingnagian - adj: immense, enormous. "Etymology: After Brobdingnag, a country in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, where everything was enormous," says The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Definitely adding this one to my repertoire.

While on the subject of Brobdingnag, I'd like to add something here. A dose of correct word usage, if you will. The word "enormity" is commonly misused. Enormity, as defined by Webster's dictionary, means "1. an outrageous, vicious, or immoral act, or 2. great wickedness." These are its primary definitions. And, did you know that the first definition of "enormous" is not "huge," but "great wickedness" instead? The secondary definition is most common (great in size, number, or degree), and we most commonly associate "enormous" with its synonyms: immense, vast, gigantic, colossal, mammoth, elephantine. Who knew?!

Clearly, I need a new dictionary. Scrabble, anyone?