~ ~ Wondrous Words Wednesday ~ ~

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Bermudaonion's Weblog where we share words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun and be sure to leave a link to your post over at Bermudaonion's Weblog.

These words are from The Pumpkin Eater by Daphne Merkin 

She was nineteen at the time, a dark, gamine beauty who years later would be momentarily mistaken by a waiter for Audrey Hepburn. 

1. Gamine   {noun}

[gam-een, -in, ga-meen]

1. a neglected girl who is left to run about the streets.

2. a diminutive or very slender girl, especially one who is pert, impudent, or playfully mischievous.

 

Despite the discord at home, the family was featured as a gleaming image of fecundity on all fronts for numerous newspaper and magazine articles, with John becoming ever more renowned for his plays and prowess at the bar. 

2. Fecundity  -noun

[fi-kuhn-di-tee]

1. extant copies of books produced in the earliest stages (before 1501) of printing from movable type.

2. the earliest stages or first traces of anything.

 

 

I must say that for a young man with his life in front of him to saddle himself with a brood of children and a wife as plain feckless as this daughter of mine seems to me lunacy.

 

3. Feckless  ~ adjective

[fek-lis]

1. ineffective; incompetent; futile: feckless attempts to repair the plumbing.

2. having no sense of responsibility; indifferent; lazy.

 

"It was a mere peccadillo," Jake said abruptly, as though about to recite.

"What?"

"Peccadillo. Bagatelle."

 

4.Peccadillo ~ noun

[pek-uh-dil-oh]

1. a very minor or slight sin or offense; a trifling fault.

 

5.Bagatelle ~ noun

1. something of little value or importance; a trifle.

2. a game played on a board having holes at one end into which balls are to be struck with a cue.

3. a short and light musical composition, typically for the piano.