obeisance: (noun) (pronounced: oh-bay-sense) homage;
respect; genuflection; duty. Kneel before the Queen and show your obeisance!
obfuscation: (noun) confusion; muddying; complication; mystification.
Senator, what you pass off as elucidation is nothing more than obfuscation. Now with all due respect, what the
hell are you talking about?
objurgate: (verb) to rebuke severely; to scold. If I don't
get home on time, my mother will objurgate me.
obliquity: (noun) deviation from moral rectitude or sound thinking. It is common for people
to have obliquities, Father Tom, but to preach them from the pulpit every Sunday morning is a bit much, don't you think?
obliterate: (verb) to completely wipe out. All hope
of learning new vocabulary words was obliterated when everybody spontaneously decided that emoticons were really all that
was needed to communicate.
obloquy: (noun) discredit or disgrace caused by strong public
abuse, blame, or denunciation. Even though the Senator was not in office, had not been in the state, and upon further
investigation was not even a real person, because of the scandal he was still subjected to the citizens’ obloquy.
obsequies: (noun) funeral rites. Though obsequies greatly
vary from one culture to another, few involve whoopee cushions and kazoos.
obsequious: (adj.) (pronounced: ob-see-kwee-ous) obedient or attentive to an excessive
degree; brown-noser deluxe. It's not that the boss wants you to kiss his ass on a regular basis; being obsequious is
written into your work contract.
obstreperous: (adj.) hostile; defiant; quarrelsome.
The child was just being obstreperious when she refused to share her toys with her sister. obtuse: (adj.) imperceptible; slow-witted; stupid. The
teacher has a propensity for being a bit obtuse. odious: (adj.) something that evokes intense displeasure.
She found the word “evoke” to be quite odious. odsbodikins: (int.) (pronounced: oz-bod-ah-kins) a form
of "God's body" used as an oath. Odsbodikins! I will not put up with another night of that dog's incessant
barking!
oeuvre: (noun) (pronounced: ohv-ra) the collective works of an artist; a work of
art, literature, or music. And this is our daughter's oeuvre. I'm sure you will agree that they are all exceptional
finger paintings.
offal: (noun) (pronounced: awful) the intestines
of an animal used as food. I wasn't saying that your tripe is awful. I said it was offal, though there's little
difference.
officious: (adj.) bossy; bureaucratic; fussy. The officious
memo sent down from the editor stated that if we persist in our esquivalience, then the least we can do is to leave off the
quotation marks so it not quite so obvious when we plagiarize.
off-putting: (adj.) unpleasant; disconcerting; repellent. What
was even more concerning than the reporter's insularity was that nobody else seemed to find it off-putting.
oleaginous: (adj.) marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or
quality. The politician's oleaginous comments made her seem that much more smarmier, if that were possible.
onanism: (noun) masturbation; and a myriad of other synonyms.
No ma'am. I don't mean onomism. I meant onanism. Oh... never mind.
on a toot: (adj.) drunk; wasted; blotto. We knew Larry had
been on a toot the night before when we saw his car parked in the front room of his house. onerous: (adj.) arduous; burdensome; tedious. Having
to write vocabulary sentences can be an onerous task. onomastic: (adj.) of or relating to the study of the history and
origin of proper names. After doing some onomastic research, we discovered that Roosevelt High School wasn’t named
after Franklin or Teddy or even Eleanor, but instead Hiram, a local ruffian.
ontology: (noun) the branch of metaphysics that deals with the
nature of being. And so, that leaves but one ontological question: "If nobody recognized that you existed,
would you cease to exist?"
opine: (verb) rant, harangue, preach, lecture. No matter how you define it, when your
wife begins to opine, it’s probably not a good thing. opprobrium: (noun) scorn; contempt; excoriation. When the president
kicked the puppy on national TV, he was met with universal opprobrium.
oracular: (adj.) having to do with an oracle. Let's see what
Google has to oraculate.
orbicular: (adj.) having the shape of a flat ring or disc.
The Flat Earth Society believes the earth is orbicular, not round. And, of course, they're right. orotund: (adj.) loud; clear; stentorian. Melissa, who at
everybody's count had only said three words all evening, added a fourth when she answered Barry's suggestion of coming up
to her apartment for a nightcap with an orotund, "No!"
orthography: (noun) the part of the study of language that deals with letters and spelling.
If the orthography of the English language made any sense whatsoever, we probably wouldn't need Spell Check at all.
ossify: (verb) to cease developing; to be stagnant; to be rigid.
I suppose it's not a bad thing to ossify your beliefs... as long as your beliefs are correct to begin with.
ostensibly: (adv.) seemingly; superficially; alledgedly.
The couple was ostensibly checking the mail, but Sir Walford soon became aware of their tryst when they repeatedly forgot
to bring back the post.
ostent: (noun) a significant sign; a portent. When the priest
announced there was no God, and then was promptly struck dead by lightning, many of the parishioners took that as an ostent
from God. ostentatious: (adj.) flamboyant; brazen; showy. Freddy
Mercury was known for his ostentatious life-style.
ostler: (noun) a stableman,
or a stablewoman, especially one at an inn, a very old inn. Tell the ostler to have the horses ready to go at sunrise,
and give the man a farthing for his trouble.
otiose: (adj.) having a lazy nature; indolent. The otiose pizza delivery driver was soon
promoted to washing dishes. oubliette: (noun) dungeon; prison; cell. Therefore, it is
the ruling of this court that you be thrown in the oubliette and forgotten about.
ouroboros: (noun) (pronounced: u-row-bore-us) a circular symbol of a dragon or a snake
swallowing its own tail, used to depict wholeness or infinity. The cat, licking her tail, does seem a bit ouroboros.
overmuch: (adj.) excessive; extreme. Doing an end-zone dance
after winning a game of chess seemed a tad bit overmuch.
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