Audience Spell
1. avid (avid)
adjective: enthusiastic.
From Latin.
"Lee was an avid hiker who spent all her weekends on the mountain trails."
2. satrap (SAY-trap)
noun: a subordinate official.
From Persian via Greek and Latin.
"Dealing with the head of the company was easy but his satraps were
a different story."
3. eagre (EE-guhr)
noun: A high tidal wave rushing upstream into an estuary.
From Middle English.
"Vacationers on water scooters jumped over the onrushing eagres."
4. scrimmage (SKRIM-ij)
noun: a rough struggle.
From Middle English.
"The concert ground was a scene of a scrimmage among teenage boys
over a candy wrapper supposedly discarded by Britney Spears."
5. garrulous (GAR-uh-luhs)
adjective: excessively talkative.
From Latin.
"The garrulous passenger next to her who kept talking making it
impossible for Vanessa to catch sleep."
6. bibliophage (BIB-lee-uh-fayj)
noun: a bookworm.
From Greek.
"Geena, the bibliophage, wasn't too worried when she discovered she was
locked in the library at closing time."
7. pococurante (po-ko-koo-RAN-tee)
adjective: indifferent.
From Latin via Italian.
"'Let them drink shakes,' the pococurante queen replied when told the
masses didn't have water to drink."
8. verboten (vuhr-BOHT-n)
adjective: forbidden.
From German.
"Verbing of nouns is verboten," the high-school grammar teacher admonished.
9. Pyrrhic (PIR-ik)
adjective: achieved at excessive cost.
After Pyrrhus, the king of
"After a long fight in court even the winner feels he has won a
Pyrrhic victory."
10. misocainea (mis-oh-KY-nee-uh)
noun: hatred of anything new.
From Greek.
"The selection committee knew they had found the perfect candidate for the post of museum curator when they saw misocainea mentioned in a resume."