Whenever the dictionary gets updated, some words face the chopping block. If you would be sad to see “skedaddle” skedaddle from our language, then add it (and the rest of these little-used words) back to your everyday vocabulary—before they’re gone forever.
10 Almost-Extinct Words You Should Start Using Right Away
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Embrangle
Definition: To embroil, confuse, or entangle.
Usage: Mom’s plants dangled, I got embrangled, and now I have two sprained ankles.
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Snollygoster
Definition: A shrewd, selfish person, especially a politician.
Usage: This November, American voters might elect a snollygoster to the White House.
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Fubsy
Definition: Chubby or squat.
Usage: Despite my new year’s health resolutions, holiday leftovers kept me fubsy well into March.
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Recrement
Definition: waste matter; scum.
Usage: Sanitation workers were understandably cross when my medieval role-play group started dumping their recrement directly into the street.
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Skirr
Definition: A whirring sound, as of the wings of birds in flight.
Usage: We heard a mighty skirr overhead when the pigeons left their roost, followed by a plop, followed by an expletive.
Check out these 10 fancy words that will make you sound smarter.
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Frutescent
Definition: Resembling or assuming the form of a shrub.
Usage: A few weeks without a haircut and my poodle looks positively frutescent.
Make sure you know how to say these 20 common words even smart people mispronounce.
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Muliebrity
Definition: The condition of being a woman; femininity.
Usage: Frank was banned from the sorority due to his remarkable lack of muliebrity.
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Agrestic
Definition: Rural; rustic.
Usage: My grandfather had a very agrestic upbringing; his schoolteacher was a horse.
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Exuviate
Definition: To shed; cast off.
Usage: It becomes harder to exuviate a bad reputation after you’ve exuviated your pants in public.
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Skedaddle
Definition: To leave a place suddenly.
Usage: “Portland is so over,” the hipster bemoaned. “Let’s skedaddle to Seattle.”
Learn even more fun obsolete words we should totally bring back.
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Get More Fun and Fascinating Facts!
Check out the latest Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader titles at bathroomreader.com. For more weird trivia about the evolution of language, check out these insulting words that somehow turned into compliments.
Originally Published in Reader's Digest
