Icarian is an adjective that means excessively ambitious.

Our word of the day comes from the figure of Greek mythology who ambitiously tried to fly — only to have his wings melt, leading to his tragic demise. Icarian is a word used to describe a person whose ambitions — like Icarus — were excessive.

Vernal is an adjective that means related to spring.

Our word of the day comes from the ver (VER) which is the Latin word for spring. Here’s an example of it:

It’s great to reach that point of the year when you open the windows and take in all the delightful vernal aromas of that time of year. It’s too bad that some aromas outside are more delightful than others.

Imbricate is a verb that means to overlap or cause to overlap.

Our word of the day comes from a Latin word that described a certain kind of roof tile. These tiles often overlapped in a way that gave birth to our contemporary use of the word. Imbricate can be used literally or figuratively. Here’s an example of its figurative use:

I’ve never met the CEO of our company, but our circles of friends imbricate in some interesting ways. All of this overlap between associates means that someday, we could actually have lunch.

Feculent is an adjective that means muddy or dirty.

Our word of the day is derived from the Latin faex (FAH ex) which means ‘dregs,’ a reference to any foul or undesirable sediment. Here’s an example:

The feculent matter at the bottom of the lake made our scuba adventures a lot less enjoyable than our ocean diving. It’s so much more fun to see sand and adorable sea creatures down there than muck and mud.

Theophoric is an adjective that means bearing the name of a god.

Our word of the day is Greek in origin and is used to describe any name from a god of any faith. Here’s an example of theophoric in use:

Emma and I chose Thor as a name for our son because we liked the idea of a theophoric name and what name could be better than that of the Norse god of thunder.

Attitudinize is a verb that means to assume an affected mental state.

Our word of the day gets its root word from attitude, which comes indirectly from the Latin word Aptus (OP toose) meaning ‘fit.’ When a person attitudinizes, they adopt or express a particular attitude just for effect. Here’s an example of the word in use:

At first we all thought Jane’s snooty demeanor was just an illustration of how people can attitudinize once they gain success. But those who knew her well insisted she was like that years before getting rich.

Cajolery is a noun that refers to coaxing or flattery.

The word cajole is of French origin, and it means to persuade or coax with flattery. Cajolery is the noun version that refers to the act of cajoling. Here’s an example.

I was hoping I didn’t have to resort to cajolery in order to get a raise, but a few minutes into my meeting with the boss, it was clear that I needed to tell him his shoes looked great if I was to stand a chance.

Roue is a noun that refers to a man who devotes his life to superficial pleasure.

Our word of the day comes from a French word that translates to ‘broken on a wheel.’ This referred to the torture thought to be deserved by a person who lived a worthless like of cheap pleasure. The word is always intended as an insult.

I don’t want to come across as a roue, but I don’t like to work any more than I have to. Instead, I usually don’t get out of bed until noon — unless there’s a circus in town.

Integrative is an adjective that means tending to unify.

The root word of our word of the day is integrate. To integrate something is to unify or combine various elements. Integrative could be thought of as the adjective version of that word. Here’s an example:

We used an integrative approach in our kitchen to bring together various kinds of foods. The results varied wildly. Mixing foods can sometimes be delicious, but other times it can induce nausea.

Anacreontic is an adjective that means convivial and festive.

Our word of the day comes from an ancient Greek poet named anacreon. He was best known for poems that were celebrations of love and wine. When a song or poem is described as anacreontic, it shares these qualities.

At first it was my intention to write a dark, serious poem about something somber and bleak. But I accidentally wound up with something upbeat and anacreontic.