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risibility
[riz-uh-bil-i-tee]

noun, plural risibilities.

1. Often, risibilities. the ability or disposition to laugh; humorous awareness of the ridiculous and absurd.
2. laughter.

Origin of risibility
1610-20; < Late Latin rīsibilitās. See risible, -ityExamples from the Web for risibility

Historical Examples

- Indeed, the Japanese have recourse to risibility whenever the frailties of human nature are put to severest test.
- Bushido, the Soul of Japan Inazo Nitob

- Mr. Maguire did not respond to the young squire's risibility ; the cast of his countenance was decidedly serious.
- Humorous Ghost Stories Dorothy Scarborough

- Not so Caspar—whose mirth was at once excited to the point of risibility.
- The Cliff Climbers Captain Mayne Reid

saurian
[sawr-ee-uh n]
adjective
1. belonging or pertaining to the Sauria, a group of reptiles originally including the lizards, crocodiles, and several extinct forms but now technically restricted to the lizards.
2. resembling a lizard.
noun
3. a saurian animal, as a dinosaur or lizard.

Origin of saurian
1800-10; < New Latin Sauri (a) an order of reptiles + -an; see -saur

Examples from the Web for saurian

Historical Examples:

- By this time the saurian was fairly awake, and began to provide for his immediate future by opening his mouth.
Belford's Magazine, Vol 2, December 1888
Various

- For some weeks the saurian eye had been on the two secret creatures.
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Complete
George Meredith

- The opinion has steadily gained that the conventional dragon is the traditional form of some huge saurian.
Demonology and Devil-lore
Moncure Daniel Conway

chiliad
[kil-ee-ad]
noun
1. a group of 1000.
2. a period of 1000 years.

Origin of chiliad
1590-1600; < Late Latin chīliad- (stem of chīlias) < Greek, equivalent to chī́li (oi) 1000 + -ad- -ad

Related forms
chiliadal, chiliadic, adjective


Historical Examples

- Or, from the Greek, chiliad ; and hence the word chiliasm, expressing the belief in a millennium.
Anarchism
E. V. Zenker

- These probably included the logarithms of the first chiliad which he published in 1617.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 8
Various

mundane
[muhn-deyn, muhn-deyn]
adjective
1. common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.
2. of or relating to this world or earth as contrasted with heaven; worldly; earthly:
mundane affairs.
3. of or relating to the world, universe, or earth.

Origin of mundane
Mundane came to English in 1400s from the Latin mundānus meaning "of or belonging to the world; earthly."

Related forms
mundanely, adverb
mundaneness, noun

Synonyms
1. secular, temporal. See earthly.

Citations for mundane

- Their mutual antagonism, once a joke, a performance for the benefit of others, had slowly become, through being ritualised in that way, a mundane reality. Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, 1993

- He changed his seat, moving closer to the projector and the sound, gripping the armrests when the tortures began, horror made mundane by the innocuous ordinariness of shirtsleeves, tweezers, soda bottles, eyedroppers, file cabinets, time clocks, cigarette lighters, saws. Toni Cade Bambara, Those Bones Are Not My Child, 1999

Cognoscenti
[kon-yuh-shen-tee, kog-nuh-] plural noun, singular cognoscente

Definitions for cognoscenti

1. persons who have superior knowledge and understanding of a particular field, especially in the fine arts, literature, and world of fashion.

Origin of cognoscenti
Cognoscenti entered English in the late 1700s from the Italian word of the same spelling. It stems from the Latin word conoscere meaning "to know."

antipodes
[an-tip-uh-deez]
plural noun
1. places diametrically opposite each other on the globe.
2. those who dwell there.

Origin of antipodes
Antipodes comes from the Greek hoi antípodes meaning literally "those with the feet opposite."