Category Archives: Lexicology

profligate

adjective
  1. 1.
    recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.
    “Dammit, Englebert!  You will not be profligate with my sausages!”
noun
  1. 1.
    a licentious, dissolute person.
       “I don’t know what you’re so upset about now…you knew I was an unmitigated profligate when you bailed me out of jail last night.  Now shut up and bring me some liquor.”

baleful

adjective
  1. threatening harm; menacing.
    “Bill shot a baleful glance in her direction, and she knew it was high time for some shut-mouth.”
  2. having a harmful or destructive effect

“Like Kali or Medusa or a big bag of cancer, this woman’s presence was always a baleful thing, regardless of time, place, or situation.”

noblesse oblige

noun

the inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged.

“There was to being a celebrity a certain element of noblesse oblige, which he deeply and consistently resented.”

physiognomy

noun
  1. a person’s facial features or expression, especially when regarded as indicative of character or ethnic origin.
    • the supposed art of judging character from facial characteristics.
    • the general form or appearance of something.

irascible

adjective
  1. having or showing a tendency to be easily angered.
    “‘Fuck you,’ said the irascible man, who had clearly and almost instantaneously had enough of her jackassery.”

sententious

adjective
  1. given to moralizing in a pompous or affected manner.
    “He tried to encourage his men with sententious rhetoric, but to no effect: ultimately they were just a bunch of uninspired, myopic dickheads.”

garrulous

adjective
  1. excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters.
    “He was nothing but a foolish, garrulous old man who needed to be silenced.  Now he is silent.”