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This week's word is

Pivot

Note: it's not an advanced vocabulary word, but I felt the various definitions could be great fodder for fic inspiration, so I added it to the list. It's got me thinking already...

[ˈpivət]

noun
1. The central point, pin, or shaft on which a mechanism turns or oscillates.
A person or thing that plays a central part in an activity or organization:
"The pivot of community life was the chapel."

verb
2. Turn on or as if on a pivot:
"He swung around, pivoting on his heel."

3. (pivot on) Depend on:
"Your escape pivots on my disappearing with you."

4. Completely change the way in which one does something:
"The teams performed exceptionally by quickly pivoting to meet the increased demand from our customers." ·

Pivot is a term that has evolved from French and is used in English to describe a central point around which action revolves. It can refer to a physical shaft or pin on which something turns, or metaphorically, to a person or thing that serves as a focal point for change or redirection.

This week's word is

Crepuscular

[krəˈpəskyələr]

adjective

1. Of, resembling, or relating to twilight.

2. (of an animal) appearing or active in twilight (before sunrise or after sunset).
"Many owls are nocturnal and some are crepuscular."

From Merriam-Webster:

Did you know?

The early Romans had two words for the twilight. Crepusculum was favored by Roman writers for the half-light of evening, just after the sun sets; diluculum was reserved for morning twilight, just before the sun rises—it is related to lucidus, meaning "bright." We didn't embrace either of these Latin nouns as substitutes for our word twilight, but we did form the adjective crepuscular in the 17th century. The word's zoological sense, relating to animals that are most active at twilight, developed in the 19th century.

This week's word is

Florid

ˈ
flȯr-əd

ADJECTIVE

1: Very flowery in style, ornate
Florid prose

2: Elaborately decorated
A florid interior

(Obsolete: covered with flowers)

3. Tinged with red, ruddy
A florid complexion

4. Marked by emotional or sexual fervor
A florid secret life

5. Fully developed, manifesting a complete and typical clinical syndrome
The florid stage of a disease

(Archaic: healthy)

HAPPY 2025!

There is a new AO3 collection up for this year: Vocab Drabbles 2025

This week's word, according to the wise Random Choice Generator, is

Laconic

[ləˈkänik]

adjective

(of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words.

"His laconic reply suggested a lack of interest in the topic."

Did you know? (from Merriam-Webster):

We’ll keep it brief. Laconia was an ancient country in southern Greece. Its capital city was Sparta, and the Spartans were famous for their terseness of speech. Laconic comes to us by way of Latin from Greek Lakōnikos, meaning “native of Laconia.” In current use, laconic means “terse” or “concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious,” and thus recalls the Spartans’ taciturnity.

This week's word is

Circumspect

[ˈsərkəmˌspek(t)]

adjective
Careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences.
Wary and unwilling to take risks.

Prudent diplomacy required a circumspect response.
They are circumspect in all their business dealings.

This week's word is

Harbinger

Noun
1. A person or thing that foreshadows or foretells the coming of someone or something.
2. (obsolete) One who provides lodgings; especially, the officer of the English royal household who formerly preceded the court when travelling, to provide and prepare lodgings.

Verb
(transitive) To announce or precede; to be a harbinger of.

This week's word is

Jocular

[ˈjäkyələr]

adjective
Fond of or characterized by joking; humorous or playful.

"She sounded in a jocular mood."
"His voice was jocular."

This week's word is

Anomie

noun
an·o·mie ˈa-nə-mē

(variants or less commonly anomy)

1. social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values
The reforms of a ruined economy, under these conditions, brought about social anomie, desperation and poverty rather than relief and prosperity.
—T. Mastnak

2. personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals
In the face of these prevailing values, many workers experience a kind of anomie. Their jobs become empty, meaningless, and intrinsically unsatisfying.
—Robert Straus

From Merriam-Webster

This week's word is

Phlegmatic

[ fleg-mat-ik ]

adjective
1. not easily excited to action or display of emotion; apathetic; sluggish.
Synonyms: torpid, dull, uninterested, cold, cool, stoical

2. self-possessed, calm, or composed.
Synonyms: quiet, placid, unruffled, collected, cool

3. of the nature of or abounding in the humor phlegm.

This week's word is

Fatuous

[ˈfaCH(əw)əs]

adjective

Silly and pointless: "a fatuous comment"

This week's word is

Acidulous

acid·u·lous ə-ˈsi-jə-ləs

adjective
Somewhat acid or harsh in taste or manner.

"A slightly acidulous drink that is far more refreshing than the overly sweet iced tea that is also available."

"A gently acidulous writing style that never becomes annoying."

From Merriam-Webster

NOTE: Something very strange happened with this one. I opened the document with all my words on it, copied them, and pasted them to the Random Choice Generator as usual. This is the word it gave me. I copied it and pasted it into my browser to go to the definition. All normal there. Then I went back to my doc to mark acidulous as 'used'... except I couldn't find it. It wasn't there. (Cue spooky music). Where did it come from? The generator only picks a word from the list you give it, but this word was not on that list...
Take that as you will. I guess acidulous wanted to be here, for some reason. Do share if you got any unexpected inspiration from it.

This week's word is

Dispiteous

[ dis-pit-ee-uhs ]

From Dictionary.com

adjective (archaic)

Malicious, cruel, pitiless.

"The morning had succeeded to the hopeless humidity of the night, and the drizzling rain fell with almost dispiteous persistence."
From "The Wearing of the Green"

This week's word is

Illaudable

il·laud·able

adjective
Deserving no praise

This week's word is

Credulity

kruh-doo-li-tee

NOUN
Readiness or willingness to believe especially on slight or uncertain evidence.

"Her description of the event strains credulity."

"The quack pushing the phony medicine was taking advantage of the credulity of people hoping for miracle cures."

This week's word is

Galvanize

[ˈɡalvəˌnīz]

verb

1. Shock or excite (someone) into taking action: "The urgency of his voice galvanized them into action."

Similar:
jolt
shock
startle
impel
stir
spur
prod

2. Coat (iron or steel) with a protective layer of zinc: "They promised they would galvanize the iron railings to prevent rusting."

This week's word is

Pejorative

From Word Hippo:

Adjective
Disparaging, belittling or derogatory in nature.

Noun
A disparaging, belittling, or derogatory word or expression. Slanderous, deliberately harmful to someone's reputation.

Examples:

The individual may be classified as incomplete, immature, or by other pejorative terms which detract from his dignity.

Most bodybuilders refer to water in the pejorative, fingering it as the cause for water retention or a puffy and bloated appearance.

This week's word is

Epistolary

epis·to·lary i-ˈpi-stə-ˌler-ē ˌe-pi-ˈstȯ-lə-rē

adjective

1: of, relating to, or suitable to a letter

2: contained in or carried on by letters

an endless sequence of … epistolary love affairs
—The Times Literary Supplement (London)

3: written in the form of a series of letters
an epistolary novel

This week's word is

Verisimilar

From Merriam-Webster

veri·sim·i·lar

adjective
1: having the appearance of truth: probable
2: depicting realism (as in art or literature)

From its roots, verisimilitude means basically "similarity to the truth." Most fiction writers and filmmakers aim at some kind of verisimilitude to give their stories an air of reality. They need not show something actually true, or even very common, but simply something believable. A mass of good details in a play, novel, painting, or film may add verisimilitude. A spy novel without some verisimilitude won't interest many readers, but a fantastical novel may not even attempt to seem true to life.

"The novel's degree of verisimilitude is compromised by 18th-century characters who speak in very 21st-century English."

This week's word is

Garrulous

[ˈɡerələs]

adjective
Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters:

"Polonius is portrayed as a foolish, garrulous old man."

This week's word is

Lucifugous

[lo͞oˈsifyəɡəs]

Adjective

1. Having a dislike of light, particularly from the sun
2. Nocturnal

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Vocabulary Word Fic Prompts

July 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

001 - excoriate - 10 uses
002 - iconoclast - 9 uses
003 - agelast - 9 uses
004 - indolent - 10 uses
005 - imperious - 9 uses
006 - apricate - 10 uses
008 - halcyon - 8 uses
011 - emulate - 11 uses
012 - anachronistic - 10 uses
013 - impetus - 9 uses
014 - extrapolate - 10 uses
015 - supercilious - 10 uses
016 - buttress - 9 uses
017 - conundrum - 10 uses
018 - pernicious - 10 uses
020 - supine - 8 uses
023 - egregious - 8 uses
024 - synecdoche - 8 uses
026 - hackneyed - 9 uses
036 - mélange - 8 uses
037 - ubiquitous - 8 uses
039 - prognosticate - 9 uses
043 - alacrity - 8 uses
050 - noisome - 8 uses
challenge - 136 uses
fandom: baldur's gate - 13 uses
fandom: buffy the vampire slayer - 15 uses
fandom: doctor who - 17 uses
fandom: friends - 42 uses
fandom: good omens - 33 uses
fandom: jeeves & wooster - 15 uses
fandom: leverage - 10 uses
fandom: original - 36 uses
fandom: pokémon - 11 uses
fandom: sherlock bbc - 11 uses
fandom: sherlock holmes acd - 37 uses
fandom: the legend of zelda - 14 uses
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fandom: twin peaks - 8 uses
fandom: x-men - 10 uses
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written by: apachefirecat - 60 uses
written by: avandrathemarysueslayer - 13 uses
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