Word of the Day: Virago
(n.); manlike or heroic woman; a woman of extraordinary stature, strength and courage; a domineering, violent or bad-tempered woman “I would also observe that it is, potentially, culturally catastrophic to…
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Sara Menuck
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Brittany Hailer is a freelance reporter based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated with an MFA from Chatham University where she taught creative writing classes at the Allegheny County Jail and Sojourner House as part of Chatham’s Words Without Walls program. Her memoir and poetry collection Animal You'll Surely Become was published in 2018 by Tolsun Books. She is a Justice Reporting Fellow for 2018 John Jay/Langeloth Foundation Fellowship on “Reinventing Solitary Confinement” and teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh. Visit her website, www.brittanyhailer.com, for more.
Word of the Day: Mundificative
(n.); a cleansing medicine or preparation; (adj.) able to cleanse, especially a wound “Art begins in a wound, an imperfection—a wound inherent in the nature of life itself—and is an…
Word of the Day: Froward
(adj.); willfully contrary; not easily managed; rebellious; from Middle English “Vowel sounds work like those sliding puzzle games where you have to unscramble a picture by sliding one piece of…
Word of the Day: Oblivescence
(n.); the process of forgetting; “Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. When we read a book for the first time, the very process of…
Word of the Day: Amphigory
(n.); a nonsense verse; specifically, a poem designed to look and sound good, but which has no meaning upon closer reading; from the French amphigouri. “Just imagine a typeface that…
Word of the Day: Vergence
(n.); simultaneous movement of eyes toward or away from one another; c. 1902 in ophthalmology “Some days I can move the mower slowly, along lazy paths. … On other days,…
Word of the Day: Quiddity
(n.); the essence or inherent nature of a person or thing; an eccentricity; an odd feature; a trifle, nicety or quibble; from the Latin quid (“what”) “He was friendly, polite,…
Word of the Day: Nesh
(n.); soft, delicate, tender; from the Old English hnesce (“soft in texture”) or Gothic hnasqus (“tender; soft”) “Over the years, I’ve gone back and forth over the merits of print…
Word of the Day: Miasma
(n.); noxious exhalations from putrid organic matter; poisonous effluvia or germs polluting the atmosphere; a dangerous, foreboding, or deathlike influence or atmosphere “If the Internet is a bridge to the…
Word of the Day: Eschaton
(n.); the last thing, as a theological reference to the climax of history at Judgment Day; the day at the end of time following Armageddon when God will decree the…
Word of the Day: Cardialgia
(n.); pain near or in the heart; suffering from or exhibiting overwhelming sorrow, grief or disappointment, particularly due to romantic love; heartburn “Deadly grief is not about stress alone, scientists…
Word of the Day: Refection
(n.); nourishment; refreshment by food or drink; a meal, especially a light one; refreshment of the mind, spirit or body “A cognitive scientist and a German philosopher walk in the…