Dictionary.com Word of the Day (46-50)

Pikachu: "It's getting late and school should be ending soon. It's about time we packed up and prepare to leave. But before we do, we should go online and look at some of the words on Dictionary.com. They have a unique assortment of words we can observe."
Pichu brothers: "You're right! Look at all those words!"

46) pseudoclassic (Jan. 10, 2013)

• Source 1: "pseudoclassic \ soo-doh-KLAS-ik \ , adjective;
  "1.Falsely or spuriously classic.
  "2.Imitating the classic: the pseudoclassic style of some modern authors" (Dictionary.com).

• Definition: n. "pretending to be or erroneously regarded as classic" (Merriam-Webster).

• Source 2: "She hurried along till she came to what, from the pseudoclassic appearance of the structure, seemed aplace of dissenting worship."
• Newte, Horace W. C. Sparrows. London: Mills and Boon, n.d. Digital file.

• Commentary: The prefix pseudo- can be defined as "false", falsifying the word that proceeds it. Thus, a pseudoclassic is falsely classical. Although it modifies the word classic, pseudo- does not change the proper usage of the word in a sentence's structure. The word pseudoclassic can act as an adjective or verb, similar to the word classic.

47)  anacoluthon (Oct. 10, 2012)

• Source 1: "anacoluthon \an-uh-kuh-LOO-thon\ , noun:
  "1. A construction involving a break in grammatical sequence, as It makes me so—I just get angry.
  "2. An instance of anacoluthia." (Dictionary.com).

• Definition: n. "syntactical inconsistency or incoherence within a sentence;especially : a shift in an unfinished sentence from one syntactic construction to another (as in “you really ought—well, do it your own way”)" (Merriam-Webster).

• Source 2: "She employed, not from any refinement of style, but in order to correct her imprudences, abrupt breaches of syntax not unlike that figure which the grammarians call anacoluthon or some such name."
• Proust, Marcel, C. K. Scott-Moncrieff, Joseph Wood Krutch, and F. A. Blossom.Remembrance of Things past. New York: Random House, 1934. Print.

• Commentary: Anacoluthons are most common in fiction and informal nonfiction. I have seen them most often in the monologue of fiction novels, where the speaker changes his mind mid-sentence on what he wishes to express.

48) amygdaliform (Nov. 25, 2012)

• Source 1: "amygdaliform \uh-MIG-duh-luh-fawrm\ , adjective:
  "Shaped like an almond." (Dictionary.com).

• Definition: adj. "almond-shaped." (Dictionary.com).

• Source 2: "The size and shape of the spores are quite distinctive (globose to subglobose, ovoid, elongate and often almond-shaped – amygdaliform) and with surface ornamentation which may be coarse or fine and individual ornamentation may be low or high and blunt and pointed."
• Wood, Alec. What Cortinarius Is That? N.p.: n.p., n.d. PDF.

• Commentary: My first impression was that the word was really long and must have an extremely complicated definition to match it. After reading the definition, I found out otherwise. The word appears to be a classier way to describe something shaped like an almond, as displayed in the second source. Saying that an eye is amygdaliform sounds much more sophisticated than commenting that it is almond-shaped. 

49) empurple  (Dec. 1, 2012)

• Source 1: "empurple \em-PUR-puhl\ , verb:
  "1. To color or become purple or purplish.
  "2. To darken or redden; flush." (Dictionary.com). 

• Definition: n. "transitive verb: to tinge or color purple; intransitive verb: to become purple" (Merriam-Webster).

• Source 2: "On one side are baby grapes whose petals yet fall; on another the clusters empurple towards full growth."
• Homer, and S. O. Andrew. The Oddyssey. London: Dent, 1948. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.

• Commentary: Upon first glance, I thought it would mean something similar to becoming purple, but such a definition appeared to simple. The prefix em- can be defined as causing something to be in another state (in this case, purple). What I found peculiar was that purple is not a specially common color, but it is the only color that can be attached to em- in order to create another word. There is no such word as "emred" or "emblue", though red and blue are more common colors.

50) decathect (Jan. 10, 2013)

• Source 1 and Definition: "decathect \dee-kuh-THEKT\ , verb:
  "To withdraw one's feelings of attachment from (a person, idea, or object), as in anticipation of a future loss: He decathected from her in order to cope with her impending death." (Dictionary.com).

• Source 2: "Jonathan was the name of the boy in the pagoda with Michael. 'He will continue manipulating Jonathan. We must get Jonathan to decathect from Michael.'"
• Potok, Chaim. The Promise. New York: Knopf, 1969. Digital file.

• Commentary: Decathecting is a common reaction among humans. People who want to protect themselves from loss oftentimes remove themselves from the situation and hide from the inevitable. Whether or not such an action is healthy is debatable, but those who decathect frequently regret not being present to experience the loss.

Works Cited

Source 1:
"Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.

Definitions:

"Definitions and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
"Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.