Words of the Day

Recalcitrant \rih-KAL-sih-truhnt\, adjective:
Stubbornly resistant to and defiant of authority or restraint.
If they lingered too long, Clarice hurried them along in the same annoyed way she rushed recalcitrant goats through the gate.
-- Kaye Gibbons, On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon
Even then it took a sympathetic bankruptcy judge to convince a group of recalcitrant lenders that it was in their best interest to drop their opposition.
-- "So Far So Good", New York Times, May 18, 2009
This recalcitrant fellow was the only dissenter in an otherwise unanimous recommendation.
-- Sherwin B. Nuland, "Indoctrinology", New Republic, February 19, 2001

Cogitate \KOJ-uh-tayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To think deeply or intently; to ponder; to meditate.
2. To think about; to ponder on; to meditate upon; to plan or plot.
As she waited in the prison anteroom to be admitted, Bitsey read background file clippings from NEWS Magazine's morgue and cogitated on the idea of knowing one's exact date of death beforehand.
-- Dewey Gram, The Life of David Gale
Elliot seems to have been a serious type, given to New Year's Eves reading Shakespeare and cogitating on the sermon preached at his grandfather's funeral.
-- James Reaney, "They partied like it's 1899", London Free Press, January 3, 1999
Doc Leach shifted his pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other and blinked a couple of times. That meant he was cogitating.
-- Monty Roberts, The Man Who Listens To Horses

ratiocination \rash-ee-ah-suh-NAY-shun; rash-ee-oh-\, noun:
The process of logical reasoning.
For all their vaunted powers of ratiocination, grand masters of chess tend to be a skittery lot.
-- "People", Time, October 26, 1987
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes proved so popular that it became a given that mystery tales should include a sleuth who investigates a murder or other crime, and by virtue of intelligence, ratiocination and perseverance solves a case that initially seemed unsolvable.
-- Maxim Jakubowski, "A beginner's guide to crime fiction", The Guardian, October 29, 1999
Anticipating Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by more than 20 years, an American physician named John Babbington Williams was scribbling stories extolling the fictional exploits of James Brampton, a New York detective with uncanny gifts of observation and ratiocination.
-- Marilyn Stasio, "Guilt's Companion ", New York Times, December 26, 2008


solicitous \suh-LIS-uh-tuhs\, adjective:
1. Manifesting or expressing care or concern.
2. Full of anxiety or concern; apprehensive.
3. Extremely careful; meticulous.
4. Full of desire; eager.
He does not appear to have suffered from homesickness, although the suspicion that this might have been due to the unsatisfactory nature of his 'home' life seems belied by the tone and content of his letters; he makes frequent and solicitous inquiries after not only Mabel and his mother but also his father.
-- Matthew Sturgis, Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography
She was often solicitous of her daughter's feelings and intense reactions, trying to shield her from emotional trauma.
-- Adrienne Fried Block, Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian
He . . . was excessively solicitous, constantly apologizing for the car's poor suspension, the heat, the state of the roads, and the insane behavior of other drivers.
-- John Case, The Genesis Code
He was also solicitous of my health and would notice when I was tired or under great strain.
-- Cartha D. "Deke" DeLoach, Hoover's FBI

fatuous \FACH-oo-uhs\, adjective:
1. Inanely foolish and unintelligent; stupid.
2. Illusory; delusive.
Publishers persist in the fatuous belief that a little hocus-pocus in the front flap blurb will so dazzle readers that they'll be too dazed to notice the quality of what's on the pages inside.
-- "A night in the city", Irish Times, October 7, 1997
No enquiry, however fatuous or ill informed, failed to receive his full attention, nor was any irrelevant personal information treated as less than engrossing.
-- Michael Palin, Hemingway's Chair
A hundred feet or so below him people were milling around, some of them beginning to look up expectantly. Clearing space for him. Even temporarily calling off the wonderful and completely fatuous hunt for Wockets.
-- Douglas Adams, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy