O'Reilly's Lexicon of Epithets

Here are ten choice Factor favorite vocabulary words that can be used against you if you get on Bill O'Reilly's bad side.
10 words 341 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. buffoon
    a person who amuses others by ridiculous behavior
    I rolled my eyes, thinking to myself: What a bunch of buffoons these New York literary agents are. Salon (Feb 13, 2013)
  2. curmudgeon
    an irascible, cantankerous person full of stubborn ideas
    Whenever 4-foot children selling Halloween squash ring your doorbell, you’re hamstrung into purchasing one, or risk being labeled the local curmudgeon.
  3. fuddy-duddy
    a person who is old-fashioned in attitude or appearance
    I know I sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but when I went to college, I took a couple of suitcases. New York Times (Aug 24, 2012)
  4. jackanapes
    someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous
    You know nothing about it, and you're an impertinent young jackanapes. Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)
  5. nebbish
    (Yiddish) a timid unfortunate simpleton
    What other sport calls a penalty the next day because a nebbish on his couch had Augusta National Golf Club on his speed-dial? Golf Digest (Apr 13, 2013)
  6. pettifogger
    someone who argues over unimportant details
    "I leave grocers and pettifoggers to wage war with the tongue," answered the knight haughtily. Ingemann, Bernhard Severin
  7. poltroon
    an abject coward
    There’s a chance that your antagonist will post the news that you are a poltroon and, whoops, there go all your dinner-party invitations. Slate (Mar 26, 2014)
  8. popinjay
    a vain and talkative person
    And might we not expect a "dude" to fall into immoderate laughter at the sight of a "popinjay"? Crothers, Samuel McChord
  9. quidnunc
    a person who meddles in the affairs of others
    A genuine quidnunc prefers even false news to no news; he prides himself upon having the first information of things that never happened.
  10. rapscallion
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    “Call the rapscallion—no, I mean the diabolical villain—out and shoot him!” Southworth, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte
Created on Wed Apr 09 12:09:14 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Apr 09 19:10:41 EDT 2014)

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