Ten words that make people ask “wait, what does that mean?”
The most memorable unusual words are not merely obscure. They name a familiar experience with surprising precision, which makes them useful after the novelty has worn off.
Use sparingly. Each of these is a real, respectable word. The impressing happens because each one names something everybody has felt and almost nobody can label.
an intense, often involuntary state of infatuation marked by obsessive thoughts about the object of one's affection
The novel captures the dizzy limerence of a first crush with uncomfortable accuracy.
a studied carelessness that makes a difficult performance look completely effortless
The violinist played the impossible passage with such sprezzatura that the audience assumed it was easy.
the warmth of the sun on a cold day
They ate lunch on the frozen dock just to sit in the brief apricity of noon.
pleasure derived from another person's misfortune or embarrassment
He felt a flicker of schadenfreude watching his rival's presentation crash mid-slide.
having a ready insight into and understanding of things; keenly perceptive
The perspicacious analyst spotted the accounting trick three quarters before anyone else did.
given to using long, often needlessly elaborate words
The professor's sesquipedalian lecture style sent half the class reaching for a dictionary.
mental calmness and composure, especially in a difficult situation
She received the difficult diagnosis with a calm equanimity that startled her doctors.
extreme, insatiable greed for wealth or material gain
Pure avarice drove the executive to falsify earnings for a bigger bonus.
willing to take bold risks, especially ones that defy convention or caution
The startup's audacious plan to undercut the market leader by half seemed reckless until it worked.
a person or body with the power to settle a dispute or decide an outcome
The court served as final arbiter when the two partners couldn't agree on the company's valuation.
The trick isn't knowing rare words. It's reaching for the exact one at the exact moment. That takes meeting a word more than once, which is what Verba's practice loop is for.
