Word of the Day
spirituel
adjective
showing or having a refined and graceful mind or wit.
More about spirituel
Spirituel is a French adjective meaning not only “spiritual” (as in English), but also “displaying a refined and graceful mind or wit.” In French spirituel is the masculine singular form, spirituelle the feminine singular, a distinction not usually observed in English. Most of the English citations of spirituel refer to women or to a particular woman’s liveliness and acuity. Spirituel entered English in the second half of the 17th century.
how is spirituel used?
It is a comedy in the sense that it is meant to make you laugh. The laughter is mostly spirituel: Cyrano is witty.
They are more than witty, they are spirituel; and they have more than talent, they have taste.
plaintive
adjective
expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful: a plaintive melody.
More about plaintive
The English adjective plaintive “sorrowful, melancholic” comes from Middle English pleintif (also plaintive, plantif, and plantife), from the Old French adjective plaintif (masculine) and plaintive (feminine) “lamentable.” Plaintif derives from the noun plainte “mourning, lamentation,” and comes from the Medieval Latin noun plancta, from Latin planctus “the sound of a person striking their breast,” from the verb plangere “to beat, strike, mourn, bewail.” Old French plaintif is also the source of English plaintiff “one who brings suit in a court, complainant.” Plaintive entered English in the late 14th century.
how is plaintive used?
A strain of plaintive music, played on stringed instruments and flutes, recalled my attention to the hidden shrine.
Thundercat’s new album feels particularly suited for this moment — filled with both celestial, futuristic escapism and plaintive grief, the strength of human resilience and an unstinting sense of frustration.
escapism
noun
the avoidance of reality by absorption of the mind in entertainment or in an imaginative situation, activity, etc.
More about escapism
Escapism, originally an Americanism, is a compound of escape and the suffix –ism, first appearing in 1933.
how is escapism used?
Most of us, when we arrive at a particularly trying moment in life, begin to indulge in escapism.
Not that there’s anything wrong with escapism—until escapism is all you’ve got.