15 Words To Deepen Your Vocabulary

Words have the power to move people, to motivate and inspire beyond the daily drag of life. I’ve been journaling life a bit more lately and I find myself loving the dim corners of the English language. Here are few of my favorite words.  

1. Petrichor – n. A pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.

2. Perambulate – v. To walk through a place, especially for pleasure and in a leisurely way.

3. Repletion – n. the experience of being very full or sated by food.

4. Apogee – n. The point in the orbit of the moon at which it is furthest from the earth.

5. Sophrosyne – n. The quality of wise moderation.

9. Numinous – adj. Having a strong religious or spiritual quality.

7. Meliorism – n. The belief that the world can be made better by our efforts.

8. Wanderlust – n. A strong desire to travel.

9. Sonorous – adj. Capable of producing a deep or ringing sound like a bell’s toll.

10. Nefarious – adj. Impious or criminal.

11. Limerence – n. Being infatuated or obsessed with another person.

12. Esoteric – adj. related to information understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.

13. Sonder – n. The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.

14. Felicity – n. Intense happiness.

15. Sillage – n. The way that a scent lingers in the air after they have gone.

Most of these definitions were taken from the Oxford English Dictionary with slight embellishments for my own use. That’s the beauty of writing, language can come alive when put into context with life. I would love to hear some of your favorite forgotten shards of our language, feel free to pass them along so we all can live a bit deeper through our words. Now go out and make this world a more expressive place.