Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly meme created by Heena Rathore P. It’s a fun way to improve vocabulary by learning new words every week.
To participate, simply do a post with your word and leave the link as a comment on Heena’s WOW post for this week (above link). It’s a nice post to do and will give you some practice with a dictionary, of which there are several online. Illustrations are by no means necessary, but it’s up to you.
Next week, I’ll be looking for a word beginning with the letter n.
Here is my WOW for this week:
Word: mellifluous
Pronunciation: mel·lif·lu·ous [muh–lif-loo-uh s] (mə-lĭf′lo͞o-əs)
Part of Speech: Adjective
Adverb: mellifluously; Noun: melliflousness
Meaning
1. (of sounds or utterances) having a smooth, flowing sound (e.g. a mellifluous voice)
2. sweetened with or as if with honey
Synonyms:
sweet, sweet-sounding, sweet-toned, dulcet, honeyed, mellow, soft, smooth, silvery, liquid, soothing, rich, euphonious, harmonious, tuneful, musical, lyrical, lyric, melodic, melodious, mellifluent
Antonyms:
unlyrical, cacophanous
Word Origin:
C15: from Late Latin mellifluus flowing with honey, from Latin mel honey + fluere to flow
Use in a Sentence:
1. I eventually nodded off to sleep, lulled by the mellifluous tones of the nightingale.
2. Gerald was enraptured by the mellifluous sounds of the string instruments.
3. The little stream that flowed beneath the bridge made beautifully mellifluous gurgling sounds.
4. James struggled to tear his eyes from the mellifluous movement of the model’s hips.
4. (Adverb) I am delighted to meet you, Miss Peacock,’ the bank manager intoned mellifluously.
If you’d like to view more interesting word, the visit Heena’s page:
Millie Thom 
I put my link on the original site so you can decline the other message. I got confused.
Hi Serene. I’m probably getting too old to think straight, but I’m not sure which of your messages to reply to. You say I should decline the other message, so I’ll do that. I followed the link to your post and read your lovely little piece about mellifluous. It expalins the meaning of the word very well. 🙂
Had you already written that before I did my post, or is it in response to mine? I’m more confused than you.
This is a tongue twister to say for me. It sounds smooth and tuneful. You have some good examples how to use it. Thanks a lot
Thank you for liking the word and example sentences. Ineke. 🙂 I imagine it could be a tongue twister to anyone who speaks English as a second language. Perhaps I ought to start putting an audio link to my WOW posts. You’ve given me something to think about there, so thank you for that. 🙂
Good on you, would be very helpful and interesting!
I wrote it after and I posted to your site instead of the wow site without reading the directions well. I thought I was supposed to use the word not put in a new word. I misunderstood the challenge. Please ignore my dorkiness.
Oh, I understand dorkiness all too well, Serene. I have a hard time getting through a day without it.
You pick such great words! That’s one you rarely hear and I’m laughing away to myself here as that’s two weeks running you picked words that make me squirm! Thanks for digging out a goodun!
Thanks, Bekki. The best part about
doing these posts is finding pictures to illustrate the word. It’s fun to make up the sentences. There are lots of great words I could pick for every letter, but finding illustrations is difficult for a lot of them. Sometimes I have to search for pics for the synonyms, which often fit. 🙂
Sounds fun – but high maintenance. You do make some great sentence/picture choices.
Thank you!
I’ve reading your beautiful blog posts fro a while, but I have never got a chance to hear your mellifluous voice sweetie 😉
*for a while
I’m not sure how mellifluous my speaking voice is, Khloe! I love to sing, though, so that might be a little bit better! haha. 🙂
I’m sure your voice is mellifluous voice to make your singing brilliant 😉 Would love to hear you sing 🙂
Well thank you, Khloe. I used to sing in a few choirs years ago, but not in recent years. I’m more likely to croak nowadays. 🙂
You’re welcome dear 🙂 It’s ok…Practice makes perfect 😉
Or this:
I sipped tea with lemon, listened to Martin’s mellifluous speech, and I could not rid myself of the impression that something new had appeared in their apartment, some kind of joyous, mysterious palpitation, as happens, for instance, in a home where there is a young mother-to-be.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov
Well, that was an interesting read. I’m not sure whether it really is a quote from a work by V.V.Nabakov, or you’ve just attached his name to a piece of your own, 🙂
Either way, I’m guessing you’re someone I was chatting with earlier… Or perhaps not.
Thank you for the lovely piece/comment. Having had six children, I know all too well about the “mysterious palpitation” you talk about. 🙂
I promise you: authentic, glorious, honey laden Nabokov from ‘Russian Spoken Here.’
I can’t wait – as long as you’ve translated it into English first.
I immediately thought of birds when I saw this wow…. and a good baritone voice perhaps. I can see you using this word in your writing, Millie
I have used it because I love the flowing sound of the word. It really suits a babbling brook kind of thing as well as a voice. Somehow I prefer it to melodious, which is also a nice word. Thanks, Amanda. 🙂
Such a beautiful word Millie! Even I though of birds as soon as I read it!
Thanks 🙂