Lexicon
By request: a compilation of the words I use.Archive for January, 2010
Itinerant
Itinerant
Adjective: traveling from place to place.
Noun: a person who travels from place to place.
Itinerant is a good word for anyone or anything that is on the move. Itinerant is similar to roaming or wandering or vagrant or vagabond, but perhaps without the negative connotations of the last two. I like it because it can be used both as a noun and as an adjective. Itinerant comes from the Latin iter, “journey, road.”
Redolent
Redolent
Adjective: (redolent of/with) strongly reminiscent or suggestive of something; (poetic/literary) strongly smelling of something; (archaic, poetic/literary) fragrant or sweet smelling.
Redolent is another term one does not come across every day, yet it captures a simple concept: of something being suggestive of another. In colloquial terms we might say that something “reminds me of…” or that something ” smacks of…” in the place of this term. I also kind of like the word’s root in the sense of smell. It makes the term a bit more visceral, especially as smell is one of the strongest triggers for memory. So the next time you describe how something is evocative of another, perhaps redolent will fit the bill.
Suffice
Suffice
Verb: (intransitive) be enough or adequate; (transitive) meet the needs of.
Sometimes you have enough. Sometimes you need to say that something is enough. For these situation the verb suffice exists. I guess I don’t have much more to say except that I like this word. I hope this suffices.
Incipient
Incipient
Adjective: in an initial stage, beginning to happen or develop; (of a person) developing into a specified type or role.
Incipient is another word for something in the early stages of development. Like an incipient player who has just joined the big leagues for their rookie season. It seems a good word at one week into a new year. Incipient is similar to the previously posted word nascent, though incipient seems to imply something that is already somewhat established where nascent refers to something just coming into being. Though it is cold here in the northern hemisphere, enjoy the incipient weeks of the year.
