Category: Word of the Day

Definition: (noun) A person from a foreign country; a foreigner.

Synonyms: alien, foreigner, noncitizen.

Usage: As long as the number of outlanders remained small, the natives were friendly toward them.
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Definition: (noun) A collarless men’s undergarment for the upper part of the body.

Synonyms: undershirt, vest.

Usage: Its owner had taken off his tunic, and in white trousers and a thin, short-sleeved singlet prowled behind the chair-backs nursing his meager elbows.
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Definition: (noun) A name of endearment; a pet name.

Synonyms: pet name.

Usage: “Billy” is a hypocorism for “William.”
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Definition: (noun) A long, usually hooded cloak or coat.

Synonyms: hooded coat.

Usage: The men wore matching black capotes with hoods that obscured their features, and we watched in terror as they advanced in the dim light.
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Definition: (noun) A heavy rain.

Synonyms: pelter, soaker, torrent, waterspout, deluge, downpour.

Usage: We enjoyed the lovely recliners on the ship’s deck until a sudden cloudburst sent us running for our cabins.
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Definition: (noun) An assortment or a medley; a conglomeration.

Synonyms: hodgepodge, omnium-gatherum, melange, mingle-mangle, mishmash, oddments, odds and ends, ragbag.

Usage: If the farrago of newspaper clippings, stale coffee mugs, and chewed-on pencils strewn around the office was any indication, her boss had been at the office all night.
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Definition: (noun) A method of representing a language or the sounds of language by written symbols; spelling.

Synonyms: writing system.

Usage: She was familiar with many of the regional dialects, but she did not recognize this orthography.
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Definition: (noun) A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes.

Synonyms: rootstalk.

Usage: It was not apparent that the neighboring stalk belonged to the original plant because the rhizome connecting the two was underground.
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Definition: (noun) Any of the long stiff hairs that project from the snout or brow of most mammals, as the whiskers of a cat.

Synonyms: whisker, sensory hair.

Usage: The mouse’s vibrissae alerted it to the presence of a predator.
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Definition: (noun) A humorous play on words.

Synonyms: pun, punning, wordplay.

Usage: His attempts at comedy usually flopped, especially when he recited his favorite paronomasia, “I do it for the pun of it.”
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