Compendious is an adjective that means containing all the essential facts, but concise.

The Latin word compendiosus (com PEN dee oh soos) means ‘advantage, brief.’ From there our word of the day was born, eventually evolving into a word for ‘containing all the essential facts, but concise.’

As a young lawyer, I could be a little verbose. Let’s just say my briefs weren’t very compendious. 

Bedazzle is a verb that means to greatly impress with skill. 

The root word of bedazzle is dazzle, which means to blind someone temporarily. Bedazzle is more likely to be used metaphorically. For example: He bedazzled us with his guitar-playing skill. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing.

Tenebrous is an adjective that means shadowy or obscure. 

Tenebrous has its origin in the Latin noun tenebrae, (TEN ay BRIE aye) meaning ‘darkness.’ It’s been used in English since the 15th century. 

Those ghost stories around the campfire were awfully creepy. The tenebrous atmosphere played a big role in setting the scene. 

Acuity is a noun that means sharpness of thought, vision or hearing.

Our word of the day means to be sharp, physically and mentally. So it makes sense that acuity would have evolved from the Latin word acurere (ah coo WHERE ay) meaning ‘to sharpen.’

After dad’s accident, we feared his damage would make him less responsive. But to our relief, he maintained a remarkable acuity.

Maculate is an adjective that means spotted or stained.

Maculate comes from the Latin word macula (MA cool ah) meaning spot. You may have noticed the similarity between our word of the day and the word immaculate. Immaculate is the antonym, which means ‘spotless’ or ‘without stain.’ 

The stuff I found in the attic was pretty dirty. Mostly I found dusty old clothes and maculate portrait of my grandmother.

Ballyhoo is a noun that refers to extravagant publicity or fuss. 

The origin of ballyhoo is unclear, but we do know it emerged in the late 19th century. It’s a fun word to use when you want to sound like an old-school Hollywood producer or carnival barker.

The album was a big success thanks to the ballyhoo it was given by the label. Without all that publicity, I don’t think many people would have cared much about it

Procellous is an adjective that means stormy or turbulent. 

Procella (pro CHELL uh) is the Latin word for squall or ‘sudden gust of wind.’ From that our word of the day evolved into a synonym of stormy or turbulent. 

Driving back from Des Moines was a challenge. The procellous weather wasn’t easy to navigate. 

Innumerate is an adjective that means without basic mathematics skills. 

The Latin word numero (NEW mare oh) means number. By adding the prefix I-N, we get a word that means ‘not numerate.’ The best way to think of innumerate is as the math equivalent of illiterate. A person who is illiterate cannot read. A person who doesn’t have basic math skills is innumerate. 

When I was two, I found a dollar and thought I could buy a car. I suppose that was just a matter of being an innumerate child.

Agglomeration is a noun that means a large collection. 

Our word of the day comes from the Latin agglomerare (a glom ay RAR ay) meaning ‘to wind or add into a ball.’ It may help to think of a ball of yarn as an agglomeration of yarn. 

It was difficult to collect all of my old childhood items from my closet. It took a while to gather such a huge agglomeration of stuff.

Emissive is an adjective that means having the power to radiate light.

The Latin prefix E-M-I-S-S refers to something that is ‘emitted’ or ‘sent out.’ Emissive may be used in a scientific context to refer to radiating light, or more informally it may simply refer to something like colors being emitted. For example: The cinematography of that film is stunning. I like the emissive qualities of that scene where the red lights shine through the dark sky.