To ask you what words you love that you rarely get to use?

[Ethelfleda]

Help others expand their vocabulary

I like ‘anthropomorphise’ and ‘Schadenfreude’
But so rarely get to use them in a sentence. So it feels good to do that here!

Hit me with your most eloquent sentences

OK, so let's have a little game.

For those of us fortunate enough to be working, pick your favourite word and then aim to get it seamlessly into a work email, preferably to your boss.

Those who've gone with Thundercunt may want to sit this out

Serenity
Tranquillity

onomatopoeia
phosphorescence

mollusc

Impecunious / state-of-the-art (which is totally wanky imo)

vicissitudes - love that one, rarely used

Segue
Conflate
Serendipitous
Plonker

Soooo many brilliant words here that I love.

Scholar- but specifically in the context of
'You are a gentleman/ woman and a scholar' said to pupils who hold the door/ beckon you to go first etc.

Serendipitous is my all time favourite, I also love elixir, agog, accoutrements, pest and , Scotland specific, oxter, dreich and jobby (it rolls off the tongue so beautifully and is used in an affectionate way, like a naughty, little person)

Just reread OP- it's words you get to use rarely- I use jobby all the time, so scratch that one.

Ooh I like peripatetic. Haven't heard that in ages.

Discombobulated
Charabanc
Pantechnicon

lock down

I like using a lot of these words - I was very fond of crepuscular, as it described animals (bats, the DTwatCat) and humans (well, me) - but I do think they are words that need to be 'rested' to avoid causing irritation if repeated ad nauseum. Using the Latin names as well as the common ones for plants and animals is rewarding, too.

But I got the opportunity for a very satisfying description yesterday.

The elderly DTwatCat #2 woke up from a deep sleep and dream and sounded like a vaguely distressed Guinea Pig.

'Sigh. You really are the epitome of onomatopoeic nominative determinism, aren't you, Squeak?'.

MitZik i would give you a round of applause for using that sentence. Very well done

visceral
nurdle

Lovely thread! Some great words too.
I third rapscallion, but my favourite words I don't get to use much are gloaming, middling and ragamuffin

None of these are archaic or complex but have lovely umami so I’m fond of them nevertheless: titivate, corpulent, frock, anemone, jest, unguent...

Tabernacle - very, very few opportunities to use that one in everyday life. I like it so much my husband bought me the word in 19th c. Wooden type blocks for a recent birthday. Realise that makes me sound a bit weird

Gestalt is a good one too though.

Acquiesce.... Haven't used it yet 😁

Troglodyte (and bizarrely, the proper name of the wren is troglodytes troglodytes)
I wanted to say crepuscular too - I know what it means but it doesn't sound like it means that; it sounds like something that makes your flesh creep
SNAFU (acronym not a word, I realise) - arguably there's all too many opportunities to use it!
Like a pp I love banjaxed. Eejit too.
Another Irish word (didn't know it was used in Scotland too until I saw it above), which I came across first in Marian Keyes, is oxters. I didn't know what it meant until I looked it up and thought it must mean thighs or hips. It doesn't sound like armpits!

I would give you a round of applause for using that sentence. Very well done

(bows deferentially)

Vexed. I just LOVE being vexed

The elderly DTwatCat #2 woke up from a deep sleep and dream and sounded like a vaguely distressed Guinea Pig. 'Sigh. You really are the epitome of onomatopoeic nominative determinism, aren't you, Squeak?'.

That is superb

Tumultuous and Bint! I say the latter more than the first one 🤣

Well, Wrens like living in holes (kettles, welly boots, plant pots, holes in walls and trees and suchlike) and scuttling around in the undergrowth after bugs and spiders. Hole dweller or creeper makes sense to me.

Haruspex (plural haruspices) - a religious official in ancient Rome who interpreted the future from the entrails of sacrificed animals.