Top 100 List of Dictionary Words: Most Unusual Words You Should Know

Here is our top list of dictionary words that you can add to your writing. Read our guide.

Although the exact number of words in the English language is still uncertain, we use more than 170,000 common and unusual words today. Unusual English words can make your writing and speaking more interesting. Check out our list of the most extraordinary words to expand your vocabulary and upgrade your writing skills.

What Are Unusual Words?

These are the words recorded in different dictionary versions that are not usually used in conversation or writing. However, some writers employ unusual words because they are fun, unique, and sometimes the only way to get their message across or to immerse readers in a specific historical era or fantasy setting. 

Aboideau	Hospitium	Quell
Abord	Hypnosis	Quincunx
Adhibit	Idyllic	Quintessence
Agastopia	Impignorate	Quire
Ambiguous	Immure	Quixotic
Aurora	Incendiary	Rambunctious
Barmcloths	Jejune	Renaissance
Bastinade	Jentacular	Sanguine
Bungalow	Kakorrhaphiophobia	Scrumptious
Bypass	Levant	Serene
Cachinnate	Limerence	Serendipity
Caffoy	Lithest	Snood
Calvary	Loquacious	Tenacious
Capricious	Lucid	Tintinnabulation
Chads	Mabble	Tittynopes
Cherish	Melancholy	Triskaidekaphobia
Cynical	Mellifluous	Ulotrichous
Dap	Misanthrope	Uncanny
Deliquescent	Narrative	Uranism
Decalcomania	Nebulize	Vamp
Demure	Nemesis	Velleity
Dragoman	Nostalgic	Wanderlust
Eclaircise	Nudiustertian	Wanton
Eftsoons	Obdurate	Wherewithal
Elixir	Omnishambles	Winklepicker
Esoteric	Opulence	Xenophobia
Euphoria	Paradox	Xertzes
Flabbergast	Pejorate	Yarborough
Flimflam	Persiflage	Yawner
Floccinaucinihilipilification	Perspicacious	Yearn
Gallizes	Pique	Zealot
Guise	Plethora	Zenith
Halfpace	Pristine
Hent	Quackles

Unusual Nouns

The English dictionary has thousands of fancy and uncommon words you can see in some writings but won’t be able to hear in conversations. Like other nouns, people use these words to name living and non-living things.

1. Agastopia

Her previous penchant for touching her neck has turned into an agastopia.

2. Chads

Niki has a talent for creating art using chads of different paper types.

3. Flimflam

His explanation for cheating on his wife is a complete flimflam.

4. Floccinaucinihilipilification

Floccinaucinihilipilification is a 29-character word among the longest words in the English dictionary.

5. Halfpace

The client requests a larger halfpace with bigger storage space under the stairs.

6. Kakorrhaphiophobia

Juliet needs professional help as her Kakorrhaphiophobia now interferes with her daily life.

7. Limerence

Jay doesn’t know if what he feels towards his friend is love or pure limerence.

8. Omnishambles

Derren’s birthday party is disorganized, resulting in omnishambles and more expenses.

9. Persiflage

The brothers’ persiflage demonstrates their fondness for each other.

10. Quincunx

Our dance teacher loves using the quincunx formation in our performances.

11. Quire

To complete our medieval era theme, we must create quire manuscripts.

12. Serendipity

My best serendipity was when mom made me clean out the attic, and I found vintage and branded clothes.

13. Snood

The wife knits a snood to keep her husband’s neck warm in the coming winter.

14. Tintinnabulation

Jake rushes to his window at the sound of familiar tintinnabulation from the streets below.

15. Tittynopes

Mom asked the waiter to pack our tittynopes so she could give them to our animals at home.

16. Triskaidekaphobia

If you notice that most high buildings don’t have a 13th floor, it’s because the owners and contractors have triskaidekaphobia.

17. Velleity

World peace lately seems like a velleity. 

18. Winklepicker

My dad has winklepicker boots because they remind him of his favorite British rock band, Teddy Boys.

19. Yarborough

Gray accepts his loss as he looks at the yarborough in his hand.

20. Zenith

No one knows when he will reach the zenith of his popularity.

Unusual Adjectives

Adjectives describe the characteristics and features of a person, thing, animal, place, and others. Unusual adjectives are essential because profound and unusual words make the description more beautiful and compelling.

21. Ambiguous

The new president has ambiguous dreams for the country.

22. Capricious

His lab results for the past three months have been very capricious.

23. Cynical

Having Alexa as a group leader is terrible because she has a cynical view of everything.

24. Deliquescent

Our chemistry teacher asked us to bring a deliquescent substance for our experiment tomorrow.

25. Esoteric

Sunshine presents esoteric ideas to her managers that they do not clearly understand.

26. Jentacular

Johnny likes to upload videos of his post-jentacular exercise on his social media accounts.

27. Loquacious

Hani is a loquacious member and deserves to represent the team during the discussions.

28. Lucid

Her lucid dreams make her believe she’s a modern prophet.

29. Narrative

Our English professor mentions a 5,000-word narrative essay about life goals as our final project.

30. Nostalgic

Folding my late grandfather’s clothes gives me a nostalgic feeling.

31. Nudiustertian

You should have told me you couldn’t do that nudiustertian afternoon when we were together.

32. Obdurate

Kevin has a very obdurate attitude that always causes friction in their relationship.

33. Perspicacious

A good leader must have great perspicacious thinking.

34. Quixotic

In most cases, children create quixotic goals and change them as they grow.

35. Scrumptious

Just thinking about my mother-in-law’s scrumptious dish makes my mouth water.

36. Serene

I recommend going to a serene place away from the city and technology for total relaxation.

37. Tenacious

His tenacious studying keeps him on top of the students’ ranking.

38. Ulotrichous

Mikaela has always had ulotrichous hair and wants to see if straight hair suits her.

39. Uncanny

The cook has an uncanny way of cooking and serving seafood to customers.

40. Wanton

The people accuse the witch of all the wanton killings that recently happened in their town.

Unusual Verbs

Unusual action words are primarily for formal pieces and in novels, stories, and other narrative writings.

41. Abord

I want to abord the transfer student, but she doesn’t want to talk to anyone.

42. Adhibit

As your life coach, I hope you will adhibit what you learned from this retreat.

43. Bastinade

The police chief had no choice but to allow the police to bastinade the protesters as they began to attack other officers.

44. Bypass

According to the map, we must bypass the late president’s old mansion and turn right to reach the destination.

45. Cachinnate

Introverts Aran and Honey cachinnate after hearing the teacher’s dad jokes, surprising everyone in the room.

46. Dap

To ensure catching the fish, gently dap the bait in the water.

47. Eclaircise

Miss Andrews, please eclaircise your statement.

48. Flabbergast

Their performance at tomorrow’s event will surely flabbergast the audience.

49. Gallizes

My mother gallizes the unfermented grape juice to ensure that there is enough for everyone.

50. Hent

Violet is the type of person who will hent every opportunity presented to her.

51. Impignorate

We must impignorate our valuable things to support grandad’s hospital bills.

52. Levant

Be careful about lending money to James because he can levant as he did with Carla.

53. Mabble

Mabble your paper with a summary of all your research findings.

54. Nebulize

It’s sad to see children having to nebulize a solution to breathe easier.

55. Pejorate

To pejorate the situation, the King’s stubborn brother kidnaps the Queen to force her into marriage.

56. Quackles

Driven by rage, the King quackles his brother to death.

57. Quell

To quell today’s meeting, here are the names of those who will be promoted at the end of the year.

58. Vamp

They plan to vamp their way into the club.

59. Xertzes

You can see the old man’s thirst as he xertzes everything in the bottle to the last drop.

60. Yearn

My mother will always yearn for the return of my father, who disappeared three years ago.

Unusual Beautiful English Words

English will always be laden with words depicting beauty in all shapes and forms. These terms often engross readers and listeners with a story’s whimsical elements. They are also for positive or motivational messages.

61. Aurora

You’re like a beautiful aurora that lightens up my dark life.

62. Bungalow

If I buy a new place to stay, it will be a bungalow house.

63. Cherish

I promise to cherish all our memories together.

64. Demure

Many people like Lilly because of her demure personality.

65. Elixir

The healer made the King drink an elixir that cured his illness.

66. Euphoria

He has always been by my side and loves me for me. He’s my ultimate euphoria.

67. Idyllic

I want to have an idyllic love story, but real life isn’t a fairytale.

68. Incendiary

Clyde’s parents are concerned about his obsession with incendiary objects.

69. Lithest

Of all the dance club members, Jimmy has the lithest moves.

70. Mellifluous

The singer’s mellifluous voice makes for a great jazz album.

71. Nemesis

He’s my nemesis but also my greatest friend.

72. Opulence

He is a billionaire with a good heart who shows off his opulence by regularly donating to various organizations.

73. Paradox

He is a true example of paradox – what he says contradicts his actions.

74. Plethora

It’s funny that we only get a plethora of messages on our birthdays and never when we actually need someone to talk to.

75. Pristine

My husband is obsessed with keeping our kitchen as pristine as it was when we first moved in.

76. Quintessence

Many believe that the late president Franklin D. Roosevelt is the quintessence of a good and effective leader.

77. Renaissance

Let’s watch “The Serpent Queen” I heard it’s set during the renaissance period.

78. Sanguine

Our manager remains sanguine that we will hit the quota tomorrow.

79. Wanderlust

He’s about to fulfill his wanderlust as he is now a cabin crew member of the Royal Caribbean.

80. Wherewithal

Mae can’t get her school records because she doesn’t have the wherewithal to pay her balances.

More Unusual Words in the English Dictionary

Knowing more unusual words broadens knowledge and deepens your appreciation of the language. Expand your vocabulary with these words that you can use in different writings and situations.

81. Aboideau

Mayor Rodriguez is asking for an order to open the aboideau to prevent the dam from breaking to avoid a bigger disaster.

82. Barmcloths

The restaurant owner smiles when he sees all his kitchen staff wearing barmcloths.

83. Caffoy

I’m looking for a caffoy suit to wear to the school prom on Saturday.

84. Calvary

Until now, she’s still experiencing calvary on the passing of her grandmother.

85. Decalcomania

Ryan uses the decalcomania technique in producing his beautiful glass art.

86. Dragoman

My sister has been a dragoman in Saudi Arabia for a decade.

87. Eftsoons

They were lost but found the right way back to their camp in eftsoons.

88. Genophobia

Richard is the only one who stays with Sophia even when she admits she has genophobia.

89. Hospitium

Mark doesn’t have a choice but to send her mother to a hospitium to earn money to support both of them.

90. Hypnosis

Some of our patients are put under hypnosis to relax their minds before a medical procedure.

91. Immure

Everyone is helping the victim to immure her abuser.

92. Jejune

Since he’s the youngest, he still has a very jejune understanding of his surroundings.

93. Melancholy

He didn’t understand why he suddenly felt melancholy after finishing the movie.

94. Misanthrope

Old Henry admits he’s a misanthrope, so he chooses to live in the forest for good.

95. Pique

Out of pique, he gave up his position as the group leader.

96. Rambunctious

The outdoor event becomes rambunctious the moment more people arrive at the venue.

97. Uranism

Did you know that the ancient Greeks practiced uranism to foster strong bonds between masters and apprentices?

98. Xenophobia

It’s good to know politicians are doing their best to stop xenophobia in the country.

99. Yawner

I’m sorry, but your speech a while ago is a yawner.

100. Zealot

Adelle is a zealot of Korean pop and has a massive collection in her room.

Do you want to learn more? See our list of fry words to develop your English.

When editing for grammar, we also recommend taking the time to improve the readability score of a piece of writing before publishing or submitting