ELEVATE YOUR VOCABULARY

10 Unusual English Words You Can Add To Your Vocabulary

Image: Andrew Neel

The English language is considered one of the easiest to learn. That doesn’t mean it is not rich or hasn’t enough words to describe the complexities of the modern world in depth. However, people don’t often make the most of the vast vocabulary our language has to offer. It’s time to start using words like "frabjous," or "abstruse!" That is why we have put together a list of 10 words that are not so commonly used but will surely help elevate your speech! Are you ready? Let’s go!

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Have you ever experienced something that is both fabulous and joyous at the same time? You probably feel that the words you have to describe such situations are never enough. You need a more powerful word, like "frabjous."

Many words have been created in literary works. Frabjous, an adjective, is one of them. Lewis Carrol first coined it in Through the Looking Glass to describe something wonderful and superb in an informal way. Frabjous, isn't it?

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Being a friend or being friendly are not the same thing, those two letters at the end are charged with meaning. In the case of the latter, there’s a verb you can use.

The word "hobnob" comes from Middle English and its meaning has changed and evolved. Today, "hobnob" means to associate with people in a very friendly way, for example: "She always hobnobs with celebrities."

Curious enough, it also has an archaic meaning: drinking together. It makes sense, isn’t that how most friendly relationships begin?

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The early bird catches the worm, that’s how the saying goes. Well, maybe you don’t get a worm, but you could get some elevenses.

This word was first recorded in the 1840s, and it has always been used in its plural form to refer to a midmorning refreshment.

Now, can you imagine how it was formed? That’s right, it is a pluralized form of "eleven," meaning the time when these refreshments are usually taken, at eleven o’clock.

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The modern world is getting more and more complex and the reasons to laugh and smile are harder to find- at least for the agelasts. Are you one of them?

An agelast, you might get from context, is a person who never laughs. The term comes from the Greek word agélastos which means grave or gloomy. This makes sense since being around people who never laugh can feel like it lasts an age, don’t you think?

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Time is our most precious possession and it is, at the same time, so easily wasted! Thankfully, we have many words to describe procrastination, and "lollygag" is one of them.

This word is a slang word from the 19th century and it has an alternative spelling which is "lallygag." The verb describes the action of wasting time.

As is often the case with many words, it used to have a second meaning related to affection display, but that fell out of use and now only the original meaning remains.

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This word may sound like "poetic," hence from the heart or romantic. But it is actually quite the opposite. Noetic derives from a Greek adjective that means "intellectual." In this sense, this adjective today describes things related to, or based on the intellect.

You might be familiar with it because in California there is the Institute of Noetic Sciences which is devoted to the study of, you guessed it, the mind!

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Have you ever been in a position in which you had to choose between two options, going back and forth from one option to another, analyzing the pros and cons, and feeling the decision was impossible to make? You were oscillating between the options then.

This word comes from the Latin oscillatus which means to swing, like a pendulum, or to come and go between two points, usually opposites. It is quite unfair how unusual this word is considering how common that scenario is, don’t you think?

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Trying to elevate one’s language takes great effort, after all, some words are too difficult to understand or comprehend, they are simply too abstruse. Here’s the explanation: the word "abstruse" describes things that are difficult to understand.

It derives from the Latin verb trudere which means "to push away." This Latin verb gave rise to many English words that include this meaning, but the "thrust" meaning in "abstruse" has fallen out of use and only one remains. See? It means hard to comprehend, but it isn’t so!

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If you know a person who is always criticizing and judging, someone who has an opinion on everything, you’ve met an ultracrepidarian, a word coming from Latin, and first recorded in the early 1800s.

This word describes a person who judges and gives advice or opinions outside the area of expertise. Specific as it is in meaning, it is quite versatile since it can be both an adjective, like in "an ultracrepidarian boss," and a noun, for example: "I know many ultracrepidarians."

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After great pain, there is always something that helps us overcome it, and that something has a name: dolorifuge. This term refers to an activity or thing that helps you boost your spirits.

Dolorifuges take all kinds of shapes and it depends, of course, on what you like or what brings happiness to your life.

Similar to the first word on this list, it was coined by a writer. In this case, the word was created by the English novelist Thomas Hardy, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Have you heard this word before?

Healthy language

A peachy-keen article on fruity idioms! What’s your favorite?

You may not have a healthy diet, and fruit may not be part of your everyday intake, and that’s all right. We’re not here to judge! But we are here to tell you there’s an alternative way to enjoy fruit every day. Want to know what it is? It’s language. There are plenty of idioms that include fruit, and we’ve gathered a bunch of them for you to revisit here. Ready? Go bananas with this article!

Do you have a special someone? Maybe a person who brightens your day by simply looking at them. Well, that’s the apple of your eye. This expression means someone is very special to or cherished by you. The redness of the apple, ever connected to love and emotional connection, explains why this fruit was the chosen one for this idiom, right?

If you paid close attention to the intro here, we wish you had gone bananas on this article. And if you are a daily reader of our blog, you’ll know the kind of excitement this idiom refers to. You know when you get that email saying your article of the day is ready for you to tackle? Well, that’s the feeling! Excitement? That’s too plain. "Go bananas" describes it better!

As much as one tries to deny it, we’ve all been in a situation where jealousy takes over, right? Imagine being a sports person and losing a match, you could say, "Well, they won, but that’s just because they got lucky!" Is that real or sour grapes? In other words, are you being realistic or simply jealous? That’s what the sour grapes refer to.

You had a great week at your job, everything went right on track, and the cherry on top is that you got a trip plan for the weekend. The cherry, red and delicious as it looks and tastes, is the representation of the final touch that makes something great or even greater.

You’re on that trip that is the cherry on top of your exhausting week, and you went to a beautiful retreat. Can you imagine how you would feel? Is the expression "as cool as a cucumber" appropriate? It probably is, since this idiom refers to feeling calm and very relaxed. Why? Well, because the cucumber is quite a fresh fruit. Who hasn't used it to reduce the puffiness in the eyes?

In every group of any kind, there’s always that person who is always causing trouble, raising problems where there were none. Conflict follows them, and they spread it around. Maybe it’s not their intention, but it happens, and that’s what we call a bad apple. Those trouble-makers we love and hate at the same time. Do you know any?

Here is an example of this one, see if you can guess what it means: "Their plant to sneak out in the middle of the night went pear-shaped when the mother saw them." Imagine the embarrassment! But this expression is not about that exactly, but a way of saying things did not go as planned or that they went wrong. Did anything go pear-shaped for you today?

There are jobs… And jobs! Who wouldn’t like to be a librarian, arranging books in a quiet space surrounded by bookworms alike? Well, that may not be the case for you, but it sure is a plum job, which is an alternative way of saying that it’s a dream job or at least an easy and desirable one.

We mentioned the troublemaker earlier, but as soon as we can identify the one that takes on that role in every group, we can also point to the one who is a natural leader. Every single group has a top banana! Wait, what? Exactly, the top banana is that natural boss that stands out from the rest, thanks to their dominant personality.

There are many more, but let’s close this article with an easy, light-hearted one. What did you think of it? Hope you thought it was peachy keen, or, in other words, a great one! And let’s hope that these expressions help you get your daily fruit intake. See you in the next article!