Word of the Week: Crooked River Part 2

Once we started doing the Word of the Week, I began paying closer attention the words I didn't know while I was reading and writing them down. The following five words are from Crooked River, a Pendergast novel from Preston and Child--proving that Cheap Thrills are more than just action-filled one-timers! If you haven't already read Part 1, check it out now!

meretricious (adj.) mer·​e·​tri·​cious | \ ˌmer-ə-ˈtri-shəs like mere-uh-TRISH-us

Tastelessly showy; deceptively pleasing; relating to a prostitute

This is a great word! It's kind of like of fake it til you make it, but more like trying to pass a Gucci belt knockoff from Amazon as the real deal. It can also mean insincere or gilded--like when someone heaps meretricious praise on you, I would question it. Synonyms include: flashy, garish, gaudy, tawdry, tacky...you get the point.

But back in the day, and in literature, you'll also see this used to describe a relationship with a prostitute, "Trump had a number of meretricious affairs while married to all of his wives."

divigate (v.)ˌdi·​va·​gate | \ ˈdī-və-ˌgāt

To wander or stray from a course or subject

Divigate is a synonym for diverge in the literal sense and for digress in the figurative sense.

She divigated from the trail on her descent. | She tends to divigate from her thoughts from time to time.

It comes from the Latin verb "divagari," which comes from dis-, meaning apart, and vagari, meaning to wander. The latter also gave us vagabond, meaning a wanderer with no home, as well as vagary, which today usually means whim, but originally meant journey or excursion. Ain't Latin great?

verdure (n.) ver·​dure | \ ˈvər-jər

The greenness of growing vegetation; condition of health and vigor

Verdure principally is defined as greenness of vegetation, or even the vegetation itself. Synonyms could be greenery, foliage, flora, and is comparable to its Latin root cousin, verdant. But since the 16th century, verdure has also been used to describe a kind of tapestry with a design based on plant forms. Additionally, if you're a pasta fan, you may have encountered verdure on an Italian menu, as it can refer to green veggies: "fettucine con verdure."

Verdure can also be used to describe someone's vim and vigor, "The portrait perfectly captures the teen's verdure and youth." I am so verdure. And so is my porch.

Verdure at Rijksmuseum

debouch (v.) de·​bouch | \ di-ˈbau̇ch

To cause to emerge, to march out into open ground

Usually used in military contexts, debouch is derived from a French verb*, which if you know anything about the romance languages, you can deduce means "from" and "the mouth."

*This also means that debouch doesn't sound like de-couch, it means it sounds like de-douche! Hehe.

So from a military standpoint, it refers to troops coming from a closed space to an open one--"the troops debouched from the town where they hid into the open field." But it can also refer to anything emerging from a mouth, like that of a person, or more commonly, a river--"The Mississippi debouches into the Gulf of Mexico."

But could it also be used figuratively, I wonder? Hit me with an example in the comments.

parang (n.) pa·​rang|\ ˈpär-ˌaŋ

A short sword, cleaver, or machete common in Malaysia and Indonesia

To be offed by a parang would be a terrible way to go.

Sources: Dictionary.com, Vocabulary.com

See also: Word of the Week page, Crooked River review