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Saturday, November 02, 2024

In other words, a to v

  • advect, verb. To move by the process of advection (the horizontal flow of atmospheric properties).
  • convect, verb. To transfer heat or a fluid by convection (the vertical transport of atmospheric properties).
  • fiat, noun. An authoritative command or order to do something; an effectual decree.
  • desuetude, noun. (In law) a doctrine or principle that that long and continued non-use of a law or statute renders it invalid.
  • expurgate, verb. To clean up, remove impurities, especially to expunge objectionable materials from something before publication or presentation.
  • fatuous, adjective. Foolish; inane; silly; complacently or inanely foolish (applied both to persons and to their acts).
  • innocuous, adjective. Not causing disapproval; lacking intent or capacity to injure; harmless.
  • mendacious, adjective. Telling lies, especially habitually; dishonest; lying; untruthful.
  • nocebo effect, noun. When a patient’s negative expectations for a treatment cause the treatment to have a worse effect than it otherwise would have. Opposite of placebo.
  • parsimony, noun. Unusual or excessive frugality; thrift; extreme economy or stinginess.
  • persnickety, adjective. Overparticular or fussy about trivial details; fastidious; demanding.
  • piffle, noun. Nonsense; trivial or senseless talk.
  • placebo effect, noun. When a patient’s positive expectations for a treatment cause the treatment to have a helpful effect (especially in reference to a placebo, an inactive “look-alike” treatment). Opposite of nocebo.
  • rodomontade, noun. Pretentious boasting; bluster; a bragging speech.
  • saudade, noun. A deep emotional state of melancholic longing for a person or thing that is absent; yearning for something indefinite and indefinable (from Portuguese).
  • scriptorium, noun. A room set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of manuscripts and records (especially in a medieval monastery).
  • sine die, adverb. Without a day specified for a future meeting; indefinitely (from Latin, without day).
  • teleology, noun. The philosophical interpretation of natural phenomena as exhibiting purpose or design.
  • telestich, noun. A short poem in which the last letters of each successive line form a word or name.
  • verisimilitude, noun. The quality of appearing to be true or real; something that has the appearance of being true or real.

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