Vocabulary Postcard Swap #7

Vocabulary Postcard Swap #7

I love words and I love postcards, so I thought I would join the two in a fun swap. The way this swap works is as follows:

1. I have listed below nine words that one does not typically hear used in every day conversation. Also provided is the definition of the word, a synonym or two (a synonym is a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same thing), and examples of how the word is used within a sentence.
2. You will send five blank postcards in an envelope to your partner representing five of the words below. The five cards should reflect different words, i.e., there should be no duplication of words.
3. Each of the cards should reflect the meaning of the selected word or some aspect of what the word means. It might be based on the definition, its synonyms, or something included in how it is used. Your interpretation can be creative and somewhat indirect, but you need to be able to explain your interpretation (see next instruction).
4. Identify the word each card is supposed to represent, and why you think the card fits the word (if it isn't obvious).
5. When you receive postcards from the partner assigned to send to you, please be open to the sender's interpretations, even if you think the interpretations might seem a little far-fetched. This swap isn't about receiving items that match our own interpretations, but in discovering how someone else interprets the same thing. Do not rate someone down because you don't care for the cards or the sender's interpretations if they have otherwise met the swap requirements.
6. The postcards you send should be in good condition, with no creases or bent edges.
7. No handmade, freebie or ad cards may be used.
8. You must have a rating of at least 4.98 to play and no recent unexplained ratings of 3 or 1. Here are the words from which you will choose five:

BOOTLESS

Definition: unproductive of success; without result, gain, or advantage; unavailing; useless

Synonyms: fruitless, futile, sleeveless, vain, idle, ineffectual, worthless

Usage: (1) He would like to have done with life and its vanity altogether—so bootless and unsatisfactory the struggle, so cheerless and dreary the prospect seemed to him. (2) The Democrats sensibly blamed the feckless, bootless Bush administration for the collapse of the markets. (3) He wore nothing but a rough flax mat round his waist—trouserless, bootless, hatless. (4) Wring not your hands, 'tis bootless; use the means That may preserve you.

CORPULENCE

Definition: bulkiness or largeness of body; fatness; portliness

Synonyms: stoutness, obesity, overweight

Usage: (1) The corpulence of the adult pig astounded those who had never seen one before. (2) Stealing unawares upon the whale in the fancied security of the middle of solitary seas, you find him unbent from the vast corpulence of his dignity, and kitten-like, he plays on the ocean as if it were a hearth. (3) He was a man of somewhat less than average height, inclined to corpulence, with his hair, worn long, arranged over the scalp so as to conceal his baldness.

EFFULGENT

Definition: shining brilliantly; resplendent

Synonyms: radiant, refulgent, beamy, beaming

Usage: (1) Hidden nooks and corners, unused to observation, suddenly gleam and blush in effulgent exposure, like lovers whom the unexpected turning on of a light has revealed kissing in the dark, and are as suddenly, unlike the lovers, left in their native shade again. (2) Skies the most effulgent but basket the deadliest thunders: gorgeous Cuba knows tornadoes that never swept tame northern lands. (3) Rameau's Pigmalion presents a parade of sung and elegantly danced virtues found in art and life, based loosely on a slightly less effulgent morality tale by Ovid.

GANGLY

Definition: tall and thin and having long slender limbs; lank and loosely built

Synonyms: lanky, rangy, spindling, spindly

Usage: (1) The gangly man's suit sleeves and pant legs flapped like empty fire hoses as he walked. (2) He's a big, gangly colt that is a bit bold so we decided to give him this early run. (3) The actors are a bouncy bunch, and Roger Rowley, as Buddy, makes the part of the gangly, goofy rocker his own.

GREENSWARD

Definition: surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots

Synonyms: sod, turf, sward, divot, land, soil, ground

Usage: (1) There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. (2) But he saw nothing outside--within he saw a patch of greensward surrounded by a matted mass of gorgeous tropical plants and flowers, and, above, the waving foliage of mighty trees, and, over all, the blue of an equatorial sky. (3) "That is almost more than I can bear!" exclaimed Miss Maxwell, sitting down on a bench and stabbing the greensward with her parasol.

KEEPSAKE

Definition: something of sentimental value

Synonyms: souvenir, relic, token, trophy, memento

Usage: (1) I had no keepsake to speak to me of my lost darling but the flag which she had embroidered with her own hand. (2) I had been thinking about a keepsake from the wedding and saw the toast and thought to myself: 'Why not'? (3) How foolish; I might give you something for a keepsake which would leave better memories, do you not think so? (4) I shall be happy to make you some acceptable little present—keepsake, I mean—in return.

RAPTUROUS

Definition: experiencing or manifesting ecstatic joy or delight

Synonyms: rapt, rhapsodic, ecstatic, enraptured, joyous

Usage: (1) The audience greeted the speaker with rapturous applause. (2) Marianne was afraid of offending, and said no more on the subject; but the kind of approbation which Elinor described as excited in him by the drawings of other people, was very far from that rapturous delight, which, in her opinion, could alone be called taste. (3) Pierre gazed at her with rapturous, almost frightened, eyes as she passed him.

TELLURIAN

Definition: an inhabitant of the earth; a terrestrial; of relating to, or inhabiting the earth; of or relating to or inhabiting the land as opposed to the sea or air

Synonyms: earthling, denizen, dweller, inhabitant

Usage: (1) I was the first tellurian the Martians had ever seen, and they were as curious about me as I was about them. (2) They were asexual: sexless to a degree unapproached by any form of Tellurian life higher than the yeasts. (3) Truly you have made a notable achievement in science, Tellurian friends, and we congratulate you upon its accomplishment.

WELL-HEELED

Definition: having plenty of money; prosperous; rich; wealthy

Synonyms: prosperous, well-off, well-to-do, comfortable, easy

Usage: (1) The price tag is out of reach of all but the most well-heeled. (2) The hotel, where rooms fetch up to $595 a night, charges well-heeled customers wine and champagne prices higher than London's Ritz. (3) You'll need to be well-heeled before making a selection from the boutique merchandise on display.