Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love. Feel free to get creative! If you want to play along, grab the button, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!
I found three words in Radioactive by Lauren Redniss.
1. imprimatur – “Now, Spiritualists embraced photography to lend scientific imprimatur to their beliefs, aiming, like Röntgen and Becquerel, to capture in an image what could not be seen with the naked eye.”
Imprimatur has several meanings but, in this sentence, I think it means a mark or approval of distinction.
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2. ephemeral – “Polonium was revealing itself to be extremely radioactive and, with a half-life of only 138 days compared to radium’s 1602 years, highly ephemeral.”
Ephemeral means lasting a very short time.
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3. ensorcel – “Marie was cast as the conniving tramp who had ensorcelled a married man.”
Ensorcel means to bewitch or enchant.
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What words do you want to celebrate today?
sadly no new words for me today. Ensorcelled for some reason had me thinking about somebody being dumped over with tomato sauce!
Ephemeral I knew, but the others are new to me. Love ensorcel!
Knew 2 – sort of. No clue on ensorcel. But the definition makes sense.
All are new to me.
Sometimes my attention span is ephemeral…
I’ve always liked the word ephemeral, but the others are new to me.
I knew ensorcel. Ephemeral was familiar, but I couldn’t quite recall the definition until I read it. Great words!
You’re reading Radioactive!! I can’t wait to read your thoughts on it. I knew ephemeral, but the other two are new.
I’m familiar with imprimatur because most Bibles or literature used in Catholic churches requires an imprimatur from an approved source, like the US Council of Catholic Bishops. I thought ephemeral meant ghostly, so I’m glad we cleared that up! Thanks!
At first glance I thought ephemeral was the only one I knew, but I was wrong about that too. I guess I learned three new words today. I thought ephemeral meant an atmosphere or a room was hazy or smoky. Glad you added the word to today’s list.
I knew two out of three, didn’t know ensorcel.
I’ve seen “ephemeral.” Wasn’t sure of the definition. Glad you gave the correct definition.
Ephemeral is one I’ve always liked. In listening to audio I’ve been hearing “fatuous” a lot. I think I’ve been confusing this with facetious! Though I’ll probably continue to confuse the two!
I knew the second word, too, but have learned two new ones, thanks to you, Kathy. I hope Radioactive is a good book. 🙂
I want to read that book soon too!
I only knew one but I love ensorcel.