:: THE ATLAS ::
Every word, by its world
413 words across 19 genres — each with its own atmosphere. Follow a colour and wander in.
Other ways in
- Map · 51 wordsUntranslatable words51 feelings English has no word for.
- Map · 20 wordsOld-fashioned insults20 old insults, and which of them are real.
- Map · 38 wordsCognitive biases38 ways a mind gets it wrong.
- Map · 38 wordsDating terms38 words for what dating does now.
- Map · 34 wordsInternet terms34 words the internet needed.
- Map · 36 wordsWorkplace terms36 words for what work does to people.
- Reverse dictionaryWhat's the word for…?Describe the feeling. It finds the word.
Modern Dating & Connection
38
- Beige FlagA beige flag is a harmless, quirky trait in a partner that's neither a warning nor a vir…
- BenchingBenching is keeping someone on the sidelines as a low-priority option — enough texts, li…
- BreadcrumbingBreadcrumbing is when someone gives you just enough attention — a like, a flirty text, a…
- BreezingBreezing is dating without strategy or games — replying when you actually want to, sayin…
- CatfishingCatfishing is creating a fake online persona to deceive someone — most often into a rela…
- Cookie JarringCookie jarring is keeping someone as a reserve romantic option — giving them just enough…
- Cuffing SeasonCuffing season is the cold-weather stretch — roughly Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day — w…
- CurvingCurving is turning down someone's romantic advances — in dating slang usually the soft v…
- CushioningCushioning is staying in a committed relationship while quietly keeping one or more roma…
- DogfishingDogfishing is posing with a dog you don't own in your dating-profile photos, so matches …
- DTR (Define The Relationship)The conversation in which two people state out loud what they actually are to each other…
- FiredooringFiredooring is being in a relationship where all the access runs one way — they can reac…
- FrecklingPlainly, freckling is freckles coming out on skin. In dating slang it names something el…
- GhostingGhosting is ending a relationship by cutting off all contact with no warning and no expl…
- Green FlagLiterally, a green flag is the one waved in motor racing to start or restart a race. In …
- GroundhoggingGroundhogging is repeatedly dating the same 'type' of person and being surprised each ti…
- Hard LaunchingIn marketing a hard launch is a product's full public release. Borrowed into dating, har…
- KittenfishingKittenfishing is presenting a mildly exaggerated, overly flattering version of your real…
- Monkey BranchingMonkey branching is lining up a next relationship while still in the current one — never…
- MostingMosting is ghosting preceded by an intense performance of adoration — overwhelming someo…
- OrbitingOrbiting is when someone cuts off direct contact with you — stops replying, stops making…
- PaperclippingPaperclipping is when someone who has drifted out of your life periodically pops back up…
- PocketingPocketing is when someone you're dating deliberately keeps you hidden from their friends…
- RoachingRoaching is concealing from a new partner that you're seeing or sleeping with other peop…
- SituationshipA situationship is a romantic or sexual relationship that's been left undefined — you're…
- Slow FadeThe slow fade is ending a relationship by gradually withdrawing — shorter replies, longe…
- Sneaky LinkA sneaky link is a romantic or sexual partner deliberately kept secret from friends, fam…
- SnowmanningSnowmanning is a festive-season fling that runs hot through the holidays and then quietl…
- Soft LaunchingSoft launching is hinting on social media that you're in a relationship without revealin…
- StashingStashing is dating someone while deliberately keeping them hidden from your friends, fam…
- SubmariningSubmarining is vanishing from someone's life without explanation and then resurfacing we…
- Talking StageThe talking stage is the early, undefined stretch after you first connect with someone —…
- TextationshipA textationship is a romantic connection that lives almost entirely inside a message thr…
- The IckThe ick is a sudden, often irreversible collapse of attraction to someone, set off by a …
- ThroningThroning is dating someone chiefly for the social status they confer — treating a partne…
- White ClawingWhite clawing is staying with someone you find genuinely attractive but genuinely boring…
- WokefishingWokefishing is when someone falsely presents themselves as more socially or politically …
- ZombieingZombieing is when someone who ghosted you suddenly reappears out of nowhere and tries to…
Psychology & Relationship Dynamics
26
- Anxious AttachmentAnxious attachment is an insecure attachment pattern marked by a strong desire for close…
- AphantasiaThe absence of voluntary visual mental imagery — asked to picture an apple, the mind sta…
- Avoidant AttachmentAvoidant attachment is an insecure attachment pattern in which a person keeps emotional …
- Cognitive DissonanceCognitive dissonance is the discomfort you feel when two of your beliefs conflict — or w…
- CryptomnesiaA forgotten memory that resurfaces without its 'I've met this before' tag, so it arrives…
- Disorganized AttachmentDisorganized attachment is a Strange Situation classification for a child whose behaviou…
- DoomscrollingDoomscrolling is the compulsive habit of scrolling through a bottomless feed of bad news…
- Eldest Daughter SyndromeEldest daughter syndrome is an informal name for the pattern in which a firstborn daught…
- Emotional PermanenceEmotional permanence is an informal, internet-coined term for trusting that someone's ca…
- FlourishingIn positive psychology, flourishing is a state of high wellbeing in which you both feel …
- FlowTotal absorption in an activity, where attention, action and feedback lock together and …
- GritEveryday grit is coarse sand or small hard particles — and, figuratively, plain toughnes…
- Hedonic AdaptationThe drift back toward a baseline level of happiness after good or bad events — named the…
- Hedonic TreadmillThe hedonic treadmill is the tendency for happiness to drift back toward your personal b…
- Imposter SyndromeImposter syndrome is the persistent private sense that your achievements are undeserved …
- Inner ChildThe inner child is a therapeutic metaphor for the part of an adult that still carries th…
- LimerenceLimerence is an involuntary state of intense romantic obsession, in which your mind fixe…
- Love BombingLove bombing is overwhelming a new partner with intense affection, praise, gifts and att…
- MirroringMirroring is the largely unconscious copying of another person's gestures, expressions, …
- Object ConstancyIn psychoanalysis, the capacity to keep a stable, whole picture of someone — and stay co…
- People-PleasingPeople-pleasing is a habitual pattern of prioritising other people's approval and comfor…
- ReparentingReparenting means giving yourself — or receiving from a therapist within professional li…
- Revenge Bedtime ProcrastinationRevenge bedtime procrastination is deliberately putting off sleep — with no real reason,…
- RuminationRumination is the tendency to dwell passively and repetitively on your distress — its ca…
- Secure AttachmentSecure attachment is a pattern in which you trust that support will be there when you ne…
- Toxic PositivityToxic positivity is the pressure to stay relentlessly upbeat by dismissing, suppressing …
Untranslatable & Rare Feelings
51
- AnemoiaAnemoia is nostalgia for a time you've never known — the strange ache of missing an era …
- DépaysementDépaysement is a change of surroundings and habits — usually the pleasant kind you trave…
- DuendeIn everyday Spanish, duende is a house-goblin — and, by extension, an indefinable charm …
- FernwehFernweh is a German word for an aching longing to be far away — a homesickness for place…
- FikaFika is a coffee-and-cake break taken as a deliberate social pause — and, as a verb, the…
- FirgunFirgun is taking uncomplicated pleasure in someone else's good news, with nothing in it …
- FlânerieFlânerie is unhurried strolling with no destination — classically through a city, treati…
- FremdschämenFremdschämen — properly the reflexive verb sich fremdschämen — is cringing with embarras…
- FreudenfreudeFreudenfreude is an English coinage for the pleasure of being genuinely happy about some…
- FriluftslivFriluftsliv is Norwegian and Swedish for outdoor life in your free time, especially in f…
- GezelligGezellig is the warm, easy pleasantness of good company — used of a room, an evening, or…
- GigilGigil is the teeth-gritting, hand-clenching surge you get when something is unbearably c…
- GökottaGökotta is an early-morning spring outing, traditionally on Ascension Day, to be outdoor…
- HanHan is a Korean word for accumulated, unresolved grievance — and, far more contestedly, …
- HiraethHiraeth is a Welsh word for a deep, grief-tinged longing for a home, a time, or Wales it…
- HüzünHüzün is a settled, shared melancholy that people live inside rather than try to cure — …
- HyggeHygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of cosy, contented togetherness — the ev…
- JeongJeong is the slow-forming attachment that builds between people — and to places and obje…
- KiligKilig is the physical rush — shivers, weak knees, butterflies — that a romantic thrill s…
- KintsugiKintsugi is repairing broken pottery with lacquer and finishing the seams in gold, so th…
- KomorebiKomorebi is the Japanese word for sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees — the d…
- KummerspeckKummerspeck is the weight you put on from comfort-eating your way through emotional trou…
- L'esprit de l'escalierL'esprit de l'escalier is the perfect retort that arrives only after you've left the roo…
- La Douleur ExquiseIn English, la douleur exquise means the ache of wanting someone unattainable. In actual…
- LagomLagom is the right amount — enough and no more — used of quantity, temperature, effort o…
- MamihlapinatapaiMamihlapinatapai is a Yaghan word famous in English for a wordless look between two peop…
- MerakMerak is the deep, unhurried pleasure of doing one small thing exactly right and letting…
- MerakiMeraki is doing something with passion, zeal and gusto — putting your whole self into it…
- Mono no AwareMono no aware is a trained sensitivity to the emotional charge of a thing or moment, fel…
- NatsukashiiNatsukashii is the warm rush you get when something from your past turns up in front of …
- NiksenNiksen is an informal Dutch verb meaning to do nothing or laze about — closer to 'loafin…
- PhilotimoPhilotimo is the internal obligation to do the generous and right thing because of who y…
- QuerenciaQuerencia is the patch of ground an animal — or a person — instinctively returns to and …
- RetrouvaillesRetrouvailles is the reunion of people who have been apart — the event and its joy folde…
- SaudadeSaudade is a Portuguese word for the bittersweet ache of missing someone or something ab…
- SchadenfreudeSchadenfreude is pleasure taken in someone else's misfortune — a completely ordinary Ger…
- SehnsuchtSehnsucht is a German word for an intense, bittersweet yearning for an ideal or unattain…
- Shinrin-yokuShinrin-yoku is unhurried, sensory time spent among trees, promoted in Japan as preventi…
- SisuSisu is the reserve of stubborn force a person reaches for after their ordinary strength…
- SmultronställeA smultronställe is a personal, cherished spot you found for yourself and mostly keep to…
- SobremesaSobremesa is the stretch of talk that keeps everyone at the table after the food is gone…
- TorschlusspanikTorschlusspanik is the panic that a window of opportunity is closing and you'll be locke…
- ToskaToska is a heavy ache of the soul, running anywhere on a scale from spiritual anguish to…
- TsundokuTsundoku is the Japanese word for the habit of acquiring books and letting them pile up …
- UitwaaienUitwaaien is an everyday Dutch verb for wind blowing something out or about — including …
- VerschlimmbessernVerschlimmbessern is to make something worse precisely by trying to fix it — a German ve…
- VoorpretVoorpret is the enjoyment you get from looking forward to something, before the thing it…
- WaldeinsamkeitWaldeinsamkeit is the feeling of being alone in a forest — as a Romantic literary mood, …
- WeltschmerzWeltschmerz is the ache of measuring the world as it is against the world as it ought to…
- Ya'aburneeYa'aburnee is a spoken wish to die first, said to someone you cannot imagine outliving —…
- YūgenYūgen is beauty that works by suggestion — grace and depth held back rather than display…
Philosophy & Ways of Living
40
- AbsurdismAbsurdism is the philosophical and literary position that meaning is something we demand…
- AkrasiaAkrasia is weakness of will: doing what you yourself judge to be the worse option, at th…
- Amor FatiAmor fati — Latin for "love of fate" — is the attitude of actively loving and affirming …
- ApatheiaApatheia is the Stoic condition of no longer being ruled by destructive passions — not t…
- AreteArete is being excellent at what you are — doing your characteristic job well. It applie…
- AsceticismAsceticism is deliberately giving up comfort and pleasure as a form of training, usually…
- AtaraxiaAtaraxia is a settled, undisturbed state of mind — the ancient Greek goal of not being a…
- Carpe DiemCarpe diem is Horace's instruction to take hold of today's pleasure because tomorrow is …
- Cynicism (the ancient school)Classical Cynicism was an ancient Greek way of life that stripped away money, status and…
- DeterminismDeterminism is the thesis that the state of the world at any moment, plus the laws of na…
- DharmaDharma is a Sanskrit term for the order that upholds things — natural law and cosmic ord…
- EpicureanismEpicureanism is Epicurus's teaching that the good life is a quiet one — freedom from bod…
- EssentialismEssentialism is the view that a thing has certain properties it must have to be what it …
- EthosThe characteristic spirit and values of a person, culture or institution. In Aristotle's…
- EudaimoniaEudaimonia is the ancient Greek idea of human flourishing — "living well" as the highest…
- ExistentialismExistentialism is the view that you have no fixed nature handed to you in advance — you …
- Flow StateFlow is a psychological state of total absorption in a task, occurring when the task's d…
- HedonismHedonism names three different things: the value claim that pleasure is the only thing g…
- IkigaiIkigai is a Japanese word for your reason for living — the sense of purpose or worth tha…
- KairosKairos is the right moment — when circumstances have opened a window that will close aga…
- LogosLogos is Greek for word, account, reason or ratio — used both for the rational order of …
- Memento MoriMemento mori is a reminder — in words, art, or daily practice — that you are going to di…
- MinimalismMinimalism is a 1960s American art movement holding that an artwork should be nothing bu…
- Negative CapabilityNegative capability is Keats's phrase for the capacity to remain in uncertainty and doub…
- NihilismNihilism is the position that some whole domain we take seriously — morality, knowledge,…
- PathosIn Aristotle's Rhetoric, pathos is persuasion achieved by putting the audience into a pa…
- PhronesisPhronesis is the skill of working out the right thing to do in a particular situation, a…
- PragmatismPragmatism is the method of clarifying an idea by asking what practical difference it wo…
- PraxisPraxis is action that is its own point — and, in Marx, the test that theory has to pass.…
- QualiaThe raw felt character of an experience — the particular redness of red, the specific ac…
- Ship of TheseusThe ship of Theseus is the puzzle of whether an object that has had every part replaced …
- SisypheanSisyphean describes labour that is endless and futile, after the mythological king conde…
- SolipsismSolipsism is the position that only your own mind is certain to exist — and that talk of…
- StoicismIn ordinary English, uncomplaining endurance of hardship without showing what it costs. …
- Tabula RasaTabula rasa is the idea that the mind at birth carries no innate content and is furnishe…
- TelosTelos is the completed state a thing is developing toward — what it is trying to become …
- The Golden MeanThe golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes — too much and too little. …
- Via NegativaVia negativa is the theological method of approaching God only by denying descriptions, …
- ZeitgeistZeitgeist is the characteristic outlook, values and mood of a particular historical peri…
- ZenZen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism centred on seated meditation under a teacher — and,…
Internet & Digital Culture
34
- AI SlopLow-quality, low-effort generative-AI content — competent on the surface, cheap to make,…
- AstroturfingConcealing the sponsor of a coordinated campaign so it looks like spontaneous public opi…
- Bed RottingDeliberately spending many waking hours in bed — scrolling, streaming or reading — frame…
- BrainrotLow-quality, hyper-stimulating online content — and the mental dulling blamed on consumi…
- Chronically OnlineSpending an inordinate amount of time on the internet — and, more pointedly, so immersed…
- Concern TrollingPosing as a sympathetic insider in order to sap a group's momentum — expressing worry ab…
- Context CollapseWhat happens when a post meant for one audience reaches every other audience at once — m…
- Dead Internet TheoryThe claim that most of the internet is now bots and generated content rather than people…
- Digital DetoxA deliberate, time-boxed break from phones, screens and social media — and an interventi…
- Echo ChamberAn information environment, usually one you curate yourself, where only agreeing views r…
- Engagement FarmingPosting content chosen for its ability to generate interactions rather than to communica…
- EnshittificationA platform decaying into something worse for everyone on it. Doctorow's model gives thre…
- Filter BubbleThe personalised information universe an algorithm builds around you from your past beha…
- FinstaA second, private Instagram account with a small hand-picked following, used for candid …
- FOMOThe apprehension that others are having rewarding experiences, or holding information, t…
- Goblin ModeBehaving in a deliberately slovenly, self-indulgent, unapologetic way that rejects socia…
- Godwin's LawAs an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison to Nazis or Hitler…
- JOMOThe active pleasure of deliberately not attending, not following and not keeping up.…
- LurkingReading an online community without posting — present, informed, invisible. The older ev…
- Main Character SyndromeMain character syndrome is an informal term for treating yourself as the protagonist of …
- Milkshake DuckSomeone adored by the internet for a single charming thing, whose ugly history surfaces …
- Parasocial RelationshipA parasocial relationship is a one-sided bond with someone who doesn't know you exist — …
- PhubbingSnubbing the person in front of you by attending to your phone instead — a word invented…
- Poe's LawWithout an explicit signal of humour, no parody of an extreme position is safe from bein…
- Rage BaitContent built to provoke anger rather than interest, because outrage produces more comme…
- SealioningHarassment disguised as debate — relentlessly demanding evidence and civil discussion un…
- ShadowbanSuppressing a user's visibility without telling them — their posts still exist for them,…
- SockpuppetA false online identity used to fake independence — voting, vouching or arguing on behal…
- Streisand EffectWhen an attempt to suppress information is what makes the information famous.…
- SubtweetingPosting about a specific person without naming or tagging them, so they get no notificat…
- Touch GrassAn imperative telling someone their online behaviour has detached them from reality and …
- Uncanny ValleyThe proposed dip in your affinity for a figure that is almost but not quite human — clos…
- VaguebookingPosting a deliberately cryptic status — no names, no details — engineered so readers ask…
- Zoom FatigueThe specific exhaustion produced by sustained videoconferencing — reported as distinct f…
Work & Business
36
- Analysis ParalysisOver-analysing a decision until no decision gets made, so the cost of deliberating excee…
- Bare Minimum MondayDeliberately doing only essential work on Mondays — often starting later and prioritisin…
- BikesheddingA group spending disproportionate time on a trivial, easily understood item while waving…
- Boomerang EmployeeA worker who leaves an employer and is later rehired by that same employer. Once a red f…
- BootstrappingBuilding a company on internal cash flow and personal savings, with no outside capital. …
- BoreoutBoreout is an informal workplace term for the strain of chronic under-stimulation at wor…
- Broken RungThe first promotion to manager, where women fall behind men and never catch up. Not a ce…
- Burn RateHow fast a company consumes cash, normally stated per month. Divided into available fund…
- Career CushioningQuietly building a fallback — certifications, network, updated CV, discreet applications…
- ChurnThe proportion of customers, subscribers or employees who leave a defined group in a giv…
- Decision FatigueThe deterioration in decision quality after a long run of decisions — a drift toward the…
- Deep WorkFocusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task — work that creates new val…
- Eat the FrogDo your hardest, most-avoided task first thing in the morning, so the rest of the day ca…
- Economic MoatA structural competitive advantage that keeps rivals out — the durable thing that lets a…
- Emotional LaborManaging your own feelings, and producing the display of them, because your job requires…
- FlywheelA heavy rotating wheel that stores energy and holds a machine at a steady speed. In busi…
- Glass CeilingAn unacknowledged barrier that stops someone rising past a certain level, however qualif…
- Glass CliffThe pattern where women and minority leaders are disproportionately appointed to precari…
- Golden HandcuffsCompensation arranged so that leaving costs you money — unvested equity, deferred bonuse…
- Goodhart's LawOnce a measure is used as a target, people optimise the measure and the measure stops de…
- Hustle CultureThe belief that constant overwork is a virtue and rest is a failure of ambition.…
- Job CraftingEmployees redesigning their own jobs from the inside — changing which tasks they do, who…
- Mission CreepA mission quietly expanding past its original objective, one reasonable-seeming step at …
- MoonlightingWorking a second paid job alongside your main one, typically in the evening or at night.…
- Network EffectA product gets more valuable to each user as more people use it. Value comes from the cr…
- North Star MetricThe single metric a company designates as its measure of delivered customer value, used …
- Parkinson's LawWork expands so as to fill the time available for its completion — paired with a second …
- Peter PrincipleIn a hierarchy, people are promoted on performance in their current job until they reach…
- PresenteeismBeing at work while too unwell to work properly, and getting less done than the hours su…
- Quiet FiringA manager pushing someone out without firing them — withholding raises, growth and good …
- Quiet QuittingQuiet quitting is doing exactly your job and no more — meeting the requirements, but no …
- Scope CreepUncontrolled growth of a project's scope after work has started, usually because the sco…
- Shallow WorkNon-cognitively-demanding logistical tasks, often done while distracted, that create lit…
- TimeboxingFixing the time available for a task in advance and treating that limit as immovable, so…
- Unicorn StartupA privately held startup valued at over one billion dollars. The name was chosen for rar…
- Yak ShavingThe long chain of fiddly, unrelated-looking sub-tasks you must complete before you can d…
Cognitive Biases & the Mind
38
- Actor-Observer BiasActor-observer bias is the proposed tendency to explain your own behaviour by your circu…
- Anchoring BiasAnchoring bias is the tendency to let whatever you consider first drag your judgement to…
- ApopheniaApophenia is the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns, connections or significance i…
- Availability HeuristicThe availability heuristic is judging how likely or common something is by how easily ex…
- Baader-Meinhof PhenomenonThe Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is the illusion that something you just learned about has …
- Bandwagon EffectThe bandwagon effect is adopting a belief, product or vote largely because you can see t…
- Barnum EffectThe Barnum effect is accepting a vague, broadly-applicable personality description as a …
- Confirmation BiasConfirmation bias is the tendency to notice, seek out and believe information that fits …
- Decoy EffectThe decoy effect is the shift in your choice between two options caused by adding a thir…
- Dunning-Kruger EffectThe Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people who know the least about some…
- Endowment EffectThe endowment effect is valuing something more once you own it — demanding more to give …
- False Consensus EffectThe false consensus effect is overestimating how many other people share your opinions, …
- Framing EffectThe framing effect is choosing differently between identical facts depending on whether …
- Fundamental Attribution ErrorThe fundamental attribution error is explaining other people's behaviour by their charac…
- Gambler's FallacyThe gambler's fallacy is the mistaken belief that a run of one outcome in a truly random…
- Halo EffectThe halo effect is the tendency for one overall impression of a person or thing to bleed…
- Hindsight BiasHindsight bias is the feeling, once you know how something turned out, that the outcome …
- Horn EffectThe horn effect is the tendency for one negative impression of a person to darken your j…
- Hot Hand FallacyThe hot hand fallacy is the supposed error of believing a performer on a streak is tempo…
- IKEA EffectThe IKEA effect is valuing something more because you built it yourself, regardless of h…
- Jamais VuJamais vu is the unsettling sense that something you know perfectly well — a word, a fac…
- Loss AversionLoss aversion is the principle that losing something hurts more than gaining the same th…
- Mere Exposure EffectThe mere exposure effect is the tendency to like something more the more often you encou…
- Negativity BiasNegativity bias is the tendency for bad events, emotions and information to carry more p…
- Optimism BiasOptimism bias is the tendency to believe good things are likelier to happen to you than …
- Overconfidence EffectThe family of biases in which confidence outruns accuracy — not one effect but three tha…
- Peak-End RuleThe peak-end rule is the tendency to judge a past experience largely by how it felt at i…
- Presque VuPresque vu is the feeling of standing right at the edge of a realisation — a name, a wor…
- Primacy EffectThe primacy effect is the tendency to remember, and be disproportionately influenced by,…
- Recency BiasRecency bias is giving the most recent information more weight in memory and judgment th…
- Self-Serving BiasSelf-serving bias is crediting your successes to your own ability and effort while blami…
- Semantic SatiationSemantic satiation is the temporary draining of meaning from a word when you repeat or s…
- Spotlight EffectThe spotlight effect is overestimating how much other people notice — and later remember…
- Status Quo BiasStatus quo bias is the preference for things to stay as they are — sticking with the cur…
- Sunk Cost FallacyThe sunk cost fallacy is the pull to keep spending money, time or effort on something be…
- Survivorship BiasSurvivorship bias is drawing conclusions from the things that made it through a selectio…
- Tip-of-the-Tongue PhenomenonThe tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon is being certain you know a word, a name or a fact and …
- Zeigarnik EffectThe Zeigarnik effect is the tendency for interrupted or unfinished tasks to stay lodged …
Science & Nature
34
- AlbedoAlbedo is how reflective a surface is — the fraction of the light or radiation falling o…
- AlpenglowAlpenglow is the rosy or cherry-red glow on snow-covered mountains at sunrise or sunset.…
- AnalemmaAn analemma is the lopsided figure-eight curve traced by the Sun's position when photogr…
- ApricityApricity is the warmth of the sun in winter — a word dictionaries still list, marked obs…
- AuroraAn aurora is the glowing curtain of light in polar skies, produced when charged particle…
- BioluminescenceBioluminescence is light produced by a living organism through a chemical reaction insid…
- Circadian RhythmA circadian rhythm is the roughly 24-hour cycle of physical, mental and behavioural chan…
- Crepuscular RaysCrepuscular rays are shafts of sunlight streaming through gaps in clouds near sunrise or…
- DerechoA derecho is a widespread, long-lived, fast-moving windstorm from a band of thunderstorm…
- EarthshineEarthshine is sunlight that has bounced off Earth — seen from here as the faint glow on …
- EmergenceEmergence is the act of rising into view. In science and philosophy it names what happen…
- EntropyEntropy is a physical quantity measuring how many microscopic arrangements of energy a s…
- GloamingThe gloaming is twilight — chiefly the fading light of early evening, though it can also…
- Green FlashThe green flash is a brief burst of green light seen at the top edge of the sun at sunri…
- Halcyon DaysHalcyon days originally named a specific fourteen-day calm spell around the winter solst…
- Keystone SpeciesA keystone species is one whose effect on its ecosystem is far larger than its abundance…
- MoonbowA moonbow is a rainbow produced by moonlight instead of sunlight, usually appearing ghos…
- MurmurationA murmuration is a flock of starlings, especially one performing the dense, shape-shifti…
- PareidoliaPareidolia is seeing a specific meaningful thing — most often a face — in something that…
- PenumbraThe penumbra is the pale outer part of a shadow, where the light source is only partly b…
- PerihelionPerihelion is the point in an orbit where a body is closest to the Sun — for Earth, in e…
- PetrichorPetrichor is the earthy, unmistakable smell of rain landing on dry ground — the scent th…
- PhenologyPhenology is the study of the timing of recurring natural events — when things bud, bloo…
- PsithurismPsithurism is the rustling or whispering sound of wind moving through trees.…
- RewildingRewilding is restoring ecosystems by letting natural processes take over, rather than ma…
- Sun DogA sun dog is a bright, often coloured patch of light appearing about 22 degrees or more …
- SymbiosisSymbiosis is a close, long-term biological relationship between two different species — …
- SyzygyA syzygy is an alignment of three celestial bodies in a straight line — most familiarly …
- Trophic CascadeA trophic cascade is a chain reaction through a food web, where a change at one feeding …
- Ultradian RhythmAn ultradian rhythm is a biological cycle that repeats more than once a day — any rhythm…
- UmbraThe umbra is the dark inner core of a shadow, where the light source is blocked complete…
- VirgaVirga is rain or snow that falls from a cloud but evaporates before reaching the ground.…
- Whale FallA whale fall is the carcass of a large whale that sinks to the deep seafloor, where it f…
- ZenithThe zenith is the point in the sky directly overhead — or, figuratively, the highest poi…
Literary & Rhetorical
36
- AllegoryA story whose surface stands for something else entirely — a whole extended metaphor, bu…
- AnaphoraRepeating the same words at the start of successive clauses — we shall fight, we shall f…
- ApophasisSaying something by declaring that you will not say it — I won't mention his convictions…
- AposiopesisBreaking off mid-sentence and leaving it unfinished — why, I ought to—…
- AsyndetonLeaving out the conjunctions — I came, I saw, I conquered.…
- BildungsromanA novel of formation — the story of someone becoming who they will be, not merely growin…
- Chekhov's GunChekhov's gun is the rule that nothing conspicuous should sit in a story unless it's goi…
- ChiaroscuroChiaroscuro is the dramatic use of strong contrast between light and dark. In art, film,…
- ChiasmusA structure that reverses itself — the second half mirrors the first in inverted order, …
- DefamiliarizationPresenting an ordinary thing so strangely that you actually perceive it again, instead o…
- DenouementThe untying — the part of a story after the climax where the knot the plot tied comes un…
- Deus Ex MachinaAn improbable outside force nobody set up, which turns up and resolves a plot's difficul…
- EggcornAn eggcorn is a misheard word or phrase swapped for a similar-sounding one that happens …
- EuphemismA mild word standing in for a harsher one. It began as superstition: saying a lucky word…
- Hapax LegomenonA word that appears only once in a whole body of text — and therefore has no second inst…
- In Medias ResIn medias res is starting a story in the middle of the action, with the earlier events f…
- Lingua francaA language people use to talk to each other when neither speaks the other's first langua…
- LitotesUnderstatement by denying the opposite — not bad, no small feat, not unlike, hardly a di…
- MacGuffinA MacGuffin is the object everyone in the story is chasing, whose actual nature doesn't …
- MalapropismUsing the wrong word in place of a similar-sounding one, with comic effect — a pineapple…
- MetonymyCalling a thing by the name of something closely associated with it — the crown, the Whi…
- Mise en AbymeA work containing a smaller copy of itself — a play within a play, a painting showing th…
- MondegreenA misheard lyric or phrase that produces a new, often better one — and a word coined fro…
- NeologismA newly coined word or phrase, or an existing word given a new meaning — and the process…
- OnomatopoeiaA word that imitates the sound it names — bang, hiss, cuckoo. Literally 'the making of a…
- PalimpsestA manuscript scraped clean and written over, where the earlier text is still faintly the…
- Pathetic FallacyThe pathetic fallacy is giving nature human feelings — grieving clouds, angry seas — bec…
- PidginA simplified language that grows up between groups with no common tongue, usually for tr…
- PortmanteauA word made by fusing two others so their meanings pack together — brunch, smog, motel, …
- Red HerringA red herring is a detail planted to pull attention away from what actually matters — an…
- SarcasmSaying the opposite of what you mean, aimed at a person, with intent to wound. Irony's m…
- SpoonerismA spoonerism is a slip where the opening sounds of two words trade places — 'shoving leo…
- SynecdocheNaming a thing by one of its parts, or a part by the whole — all hands on deck, wheels f…
- TmesisSplitting a word in half and inserting something in the middle — abso-bloody-lutely, un-…
- Unreliable NarratorA narrator whose account you cannot take at face value — because they are lying or conce…
- ZeugmaOne word yoked to two others that it governs in two different ways — she took her coat a…
Rare & Beautiful English
46
- AcatalepsyThe doctrine that certain knowledge is unattainable — that human understanding can reach…
- BedswerverAn unfaithful partner. Coined, as far as the record shows, by Shakespeare in The Winter'…
- ChuckabooA pet name for a close friend — Victorian slang recorded in 1909, whose own recorder sai…
- CoxcombA vain, conceited man. From the 1570s — named after the cock's-comb cap worn by professi…
- DewdropperA lazy person who idles about all day. Widely shared as old slang, but not found in any …
- DoldrumsThe doldrums are a flat, stuck, going-nowhere state — of a mood, a ship, or a belt of oc…
- EnnuiA weary, listless flatness — not 'nothing to do' but 'nothing worth doing'. The state of…
- EphemeraThings made to be discarded that survived anyway — tickets, menus, posters, handbills. M…
- EucatastropheA eucatastrophe is the sudden joyful turn near the end of a story that snatches a good e…
- EvanescentLasting only a very short time; fleeting, and already on the edge of imperceptibility — …
- FlapdoodleNonsense. Originally, in 1833, 'the stuff they feed fools on' — a word for what fools ea…
- FopdoodleA silly, insignificant fool. A genuinely old and now obsolete insult, built from two old…
- FustilugsShared today as 'a clumsy, slovenly person'. In the old dictionaries it was harsher and …
- GigglemugVictorian street slang for a face that is always smiling — and, by extension, the person…
- GobermouchShared as 'a nosy person'. The documented word is gobemouche — French for 'fly-swallower…
- HornswoggleTo cheat, trick or swindle someone. American English, first recorded in 1829, and almost…
- IneffableToo great, intense or sacred to be put into words — and in the religious sense that hard…
- KismetFate — the portion of destiny allotted to you. Used in English with a fatalistic shrug o…
- LethologicaLethologica is the state of not being able to summon a word you know you know — and it h…
- LimnTo depict — originally by painting, now most often in words, with the sense of drawing s…
- LollygagTo dawdle, dally or waste time. American English from 1859 — though an older spelling, l…
- MeliorismThe belief that the world is genuinely capable of improvement through human effort — a d…
- MellifluousFlowing like honey — now almost always of a voice or prose that is smooth and sweet to h…
- MooncalfA foolish or absent-minded person. The gentle modern meaning of a word that began, in th…
- Mutton shunterVictorian slang for a policeman — recorded in 1909 as police slang, dated there to 1883.…
- NincompoopA foolish or stupid person. In English since the 1670s — and, despite the famous theory,…
- NuminousNuminous is the feeling of standing in the presence of something holy that is both terri…
- PhosphenesSensations of light produced without light entering the eye — the sparks and grids you s…
- QuiddityQuiddity is the essential whatness of a thing — what makes it that thing and not another…
- RagamuffinA scruffy, ragged person, especially a child. One of the oldest words on the list — in t…
- ScallywagA troublemaker or rascal, now said fondly. American English from 1839 — usually spelled …
- ScintillaThe smallest imaginable trace of something. Literally, a spark.…
- SelcouthStrange and marvellous because rarely encountered — unfamiliar, wondrous, seldom known. …
- SereinFine rain or mist falling from an apparently cloudless sky, typically shortly after suns…
- SesquipedalianGiven to using very long words — or, of a word, absurdly long. Literally: a foot and a h…
- SillageThe trail of scent a perfume leaves behind its wearer. In French, the same word means th…
- SkedaddleTo leave in a hurry; to run away. American Civil War slang, spread by the newspapers in …
- SnollygosterA clever person with no principles, especially a politician. American slang first record…
- SonderSonder is the sudden realization that every passing stranger is living a life as vivid a…
- SonorousProducing a deep, full, resonant sound. Of language, richly sounded — sometimes to the p…
- SusurrusA soft whispering, murmuring or rustling sound — wind in leaves, a crowd at low volume.…
- UltracrepidarianAn ultracrepidarian is someone who confidently gives opinions on subjects they know noth…
- VelleityA velleity is a wish so faint it never turns into any attempt to act on it.…
- WhooperupA bad, noisy singer. Victorian theatre and entertainment slang, recorded in 1909 in the …
- ZounderkiteAn idiot. Widely shared as Victorian slang — but missing from every old dictionary it is…
- ZugzwangZugzwang is a chess position where you'd be fine if you could pass — but you must move, …
Tech & AI
04
- 404404 is the HTTP status code a web server returns when it can be reached perfectly well b…
- AlgorithmAn algorithm is a precise, step-by-step procedure for getting something done — a recipe …
- APIAn agreed set of rules by which one piece of software talks to another. Short for applic…
- MetaverseA persistent shared virtual world you inhabit rather than visit. Coined in a 1992 scienc…
Grammar & Commonly-Confused
01
Logical Fallacies & Rhetoric
01
Spirituality & Mysticism
01
Aesthetics & Cultural Movements
04
- KitschArt that delivers a pre-packaged emotion with no resistance — instantly readable, sentim…
- Liminal SpaceA liminal space is an in-between place or moment — a threshold you pass through rather t…
- SublimeThe aesthetic response to vastness or power that overwhelms you — awe braided with dread…
- Wabi-SabiWabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic sensibility that finds beauty in imperfection, imperma…
Head Words
18
- AestheticRelating to beauty, or pleasing in appearance — and, as a noun, either the philosophical…
- Artificial IntelligenceMachines doing things that would count as intelligence if a person did them — and the br…
- BoundariesLimits you set on what others may ask of you — a term that came into clinical use throug…
- CharismaEveryday English calls it magnetic personal charm. Older still is the theological sense:…
- ConsciousnessBeing awake and aware — of yourself, your thoughts and what is around you. In philosophy…
- Déjà VuThe sudden conviction that a genuinely new situation has happened before — and one leadi…
- EgoIn ordinary English, self-regard — a sense English had by 1891, on its own. In philosoph…
- EmpathyUnderstanding what another person feels, and often feeling it with them while still know…
- GratitudeThe feeling of thankfulness for something good that came from outside you, and the readi…
- IntuitionKnowing something without being able to say how you know it — reliable under two specifi…
- IronyA gap between what is said or expected and what is meant or happens — split into verbal,…
- LoveLove behaves less like an emotion than like a drive — closer to hunger or thirst than to…
- MindfulnessDeliberate, non-judgemental attention to present experience — a contemplative practice l…
- NostalgiaNostalgia is the warm, wistful longing for the past — a bittersweet fondness for earlier…
- ResilienceDoing okay after something that should have broken you — though the field cannot agree w…
- Self-CareLooking after your own survival and wellbeing — a health and public-health term that ent…
- SerendipityFinding something valuable you were not looking for. In everyday use that is simply a fo…
- WanderlustA restless urge to travel — a German loanword that English repurposed, because in German…