Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Pusillanimous

Some things don't go together too well. Imagine the dastardly villian in the western movie saying "You pusillanimous coward!" instead of the usual "You yellow-bellied coward." In fact, pusillanimous (Derived from Latin pusillus ("very small") + animus ("spirit")) is difficult to imagine anyone saying, much less using it seriously. I think the word is best left to Scrabble and other word games. It the case of this word, the definition is better than the word; Showing ignoble cowardice, or contemptible timidity.

Some words beg to be used, others you must beg to use. If you really want to impress someone with your vocabulary, pusillanimous is probably one of those words you can omit without harm to your reputation

1 comment:

  1. That's one of my favorite words. I discovered many great words that begin with the letter "p", including my all-time favorite - pulchritudinous; an awkward word that means beautiful.

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