Wondrous Words Wednesday

Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion and is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love.  

I'm highlighting words that are new to me/that I really like/that struck me for some reason..!

These came from the novel All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, which I read recently (and which I loved by the way).

1. upbraid (verb)

1. to reprove or reproach angrily

2. to find fault with

2. palmate (adjective)

1. (Zoology) shaped like an open hand: palmate antlers.

2. (Botany) botany having more than three lobes or segments that spread out from a common point: palmate leaves.

3. (Zoology) (of the feet of most water birds) having three toes connected by a web

3. embrasure (noun)

1. (Fortifications) fortifications an opening or indentation, as in a battlement, for shooting through

2. (Architecture) an opening forming a door or window, having splayed sides that increase the width of the opening in the interior

Definitions from thefreedictionary.com

Wondrous Words Wednesday (4)

Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion and is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love.  

I'm highlighting words that are new to me/that I really like/that struck me for some reason..!

This week my words are all taken from The Moon Field by Judith Allnatt, a very moving story set in 1914, which I am two-thirds through reading.

1 revetting (verb) - 'Exhausted by the digging and revetting…'

To retain (an embankment, for example) with a layer of stone, concrete, or other supporting material; provide with a revetment.

2 cyanotic (adjective) - '…their hair and beards rimed white, their faces with a blue, cyanotic pallor.'

A bluish discolouration of the skin and mucous membranes resulting from inadequate oxygenation of the blood.

3 bole (noun) - 'He got behind the bole of one of the larger trees…'

The trunk of a tree.


4 estaminet (noun) - 'When at rest, he went with Haycock and the others to the warm estaminets; he saw their spirits revive with food and drink.'

A small café
(from French, perhaps from Walloon dialect staminet manger)

Definitions from the free dictionary

Wondrous Words Wednesday (3)

Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion and is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love.  

I'm highlighting words that are new to me/that I really like/that struck me for some reason..!

This week my words are all taken from The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison (Headline) which I've just finished reading. I thought this was a really good, absorbing read and hope to review it soon. 

1 concupiscent (adjective) - '...still in the brash, lingering phase of going everywhere together, going out just to be seen in all their concupiscent glory.'

Vigorously passionate.

2 finagled (verb) - 'But she can't dismiss the feeling that he has somehow managed to escape, has finagled things so he gets off scot-free, like always.'

1. To obtain or achieve by indirect, usually deceitful methods.
2. To cheat, swindle, trick (a person).

3 censer (noun) - '...he was smitten from the start with the glamour and mystique of it: the solemn processions, colorful robes, smoking censer, chanting and singing.'

A vessel in which incense is burned, especially during religious services.

Definitions from the free dictionary