Something that is transcendent (tran-SEN-dunt) is beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience. As I used it today: “[Iris Murdoch] says that you cannot experience [beauty] fully with your rational mind. You need a ‘shift of consciousness’ from your everyday way of thinking to a sort of transcendent awareness.”
An exemplum (ig-ZEM-plum) is an example, especially one used to illustrate or support a point. As I used it today: “So, what, exactly, is the Nordic Model? And if Sweden is an exemplum of it, how, exactly…
Exultation (ek-sul-TAY-shun) is a feeling of triumphant elation or jubilation; rejoicing. As used by John Burroughs: “There is something very human in this apparent mirth and mockery of the squirrels. It seems…
Today’s Word: tergiversation (noun) –Tergiversation(tur-jih-ver-SAY-shun) is equivocation; the act of being deliberately ambiguous. As used by Tobias Smollett in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker: “I must tell…
Disingenuous (dis-in-JEN-yoo-us) means lacking on frankness, candor, or sincerity. As I used it today: “I could have told him what I just told you, but I was afraid he would see that as disingenuous.”
An opuscule (oh-PUSK-yool) is a work of art or music that is considered to be minor or insignificant. Some critics might, for example, describe Shakespeare’s King John or Pericles as an opuscule.
