The Highly Selective Dictionary of Golden Adjectives: For the Extraordinarily Literate

by Eugene Ehrlich

Adjectives have long suffered from bad press. For many years, English teachers have been fond of telling students that "adjectives are the enemy of nouns, and adverbs are the enemy of everything else." While it's still advisable to heed your English teacher's advice on most other matters, The Highly Selective Dictionary of Golden Adjectives for the Extraordinarily Literate proves that breaking certain rules can make written and spoken language that much livelier, adding much-needed color, style, and adornment. With this addition to the popular Highly Selective series, the "golden" adjective, at last, gets the star treatment it deserves. From adventitious to zaftig, renowned lexicographer Eugene Ehrlich has collected more than 850 of the most interesting and engaging adjectives in the English language and has provided concise definitions and instructive usage examples. Whether you're a writer, a speaker, or a word buff, this compendious, trenchant, laudable, and all-around fantabulous volume will help you put panache back into your prose.

Genres: Writing, Reference, Language, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published July 9, 2002

Reviews

[figsfromthistles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed dipping in and out of this until Henry barfed on it on his way home from the vet. Now we'll find out how much the library charges for ruined books.

[Constantine]

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[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as useful or enjoyable as The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate, this book is brimming with, frankly, pretentious words that are unlikely to ever be used in conversation.

George Orwell said, "Bad writers, and especially scientific, political and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones... the normal way of coining a new word is to use a Latin or Greek root with the appropriate affix and, where necessary, the ‘-ize’ formation. It is often easier to make up words of this kind (de-regionalize, impermissible, extramarital, non-fragmentary and so forth) than to think up the English words that will cover one’s meaning."

This book would have Orwell rolling in his grave, as it is chock full of obscure Latin terms for everyday ideas such as demuclcent (soothe), nugacious (frivolous), and xylophage (wood-rot).

[K.N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pulled some new and interesting words out of this book to spice up my last short story, but I also knew quite a few of the words listed inside. It was definitely fun to read through and see how elevated (or golden) my vocabulary really is.