My Wondrous Word Dilemmas

As usual, I am joining in with BermudaOnion's delightful meme, Wondrous Word Wednesdays, although this week, I did not encounter any words with which I was previously unfamiliar in my reading. Since that is the case, I decided to immortalize for myself (and all others interested) the definitions of some words that I have seen or heard countless times, but never manage to remember what they actually mean. I hope you all find this list helpful, as well.

~obstreperous--

"1. attended by, or making, a loud and tumultuous noise; boisterous
2. stubbornly defiant; disobedient; resistant to authority or control, whether in a noisy manner or not"

I astonished myself by actually spelling this word correctly the first time I tried typing it into Wiktionary!

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~abstemious--

"1. sparing in diet; refraining from a free use of food and strong drinks; temperate; abstinent; sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions.
2. sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation.
3. marked by, or spent in, abstinence... ."

This one was embarrassingly obvious, once I'd read the answer.

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~laconic--

"1. using as few words as possible; pithy and concise."

Apparently, we have the Spartans to thank for this one, because "Laconia was the region inhabited by and ruled by the Spartans, who were known for their brevity in speech" and their pared down version of pretty much everything in life.

Happy reading, and carry on wording!