Wonderful Words

Compiled from various lists found on the interwebs.

  • Abstemious – restrained in consumption of food and alcohol
  • Balderdash – nonsense
  • Ballyhoo – commotion, hype
  • Bamboozled – cheat
  • Berserk – wild or frenzied
  • Bimble – walk or travel at a leisurely pace
  • Bindle stiff – hobo
  • Blooter – to hit or kick hard and wildly
  • Bodacious – remarkable, voluptuous
  • Bogus – not genuine
  • Borborygmus – sound of intestinal gas
  • Brouhaha – noisy and over-excited response
  • Bunghole – an aperture through which a cask can be filled or emptied
  • Bunkum – nonsense
  • Cahoots – scheming
  • Callipygian – possessing a shapely bottom
  • Cantankerous – irritating, difficult
  • Carbuncle – pustule
  • Caterwaul – to wail, especially in protest
  • Cattywampus – disordered or askew, not directly across nor adjacent to
  • Cellar Door – the door to a cellar
  • Cockamamie (also cockamamie) – ridiculous
  • Codger – an old (eccentric) man. Offensive.
  • Comeuppance – just deserts
  • Concoction – a mixture
  • Concupiscent – possessed of erotic desire
  • Confuzzled – confused and puzzled
  • Conniption – a fit or rage or hysterics
  • Consarn it – bother!
  • Conundrum – puzzle
  • Copacetic (also copasetic, copesetic) – satisfactory
  • Curmudgeon – ill-tempered (old) person
  • Davenport – an ornamented writing desk (UK)
  • Debauchery – sensual gratification
  • Dilly-dally – waste time through endless wandering or indecision
  • Discombobulated – confused and disconcerted
  • Doofer – thing, the remote for the television
  • Doohickey – thing; gadget
  • Doppelgänger – double of a living person
  • Druthers – preference
  • Effervescent – fizzy
  • Effluvium – unpleasant smell
  • Eventide – evening
  • Factotum – all-around servant or attendant
  • Farrago – confused mixture
  • Festoon – to decorate; dangling decorative chains
  • Fiddle-faddle – nonsense; to mess about or fuss
  • Fiddlesticks – an expression of disagreement
  • Finagle – to trick
  • Fisticuffs – fist-fight
  • Fizzog – face
  • Flabbergasted – astonished
  • Flagitious – villainous
  • Flibbertigibbet – flighty person
  • Flummery – meaningless or insincere flattery / conventions
  • Flummoxed – confused
  • Foible – fault
  • Folderol – nonsense
  • Foofaraw – flash, frills
  • Fortnight – 2 weeks
  • Fuddy-duddy – old fashioned or pompous
  • Fuss-and-feathers
  • Fusty – mouldy, musty, old-fashioned
  • Gallimaufry- mixture, jumble
  • Gallivant – to jaunt or carouse
  • Galoshes – waterproof overshoe
  • Glom – to take hold of, to adhere
  • Gobbledygook – nonsense
  • Haberdashery – place to purchase sewing supplies (UK)
  • Harridan – shrewish woman
  • Higgledy-piggledy – disorganised or confused
  • High jinks (also hijinks) – boisterous antics
  • Hodgepodge – a confused mixture
  • Hokum – nonsense
  • Hoodwink – to deceive
  • Hooligan
  • Hoosegow – jail
  • Hornswoggled – cheated
  • Horsefeathers – disbelief!
  • Hortatory – advisory
  • Hot-diggity(-dog) – wow!
  • Hotsy-totsy – sexually attractive
  • Hullabaloo – commotion; fuss
  • Humdinger – remarkable example
  • Hurly-burly – busy / noisy
  • Icebox
  • Ignoramus – dunce
  • Imbroglio – confused predicament
  • In a tiz(-zy) – in a state of nervous excitement or agitation
  • Jackanapes – impudent or mischievous person
  • Janky – very poor quality
  • Jaunty – cheerfully self-confident
  • Jiggery-pokery deceit
  • Jiminy Christmas
  • Kerfuffle – commotion or fuss
  • Kibosh – put an end to; bring a definitive end to
  • Kumquat – citrus fruit
  • Lachrymose – given to tears
  • Lackadaisical – bereft of energy or enthusiasm
  • Lallygag – dawdle; waste time
  • Lambast – criticise harshly
  • Loggerheads – quarrelling
  • Loquacious – talkative
  • Louche – disreputable
  • Lugubrious – mournful, dismal
  • Malarkey – nonsense
  • Maleficence – evil
  • Mendacious – deceptive
  • Mollycoddle – be overprotective / indulgent
  • Monkeyshines – mischievous
  • Moxie –  determination, nerve
  • Mufti – non-uniform
  • Nincompoop – foolish, stupid person
  • Oaf – clumsy or stupid person
  • Obfuscate – confuse, obscure
  • Obloquy – condemning or abusive language, or the state of being subject to such
  • Obsequious – flattering
  • Orotund – sonorous, or pompous
  • Osculate – to kiss
  • Paroxysm – convulsion or outburst
  • Peccadillo – minor fault or sin
  • Periwinkle – light purplish blue; creeping plant; aquatic snail
  • persnickety
  • Persnickety – fussy
  • Perspicacious – astute
  • Pettifogger – quibbler; disreputable lawyer
  • Phony baloney
  • Piffle – nonsense
  • Pish-tosh
  • Poltroon – cowardly, coward
  • Poppycock – nonsense
  • Post-haste – quickly
  • Prognosticate – to predict
  • Pumpernickel – a German bread
  • Pusillanimous – cowardly
  • Quintessential – a most perfect or typical example
  • Raffish – vulgar
  • Ragamuffin – person (often a child) in unkempt, dirty clothes
  • Rambunctious – unruly
  • Rapscallion – a mischievous person
  • Resplendent – brilliantly glowing
  • Ribaldry – crude or coarse behavior
  • Rigmarole – lengthy, complex process
  • Roughhousing
  • Ruckus – disturbance
  • Ruffian
  • Scallywag – a mischievous person (often a child); scamp
  • Schnozzle – human nose
  • Scofflaw – lawbreaker
  • Shenanigans – mischief
  • Skedaddle – leave quickly
  • Skulduggery – devious behaviour
  • Slacks – trousers
  • Smorgasbord – a buffet
  • Snickerdoodle – a type of cookie
  • Snockered – drunk
  • Soliloquy – speaking thoughts aloud, especially in a play
  • Spectacles – glasses
  • Spelunking – exploring caves
  • Spiffy – stylish
  • Squelch – to suppress or silence; act of silencing; sucking sound
  • Stramash – an uproar, a row
  • Strumpet – female of loose virtue
  • Subterfuge – deception, or deceptive ploy
  • Supercilious – haughty
  • Swashbuckle – engage in daring adventure with bravado or flamboyance
  • Sylph – lithe woman
  • Tarnation
  • Tatterdemalion – raggedly dressed person; looking disreputable or decayed
  • Termagant – shrewish woman
  • Thingamajig – unidentified thing or person whose name you’ve forgotten
  • Tidgy – small
  • Toggle – a do-er-up-er-er
  • Tomfoolery – foolish or silly behaviour
  • Trollop
  • Trousers
  • Twaddle – nonsense
  • Upsy-daisy
  • Vanquished – conquered
  • Whippersnapper – a young inexperienced person who is being presumptuous or over-confident
  • Whirligig – whirling toy; merry-go-round; dizzying course of events; clothes dryer
  • Widdershins (also withershins) – counterclockwise, contrary
  • Willy-nilly – by force; haphazardly
  • Yonder – over there