Unusual and Obscure Words Trivia

31. A word meaning a certainly obvious 'impropriety'?

From Quiz Useful but Obscure Words

Answer: Inconvenance

From Quiz Words Worth(e) Wielding

Answer: Sometime

From Quiz Wine-Dark Depths of English

Answer: ebrious

PIXILATED, 'touched by the pixies,' is a real word meaning 'mentally unbalanced.' BAMBOOZLED is a real word meaning 'confused.' BANJAXED is a real (Irish-English) word meaning 'destroyed,' which could mean 'intoxicated' but not 'inclined to drink wine.'

From Quiz Bizarre Words

Answer: last surviving child

Burdalane is an adjective, also spelled birdalane.

From Quiz Some interesting or offbeat words

Answer: philophronesis

Justice Clarence Thomas recently spoke out against philophronesis, stating: 'In the effort to be civil in conduct, many who know better actually dilute firmly held views to avoid appearing 'judgmental'. They curb their tongues not only in form but in substance. The insistence on civility in the form of our debates has the perverse effect of cannibalizing our principles, the very essence of a free society.'

From Quiz Vocabulary Warm-Up

Answer: stroakings

From Quiz Odd-Sounding Words

Answer: Weapon

It's a gun that is wide and flaring at its end

From Quiz Difficult Words

Answer: purblind

From Quiz Weird Words for the Wise

Answer: Pivot

A gudgeon serves as the base of a rocker or wheel.

From Quiz Sesquipedalius' D Words

Answer: to lead out of and into something

The Modern English word "debouche" has two principal meanings: for an army to march out and for a river to empty into. From these meanings, the verb can mean to emerge from any small or narrow place into any wide or open space. The verb entered English from the French "déboucher", which was built upon "bouche", which is the French word for mouth. Compare the Italian "sboccare".

From Quiz Sesquipedalius' C Words

Answer: linkage as in a chain

The linking together of any series of events, symbols or ideas can be referred to as a concatentation. There must be a demonstrable union to the series. Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" could be well described as a concatenation. The chain of command in the military is another example, as is the order of succession to a royal throne. The term has a very specialized meaning in the context of computer languages.

From Quiz Stephen Donaldson's Luxurious Lexicon

Answer: Not deserved or justified

A condign response is one that is fitting or merited, especially when used in relation to punishment, as in "let the punishment fit the crime." Behavior that is not condign may be disproportionate or otherwise unfair. Thomas Covenant was often brusque to people who had shown him only kindness, which he admitted was not condign.

From Quiz Can You Define These Words 2

Answer: A mild oath

A mild oath it was indeed, along with other colourful expressions such as "God's truth!" (that has evolved into "Struth" today), "Odds bodkins!" (that originated as "God's body!" and a bodkin itself was a small tool used for poking holes through leather) or "Gadzooks!" (originally "God's hooks" and used as a reference to the nails used at the crucifixion). "Woundikins" itself was possibly a reference to the wounds inflicted on Christ as that time as well. All of the above, and others, were mild oaths used by gentlemen in everyday life to express frustration at some annoyance or another. Ladies, though, were expected to be demure and respectable, and to never, ever let such profane expressions emerge from their dainty mouths. Pooh to that. Woundikin appeared in the early 1800s, but like trendy words even today, it soon faded from use, only to be replaced by others of its kind.

From Quiz Ten Very Unusual Words

Answer: A Van Dyke beard

Van Dyke beards are named after Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), a famous Baroque painter who rose to prominence in Italy, Flanders and the courts of England. His "Self-portrait with a Sunflower", painted circa 1633, shows a rather dashing looking man with a nicely trimmed, curled moustache and rakish goatee. So popular were his works, and the man himself, that many men, including King Charles I himself, took to copying the style of his facial adornment. Van Dyck was rather prone to flattering the subjects of his works, particularly the rich and famous. Charles I, for example, who was sensitive about his short frame, was painted so as to give the impression of a much taller man, and when Sophia, the later Electoress of Hanover, met his wife Henrietta Maria in France, she had this to say about the lady: "Van Dyck's handsome portraits had given me so fine an idea of the beauty of all English ladies, that I was surprised to find that the Queen, who looked so fine in painting, was a small woman raised up on her chair, with long skinny arms, and teeth like defence works projecting from her mouth".

From Quiz Weird Words Born in the USA

Answer: to bamboozle

From the Northern and Western United States, we get the verb 'hornswoggle' which can be defined as to deceive, cheat, swindle or hoodwink. In fact, our language has so many words with this meaning, you'd think it was an everyday occurrence, as in: looks like we've been hornswoggled by the politicians again.

From Quiz Poppycock and Balderdash!

Answer: A frozen fog

Pogonip refers to an icy, dangerous fog, especially in the valleys in the Rocky Mountains. According to a Native American tradition, popgnip can damage your lungs. It really can, so stay away from pogonip if you see any! If you guessed mountain road, at least you were on the right track!

From Quiz Start a New Dictionary

Answer: A short comical verse of four lines

A clerihew is a small verse of four lines. It usually refers to some well known person in the first line, is supposed to be comical in nature, and, quite frankly, is the worst example of rhyming verse you'll ever come across. It's meant to be this way, however, with a rhyming pattern of AABB. This literary piece of whimsy was invented by Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956) when he was a sixteen year old pupil at St Paul's School in London. Never let it be said his education was wasted. Below, for your edification, are three well known examples of clerihews. "Did Descartes/ Depart/ With the thought/'Therefore I am not'" (Anonymous) "Sir Henry Rider Haggard/ Was completely staggered/ When his bride-to-be/ Announced I am She!" (The poet W.H. Auden wrote this gem) "Sir Humphrey Davy/ Abominated gravy/ He lived in the odium/ Of having discovered sodium" (That from Edmund Clerihew Bentley himself) Perhaps we could try writing them ourselves? Here's one from me. "Poor President Nixon/ Got a few nasty kicks an' /The odd dirty look/ When he said 'I'm no crook'"

From Quiz Misleading Words

Answer: A moth

The dwarf pug is a species of moth found in Europe, and more particularly so in the colder areas of that continent. It feeds on spruce, larch and fir trees. It's quite a tiny little creature, measuring no more than half an inch from wing to wing, and comes in a delicate scalloped pattern of grey and white.

From Quiz It's a whatch-amacallit, you know?

Answer: A counterman who drew soda from a tap

He usually wore a white cap. His job was much as a bartender who will pull the tap handle to draw you a draft beer. 'Jerk' has come to describe an inferior or insignificant person.

From Quiz Bodacious Word Endings

Answer: arenaceous

Arenaceous means sandy or consisting largely of sand; argillaceous means consisting of clay; adscititious means supplemental; and salacious means lustful.

From Quiz Say What? Do How? Some Killer Vocabulary! (A-J)

Answer: a drunken carouser

Bacchant, meaning "drunken carouser", derives from Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry. You don't have to be drunk to blither and/or bore, but it helps. Backstabbers are worse than blitherers or bores, but you don't have to be a bacchant to be one.

From Quiz Unusual Letter Combinations

Answer: radii

Some other words in the OWL with double Is are skiing, genii, and filariid.

From Quiz "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" and Me

Answer: quadriga

All of these are types of horse-drawn vehicles, however the quadriga was the ancient vehicle pulled by four horses (thus the "quad"). If you watched "Ben Hur," the chariot races pitted multiple quadriga chariots against one another.

From Quiz Defining Words

Answer: part of the small intestine

From the definitions of ileum I've given here, it is a part of the small intestine. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests it is 'the third portion of the small intestine'. The spelling "ilium" refers to a small bone in the human body.

From Quiz (Ety)Mological Miscellany

Answer: A witness who testifies to the innocence of the accused person

This apparently comes from the word compurgation which was part of old English law and involved the clearing of an accused person by the evidence of a number of witnesses swearing to his or her innocence.

From Quiz Goofy Words

Answer: The goo that accumulates in the corners of your eyes during sleep.

During sleep, mucous drains through the eye's conjunctiva, the mucous membranes that lines the eyelids and covers the eye surface. Normal seepage and light crusting during sleep is normal. Persistent drainage, eye discoloration and swelling may be a symptom of conjunctivitis, better known as pink eye.

From Quiz 'Esoteric' Words

Answer: Lower than normal air pressure

The word 'rarefied', another wonderful synonym of esoteric, is derived from the Latin 'rarefacere' which literally means to 'grow thin, become rare'. I believe I recall Marv Albert employing the term 'rarefied' in the alternate sense when referring to Michael Jordan's ability to leap into the 'rarefied air' of the upper atmosphere.

This is category 4586
Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:46 AM

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.