Word Nerd Alert!

Are you a word nerd? I receive daily emails from dictionary.com. Do you? If yes, then you can definitely claim the distinction of word nerd!

Here are several terrific words that are writing-related, and I hope some of them are new to your vocabulary!

bibliophage, noun

1. An ardent reader.

2. A bookworm.

desinence, noun

1. A termination or ending, as the final line of a verse.
2. Grammar: a termination, ending, or suffix of a word.

fascicle, noun

1. A section of a book or set of books published in installments as separate volumes or pamplets. (Example: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The three novels we know today were actually written as one book, but the publisher insisted on making it a fascicle instead.)

metaphrastic, adjective

1. Having the quality of a literary work that has been translated or changed from one form to another, as prose to verse. (Metaphrastic comes into English from the medieval Greek word metaphratses, meaning “one who translates.”)

omnibus, noun

1. A volume of reprinted works of a single author or of works related to an interest or theme.

opuscule, noun

1. A small or minor work.

2. A literary or musical work of small size.

paregmenon, noun

1. The juxtaposition of words that have a common derivation. (Example: sense and sensibility.)

peroration, noun

1. A long speech characterized by lofty and often pompous language.
2. Rhetoric: The concluding part of a speech or discourse, in which the speaker or writer recapitulates the principal points and urges them with greater earnestness and force.

pleonasm, noun

1. The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea. (Example: I saw it with my own eyes.)

2. A superfluous word or expression.

retroactive continuity, or retcon, noun 

1. The alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work.

solecism, noun

1. A breach of good manners or etiquette.
2. A nonstandard or ungrammatical usage (Example: unflammable and they was.)
3. Any error, impropriety, or inconsistency.

Hope you learned something new today! Have a happy weekend, Zigzaggers!