Hey all! We’re trying something a little new for this list of writing prompts. I’ve seen people use dictionary definitions to inspire their writing. This is a list of some fun and unusual words for you! See what weird words spark your interest.
15 Writing Prompts – Dictionary Definitions
Confession: I have a lot of dictionaries. Some of them are totally normal. Webster’s Dictionaries, American Standard, all the big ones. Most of those I got for free. If I see a dictionary in a free book box, 90% of the time I pick it up.
I don’t know why. I rarely look in said dictionaries. Exactly once I gave a friend a used dictionary as a gift — he really wanted to have a real paper dictionary.
Some of my dictionaries are a little stranger. I have an anagram dictionary, a rhyming dictionary, multiple slang dictionaries, two “weird word” dictionaries, and more baby name books than I can count. There’s also a few thesauruses and other assorted reference books in the mix. I look forward to digging into them all for future prompts.
The definitions on this list are all taken from Mrs. Byrne’s Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words, by Josefa Heifetz Byrne. I picked words at random, so it’s an odd mix.
My tip for the week? Don’t alloo on the quidam that hides in the uvid haha, y’all. I don’t care what kind of habromanic musard you are, or how big of a karimption you can gather. You never know what kind of crotaline manqueller might be spatrifying your haha.
Spell check hates me now.
Good luck, and may these words inspire wonderful worlds for you!
15 Dictionary Inspirations
1) Habromania
n. Extreme euphoria.
2) Crotaline
adj. Pertaining to rattlesnakes.
3) Manqueller
n. Murderer.
4) Uvid
adj. Moist or wet.
5) Musard
n. An absent-minded dreamer, or fool.
6) Gulosity
n. Enormous appetite; greediness.
7) Haha
n. A sunken wall, invisible from a distance.
8) Spatrify
v.t. & i. To besmirch, befoul; to sully and spot.
9) Alloo
v.t. To set on; to incite.
10) Peristerophily
n. The breeding, care, and training of pigeons.
11) Jactancy
n. Boasting, bragging.
12) Irpe
adj. A grimace or bodily contortion
13) Fimblefamble
n. Excuse, particularly a phony one; a lying answer.
14) Quidam
n. An unknown person.
15) Karimption
n. A crowd; a mass.
Look, I never said I would make it easy on you, okay? That would’ve been plain fimblefamble.
