So stylish
charisma
(kar IZ ma) This noun, which comes from the Greek word for “divine
favor,” means “personal magnetism” or “charm.” It’s used to describe
someone’s personality rather than their fashion sense. The adjective form is
charismatic.
flair
This noun means a distinctive elegance or style and comes from the
Middle English word for “fragrance.” It can also mean a particular aptitude
or talent.
jeremiad
(jer uh MY ad) This noun refers to a speech or written work that
mournfully laments the wrongdoings of mankind and predicts a kind of
wholesale doom to descend on mankind. The bitter tone is associated with
the writings of the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah (seventh and sixth centuries
BCE), who lamented man’s evil ways. Today it may be transferred to a
lighter variety of doleful complaints.
specter
Literally, a ghost (or wraith or apparition), this noun is now often
used for any disturbing image of a future disturbance.
interminable
(in TERM in uh bul) Literally meaning “not able to end,” this
adjective is chiefly used to describe something tedious, a situation you
wish would end.
panache
(pan OSH) From the Latin word that means “plume,” this noun
means a touch of added style or dash. Just picture a brilliantly colored
feather emerging from a Roman helmet, and you’ll get the idea.
cachet
(cash AY) This noun originally meant “a seal affixed to a letter or
document to mark its authenticity” but it has since come to mean “a mark
of quality or a distinguishing feature. It comes from the Old French word
for “to press.”
Armageddon
(arm a GEDD un) This noun, also of Biblical original (here, the
Christian New Testament), refers to a projected final battle between the
forces of good and evil to occur at the end of time. Like #1, the word is also
used today in reference to more secular concepts. The word itself comes
from a variation of the name of a Palestinian mountain range.
juggernaut
(JUG er naut) This noun refers to any overwhelmingly powerful,
unstoppable force, usually destructive. Most people today don’t know
that it was originally a title for a Hindu god.
unremitting
(un re MITT ing) This is another adjective for something that
never stops, never slackens. Memory tip: it’s not “in remission.”
brio
(BREE oh) From the Italian word for “fire” or “life,” this noun means
“vivacity” or “spirit.” It is generally used to describe a way of doing something.
It may have entered the English language from the musical instruction
“con brio,” which means “with energy.”
rakish
(RAKE ish) This adjective means “self-confidently stylish” or “jaunty”
and probably derives from the word “rake,” one of whose meanings is “an
angle of incline from the perpendicular” and is a term used to describe the
tilted masts of pirate ships. It is probably not related to another meaning of
the word “rake,” which is “an immoral or dissolute person.”
apocalypse
(a POK a lips) From the Greek word for “revelation,” this noun
is also of Biblical origin. It refers to a vision of the total destruction of the
world, cosmic devastation. (Word #2 would be one of various possibilities.)
Adjective form: apocalyptic.
abiding
(uh BIDE ing) If it abides with you, it lives with you, and thus it
doesn’t end.
limbo
(LIM bo) Modern use of this noun refers to a state that feels as
though it will never end because you’re getting no attention or information
that might enable you to move on. The word originated in Roman Catholic
theology as an afterlife space of neither punishment nor reward (usually
capitalized when used in this sense). Souls placed there remained for
eternity. (No relation to the West Indian dance of the same name!)
élan
(ay LAN) This noun comes from the Old French word for “rush,”
originally from the Latin for “to throw a lance.” Like brio, it means
“enthusiastic liveliness,” but it can also be used, like panache, to mean a
dash of style.
verve
(VERV) From the Old French word for “fanciful expression,” this noun
means “energy and enthusiasm in the expression of ideas, especially in an
artistic performance.” One uses this word to describe how a person does
something, not to describe the person.
Gorgon or gorgon
(GOR gun) This noun, which now can refer to a woman
who is regarded as terrifying, has its origin in the Greek myth of three
sisters, each with a headful of serpents and the ability to turn beholders
into stone.
incubus
(IN kew bus) In medieval folklore, this malevolent demon could
sexually attack women in their sleep. Now time has transformed that
frightening image into any oppressive burden that torments an individual
as a nightmare might torment. And indeed the word derives from the Latin
word for “nightmare.”
ineluctable
(in e LUCT uh bul) This adjective is a formal word for
“inevitable,” “inescapable.” In that sense, the end is in sight.
esprit
(ess PREE) From the French word for “spirit,” this noun means
“liveliness of spirit” or “sprightliness.” You may have heard it used in the
expression “esprit de corps,” which means “a common spirit of enthusiasm
or devotion to a cause among the members of a group.”
raffish
(RAFF ish) Coming from the Swedish word for “rubbish,” this adjective
can mean” cheaply or showily vulgar in appearance” or “tawdry” (see
“Eponyms” chapter). It is often used today, however, to mean “characterized
by a carefree or fun-loving unconventionality.”
chimera
(ki MEER ah) and chimerical The noun form denotes another
scary female from Greek mythology. The mythological chimera was a firebreathing
monster; part lion, part goat, and part snake. A chimera became
the more generalized word for any creature of the imagination, any
unfounded concept. The adjective form may be seen more often today.
anathema
(ah NATH eh ma) This noun comes to us from the Greek
word that came to mean “doomed offering” or “accursed thing.” Today
the meaning is roughly synonymous with a strong curse, a near wish for
damnation.
pertinacious
(per tin A shuss) This adjective means “holding on to a belief
or a plan,” “persistent.” It’s a near-twin of tenacious. (That there should be
two such similar adjectives—and with varying spelling—is one of the
mysterious delights of the English language.)