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Literary Words You'll Want To Know
In many writing exercises, whether they be writing a job application, creating a speech, orbusiness writing, you will probably have been told to use everyday words and keep your language simple. That is often very sound advice, and helps keep communication simple and effective.
In some contexts, though, you may wish to use a less common, more elevated word. This list of words below would largely be used in writing that was intentionally seeking a literary tone. That might be a poem, or (if you are writing fiction) in the dialogue of a literary character - or even apretentious one.
On the other hand, you may simply want new words for language games, or hope to impress friends and family! Whatever the reason, the list below will offer literary equivalents for everyday words (behold for see; lightsome for nimble; dulcify for sweeten), terms relating to Greek mythology (Rhadamanthine, Stygian), and words with unexpected meanings (crapulent, for example).
abode | a home |
access | an outburst of an emotion |
adieu | goodbye |
afar | at a distance |
apace | quickly |
argosy | a large merchant ship |
arrant | utter |
asunder | into pieces |
atrabilious | melancholy or bad-tempered |
aurora | the dawn |
bard | a poet |
barque | a boat |
bedizen | dress gaudily |
beget | produce (a child) |
behold | see |
beseech | ask urgently and fervently |
bestrew | scatter |
betake oneself | go to |
betide | happen |
betoken | be a warning of |
blade | sword |
blithe | happy |
bosky | covered by trees or bushes |
brand | a sword |
brume | mist or fog |
celerity | swiftness |
circumvallate | surround with a rampart or wall |
clarion | loud and clear |
cleave to | stick fast to |
cockcrow | dawn |
coruscate | flash or sparkle |
crapulent | relating to the drinking of alcohol |
crescent | growing |
darkling | relating to growing darkness |
deep, the | the sea |
dell | a small valley |
dingle | a deep wooded valley |
divers | of varying types |
Dives | a rich man |
dolour | great sorrow |
dome | a stately building |
dulcify | sweeten |
effulgent | shining brightly |
eld | old age |
eminence | a piece of rising ground |
empyrean | the sky |
ere | before |
erne | a sea eagle |
espy | catch sight of |
ether | the clear sky |
evanescent | quickly fading |
farewell | goodbye |
fervid | hot or glowing |
fidus Achates | a faithful friend |
finny | relating to fish |
firmament | the sky |
flaxen | pale yellow |
fleer | jeer or laugh disrespectfully |
flexuous | full of bends and curves |
fulgent | shining brightly |
fulguration | a flash like lightning |
fuliginous | sooty; dusky |
fulminate | explode violently |
furbelow | adorn with trimmings |
gird | secure with a belt |
glaive | a sword |
gloaming | dusk |
greensward | grassy ground |
gyre | whirl or gyrate |
hark | listen |
horripilation | gooseflesh; hair standing on end |
hymeneal | relating to marriage |
ichor | blood, or a fluid likened to it |
illude | trick someone |
imbrue | stain one's hand or sword with blood |
impuissant | powerless |
incarnadine | colour (something) crimson |
ingrate | ungrateful |
inhume | bury |
inly | inwardly |
ire | anger |
isle | an island |
knell | the sound of a bell |
lachrymal | connected with weeping or tears |
lacustrine | associated with lakes |
lambent | softly glowing or flickering |
lave | wash or wash over |
lay | a song |
lea | an area of grassy land |
lenity | kindness or gentleness |
lightsome | nimble |
limn | represent in painting or words |
lucent | shining |
madding | acting madly; frenzied |
mage | a magician or learned person |
main, the | the open ocean |
malefic | causing harm |
manifold | many and various |
marge | a margin |
mead | a meadow |
mephitic | foul-smelling |
mere | a lake or pond |
moon | a month |
morrow, the | the following day |
muliebrity | womanliness |
nescient | lacking knowledge; ignorant |
nigh | near |
niveous | snowy |
nocuous | noxious, harmful, or poisonous |
noisome | foul-smelling |
nymph | a beautiful young woman |
orb | an eye |
orgulous | proud or haughty |
pellucid | translucent |
perchance | by some chance |
perfervid | intense and impassioned |
perfidious | deceitful and untrustworthy |
philippic | a bitter verbal attack |
plangent | loud and mournful |
plash | a splashing sound |
plenteous | plentiful |
plumbless | extremely deep |
poesy | poetry |
prothalamium | a song or poem celebrating a wedding |
puissant | powerful or influential |
pulchritude | beauty |
purl | flow with a babbling sound |
quidnunc | an inquisitive and gossipy person |
realm | a kingdom |
refulgent | shining brightly |
rend | tear to pieces |
repine | be discontented |
Rhadamanthine | stern and incorruptible in judgement |
roundelay | a short, simple song with a refrain |
rubescent | reddening |
rutilant | glowing or glittering with red or golden light |
sans | without |
scribe | write |
sea-girt | surrounded by sea |
sempiternal | everlasting |
serpent | a snake |
shade | a ghost |
ship of the desert | a camel |
shore | country by the sea |
slay | kill |
slumber | sleep |
star-crossed | ill-fated |
steed | a horse |
stilly | still and quiet |
storied | celebrated in stories |
strand | a shore |
Stygian | very dark |
summer | a year of a person's age |
supernal | relating to the sky or the heavens |
susurration | a whispering or rustling sound |
swain | a young lover or suitor |
sword, the | military power; violence |
sylvan | wooded |
tarry | delay leaving |
temerarious | rash or reckless |
tenebrous | dark; shadowy |
threescore | sixty |
thrice | three times |
tidings | news; information |
toilsome | involving hard work |
tope | drink alcohol to excess |
travail | painful or laborious effort |
troublous | full of troubles |
tryst | a rendezvous between lovers |
unman | deprive of manly qualities |
vestal | chaste; pure |
vesture | clothing |
virescent | greenish |
viridescent | greenish or becoming green |
visage | a person's face |
want | lack or be short of |
wax | become larger or stronger |
wayfarer | a person who travels on foot |
wed | marry |
welkin, the | the sky or heaven |
whited sepulchre | a hypocrite |
wind | blow (a bugle) |
without | outside |
wondrous | inspiring wonder |
wont | accustomed |
wonted | usual |
wrathful | extremely angry |
wreathe | twist or entwine |
yon | yonder; that |
yore | of former ties or long ago |
youngling | a young person or animal |
zephyr | a soft, gentle breeze |