Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FUSTIAN
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connect this word to others:
Fustian speech and writing is all puffed-up with stiff, stuffy wording.
Something fustian, in other words, is b_mb_stic, or t_m_d. (Can you recall both of those synonyms?)
Now, when I first saw the word fustian in print, I mispronounced it as "FUSS tee un." Whoops. It's actually "FUSS chun," with the final "-ian" pronounced in one syllable, "un," not two, "ee un."
I'm likely to mess that up again in the future unless I draw some connections. I'll need to connect fustian in my mind with other similarly pronounced words. So, when I think of fustian (FUSS chun), I'll think of a Christian (KRISS chun) telling a locustian (low CUSS chun) tale. You know, like this: "What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten. Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth."
The sweet wine is cut off from our mouths? Unfortunate. I mean, fustian.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"FUSTIAN"
Since the year 1200 or so, a particular kind of thick, coarse cloth or fabric has been known as "fustian."
So, since around the year 1593, we've also used the word "fustian" to mean "thick with too many fancy words or phrases."
Pronunciation:
FUSS chun
(If you prefer to say "FUSS tee un," that's okay; that's the accepted pronunciation in British English.)
Part of speech:
Adjective: "these fustian speeches."
Also a noun, the uncountable kind: "all this fustian," "I have no patience for her fustian."
Other forms:
None are common.
How to use it:
This word is scholarly and judgmental.
Use it with care as you talk about fustian speech, writing, literature, discourse, conversation, comments, postings, bragging, blustering, etc.
examples:
"He believes that the British custom of dessert, then cheese, is just a hangover from a bygone age. 'It rather depends whether you're clad in the fustian of Victorian habit or you embrace the common ground with our European cousins,' he says."
— Matthew Fort, as quoted in BBC News, 11 March 2014
"Swagger? Swear? And discourse fustian with one's own shadow? O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!"
— William Shakespeare, Othello, 1622
"The bad taste of Balzac was of a different description; he composed familiar letters in a fustian style. He wrote to the Cardinal de la Valette, that neither in the deserts of Libya, nor in the abyss of the sea, there was so furious a monster as the sciatica; and that if tyrants, whose memory is odious to us, had instruments of cruelty in their possession equal to the sciatica, the martyrs would have endured them for their religion. These emphatic exaggerations..."
— Voltaire, A Philosophical Dictionary, 1901
has this page helped you understand "fustian"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "fustian" without saying "highfalutin" or "pretentious."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) delivers (something) (with all of the usual fustian, OR without any of the usual fustian)."
Example 1: "He introduces the keynote speaker with all of the usual fustian."
Example 2: "He performs the wedding ceremony without any of the usual fustian."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
Our game this month is "Inspired by, but in no way associated with, the game show Chain Reaction."
In each issue, try filling in both puzzles—the easier one and the tougher one—by supplying the terms to complete the chains.
From the previous issue:
An easier puzzle:
Overt
C_______
Resolution
A tougher puzzle:
Sedentary
L________
C_____
Lanes
Answers:
Overt
Conflict
Resolution
Sedentary
Lifestyle
Change
Lanes
Give these a try today:
An easier puzzle:
Coordinate
W___
Impunity
A tougher puzzle:
Kinetic
E_____
D____
Menu
review this word:
1. The opposite of FUSTIAN is
A. OUTSPOKEN.
B. SOFT-SPOKEN.
C. PLAINSPOKEN.
2. Writing for The Telegraph, Dominic Cavendish complains about a play's fustian dialogue, saying it has an air of "_____."
A. crude humor
B. forced antiquity
C. pedestrian politicking
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Fustian speech and writing is all puffed-up with stiff, stuffy wording.
"FUSTIAN" Since the year 1200 or so, a particular kind of thick, coarse cloth or fabric has been known as "fustian."
"He believes that the British custom of dessert, then cheese, is just a hangover from a bygone age. 'It rather depends whether you're clad in the fustian of Victorian habit or you embrace the common ground with our European cousins,' he says."
Explain the meaning of "fustian" without saying "highfalutin" or "pretentious."
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) delivers (something) (with all of the usual fustian, OR without any of the usual fustian)."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. The opposite of FUSTIAN is
|