Vocabulary Mnemonics

February 15, 2025

Besotted (adj): blindly or utterly infatuated

I really loathe my son’s girlfriend, but what can I do? He’s besotted.

Mnemonic: A young man wants to find love. His dad tells him, “besot.” But he’s not telling him to “be sought,” but rather to fall in love.

Sesquipedalian (adj): having many syllables; characters by long words

Medical journals are filled with sesquipedalian entries.

A sesquipedalian news anchor…

Mnemonic: Horace of ancient Rome fame told young poets not to use sesquipedalia verba – words a foot and a half long.

“Sesqui” means one and a half. “Ped” means foot. So, it means “one and a half feet long.”

Perfunctory (adj): characterized by routine or superficiality

He did the bare minimum, carrying out his duties in a perfunctory manner.

The eight-time Pro Bowl player sometimes goes several weeks without agreeing to do even the most perfunctory postgame interviews. —Nunyo Demasio, Sports Illustrated, 8 Jan. 2007

Mnemonic 1: Per can mean “by means of,” like “per the instructions.” “Functory” means function.

Mnemonic 2: Not “perfect” but “perfunct.”

Penultimate (adj): next to last

In each episode our ninth word is our penultimate word…

Mnemonic: “Ultimate” means last. Think “penultimate, then-ultimate.”

Somnolent (adj):sleep-inducing; drowsy

The preacher’s somnolent sermon…

Washington’s running game, which had been somnolentfor a month, came back to life Saturday, gaining 182 yards against the Lions. —David Aldridge, The Athletic, 19 Jan. 2025

Mnemonic: “Somnus” means sleep, like insomnia.

Dr. Mom’s words

Execrable (adj): extremely bad, unpleasant

Children today love luxury too much. They have execrable manners, flaunt authority, have no respect for their elders. They no longer rise when parents or teachers enter the room. What kind of awful creatures will they be when they grow up? –Socrates, circa 400 B.C.

Mnemonic: “Crab” is right in the word. You are crabby and behave badly as a result.

Aspergillum (n): a brush or small perforated container with a handle that is used for sprinkling holy water in a liturgical service (from Merriam Webster online)

Father David Askoak takes an aspergillum— a brush used for holy water — dips it into one of the containers and sprinkles the crowd with the water. —Anchorage Daily News, 13 May 2023

Mnemonic: Sounds like, “As per gills…” Gills are the organs that take in water from which oxygen is extracted, allowing the fish to “breathe” underwater.

Perpend (v): to reflect on carefully; to ponder or be attentive to

The defense attorney literally experienced collywobbles perpending how best to serve his guilty-as-sin client.

Mnemonic: Perpendicular means at a right angle. When walls are perpendicular (plumb, or vertical, and level, or horizontal), they are considered “true.” So you perpend on things—ponder on them—so your understanding is right and true.

Ocher (n) English spelling: a natural clay earthy pigment; brownish-yellowish-orangish

It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach…

–Lyrics of Joseph’s Coat in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

She loved ocher blends in her clothing because they matched with her eyes.

Mnemonic: Oak is a brown wood.

Disgruntled (adj): ill-humored, discontented, annoyed

The number of travelers disgruntled after several flight delays was almost incalculable.

Mnemonic: A two-fer: If you “dis” someone, you say something negative about them. “Gruntle” means to grunt or grumble. Together, you’re grumbling/grunting about something you are annoyed by. 

COLOSSAL COMPILATION:

On the penultimate day of vacation, the family’s besotted but sadly unrequited teenage son—never one to perpend on sesquipedalian words or the proper usage of an aspergillum but who at least performed perfunctory duties pleasantly—suddenly became a disgruntled mess with execrable manners who wore nothing but ocher clothing and streamed somnolent shows on his phone for hours.