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We love words at Duck Prints Press, and we also love that words have a special, dedicated day when we can babble about how much we love them! Last year, we shared some of our favorite words. This year, we focused on words we’ve used in our stories and how we’ve (hopefully correctly!) used them. Contributors were asked to tell us one word they loved, and share with us a sentence from their own work in which they used the word. Ready to meet some cool words? Read on!
besmirch - to cause harm or damage to the purity, luster, or beauty of (something)
“Garbage goals win games,” Brady added. “Do not besmirch the good name of garbage goals.”
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apoplectic - showing symptoms of apoplexy or stroke
He gasped and screamed, and as he recovered, she [tazed him] a third time, watching him shake apoplectically with a satisfied smile.
A Glimmer of Hope by Nina Waters
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susurrus - a whispering or rustling sound
The susurrus of his voice amplifies and folds in on itself until your name is a knife, and Vash is the carver who fashions your wooden, deadened limbs.
but heaven still holds me by thechaoscryptid
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supple - capable of being bent or folded without creases, cracks, or breaks
Laurel grounded themself with the feel of the books in their hands, the supple thickness of the covers, the pale scent of paper and glue, the quiet of the store around them.
Troubled Trouble by Genevieve Maxwell
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variegated - having discrete markings of different colors
[His tail] glimmers in the moonlight: a dark, variegated green, with shimmering threads of gold swirling along the edges of the scales and fins
on the strangest Sea by MuseofWriting
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azimuth - horizontal direction expressed as the angular distance between the direction of a fixed point and the direction of the object
He says that, since you're in New York, what you'll need to do is find Uranus with your telescope, then turn it about 3° west (or, as he initially put it, 3° back azimuth).
Dear Stupid Penpal by Rascal Hartley
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unmoored - loosened from or as if from moorings
Haruki didn’t know what Akira wanted to hear. He kept smiling. Even now that the drugs had mostly worked their way out of his system and the shakes were mostly done, he felt light-headed. Adrift. Unmoored.
In Good Company by Nicola Kapron
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elytra - one of the anterior wings in beetles and some other insects that serve to protect the posterior pair of functional wings
It slid into space, hardened sections on its back spreading like a beetle’s elytra to reveal the great engines that were its wings.
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Forsooth - in truth
“Oh yes, such a delectable morsel.” Poe held a 3D rendition of the drive in his hand, where it sat easily enough to be hidden in a fist. “Forsooth, I did see its likeness change hands within my halls. You’ll understand, of course, that the identity of the buyer is sacrosanct? They might instill in most people nothing more than a vague disgust and draw the contempt deserved by the lowest of the slubberdegullion, but they are still a guest?”
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anserine - of, relating to, or resembling a goose
An alarm goes off, a full-throated anserine metronome complete with lazy red strobes.
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ostensibly - to all outward appearances
Dean blinked and flicked to the contents page, ostensibly looking for the promised hot girls enjoying the summer.
