November 21, 2005

Patrician – n. 1. A person of refined upbringing, manners, and tastes.
2. A member of an aristocracy; an aristocrat.
3. A member of one of the noble families of the ancient Roman Republic, which before the third century B.C. had exclusive rights to the Senate and the magistracies.
4. Used as a title for members of a class of honorary nobility appointed by the Byzantine emperors.
5. A member of the hereditary ruling class in the medieval free cities of Italy and Germany.

November 20, 2005

syncretic – adj. Uniting and blending together different systems, as of philosophy, morals, or religion.

Syncretic is the adjective form of syncretism, from Greek synkretismos, “federation of Cretan cities,” from sunkretizein, “to unite against a common enemy, in the manner of the Cretan cities,” from syn-, “with, together” + Kres, Kret-, “Cretan.

November 18, 2005

Legerdemain – n. 1. Sleight of hand. 2. A display of skill, trickery, or artful deception.

Also see this.

November 17, 2005

Schadenfreude – n. Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.

November 16, 2005

Macabre – adj. 1. Suggesting the horror of death and decay; gruesome: macabre tales of war and plague in the Middle Ages. See Synonyms at ghastly.
2. Constituting or including a representation of death.