favorite words

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akimbo
alacrity
amalgamation
apricity
autochthonous
avuncular
babushka
bedlam
bifurcate
borborygmi
bricolage
brouhaha
bumptious
callipygian
canaliculi
caterwaul
cattywampus
chiaroscuro
chicanery
circuitous
copse
crenellations
crepuscular
decorticated
demonym
dendrophile
denouement
diaphanous
diffident
dispositive
dodecahedron
eleemosynary
elucidate
ensorcelled
eponymous
erumpent
ethereal
eudaemonic
exsanguinate
feckless
festoon
fisticuffs
flocculation
folderol
fricative
glissando
gloaming
gossamer
gowpen
guttersnipe
haberdashery
harbinger
higgedly-piggedly
impecunious
incandescent
interregnum
interstitial
juggernaut
katydid
katzenjammer
ken
lagniappe
lascivious
leitmotif
loam
lollygagging
loquacious
lugubrious
maladroit
marsescent
mastication
mellifluous
micturate
milquetoast
mondegreen
murmuration
natiform
niveous
nomenclature
obfuscate
obstreperous
omphaloskepsis
onomatopoeia
opalescence
palaver
palimpsest
penultimate
peripatetic
perpetuity
perseverate
perspicacity
petrichor
phantasmagoria
picayune
piffle
pleonasm
pithy
portmanteau
postprandial
propitious
pulchritudinous
purview
quire
reconnoiter
sagacious
schadenfreude
schmata
scintilla
scintillating
sesquipedalian
shambolic
skeuomorph
sonder
soporific
spelunking
stillicide
struthious
superannuated
susurrus
synapomorphy
synecdoche
syzygy
thrumming
tintinnabulation
traipse
ululation
unctuous
uvula
verisimilitude
viridescent
voluptuary

In March 2024, I mentioned that two of my favorite words are tessellation and defenestrate and then asked people on Instagram what theirs were. These are my favorites responses. Bold means the word came up many, many times. We’ve been trying to learn these at dinnertime and have found it utterly humbling, both how far off our guesses have been as to the meanings, and how poorly we’d been pronouncing even the ones we thought we knew.