apogee (en)

(noun) the point in the orbit of an object (as a satellite) orbiting the earth that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth / (noun) the point farthest from a planet or a satellite (as the moon) reached by an object orbiting it / (noun) the farthest or highest point; culmination

apothegm (en)

a concise saying or maxim; an aphorism

bathos (en)

(noun) a literary term coined by Alexander Pope to describe to describe amusingly failed attempts at sublimity (an effect of anticlimax created by an unintentional lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous); adj is "bathetic"

bricolage (en)

(noun) construction (as of a sculpture or a structure of ideas) achieved by using whatever comes to hand / (noun) something constructed in this way

chiasmus (en)

(noun) a rhetorical or literary figure in which words, grammatical constructions, or concepts are repeated in reverse order, in the same or a modified form; e.g. ‘Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.’.

chirography (en)

(noun) handwriting penmanship / (noun) calligraphy

dross (en)

(noun) the scum that forms on the surface of molten metal / (noun) waste or foreign matter; impurity / (noun) something that is base, trivial, or inferior

imbricated (en)

arranged (scales, sepals, plates, etc.) so that they overlap like roof tiles

interpellation (en)

(common Althusserian term) the process by which ideology, embodied in major social and political institutions (ideological & repressive state apparatuses), constitutes the very nature of individual subjects' identities through the process of "hailing" them in social interactions

laconic (en)

(adjective) using or involving the use of a minimum of words; concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious

lacuna (en)

an unfilled space; a gap (plural: lacunae)

misprision (en)

(noun; historical; law) the deliberate concealment of one's knowledge of a treasonable act or a felony; (literary) Harold Bloom's term for when strong writers misinterpret their literary predecessors so as to clear imaginative space for themselves

pallid (en)

(adjective) deficient in color; wan / (adjective) lacking sparkle or liveliness; dull

paterfamilias (en)

(noun) the male head of a household / (noun) the father of a family / (noun) a man who originates or is a leading figure in something (as a movement, discipline, or enterprise)

propitiousness (en)

(adjective) favorably disposed; benevolent / (adjective) being a good omen; auspicious / (adjective) tending to favor; advantageous

quiddity (en)

(noun) the inherent nature or essence of someone or something; a distinctive feature; a peculiarity

remanded (en)

(verb) ; to order back; as / (verb) to send back (a case) to another court or agency for further action / (verb) to return to custody pending trial or for further detention

sententia (en)

a brief moral saying taken from ancient or popular or other sources, often quoted without context; as an adjective, means either given to aphoristic expression, or just referring to an aphoristic expression. or: 'in a way that tries to sound important or intelligent, especially by expressing moral judgements'

weltschmerz (en)

a feeling of melancholy and world-weariness; coined by German author Jean Paul

writ large (en)

clear and obvious, in a stark or exaggerated form