Your Weekly Vocabulary List

philopolemic , adj :
(rare) Exalting or supporting conflict or war. (rare) Fond of polemics or controversy.

curate’s egg , n :
(idiomatic) A thing which has good and bad parts, but is overall spoilt by the bad.

desiccate , v :
(transitive) To remove moisture from; to dry. (transitive) To preserve by drying. (intransitive, rare) To become dry; to dry up.

synaesthesia , n :
(neurology, psychology) A neurological or psychological phenomenon whereby a particular sensory stimulus triggers the second kind of sensation. (by extension) The association of one sensory perception with, or description of it in terms of, a different perception that is not experienced at the same time. (art, literature) A literary or artistic device whereby one kind of sensation is described in terms of another. Russian journalist and mnemonist Solomon Shereshevsky, who was said to experience a powerful form of synaesthesia in which stimulation of one of his senses produced a reaction in all the others, died on this day in 1958.

turn turtle , v :
(intransitive) Especially of a boat or ship, or some other vehicle: to turn upside down. (intransitive, figuratively) To fail; to go belly up. (intransitive, surfing) To roll upside down with one’s surfboard (usually a longboard) to allow a wave, especially a wave that has already broken, to pass over. (intransitive, historical) To capture a turtle by turning it on to its back. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered as comic book characters this month 35 years ago in 1984.

Betteridge’s law , proper n :
(journalism) An adage stating that any headline ending in a question mark can be correctly answered by the word “no”. Today is World Press Freedom Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression.

walking carpet , n :
(slang, derogatory or humorous) An exceptionally hairy person. May the Fourth – oops, the Force – be with you! Today is observed as Star Wars Day by fans of the franchise. Today is observed as Star Wars Day by fans of the franchise. English-American actor Peter Mayhew, who played the role of Chewbacca in the film series between 1977 and 2015, died on 30 April 2019.