Using Weird Words Is a Wonderful Way to Improve Your Vocabulary
I have many interests and an inability to make up my mind about which one to focus on. That's how I came up with my name: ControlledChaos1.
Weird Words Can Be So Much Fun
Improving your vocabulary by using weird and not-often used words is a wonderful way to spice up everyday conversations. Most people don't know just how many strange, unique and unusual words there are in the English language. The reason a lot of people don't use them is that they don't run across them often enough in everyday life. That's what this list of weird and wonderful words is all about. Check things out when you have time to take a look at the "word of the week" or learn more than one by perusing the choices on further down.
While some of the words you choose to learn below are more outlandish than others, all of them are marvelous ways to improve your vocabulary. Expanding the words you use in everyday chats will not only make you more easy to understand, but it will also make one on one discussions more entertaining (in most cases). Learning one new word every once in a while is all it takes, and eventually you'll start spotting opportunities to use them.
One more quick note. You may see certain words that make you think, "that word isn't weird or uncommon", but ask yourself... how often do you use it. Thanks for taking a look and I hope you find the article useful.
Wonderfully Underused Words That You Should Learn
Weird and Unusual Words To Make Your Own
- Animosity: feeling of strong dislike or resentment for someone or something
- Apoplectic: someone overcome with rage and anger
- Articulate: the ability to express oneself clearly through speech
- Balderdash: nonsense or ridiculous
- Bestiary: a collection of descriptions, images or both of real or imagined animals
- Blasphemous: an act that is unholy or disrespectful against sacred things or religions
- Blob: something shapeless and often thick or lumpy
- Botch: careless or bungled piece of work; unsuccessful
- Buffoon: a person who is always clowning around
- Bottom: a person's rear, rump or backside
- Breathtaking: a sight or experience that so awesome that it takes your breath away
- Bumfuzzled: confused or bewildered
- Cacophony: an often harsh, unappealing mixture of sounds
- Cameo: a short appearance at a party, event or in a movie or play
- Coddle: to treat someone in an overprotective way
- Concubine: a mistress; a woman in a sexual relationship with a married man
- Conundrum: an especially difficult problem that needs solving
- Dampen: make slightly wet; make less strong or certain
- Devil's Advocate: someone who takes up the opposite side of an argument (even if unpopular) to present another point of view
- Drunkard: person who gets drunk often
- Evanescent: tending to fade from sight quickly; fleeting
- Evancalous: pleasant to embrace
- Evildoer: one who does especially bad things
- Frenzy: wild excitement
- Frivolous: silly and of little value; can be said of a thing, action or person
- Gaping: a very wide hole or tear
- Gibberish: a very old term used to describe someone who is talking in a nonsensical or irrational manor
- Glorious: completely enjoyable, magnificent event
- Gnaw: to consume bit by bit
- Goad: to urge into doing something, especially something stupid
- Gobbledygook: unintelligible nonsense
- Guile: using intelligence in a sneaky or cunning way
Read More From Owlcation
Funny Words Can Lead to Fun Conversations
- Hapless: unlucky or unfortunate
- Heathen: an uncivilized person; non-religious
- Homely: plain or unattractive
- Hullaballoo: the sounds and noises people are making when in a heated argument
- Illicit: unlawful or improper
- Inebriated: extremely drunk
- Irony: an event that happens directly opposite of what is expected; often an element of humor or amusement involved
- Jovial: full of good humor
- Kerfuffle: a disturbance or commotion
- Killjoy: one who lessens other people's enjoyment
- Kinship: very close relationship; often family
- Kitsch: designs, decorations or objects considered too excessive and in poor taste, but sometimes appreciated because it can be related to in some way.
- Lewd: offensive to others in a sexual way
- Lucid: a moment when you are thinking very clearly
- Luddite: someone who is opposed, resists or does not use new technology
- Magnanimous: showing kindness towards rivals or people who are not on your level
- Malcontent: a rebellious person; dissatisfied with how things are
- Masticate: to chew food
- Meritocracy: choosing someone based upon ability and experience
- Mock: not authentic, but without the aim of deceiving
- Moist: a word that you never hear outside of cooking
- Nefarious: villainous or wicked
- Nougat: a confection of sugar paste and nuts
- Oaf: stupid, clumsy person
- Oddity: a thing, person or personality trait that is strange; not the norm
- Odious: offensive; disgusting
- Otherworldly: relating to an imaginary setting; fantastic or unbelievable
- Paltry: almost worthless
- Paper Tiger: someone or something that appears to be dangerous but isn't
- Petty: an action that is of little importance or meaning
- Poppycock: a word used to call out someone for not telling the truth or exaggerating an event
- Primal: fundamental or basic
- Proclivity: a trait or activity done on a regular basis; a liking of something
Words Rarely Used Anymore
Weird Words Don't Make You Sound Weird
- Quarrel: angry disagreement or a cause for disagreement
- Ragamuffin: a word used to describe someone who always wears dirty, well-used or worn out clothes
- Ramble: to wonder about or talk aimlessly
- Reckoning: the settlement of an account; revenge
- Red Herring: something used to divert attention away from the main subject; a misleading clue
- Refrain: to hold back some type of action, usually a negative one
- Rotund: plump or chubby, but not necessarily fat
- Sarcasm: the use of irony to mock or make light of someone, something or a particular situation
- Scoundrel: a dishonest person that shows no moral principles
- Scruple: having second thoughts or doubt about a morally questionable action someone is about to take
- Shudder: to tremble or shake with fear or disgust
- Slight: an insult caused by not showing the proper respect to someone
- Sublime: something someone finds so amazingly beautiful that they are in awe
- Supercilious: acting as if better than everyone else; arrogant
- Swoon: fainting from an extreme emotional state
- Sycophant: person who sucks up to someone to gain advantages; a boot licker
- Thrash: to beat or toss about violently
- Torso: the trunk (chest, waist, etc.) of the human body
- Trivial: of little or no importance
- Tryst: a secretive romantic meeting between lovers
- Ubiquitous: found everywhere; common
- Uncanny: weird or bizarre, especially in a mysterious way
- Unhinged: mentally unbalanced
- Vacuous: empty minded; stupid
- Valiant: brave and courageous
- Vexed: being aggravated or frustrated with something or someone
- Wallop: a sound beating
- Whim: a sudden idea or desire that passes quickly
- Wicked: someone who is evil
- Xenophobe: fear or dislike of strangers or foreigners
- Yum: delicious
- Zilch: nothing; zero
More Uncommon Words Not Used Often
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
vapid | dull or uninteresting | Vapid fool! |
nevermore | never again | Nevermore will we be separated. |
havoc | great and violent destruction | Death and havoc follow you. |
adoration | love and devotion | He doesn't deserve your adoration! |
yield | give up | Yield now, or die! |
talon | claw on a bird of prey | She scratched me with one of her talons! |
apathy | lack of interest or emotion | Apathy is one of the worst traits humans possess. |
secluded | shut off from others; unfrequented | Secluded, I see all. |
curse | to bring evil or injury down on someone | I curse you! |
pummel | to hit with repeated blows | I'll have my boyfried pummel your ass! |
decompress | to reduce pressure or stress | You need to decompress. |
zany | silly or foolish; amusing | He's zany. |
wretch | someone who is miserable or unliked | That lousy wretch needs to leave town. |
Keith Allison / flickr
Using The Weird Words Found In This Article
- Purposely misuse a word as a way of mocking or making fun of whomever you're talking to. One warning, though, they may see the act as an attack on their intelligence, so only do it with people you don't like.
- Putting an extra emphasis (in regards to your voice) on certain words will always change the way they are perceived by someone else. Sometimes by simply just whispering the word will produce interesting results.
- Mispronouncing words on purpose to see the reaction others make (or don't make). If you're really lucky someone will actually try to correct you. What fun!
- Try giving someone a hand-written letter chock full of weird words to make an impression can make you memorable. Use only a few to appear smart, use several to aggravate and use a lot to make them mad. It's even better if it's an important letter that they need to read. Dictionary required!
- When you use words that are not used that much by the public at large, be prepared for a range of responses. Some people may pretend to know what the word means so they don't appear to be unintelligent, while others will come right out and ask you what the word means.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2018 Don
