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The ninth letter of the alphabet. Also, probably the most infamous first letter for negative words.
IAMB
A stressed (or louder) syllable followed by an unstressed (or weaker) syllable. So, iamb is an iamb.
ICONOCLASM
What drives people to avoid meeting their heroes.
IDIOSYNCRASY
Anything that makes you you.
IDLE
Doing nothing, going nowhere. Easy to be and even easier not to be.
ILLIBERAL
Not liberal. Dare I say conservative?
IMBROGLIO
A type of situation that will bring you to say, ‘It’s not what you’re thinking’.
IMMOLATE
Destroying something/someone in the hopes of getting something/someone else.
IMPEL
What happens after you say ‘Go!’
IMPETUS
What makes you say ‘Go!’
IMPORTUNATE
When perseverance becomes annoying.
IMPROMPTU
Improvised.
IMPUGN
When in doubt, you can exclaim with confidence ‘’I impugn you to a duel’’.
INANITY
When the ‘why’ cannot be explained rationally.
INCHOATE
Not quite done yet. Not by a long shot.
INCONGRUOUS
Does not fit in.
INCONTROVERTIBLE
Cannot be impugned.
INCULCATE
When teaching and preaching collide.
INDICTMENT
J’accuse!
INDOLENCE
Avoiding efforts.
INEFFABLE
Sounds like a bad word, but actually means that there is no word that can be said.
INEXTRICABLE
The milk and the chocolate in a chocolate milk.
INFINITESIMAL
When tiny isn’t small enough.
INFREQUENCY
Not often.
INFRINGE
Violate something immaterial.
INIQUITOUS
Not to be confused with inequity, even if they have similar definitions.
INNOCUOUS
Probably one of the most positive negative words.
INSCRUTABLE
Probably one of the most negative negative words (for linguists or translators).
INSOLVENT
People with broken limbs without any physical effort.
INSTILL
A great alternative title for the movie Inception.
INTEGER
A number that has infinite zeros as decimals.
INTERCALATE
How February 29 came to exist.
INTERFAITH
The kind of faith I want to see.
INTERLOPER
A great example would be a time traveler.
INTERNECINE
When two people simultaneously shoot at each other and hit their targets.
INTERWAR
Between wars.
INTRANSIGENT
When the wants of the one seem to overwhelm the need of the many... or the few.
INUNDATE
Flood.
INVIDIOUS
Complain of having eaten too much to a homeless person.
IRASCIBLE
Being susceptible.
IRREVERENCE
The original ‘Thug life’.
ITERATION
Press replay.
The tenth letter of the alphabet. Can also be a name. And a Man in Black agent.
JACKLIGHT
A light used to help kill the light out of animals’ eyes.
JAPE
A joke or a jest. Yes, they needed a third J word to name one of those.
JAUNTY
Feeling awesome.
JETTISON
Throw things out of a ship in order to save what stays.
JITTERY
When an image, a sound or a mind is uneasy.
JODHPURS
Pants made for abnormally large hips and normal-sized calves.
JOSTLE
What you do to random people when you try to reach a particular person in the crowd.
JUDDER
How a cellphone sounds when it is used as an alarm clock.
JUGGERNAUT
Something that can’t be stopped now, and even less later.
JUNCTURE
Where things meet.
JUXTAPOSE
Put stuff or words that shouldn’t be together and yet fits together.
The eleventh letter of the alphabet. Also, another man in black agent.
KALEIDOSCOPE
Where mirrors are used to look at something else than yourself or cars behind you.
KEENNESS
When you really want something.
KERN
Control the space between letters and words.
KHAKI
Not brown, not yellow, and not green either.
KICKBACK
The proof of Newton’s third law of motion.
KILTER
Top shape.
KINFOLK
Family.
KLEPTOMANIA
Replace the word ‘girls’ by ‘thieves’ and ‘boys’ with ‘law’ in this particular song and there you go.
KNELL
Hells bells.
KNOCK-KNEED
When your knees like each other too much.
KODIAK
An awesome word for an awesome deadly and yet kinda-cuddly-looking mammal.
The twelfth letter of the alphabet. Also, the very worst place imaginable.
LABIAL
Related to the only visible part of a closed mouth.
LACONIC
A message or person of few words.
LAGGARD
How blondes are perceived in blonde jokes.
LAMBENT
When fire is synonym of serenity.
LANDER
Spacex’s bread-and-butter.
LARCENY
Steaming something bought by someone else.
LAST-DITCH
The ultimate last-minute trial.
LATENCY
Not dead, but not active.
LAUDABLE
How dreams should feel like.
LAX
How parents view teachers regarding their authority over other children other than their own.
LAYETTE
Clothes and toiletries that you'll never be able to remember.
LEAD-FOOTED
Very slow unless it’s about driving.
LECHEROUS
Wanting really badly to do the bow chicka wow wow.
LEERY
What separates bad and good decisions.
LEGIBILITY
The absence of it explains why I write on the computer.
LENIENCY
What crying children hope to achieve from their parents after they’ve been scrolled.
LETHARGY
Your state when you have to clean your bathroom, or your cat’s litter.
LEVITY
What Saturday Night Live is all about.
LIBRETTO
A text meant to be sung or screamed… beautifully.
LICIT
The less popular (and more legal) opposite word version of illicit.
LIFE PARTNER
The best kind of partner.
LIGATE
Tie up to close up.
LIGNIN
The ‘bone’ structure of plants.
LILT
What makes voices different.
LINEAGE
People from different times and places who share genes.
LIONIZE
To all those wannabe-celebrities, be careful what you wish for.
LIQUEFACTION
Or how to generate a liquid.
LITERACY
The only reason writers can exist.
LITMUS TEST
Separates black and white easily. The tone of grey, on the other hand…
LOATHE
When hate is not strong enough.
LOCUS
The focus of something.
LOFTILY
How an unwilling expert will teach an unwilling student.
LOLLAPALOOZA
I was mainly surprised to find it in the dictionary. Means awesome.
LONG-WINDED
Using too much words.
LOQUACIOUS
What happens to some people in awkward situations.
LOTHARIO
A male slut.
LOVELORN
When love represents the worst feeling.
LOWBOY
Not what you think.
LOW SPIRITS
When your spirit is so low it feels plural.
LUGUBRIOUS
Low Spirits.
LURID
When you can’t help but utter ‘damn.’
LUXURIATE
Thoroughly enjoying something you do not need.