evanesce
evanesce to disappear gradually; vanish; fade away Thank you for spending some time with me and this little project. It gave me a space to reconnect with my...
vertiginous
vertiginous whirling; spinning; rotary Growing up, I picked up a lot of different labels. Adults from all walks of life were quick to identify things “wrong”...
purloin
purloin to take dishonestly; steal; filch; pilfer The painting above is called American Progress by John Gast. It was commissioned in 1872, and there’s...
punctilio
punctilio strictness or exactness in the observance of formalities or amenities I’ve found that I don’t have as much patience for “discourse” these days....
obeisance
obeisance a movement of the body expressing deep respect or deferential courtesy, as before a superior; a bow, curtsy, or other similar gesture My bosses...
labile
labile able or likely to change or break down easily, rapidly, or continually; unstable Every once in a while, I relisten to podcasts from 2020/21. COVID and...
adumbration
adumbration a shadow or faint image of something The human brain is actually quite different from a computer. We know exactly how computers work, this can’t...
salutary
salutary promoting or conducive to some beneficial purpose; wholesome I’ve ridden several downward spirals in my day, and each one featured a failed attempt...
extirpation
extirpation the state or condition of having become locally or regionally extinct One night when I was a kid, I asked some pretty hard questions about what...
contumacy
contumacy stubborn perverseness or rebelliousness; willful and obstinate resistance or disobedience to authority At one point or another, many of us...
pessimum
pessimum the least favorable environmental condition under which an organism can survive Somewhere out there, there’s a billionaire group chat that’s just...
inure
inure to accustom to hardship, difficulty, pain People like to think that injustice corrects itself. That the worst among us are somehow self-impeaching....
meretricious
meretricious based on pretense, deception, or insincerity We have coated this world in tiny shards of plastic. It is in our soil, our water, our air, and...
obdurate
obdurate unmoved by persuasion, pity, or tender feelings; stubborn; unyielding A lot of effort is spent trying to convince folks they shouldn’t care so much....
disinter
disinter to take out of the place of interment; exhume; unearth Throughout history, people have tried to preserve that which is important to us. Some strap...
tremolo
tremolo a tremulous or vibrating effect produced on certain instruments and in the human voice, as to express emotion As a teen, I hung out with my older...
indurate
indurate to make hard; harden, as rock, tissue, etc. These last few years have changed people. They’re colder, hardened. Inaction that results in preventable...
expurgation
expurgation to purge or cleanse of moral offensiveness The State maintains its monopoly on violence through a set of malleable definitions. A peaceful action...
trammels
trammels a hindrance or impediment to free action; restraint One of the most important people in my life died years before her time. She knew something was...
abscission
abscission the act of cutting off; sudden termination Many see grief as a short-term ailment. Personally, I think of it as a claw tearing gashes into the...
catabolism
catabolism in living organisms, the breaking down of more complex substances into simpler ones People are too comfortable looking away. Too quick to mute a...
mercurial
mercurial changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic My household went through the entirety of 2023 without a vehicle. Appointments were a nightmare,...
palisade
palisade a fence of pales or stakes set firmly in the ground, as for enclosure or defense The part of the future which scares me most? What we’ll allow as...
integument
integument a natural covering, as a skin, shell, or rind I’ve always used pseudonyms online, often adopting different names for different spaces. Didn’t want...
desiderium
desiderium an ardent longing, as for something lost This period will be remembered as a time of great loss. There’s pressure not to dwell on that. No matter...