Now entering their 12^th year, Wayne State University’s Word Warriors are showing no signs of anagapesis toward the English language.

Rather than footle about in a year that found many of them at home, the Word Warriors continued to be engaged and passionate about resurrecting long-forgotten words. From residents of Detroit to coast-dwelling paralians, participants from around the globe submitted words throughout the year. Far from a group of ultracrepidarians, the Word Warriors once again proved themselves knowledgeable about the language.

Wayne State’s Word Warriors series promotes words especially worthy of retrieval from the linguistic cellar. Its extensive list is composed of submissions from both administrators of the website as well as the public; participants worldwide have seen their favorite words brought back from the brink of obsolescence at wordwarriors.wayne.edu. New entries are posted there — as well as on Facebook — weekly.

“Each year, I’m surprised by the variety of the submissions we receive from around the world,” said Chris Williams, assistant director of editorial services for Wayne State Marketing and Communications, and head of the Word Warriors program. “Our Word Warriors once again provided a batch of words that make our language richer. The English language is so versatile and unique, and we’ve ended up with another list of 10 great words.”

And now, the Word Warriors’ 2021 list of eminently useful words that should be brought back to enrich our language:

• Anagapesis
  • Loss of feelings for someone who was formerly loved.
  • They sat in silence in their usual coffee shop, the anagapesis growing as their drinks cooled.
• Blatteroon
  • A senseless babbler or boaster.
  • The bartender groaned at the string of nonsense coming from the blatteroon in the corner; he could cut off his drinks, but the man was stone-cold sober.
• Brontide
  • A low, muffled sound like distant thunder heard in certain seismic regions, especially along seacoasts and over lakes and thought to be caused by feeble earth tremors.
  • He sat watching the water, his dread enhanced by drone of the brontide.
• Dysania
  • The state of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning.
  • On Mondays, my dysania can cause me to reach for the snooze alarm upward of five times.
• Footle
  • Engage in fruitless activity; mess about.
  • He footled around the house aimlessly, ignoring the checklist of chores his wife had left on the fridge.
• Maleolent
  • Foul-smelling, odorous.
  • The restaurant was set at the end of the street, likely to shield the community from the maleolent fog that wafted from its kitchen.
• Paralian
  • Someone who lives by the sea.
  • He escaped the noise of the city, bought a beach house on the Pacific coast and became a paralian.
• Snollygoster
  • A shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician.
  • The tone of national politics changed when humble public servants were replaced by power-hungry snollygosters.
• Sophronize
  • To imbue with moral principles or self-control.
  • Parents have an obligation to sophronize their children.
• Ultracrepidarian
  • Expressing opinions on matters outside the scope of one’s knowledge or expertise.
  • Many who haven’t had kids are too eager to give ultracrepidarian advice to parents.