Words from Erdrich

Welcome back to Wordy Wednesday! The words I found for today come from the book I’m currently reading, Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich.

Here’s how Wordy Wednesday works. In my reading I find words that are new to me, or words that I understand in context, but don’t feel comfortable using myself. For each of these words I quote the sentence in which I found it. Then I give a definition, this time from the Oxford English Dictionary. Lastly, I write the word into a sentence of my own.

Let the fun begin!

frowzy

“A frowzy tan terrier mix springs up and down outside the passenger window, tireless.”

Definition: adjective, having a dirty, untidy, soiled, neglected appearance

Pigpen the Peanuts character, with his cloud of filth that follows him around, is frowzy.

efflorescence

“Perhaps she has lived through the final efflorescence of human culture and thought.”

Definition: noun, a development like that of a blossom; an abundant or ostentatious growth

After visiting our niece and nephew, we brought home an efflorescence of drawings they had made for us.

phantasmagoria

When the narrator’s adoptive and birth parents meet: “I can see them in the driveway, all four together now, gesturing and talking, a phantasmagoria of parents.”

Definition: noun, a shifting and changing scene consisting of many elements, especially one that is startling or extraordinary, or resembling or reminiscent of a dream, hallucination, etc.

Entrenched in the watercolor painting challenge, the surface of my desk was covered in a phantasmagoria of palettes, paint tubes, paper, and brushes.

Create your own sentence, and share in the comments. And as always, happy reading!