obscure words

The pursuit of expanding one's vocabulary has made games like Wordle more popular than ever. And while there are an estimated one million words in the English language, the average American only has about 42,000 words in their vocabulary.

With that in mind, most Americans have plenty of work to do to learn some more interesting words. Having the background knowledge to properly use them is like icing on the cake to sounding smart. Peppering your conversations with obscure words is a fun way to enhance conversations, too.

Drop these 16 obscure words during your next chat:

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Cacography

Cacography means "bad spelling or handwriting."

Indubitably

Indubitably means "too evident to be doubted; unquestionable."

According to Merriam Webster, indubitably has Latin roots that "arrived in Middle English in the 15th century from Latin indubitabilis, itself a combination of 'in-' ('not') and 'dubitabilis' ('open to doubt or question'). 'Dubitabilis' is from the verb dubitare, meaning 'to doubt,' which also gave us our 'doubt.'"

Abate

Abate means "to decrease in force or intensity."

Reciprocity

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Ameliorate

Ameliorate means "to make better or more tolerable; to grow better."

According to Merriam Webster, ameliorate "traces back to melior, a Latin adjective meaning 'better,' and is a rather formal synonym of the verbs better and improve."

Incongruous

Incongruous means "lacking congruity; not harmonious; incompatible; not conforming; disagreeing; inconsistent within itself; lacking propriety."

Mellifluous

Mellifluous means "having a smooth rich flow; filled with something (such as honey) that sweetens."

According to Merriam Webster, mellifluous "comes from two Latin roots: the noun mel, meaning 'honey,' and the verb fluere, meaning 'to flow.' These linguistic components flowed smoothly together into the Late Latin word mellifluus, then continued on into the Middle English word mellyfluous, before crystallizing into the adjective we employ today."

Apoplectic

Apoplectic means "of a kind to cause or apparently cause stroke; extremely enraged."

Sanguine

Sanguine means "marked by eager hopefulness; confidently optimistic."

According to Merriam Webster, "Sanguine traces back to the Latin noun sanguis, meaning 'blood,' and over the centuries the word has had meanings ranging from 'bloodthirsty' to 'bloodred,' among other things in that (ahem) vein, so how did it also come to mean 'hopeful'? During the Middle Ages, health and temperament were believed to be governed by the balance of different liquids, or humors, in one’s body: phlegm, black bile, yellow bile, and blood. Those lucky people who were governed by blood were strong, confident, and even had a healthy reddish glow (all that blood, you know)—they were, in a word, sanguine."

Terse

Terse means "using few words; devoid of superfluity; short, brusque."

Ephemeral

Ephemeral means " lasting a very short time."

Compunction

Compunction means "anxiety arising from awareness of guilt; distress of mind over an anticipated action or result; a twinge of misgiving; scruple."

According to Merriam Webster, "An old proverb says 'a guilty conscience needs no accuser,' and it's true that the sting of a guilty conscience—or a conscience that is provoked by the contemplation of doing something wrong—can prick very hard indeed. The sudden guilty 'prickings' of compunction are reflected in the word's etymological history. Compunction comes (via Anglo-French compunction and Middle English compunccioun) from Latin compungere, which means 'to prick hard' or 'to sting.'"

Paroxysm

Paroxysm means "a fit, attack, or sudden increase or recurrence of symptoms (as of a disease); convulsion; a sudden violent emotion or action; outburst."

Loquacious

Loquacious means "full of excessive talk; wordy."

Copacetic

Copacetic means "very satisfactory."

Renascent

Renascent means "rising again into being or vigor."