Load of gibberish or nonsense… abracadabra Abracadabra isn’t just a magician’s wind-up to a trick; it’s also a word for a load of gibberish or nonsense. You probably know abracadabra as a word a magician might use before sawing a woman in half or making something disappear. However, it has another meaning similar to other…
A person who makes a mess of a situation…. saboteur A saboteur is a person who makes a mess of a situation on purpose. You might call your little brother a saboteur for letting the air out of your bicycle tires, but you could be a saboteur in return by filling his shoes with cold spaghetti. Saboteur is a noun…
To be slow or lazy… lollygag To lollygag is to be slow or idle or lazy. You might say to your dawdling friends, “Don’t lollygag! We’ll miss our bus!” You lollygag when you take you own sweet time walking to your piano teacher’s house, and you also lollygag when you lounge lazily in a hammock under…
A big display of of knowing obscure facts and details…. pedantic There’s nothing wrong with focusing on the details, but someone who is pedantic makes a big display of knowing obscure facts and details. Pedantic means “like a pedant,” someone who’s too concerned with literal accuracy or formality. It’s a negative term that implies someone…
frolic A frolic is a light-hearted, fun, often silly activity. To frolic is to cavort, romp, or run around — to have fun. Ever see two puppies playing in the park, wrestling, chasing, and just having a ball with each other? You could say they’re having a frolic or frolicking. When we frolic, we’re having a fun…
subterfuge If you want to surprise your mom with a sweatshirt, but don’t know her size, it might take an act of subterfuge, like going through her closet, to find it out. Subterfuge is the use of tricky actions to hide or get something. It’s pronounced “SUB-ter-fyooj.” As a countable noun, a subterfuge is a tricky action or device: She…
capricious Capricious is an adjective to describe a person or thing that’s impulsive and unpredictable, like a bride who suddenly leaves her groom standing at the wedding altar. You can criticize a fickle-minded person as capricious, but it could just as well describe quickly changing weather, as in “capricious spring storms.” It’s the adjective form of the noun caprice,…