Darkness there and nothing more …*
Only ten days until our “once in a Blue Moon” full moon Halloween! Are you already beginning to nervously whip around corners, seeing nothing, but left with a feeling of spinetingling spookiness?
Our third week of weird Halloween Wordplay lurks in the shadows to make your days eerie and your nights …
TENEBRIFIC (,te-nɘ-ʹbri-fik; 1785) adj. – 1) gloomy; 2) causing gloom or darkness. [WW #291]
As we slip-slide through pumpkin pulp into the latter half of October, we run around the corner headlong toward the tenebrific shadows of All Hallows Eve.
Create your own creepy story with an ominous character … “Quick! Turn away! Its tenebrific stare will turn you to stone!” Or into a bat … or a donkey … heehee.Tenebrific need not be associated only with Halloween or evil monsters. Everyday writing can benefit from its dark connotation.
“He stepped from tenebrific murkiness to bright sunlight and cheers, after two weeks lost in the cave.”
My thought is to leave the tenebrific mood of the past several months at Halloween’s doorstep. Let Samhain swallow the last of our gloom-and-doom. Rejoice in the light and love of Thanksgiving and Christmas … and a New Year that represents (and may even celebrate) the many changes in all our lives.
Word Challenge: TENEBRIFIC. Be it gloomy or just dark, wrest your mind from the shadows as you fit tenebrific into your week of transformative writings and creepy conversations.
*From Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (1845)
Learning knows no prejudices or boundaries, and it isn’t fattening! Expanding your mind is a no-cost, simple joy. Do you feel that way too? What’s your inspiration? Share your creative genius and Wordplay Wednesday comments below.
Write first for yourself … only then can you write for others. (L.Rochelle)
Cheers to learning a new word today!
Wicked Witch of the West
@PenchantForPen
@Irishwriter
[LinDee Rochelle is a writer and editor by trade, and an author by way of Rock & Roll. She has published two books in her Blast from Your Past series (of three) about pioneering R&R Radio DJs. True behind-the-mic tales make GREAT Holiday and anytime Gifts available on Amazon (eBook and print): Book 1 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The First Five Years 1954-1959; and Book 2 – Rock & Roll Radio DJs: The Swinging Sixties. Coming soon … The Psychedelic Seventies!]
LR Notes: 1) Dictionary definitions are quoted from Webster’s New World College Dictionary. Yes, we sometimes present them out of “official” context—but that’s half the fun! Think of it as “creative context.” 2) a] Recent dictionary additions to definitions include a date of first use, if known; b] words in small caps indicate “see also.” 3) Neither I (LinDee Rochelle) nor Penchant for Penning are responsible for how you use information found here, that may result in legal action.
E-N-Dzzzzzzzz
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