A SPINNER'S DICTIONARY

SADHU

Great minds.

SALACIOUS

When you want it and you know it.

SALUBRIOUS

The opposite of nasty.

SAMPLADELIC

When weird meets fun.

SASHAY

How cats walk.

SAUNTER

How cool cats walk.

SCANT

Not quite enough.

SCHMUCKY

Not nice enough.

SCORN

Expressed by lowering your eyebrows and scrunching your nose.

SCRAWL

Doctors’ calligraphy.

SCRUPLE

When actions have meaning.

SEASONALITY

What seasons change.

SECULARIZATION

Reducing religion to its roots and only its roots.

SEETHE

When water is so angry it boils over. That may be the worst joke I ever made.

SELF-STARTER

When all you need is all you possess, are and really need.

SEMANTICS

The link between language and meaning.

SEMICOLON

Not a comma; not a period, but a little bit of both.

SENTIENCE

To percept or not be percept. In this case, there is no question though. Or is it?

SEPULCHRE

Surrounding a corpse with pretty bricks or carved rocks.

SERVILE

When you’re so helpful it does not help you anymore.

SEXAGENARIAN

Between middle age and golden age.

SHAMBLE

How ducks would walk… if they were drunk.

SHIBBOLETH

Has-been idea or principle.

SHIMMER

Non-aggressive light.

SHODDINESS

Cheap.

SHORTENING

Fat.

SHRILL

Scream.

SIBILANT

When sibilant becomes shibilant.

SIDLE

How to walk in the middle of the night to get more dessert.

SILENT MAJORITY

The reason why things won’t change.

SINUOUS

Roads that make you nauseous.

SIZZLE

That mouth-watering sound that meat makes when it gets cooked.

SKIMP

Economize at all the wrong places.

SLAKE

To satisfy a need which also satisfy a want.

SLEEK

Why shampoos exist.

SLIPSHOD

When care for duty or intellect slips away.

SLOVEN

A slipshod person.

SMEARY

Dirty.

SNAPPILY

Either concise or curt. Pick the right one.

SNIPPILY

When you offend someone’s feelings by speed.

SNUGGLE

The romantic difference between love and simple lust.

SOLACE

Finding the good within the bad.

SOLICITUDE

Feeling bad for something good.

SOP

The carrot in front of the donkey.

SOUGH

The voice of the wind. Damn, I’m poetic.

SOURNESS

When milk (or someone’s attitude) tastes bad.

SPACE

Reallyimportantaswithoutittheuniverse(andreading)wouldbealittletoodense.

SPARSE

How planets and stars are distributed in the universe.

SPECTRUM

A complete range of something.

SPENDTHRIFT

When someone takes the expression ‘Make it rain’ and applies it.

SPILLWAY

Anti flooding system. Quite simple and effective dare I say.

SPONGER

When you replace water by your money and you replace a sponge by another person.

SPRIGHTLINESS

How the old remember their youth.

SPURN

When saying no is accompanied with a flagrant physical demonstration of negativity.

SQUEAMISHNESS

The expected reaction of viewing Eli Roth’s movies.

STABLEMATE

Horses’ roommates.

STALWART

Something to rely on.

STATECRAFT

The romance of politics.

STAUNCHLY

When loyalty wins over everything.

STENTORIAN

How a good way to be thrown out of a theater.

STILTED

Every second grader’s first literary style.

STODGINESS

Being too normal.

STONILY

Being not enough emotional.

STRAGGLE

To weirdly follow.

STREETPROOF

To be careful not to be weirdly followed.

STRIDENCY

When a strong opinion must be demonstrated strongly.

STULTIFYING

The epitome of boredom.

STUPENDOUS

The epitome of impressiveness.

SUBORN

The epitome of bad influence.

SUCCINCT

Short and sweet.

SUFFIX

The last part of the word that happens to be the same last part of many other words.

SULTRY

A weather too hot. A person just hot enough.

SUPERCILIOUS

Normal look for a cat, but really off-putting for a human.

SUPPLICATING

To fuse asking and begging.

SURLINESS

Forgetting manners.

SUSTENANCE

Stayin’ alive.

SWERVE

What happens to a compass arrow when you make a u-turn.

SYLLABICATION

When you put space be tween eve ry syl la be.

SYNECDOCHE

Where each part can be the sum and the sum can be each part.

TABLESPOON

The big one.

TACHYCARDIA

How you know you met the right person. And someone intimidating.

TAGALONG

When someone tags along unwelcomed.

TAILSPIN

A situation uncontrollable, like the spin of a dog’s tail when you drop a steak on the floor.

TALISMAN

A magical object. Like the ring of the Lord of the Rings. Or the well from The Ring. Or any ring equipped to a character in any RPG game.

TALLY

A number used to compare.

TANTALIZE

To tease with something so great it can’t be obtained. Like peace. Or a good sugar-free ice cream.

TANTAMOUNT

What we should all be, but will probably never reach.

TARTUFO

An inception of ice creams flavours and other awesomeness.

TATTLE

What spies do for their country, against other countries.

TAXONOMY

To divide present (and past) living creatures by physical attributes.

TEASPOON

The small one.

TEDIUM

Not interesting at all.

TEETHE

To produce teeth.

TELEPRESENCE

When people talk to a screen and the screen answers back.

TEMPESTUOUS

Moving a lot of air. Literally or figuratively.

TENDENTIOUS

To conceive a EVIL SCHEME. Or just a hidden point of view.

TEPID

Lukewarm.

TESTILY

Reaction to insults that hit a little too close to home.

TEUTONIC

The Teutons lived where Germany now stands, so by territory now Teutonic means related to Germans. We should replace Alaskan with Inukic. Or Yupiki.

THALAMUS

What really makes you feel pain.

THEISM

The theory that God actually likes to play God.

THEOREM

When you need some truths to prove another truth.

THESPIAN

When actors do their job properly.

THIRD-RATE

When there’s only 3 levels of quality. Best, meh and third.

THRALL

When control is solely allowed by something other than yourself.

THREEFOLD

Replace fold by times or parts.

THRONG

What happens if you open a bag of money in a public space.

THROW RUG

A towel sized rug.

THUNDEROUS

Having the attitude of thunder.

TICKED

Replace tick by piss. Wait…

TIDINGS

Things that happen that the world literally need and want to know.

TIFF

A stupid argument. Or, you know, completely unrelated to that, the Toronto International Film Festival.

TIMBRE

A voice’s flavor. You know, if voice would be food.

TIMOROUS

The attitude of most animals that do not crown the food chain.

TINGE

A tad.

TITTLE-TATTLE

Unimportant information.

TOADY

Being nice to the real person for the worst reason.

TOKENISM

Reluctantly giving an overrated gift to underrated people.

TOMFOOLERY

In which Tom acks like a fool, and Tom represents any of us.

TONGUE-IN-CHEEK

The place I like to place my tongue. Among others.

TOOTHSOME

Other places where people like to put their tongues.

TOPOLOGY

The science that mixes math, physics and space without the appeal of each of them.

TORTUOUS

Full of turns.

TOUCHINESS

Being in a glass case of emotions. All the time.

TOUSLE

Long hair’s relationship with wind, pillow, and bullies.

TRACTABLE

Easy for dogs, less for humans.

TRAGICOMEDY

Death by autoerotic asphyxiation.

TRAIPSE

Walking on your way to a work or class that you despise.

TRANSCENDENCE

Beyond. Beyond what? That is the question.

TRANSIENT

Blink and you’ll miss it.

TRANSMOGRIFY

Modification that’ll make you go ‘’Uh.’’

TRASHINESS

The quality of being a trash.

TREATISE

When an obsession becomes a great written work.

TRENCHANCY

Or how to be a good Soapboxer.

TRIAL AND ERROR

Falling and standing back and falling and standing back and falling and, well, you know the drill.

TRIFLING

Information that won’t change anyone’s world.

TRILOGY

A story divided in 3. Each division also needs an ending, which makes them more… interesting.

TRIPPINGLY

The perks of practice.

TROPISM

Moving towards stimuli. A good example would be putting a chocolate pretty much anywhere within my reach.

TROUNCE

Destroying competition.

TRUNCATE

The easiest but sometimes worst way to shorten something.

TRYST

When love needs to hide.

TUMULT

A great example would be to advertise a great deal for an expensive TV for the next day, then cancel the deal when everyone is in line at the store.

TUNING

To bring musical instrument back in line.

TURPITUDE

The difference between doing something bad and being someone bad.

TUTELAGE

To teach at the highest of level. The care level.

TWINGE

Reaction to a bee sting.

TWOSOME

Just, you know, two people together, doing stuff two people do together. Like dancing. Or playing go fish.

TYPIFY

Existing stereotypes.

TYRO

A noob.

UBIQUITOUS

Like Big Brother.

UNASSUAGEABLE

When pink glasses are ineffective.

UNBUDGEABLE

Squared wheels. Dead man’s emotions. My love for ice cream.

UNCTION

Bad acting.

UNDERGO

Doing.

UNDERLINE

Literally putting a line under a word.

UNDER-THE-COUNTER

Figuratively putting medication items under the counter, where the counter can be replaced with the law.

UNDULY

Too much.

UNERRING

Just right.

UNFURL

The most satisfying way is to give it a flick of the wrist, and it’ll give a nice little whoosh noise. 

UNIMPEACHABLE

The truth.

UNIVERSALISM

When everyone is equal and salvageable. Too bad this ain’t unimpeachable.

UNPREPOSSESSING

Not fine on the eyes.

UNSCATHED

A very good day.

UNTRAMMELLED

A computer unhacked. A police case unimpeded. A lie untangled. A knot… unknotted.

UNWIELDY

Any type of answer to a woman’s question related to age, weight or beauty.

UPEND

The upside down.

UPSHOT

The end.

URBAN SPRAWL

When buildings spread like bacteria.

USURIOUS

When a little money is worth a whole lot of money.

UTMOST

The ultimate greatest extreme maximum top.