I found this wonderful word (below) in a book by the amazing and incomparable Virginia Woolf, entitled Mrs. Dalloway.
Taciturnity (tas-i-TUR-ni-tee) [Latin taciturnitÄs; from tacitus, silent.]
n.
- the state or quality of being reserved or reticent in conversation.
- Scots Law. the relinquishing of a legal right through an unduly long delay, as by the silence of the creditor.
Usage: Odd it was, as Miss Kilman stood there (and stand she did, with the power and taciturnity of some prehistoric monster amoured for primeval warfare) how, second by second, the idea of her diminished, how hatred (which was for ideas, not people) crumbled, how she lost her malignity, her size, became second by second merely Miss Kilman, in a macintosh, whom Heaven knows Clarissa would have liked to help.
.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
I found this wonderful word (below) in a book by the amazing and incomparable Virginia Woolf, entitled Mrs. Dalloway. As soon as I read this word, I was certain that she had invented it for her own purposes, and a quick look in the online dictionary revealed that she had. So dear readers, this is…
Okay, this is the last word from Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.
Immaterial (im-uh-TEER-EE-uhl) [Latin im- without, not mÄteriÄlis; of, belonging to matter.]
adj.
of no essential consequence; unimportant.
not pertinent; irrelevant.
not material; incorporeal; spiritual; having no material…
Fatuity (fah·TOO·i·tee) [Latin fatuits, from fatuus; silly, foolish.]
n. pl. -ties.
smug stupidity, utter foolishness. absurdity. A ludicrous folly.
something that is utterly stupid or silly.
Usage: The possibility that the Rethuglicans can maintain their stranglehold on both houses of…
This word is from the 29 October 2006 New York Times Magazine's feature, entitled "Islam and the Bomb" by Noah Feldman (print; not yet online). This week's issue is particularly good because, in addition to the article that I cite (below), it also contains a piece about the Taliban, several…
Umm.. given that my Webster's Encyclopedic gives the identical definitions that you cite above, I can only conclude that "a quick look in the online dictionary revealed that she had..." represents a careless cut-and-paste from your definition of "irreticences" (which does not appear therein). Perhaps you should edit that!