My favorite words

This wasn’t started with much foresight, so it’s kind of messy. It’s not ranked, it doesn’t include definitions, or reasoning. Some of these words probably don’t even belong on this list, and I think there might be a couple repeats. But I figure I might as well put it out there just in case someone finds it useful. And when I’ve got some time I’ll come back and tidy it up.

Words:

• disseminate
• ideation
• syncopation
• sensual
• sybaritic
• exotic
• thing that emmanuelle was all about
• tesselate
• fractal
• incept
• petrichor
• inglenook
• cavalier
• insouciance
• ghost
• dream
• serendipity
• flustered
• apposite - strikingly relevant
• heuristic
• paradigm
• curate
• naive
• queue
• scrobble
• serenity
• esoteric
• icarus (greek myth about boy that flew too close to the sun)
• sisyphus (king of ephyra punished to have to push a boulder up a hill repeatedly)
• cadence
• juxtaposed
• quixotic
• exotic
• enigmatic
• irrelevent
• proverbial
• gamine
• joi de vive
• mango
• potential
• whimsical
• prodigal
• melancholy
• brouhaha
• equivocate (this might be one of the words I wanted to create)
• prevaricate (what’s the difference between this and equivocate?)
• xenization
• idyllic
• atelophobia
• water
• noegenesis
• insouciance
• visceral
• coquette (or coquet for a man)
• saudade
• smolder
• spark
• meander (to wander aimlessly)
• nomad
• dormiveglia (in the space that stretches between sleeping and waking)
• elysian
• sprezzatura
• querencia (the place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self)
• meliorism
• catharsis
• induratize
• morosis
• paralian
• metanoia (the journey of changing one’s mind, heart, self, or way of life)
• cingulomania
• hypophrenia
• orenda (the invocation of the power of human will to change the world around us) (a mystical force present in all people that empowers them to affect the world, or to effect change in their own lives)
• abulia (a total inability to make decisions)
• rasasvada (the taste of bliss in the absence of all thoughts)
• meraki (to do something with soul, creativity, or love; to put something of yourself in your work)
• vagabond
• felicity
• invoke
• vicarious
• self-efficacy
• eristic (aiming at victory rather than truth)
• synecdoche (a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something or vice versa)
• metonymy (a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that thing or concept)
• anecdote (a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person)
• parable (a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson)
• allegory (a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one)
• analogy (a comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification)
• metaphor (a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract)
• simile (a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid)
• irony (the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect)
• sarcasm (the use of irony to mock or convey contempt)
• satire (the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices)