Rare & Beautiful Words — Set 2: Meanings flashcards
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The rarer 100 of the 200 Rare & Beautiful Words, from petrichor and susurrus to bumbershoot and williwaw: pronunciation, a plain definition and three example sentences, the most common use first.
Learn deck · part of Rare & Beautiful Words · written against: 200 uncommon words with their own Merriam-Webster entries, chosen for sound and precision. Updated 2026-10-10.
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aureole (n.) · OR-ee-ohl(literary) a glowing ring of light around a holy figure in art, or around the sun or moon in hazeLight & Color
In the old painting, a gold aureole circles the saint's bowed head.
Backlit by the stage lights, the singer's curly hair glowed like an aureole.
Through the thin clouds, the full moon wore a pale aureole.
Origin: In Middle English an aureole was the crown of glory that saints were believed to wear in heaven; its root is Latin aureolus, "golden." -
lambent (adj.) · LAM-buhntdancing in soft flickers, as flame or light does across a surface; gently glowing; light and sparkling, as a quick wit isLight & Color
Lambent candlelight played over the old piano keys during the power outage.
The cat's lambent green eyes watched us from under the porch.
The professor's lambent wit made even grammar lectures fun.
Root: Latin lambent-, lambens, present participle of lambere, "to lick." -
burble (v.) · BUR-buhlto give off a soft, bubbly gurgle, as a brook does; to babble on excitedlySound & Speech
The fish tank's filter burbled softly in the dark classroom.
A brook burbled under the footbridge behind the library.
Thrilled about the zoo trip, Noor burbled about penguins all through dinner. -
euphonious (adj.) · yoo-FOH-nee-uhssweet-sounding, especially through a smooth, harmonious mix of sounds, as in a name or phraseSound & Speech
Marisol named her kitten Luna because it sounded euphonious.
Many learners find Italian a euphonious language.
To the tired hikers, the dinner bell was the most euphonious sound imaginable. -
spindrift (n.) · SPIN-driftsea spray that a gale whips off the crests of waves; also, powdery snow or sand driven along by the windWeather & Nature
Spindrift lashed the deck as the trawler pushed into the gale.
Gusts sent spindrift streaming off the breakers like white smoke.
On the ridge, spindrift hissed across the snow and stung our faces.
Origin: reshaped from Scots speendrift, which joined speen, a Scots verb for scudding along ahead of a gale, to the English word drift. -
woebegone (adj.) · WOH-bih-gawn(literary) looking very sad and miserable; in a sorry, run-down stateMood & Feeling
The woebegone kitten mewed at us from the bottom of the window well.
Jonah looked woebegone when his team's science project collapsed.
A woebegone motel with a flickering sign stood at the edge of town. -
cynosure (n.) · SIGH-nuh-shuurwhatever draws every eye or wins everyone's admiration; a guide to steer by, as the North Star isPeople & Manner
The vintage fire truck was the cynosure of the parade.
The new climbing wall instantly became the cynosure of the playground.
For early sailors, the polestar was a cynosure guiding them north.
Origin: ultimately Greek Kynósoura, "Ursa Minor," from kynós, genitive of kýōn, "dog," + ourá, "tail." -
dayspring (n.) · DAY-springthe moment a new era gets underway and things start fresh; dawn, first lightTime & Change
The first printing presses marked the dayspring of a new age of reading.
Those summers at camp were the dayspring of her lifelong passion for birds.
In the old poem, the dayspring breaks over the eastern hills.
Watch out: Merriam-Webster labels the sense "dawn" archaic. -
crenellated (adj.) · KREN-uh-lay-tidhaving battlements: a top edge of raised blocks with gaps between, like a castle wallForm & Texture
The crenellated walls of the fortress loomed over the harbor.
Ava's gingerbread fort had crenellated walls of chocolate squares.
Even the library's roofline is crenellated, like a tiny castle.
Watch out: also spelled crenelated, with one l. -
bumbershoot (n.) · BUHM-bur-shootan umbrella (an informal, playful American word)Playful Words
Don't forget your bumbershoot; the forecast says showers by noon.
A gust flipped Cleo's bumbershoot inside out on the bridge.
Rows of dripping bumbershoots lined the museum's coat check.
Origin: bumber-, an alteration of umbr- in umbrella, + -shoot, an alteration of -chute in parachute.
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