
Isabelle Osborne
Eleanor Oliphant's vocabulary
‘The man was incapable of speaking in plain English’
When I read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman in July, I was amazed by the richness and scale of her vocabulary. She may not know what ‘mofo’ and ‘lol’ means, but she certainly has her own unique repertoire of vocabulary. When I noticed that her vocabulary was so vast, and as someone who loves learning new words, I began to write down the unusual words that I hadn't heard of or didn't know the meaning of, with the vision of making a list on my blog with all the definitions. And here it is!
Callous: showing or having an insensitive and cruel disregard for others
Convoluted: extremely complex and difficult to follow
Malodorous: smelling very unpleasant
Sagacious: having or showing keen mental discernment and good judgement; wise or shrewd
Discombobulate: disconcert or confuse (someone)
Quotidian: of or occurring every day; daily.
Carte Blanche: complete freedom to act as one wishes.
Gauche: unsophisticated and socially awkward.
Mirabile dictu (Latin): wonderful to relate.
Morose: sullen and ill-tempered.
Inebriate: make (someone) drunk; intoxicate.
Febrile: having or showing the symptoms of a fever.
Micturate: to urinate.
Facsimile: an exact copy, especially of written or printed material.
Profligate: recklessly extravagant or wasteful in the use of resources.
Desultory: lacking a plan, purpose, or enthusiasm.
Salient: most noticeable or important.
Badinage: humorous or witty conversation.
Abate: (of something unpleasant or severe) become less intense or widespread.
De rigueur (French): required by etiquette or current fashion.
Vertiginous: whirling; spinning; rotary.
Assuaged: make (an unpleasant feeling) less intense.
Municipal: relating to a town or district or its governing body.
Dipsomaniac: a drunkard or alcoholic.
Prurience: the fact of being too interested in the details of another person's sexual behaviour.
Reconnaissance: military observation of a region to locate an enemy or ascertain strategic features.
Inured: accustom (someone) to something, especially something unpleasant.
Aberrant: departing from an accepted standard.
Melamine: a white crystalline compound made by heating cyanamide and used in making plastics.
Augured: (of an event or circumstance) portend a good or bad outcome.
Wraith: a ghost or ghostlike image of someone, especially one seen shortly before or after their death.
Trite: (of a remark or idea) lacking originality or freshness; dull on account of overuse.
Sigil: an inscribed or painted symbol considered to have magical power.
Psychosomatic: (of a physical illness or other condition) caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress.
Charnel: associated with death.
Placatory: intended to make someone less angry or hostile; conciliatory.
Ostensibly: as appears or is stated to be true, though not necessarily so; apparently.
Abortive: failing to produce the intended result.
Indolence: avoidance of activity or exertion; laziness.
Simian: relating to or affecting apes or monkeys.
Rhotic: relating to or denoting a dialect or variety of English (e.g. in most of the US and south-western England) in whichris pronounced before a consonant (as inhard) and at the ends of words (as infar).
Histrionic: excessively theatrical or dramatic in character or style.
Bon mots: a witty remark.
Malign: evil in nature or effect.
Maharajah: an Indian prince.
Savoir-faire: the ability to act or speak appropriately in social situations.
Ensconced: establish or settle (someone) in a comfortable, safe place.
Acrimonious: (typically of speech or discussion) angry and bitter.
Desultory: lacking a plan, purpose, or enthusiasm.
Resplendent: splendor
Tomes: a book, especially a large, heavy, scholarly one.
Impasse: a situation in which no progress is possible, especially because of disagreement; a deadlock.
Modicum: a small quantity of a particular thing, especially something desirable or valuable.
Anathema: something or someone that one vehemently dislikes.
Avian: relating to birds.
Recondite: (of a subject or knowledge) little known; abstruse.
Arid: (of land or a climate) having little or no rain; too dry or barren to support vegetation.
Derisive: expressing contempt or ridicule.
Purloin: to steal (something).
Featured image courtesy of Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.