New Words Resolution: There's a Word For That: Vocabulary for National Thesaurus Day, January 18

Antediluvian means "before the flood" in Latin, and while it refers specifically to the time before the Biblical flood, it also sees common use in referring to anything that's outdated or obsolete.

You could say that someone reminds you of your uncle, or you could say that he's avuncular.

Why say "book-lover" when you can use bibliophile instead?

Lots of words for laughter refer to the particular sound a person makes. Cachinnate also describes a particularly high level of volume and enthusiasm.

Kthonios means "subterranean" in Greek. H. P. Lovecraft used the word as the basis for Cthulhu, the demon god who features in many of his horror stories.

The defenestration of Prague in 1618 famously helped start the Thirty Years War. While it can refer to literally throwing someone or something out a window, it's also used to describe a symbolic or metaphorical casting off of someone, as in firing them from a position or "throwing them under the bus" to take the blame for a scandal or crisis.

That thrilling tingle of goosebumps you feel when watching a horror movie? That's a frisson.

"A jumbled collection" and "a random assortment" are both fine phrases, but gallimaufry achieves the same result more elegantly. Galimafrée is a French word of uncertain origin that means "unappetizing dish."

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations. As a result, any lengthy piece of sad or angry moralizing about the sorry state of things and the impending downfall of society is known as a jeremiad.

"Like diarrhea, but with words." You're welcome!

"Werewolf" is a pretty cool word. Lycanthrope is a cooler one, from the Greek likanthropos, meaning "wolf-man."

Besides referring to old books where scarce paper meant reusing pages for new writing, palimpsest can also describe old stone walls where traces of earlier doors and windows can be seen, or a billboard where traces of previous posters are visible beneath the torn top layer.

Ultimate means "last." Instead of saying "next to last," try using penultimate instead. And for the thing before that, use antepenultimate: "before the next to last."

Anybody who is skilled at magic or card tricks practices prestidigitation. It's another way of saying sleight of hand.

The Latin word sesquipedalian literally translates to "a foot and a half long." It's used to describe words that are ridiculously long and cumbersome, like sesquipedalian.

When three stars or planets line up, that's a syzygy It's also a great Scrabble word if you happen to have a blank tile or two. Syzygia is Greek for "yoke" or "conjunction."

If you have an urgent need to travel, you've got wanderlust. German is famous for making compound words by mashing other words together. We can do it too!