My Creatively Random Life

Today is the last day of the Challenge, Yay!  Congratulations to everyone who made it through.  I am really excited to have made it to the end and look forward to next year.  I already have ideas for next years theme. Zenith Definition:  the point above the observer that is directly opposite the nadir on the imaginary sphere against which celestial bodies appear to be projected. Sentence:  Zenith, the point in the celestial sphere directly overhead.             — Henry White Warren Zephyr Definition:  a slight wind (usually refreshing). Sentence:  Nor I. On the contrary, all the allusions to the winds are of the gentler kind,—"balmy Zephyrs," "whispering breezes" and so forth.              — Alexander Pope Zealous Definition:  marked by active interest and enthusiasm. Sentence:  "You are so willing and zealous; but for that very reason I must guard against your ...

Yahoo Definition:  a person who is not very intelligent or interested in culture. Sentence:  What I wanted to bring to your distinguished notice is this—that you must not behave like a yahoo in my mathematical set.             —Ian Hay Yeoman Definition:  in former times was free and cultivated his own land. Sentence:   On one extreme was the well-to-do yeoman farmer farming his own land.             — S. A. Reilly Yokel Definition:  a person who is not very intelligent or interested in culture. Sentence:  Now, poor people, yokels, clods, cannot love what is incomprehensible to them .             — George Meredith Yore Definition:  time long past. Sentence:  Yore, long ago; generally used in the expression "of yore," formerly, once upon a time.             — Winifred Turner Yelp Definition:  a s...

Waggish Definition:  witty or joking. Sentence:   Dinner, however, came, and the little waggish doctor could not, for the life of him, avoid his jokes .             — William Carleton Waif Definition:  a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned. Sentence:   Had they not been poor children, little waifs, they would not have been locked in the cabin to perish like rats.              — Eugene V. Debs Wan Definition:  lacking vitality as from weariness or illness or unhappiness. Sentence:  Tom was leaning back, pale and exhausted, his breath was short, his face gray, wan and wasted.             —Mrs. Henry Wood Wane Definition:  a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number). Sentence:  India’s biggest producer, reported an 89 percent decline in second-quarter group profit because of waning demand and higher raw...

Now on to today's actual post. Vacillate Definition:  be undecided about something; waver between conflicting positions or courses of action. Sentence:   But the old Napoleon was no more; vacillating almost as if in partial catalepsy, murmuring empty phrases in quick, indistinct utterance, he refused to decide.             — William Milligan Sloane Vacuous Definition:  devoid of intelligence. Sentence:  Why had his brain and senses lain fallow all these months, a vacuous vegetation, an empty consciousness?             — Gilbert Parker Veracity Definition:  unwillingness to tell lies. Sentence:  Professionally speaking, lawyers have been called legal liars, but compared to stock manipulators they are walking examples of truth and veracity.             — Charles Clark Munn Verisimilitude Definition:  the appearance of truth; the quali...

This post comes a day late as I was super sick yesterday, nasty migraine. :( Ubiquitous Definition:  being present everywhere at once. Sentence:   In the run-up to the launch, Morgan has been ubiquitous, popping up all over the place to promote the show.             — The Guardian (Jan 7, 2011) Umbrage Definition:  a feeling of anger caused by being offended. Sentence:  Such men are easily offended, take umbrage at trifles, and are unforgiving in their resentments.             — John Sherburne Sleeper Unction Definition:  anointing as part of a religious ceremony or healing ritual. Sentence:  Afterward he administers the sacrament of Extreme Unction—last anointing.              — John James Burke Unctuous Definition:  unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech. Sentence:  He had become suave and unct...

Tangential Definition:  of superficial relevance if any. Sentence:  It is terrific fun, but its relation to the theme remains tangential at best.              — The Guardian (Aug 26, 2011) Tautological Definition:  repetition of same sense in different words. Sentence:  The expression sounds trite and tautological; but it needs emphasis.             — Various Tessellated Definition:  decorated with small pieces of colored glass or stone fitted together in a mosaic. Sentence:  Passing from one pavilion to another over tessellated pavements, we enter apartments rich in mosaics and all manner of precious stones.              — Henry Martyn Field Theocracy Definition:  a political unit governed by a deity (or by officials thought to be divinely guided). Sentence:  For in theocracies, to the social evil of the offence is added the imp...

Salubrious Definition:  promoting health; healthful. Sentence:  The air is extremely salubrious, and the place has long been remarkable for its freedom from epidemics.            — J. H. Holdsworth Scion Definition:  a descendant or heir. Sentence:  Mr. Papandreou, a political scion whose father and grandfather were also prime ministers, took office late last year.           — New York Times (Feb 7, 2010) Seditious Definition:  in opposition to a civil authority or government. Sentence:   If stones were thrown at the police and seditious cries were raised, it was no more than might be reasonably expected.          — James Anthony Froude Serendipity Definition:  good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries. Sentence:  Serendipity is a recurring theme in Chandler's biography, with one happy accident after another pushing him in a certain ...

Raconteur Definition:  a person skilled in telling anecdotes. Sentence:  He was an excellent raconteur, and his stories had a stamp of their own which would have made them always and everywhere acceptable.                  — Leonard Huxley Recalcitrant Definition:  stubbornly resistant to authority or control. Sentence:  The officials of the state banks especially proved recalcitrant and refused to surrender Government moneys.                — Various Recondite Definition:  difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge. Sentence:  On both sides of Lamb, however, there lie literatures more difficult, more recondite .                —Arnold Bennett Rectitude Definition:  righteousness as a consequence of being honorable and honest. Sentence:  You must be morally upri...

For me Q is always one of the hardest letters, what about you guys? Quash Definition:  put down by force or intimidation. Sentence:  More than 500 people are thought to have been killed since mid-March as the security forces try to quash dissent.              — BBC (May 7, 2011) Quiescent Definition:  being quiet or still or inactive. Sentence:  Under normal conditions, only a fraction of these blood-forming stem cells are active; the rest are deeply quiescent – asleep.                — The Guardian (Jan 17, 2011) Quintessence Definition:  the most typical example or representative of a type. Sentence:  This composition, in many ways the most wonderful single piece we have from Chopin, is the quintessence of his genius.                 — Walter Raymond Spalding Quisling Definition:  someone who collaborates with an ene...

I feel really great about having made it this far this year. Panacea Definition:  hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by the alchemists. Sentence:  The city fathers speak of binglang as if it were a panacea for all of Xiangtan’s ills, from curing tapeworm to solving unemployment.                      — New York Times (Aug 20, 2010) Parsimonious Definition:  excessively unwilling to spend. Sentence:  In allusion to greedy, parsimonious people, who would rather be put to a great deal of trouble than incur a trifling expense.                   — Alexander Hislop Pedagogy Definition:  the principles and methods of instruction. Sentence:  What type of pedagogy, or teaching method, makes me thrive?                   — New York Times (Jan 13, 2011) Perfidious Definition:...

Obdurate Definition:  showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings. Sentence:  Mr. Oldstone, in particular, exhausted all his powers of persuasion to yet delay his departure, but he found him obdurate.       — M. Y. Halidom (pseud. Dryasdust) Obfuscate Definition:  make obscure or unclear. Sentence:  Yet as we tried to understand, there always seemed to be an obfuscating layer: something or someone was working against comprehension.                    — Time (Dec 11, 2010) Obloquy Definition:  state of disgrace resulting from public abuse. Sentence:  Thus public men are content to leave their reputation to posterity; great reactions take place in opinion; nay, sometimes men outlive opposition and obloquy.            — John Henry Cardinal Newman Oligarchy Definition:  a political system governed by a few people. Sentence:  The...

Nascent Definition:  being born or beginning. Sentence:  The initiative also invests in nascent solar companies, acting as an incubator for small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to bring disruptive new technologies to market.             — Scientific American (Feb 29, 2012) Nebulous Definition:  lacking definite form or limits. Sentence:  “The time for nebulous, unspecified and non-detailed commitments is gone,” Fiat SpA Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne said yesterday in London.               — BusinessWeek (Sep 21, 2011) Neologism Definition:  a newly invented word or phrase. Sentence:  Perhaps the solution is to be found in " neologisms", where words are taken from somewhere totally different and given an entirely new meaning.                      — BBC (Mar 8, 2011) Nihilism Definition: ...

Myropolist  Definition: a perfume dealer. Sentence: I bought my favourite perfume from the myropolist down the street. Machination Definition:  a crafty and involved plot to achieve your (usually sinister) ends. Sentence:  With life experiences like those behind her, the extreme plot machinations of Hollywood melodrama must have possessed an everyday familiarity for Stanwyck.               — New York Times (Apr 24, 2010) Magniloquent Definition:  lofty in style. Sentence:  The day was spent in magniloquent addresses, which affected the style of ancient types, urgent exhortations to war, poetical orations, rounds of applause, rapturous demonstrations.              — Æneas MacDonell Dawson Malapropism Definition:  the unintentional misuse of a word by confusion with one that sounds similar. Sentence:   New words are eagerly seized; hence the malapropisms and so...

Latifundium  Definition: a large country estate Sentence: They decided that Aunt May's latifundium in England would be the perfect place for their wedding. Labile  Definition: open to change;  apt or likely to change; adaptable Sentence: The couple was very labile to their new surroundings. Lachrymose Definition:  showing sorrow. Sentence:  She had got rid of her tears before she came down to dinner, but still she was melancholy and almost lachrymose.          — Anthony Trollope Lassitude Definition:  weakness characterized by a lack of vitality or energy. Sentence:  He told by her very attitude that now there was lassitude, even weariness in her.            — Algernon Blackwood Legerdemain Definition:  an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers. Sentence:  Everything short of this is trick, legerdemain, sleight of hand.         ...

Knotty Definition:  highly complex or intricate and occasionally devious. Sentence:   I am, at this present writing, perplexed and plagued with two knotty problems in politics.               — Abigail Adams Ken Definition:  range of what one can know or understand. Sentence:  Ah, but the Eyes Divine look long and see far; things beyond the human ken are all revealed.                — Cyrus Townsend Brady Knell Definition:  the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a funeral or the end of something. Sentence:  "If she dies," he had said, and the words rang in my ears like a funeral knell.          — Guy Boothby Knoll Definition:  a small natural hill. Sentence:  At the very base of the hill or knoll alluded to, they halted.                 — Edward Sylvester Ellis Knave Def...

Finding words that began with J was a little harder than I thought it would be. Jejune Definition:  lacking interest or significance or impact. Sentence:  The works called good are dry and jejune, soon consummated, often of questionable value, and leaving behind them when finished a sense of vacuity.              — Richard Jefferies Jingoist Definition:  an extreme bellicose nationalist. Sentence:  And, hell, I'm no jingoist, but surely we can do better in this country than importing our drugs from Mexico, right?               — Salon (May 25, 2010) Juggernaut Definition:  a massive inexorable force that seems to crush everything in its way. Sentence:  Welch transformed GE into a sleek juggernaut that dominated market segments from jet engines and locomotives to finance.            — Washington Post (Aug 1, 2010) Junta Definition:  ...

Ineluctable Definition: impossible to avoid or evade: inevitable Sentence: Bumping into Karen at the market was ineluctable. Inchoate  Definition: 1. to be in an initial or early stage; just begun; 2. imperfectly formed or formulated Sentence: The captain's orders were an inchoate series of words that left everyone confused. Iconoclast Definition:  someone who attacks cherished ideas or traditional institutions. Sentence:  Jobs is a classic iconoclast, one who aggressively seeks out, attacks, and overthrows conventional ideas.                        — Business Week (Oct 12, 2010) Impecunious Definition:  not having enough money to pay for necessities. Sentence:  It had been quite in keeping with his ideas that the Thornes should taste the bitters of poverty, and know what being impecunious really meant.               — George Manville Fenn I...

Day eight of the  A to Z Challenge ! Hebetude  Definition: the state of being dull : lethargy Sentence: His wife thought he was suffering from a classic case of hebetude. Halcyon  Definition: calm : tranquil : peaceful : happy Sentence: There was always a halcyon atmosphere amongst the friends. Hegemony Definition:  the dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over others. Sentence:  Chinese officials say the purpose of their military modernization is purely defensive and they have no aspirations toward regional hegemony.                  — Business Week (Jan 10, 2011) Heterodox Definition:  characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards. Sentence:  You will think these ideas horribly heterodox, but if we all thought alike there would be nothing to write about and nothing to learn.           —  James Marchant Hortatory Definiti...

Day seven of the  A to Z Challenge .  Has anyone noticed yet that I can't draw letters?  That's what I get for trying to do my own graphics! Garrilous Definition: full of trivial conversation.   Sentence: He was not in the best of spirits, for the drink was dying out of him; but his garrulous, inconsequent talk amused me mightily.                 --Frank T Bullen Genuflect Definition: bend the knees and bow in church or before a religious superior or image. Sentence: When you enter, bless yourself with holy water and go quietly to your seat, genuflect on your right knee and enter the pew.             -- Anonymous Gerrymander Definition: divide unfairly and to one's advantage; of voting districts. Sentence: In practice, though, officials in both parties often try to gerrymander districts to help themselves and their parties win more elections.           ...

It's the sixth day of the  A to Z Challenge , have you found any really interesting blogs? Flummery  Definition: 1. soft jelly or porridge made from meal 2. unsubstantial writing or talk : mumbo jumbo Sentence: The teacher was unimpressed by the flummery that came out of the student. Flagitious  Definition: 1. shamefully wicked, as persons, actions, or times; 2. heinous or flagrant, as a crime Sentence: The flagitious murderer was convicted of the crime. Firmament Definition: the apparent surface of the imaginary sphere on which celestial bodies appear to be projected. Sentence: The firmament above us was without a cloud, and of a darkness almost equal to that which surrounded the moon at 2 a.m.           --John Tyndall Fractious Definition: easily irritated or annoyed. Sentence: The last-minute haggling between 19 countries involved in the test over whether and how to make the test's design available, highlights fractiou...