A few years ago I read a novel that repeatedly used the word “preternatural”. The first time I read it I wasn’t entirely sure what it meant. It is one of those words, the definition of which I can somewhat ascertain given its context and similarity to other words, but still not understand it completely—and so I had to look it up. I encountered the word so many times throughout the novel that it actually began to annoy me. For this reason, it stood out in my memory and I’ve decided to use it for the very first Wordsmith Wednesday.
From Dictionary.com:
–adjective
1. out of the ordinary course of nature; exceptional or abnormal: preternatural powers.
2. outside of nature; supernatural.
Wordsmith Wednesdays made-up example sentence:
A preternatural wail echoed through the remnants of the old abbey’s decrepit walls and crumbling buttresses.
Dictionary.com offers a “word of the day” app for the Android that I was mildly excited about. When I downloaded it, though, I soon realized that each day’s word was ridiculously rare and obscure. I like your chosen word here and the premise of your weekly theme; your word here is real in the sense that people use it! I can’t even remember the ridiculous words Dictionary.com came up with… because I’ll never use them or see them in print anywhere.
It’s funny. Years ago, I was signed up for an email Word of the Day from some other site (I don’t remember which now), but I unsubscribed for the very same reason you just gave. I found that it was only about once a week that I’d receive a word I would ever use or encounter. That’s partly the reason I wanted to post words that were a bit more commonplace.