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“One particularly recalcitrant [rɪˈkælsətrənt] driver … managed to rack up 29 speeding tickets during the 10-school-day span.” — Dave Werner, The Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, New York), 20 May 2026
recalcitrant
adj recalcitrant [rɪˈkælsətrənt]
Recalcitrant is a formal word typically used to describe someone who stubbornly refuses to obey rules or orders. Recalcitrant can also describe something that is difficult to manage or operate.
When given an order or command, a recalcitrant person (or animal) digs in their heels... traces back to calx, the Latin word for “heel.” From calx, Latin users formed first the verb calcitrare (“to kick”) and then recalcitrare (“to kick back”)...
English
Sep 3, 2026, 4:49 AM
cowpoke
"Harper Lee was not slight, was not vacuous [ˈvækjuəs]. To Kill a Mockingbird is an artefact of its time … but it had its place in moving the arc of history and still does." — Erica Wagner, The Observer (London), 18 Oct. 2025
vacuous
adj vacuous [ˈvækjuəs]
Vacuous is a formal word indicating a lack of thought, intelligence, or substance.
...vacuous shares the same root as vacuum. Both come from the Latin adjective vacuus, meaning "empty."
English
Aug 14, 2026, 7:31 AM
cowpoke
“The gap between romantic expectation and mundane reality, frankly, never ceases to amaze with this team. France, somehow, get better, on paper, with every tournament. Talent keeps coming through at a relentless, invidious [ɪnˈvɪdiəs] rate.” — James Horncastle, The New York Times, 16 June 2026
invidious
adj [ɪnˈvɪdiəs]
formal word used to describe things that are unpleasant and likely to cause bad feelings in other people. Such bad feelings may include resentment, discontent, animosity, or envy.
If invidious reminds you of the word insidious (“gradually or subtly causing harm”) ...both words from Latin. The two are otherwise unrelated; insidious comes from Latin insidiae, “ambush,” while invidious is instead a relative of envy and comes from the verb invidēre...
English
Aug 7, 2026, 4:43 AM
cowpoke
“Standing 787 feet tall, the tower was one of the last of the era—when downtown Dallas’ skyline was defined by highfalutin [ˌhaɪfəˈlutən] oil execs, bankers, financiers and the architects who used steel, concrete and glass to erect opulent monuments to their economic success.” — Nick Wooten, The Dallas Morning News, 9 Jan. 2026
highfalutin
adj [ˌhaɪfəˈlutən]
Something or someone described as highfalutin seems, or is trying to seem, great or important.
Highfalutin has a fine purpose: to describe pretentious people or language without making the person using it sound, well, pretentious... Highfalutin first appeared as American slang in the early 1800s, and like many slang terms...
English
Aug 2, 2026, 9:22 AM
cowpoke
“White-capped waves crash far below the cliffs and sweep out to the horizon, spindrift [ˈspɪnˌdrɪft] tosses up mini-rainbows and creamy plumes of sea froth float up and over.” — Amanda Thomson, The Guardian (London), 5 Sept. 2024
spindrift
noun Sspindrift [ˈspɪnˌdrɪft]
Spindrift refers to spray blown from waves during a gale or to fine wind-borne snow or sand.
...The Scots had by that point been using speendrift for well over a century; their verb speen means “to rush forcefully along with a strong wind,” so speendrift referred to a drift of salty sea spray during such sailing. In the 1820s, English speakers recruited the word, but signed it up as spindrift
English
Aug 1, 2026, 8:12 AM
cowpoke
“It’s a sultry [ˈsʌltri] morning in the Maldives and the mechanic is sweating as he tinkers with the sparkling La Marzocco espresso machine. All the while, hopeful guests watch, desperate for a morning hit.” — Belinda Jackson, The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, 15 Nov. 2025
sultry
adj sultry [ˈsʌltri]
Sultry means “very hot and humid” when it describes such things as seasons, days, and weather. When it describes things humans do and possess—voices, poses, looks, and the like—it means “exciting or capable of exciting strong sexual desire.”
Sultry days and glances both burn hot—one literally, and the other figuratively. Sultry is a late 16th century alteration of the obsolete word sulter, itself an alteration of swelter...
English
Jul 30, 2026, 4:06 AM
cowpoke
For some, college can be an expansive experience that lifts them out of a parochial [pəˈroʊkiəl] mindset.
parochial
adj [pəˈroʊkiəl]
Parochial is a formal word that is usually used in a disapproving way to describe something that is limited in range or scope, as to a narrow region or area.
Both parish and its related adjective parochial were borrowed at that time directly from Anglo-French terms that came from parochia.
English
Jul 27, 2026, 3:49 AM
cowpoke
From the lighthouse's aerie [ˈɛri] tourists can get a bird's-eye view of the rocky coastline.
aerie
noun [ˈɛri]
Aerie refers to the nest of a bird (such as an eagle or hawk) built high up on a cliff or on the top of a mountain. It can also be used for a room or building built high up so that people inside can see things happening below them.
via Medieval Latin and Old French and probably traces to an earlier Latin word, ager, meaning “field.”
English
Jul 26, 2026, 7:28 AM
cowpoke
She didn't expect to like him but his raffish [ˈræfɪʃ] charm quickly won her over.
raffish
adj [ˈræfɪʃ]
Raffish describes people and things that show a careless but usually attractive unconventionality.
Raffish combines the English noun raff with the suffix -ish, which in this case means "characteristic of"... Raff comes directly from the Middle English raf, meaning "rubbish,"...
English
Jul 20, 2026, 3:53 AM
cowpoke
She is a botanist who primarily studies xeric [ˈzɪrɪk] plants.
xeric
adj [ˈzɪrɪk]
Xeric means "characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture." Like: arid
English
Jul 11, 2026, 8:20 AM
cowpoke
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