Vote for the best verboticism.
DEFINITION: v. To pretend to forget an embarrassing act or event. n. A person who pretends to forget embarrassing moments or actions.
Verboticisms
Click on each verboticism to read the sentences created by the Verbotomy writers, and to see your voting options...
You have two votes. Click on the words to read the details, then vote your favorite.
Shambush
Created by: TJayzz
Pronunciation: Sham-bush
Sentence: Asked what it felt like to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor the new president cleverly avoided the question by faking a shambush and pretending he didn't know who the interviewer was talking about.
Etymology: Sham(fake) + Bush(Surname of the previous president of the USA)
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COMMENTS:
Cleverly crafted sentence! Avoiding the press's ambush with shambush! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-22: 11:04:00
funny - Jabberwocky, 2009-01-22: 12:38:00
Oh, my...wish I'd seen this before I used up all my votes! Love it. - readerwriter, 2009-01-22: 16:20:00
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Defactualize
Created by: Stevenson0
Pronunciation: de/fak/choo/al/ize
Sentence: All politicans, from the lowliest elected, to the President of the United States, must be able to defactualize certain happenings in order to be diplomatic and appear inclusive, accepting and tolerant of all people and situations.
Etymology: DEFACTUALIZE - verb - from DE (added to form verbs applying removal, or reversal) + FACT (something that actually happened, or exists) + ACTUALIZE (actual; to realize in action)
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COMMENTS:
Superb sentence and word! Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was some way to deactivate those who defactualize? - silveryaspen, 2009-01-22: 11:01:00
Great word...like when we unhire someone at work, we decruit them! - Nosila, 2009-01-22: 20:16:00
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Dismisremember
Created by: milorush
Pronunciation: (v.) dĭs-mĭs'rĭ-měm'bər
Sentence: Geoffrey's wife reveled in reminding him of of his drunken debauchery at her brother's wedding reception. It wasn't that he dismisremembered the event -- it was just that the entire night was a tequila-induced fog.
Etymology: mismis[s] + [mis]remember
Oliberate
Created by: Nuwanda
Pronunciation: o-lib-er-ate
Sentence: Rather than obliterating his vanquished foe, the commander-in-chief demonstrated his ultimate coolness by oliberating him instead. With the whole world watching, he took the high road, though he had to clear a lot of brush off it because it had been untraveled for so long. If only he knew someone who was good at clearing brush. Oh yeah, not going to go there.
Etymology: A twist on the word obliterate, to incorporate liberate and to pay tribute to the O of the mOment.
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COMMENTS:
Well-crafted endings ... of both sentence and etymology! Oliberate is such a highly hopeful word. Obama has inferred comparisons to Lincoln, MLK, Kenedy and so many others, so I also thought it very clever that this brings to mind The Great Liberator, Simon Bolivar. - silveryaspen, 2009-01-22: 01:36:00
Good word and interesting sentence, good wordplay! - Nosila, 2009-01-22: 20:14:00
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Magnabuncogentleapsimous
Created by: metrohumanx
Pronunciation: mag-nuh-bun-CO-gentle-APSE-ih-muss (magnabuncogentleapsimist)
Sentence: Everyone thought the churlish knave deserved the attentions of the Spanish Inquisition, but the guy in charge was far too MAGNABUNCOGENTLEAPSIMOUS to agree. Better to let history decide when all the VOTES ARE IN. After all, it's not like he MADOFF with everyone's money and lounges around chuckling in a COMFY CHAIR whilst gazing down from his multi-million dollar aerie.
Etymology: MAGNAnimous+ BUNco +COGEnt +geNTLE +lAPSE +magnamIMOUS= MAGNABUNCOGENTLEAPSIMOUS MAGNANIMOUS:showing or suggesting nobility of feeling and generosity of mind;Latin magnanimus, from magnus great + animus spirit.....BUNCO:a swindling game or scheme,anything patently false;perhaps alteration of Spanish banca bench, banking, bank in gambling, from Italian.....COGENT:appealing forcibly to the mind or reason,having power to compel or constrain;Latin cogent-, cogens, present participle of cogere to drive together, collect, from co- + agere to drive.....GENTLE:tractable , docile,free from harshness, sternness, or violence,chivalrous,honorable, distinguished,suited to a person of high social station;Middle English gentil, from Anglo-French, from Latin gentilis of a gens, of one's family, from gent-gens, nation; akin to Latin gignere to beget,..... LAPSE:a slight error typically due to forgetfulness or inattention,a temporary deviation or fall especially from a higher to a lower state;Latin lapsus, from labi to slip.....IMOUS: a little-known peripheral device developed by Apple whose production was suddenly termina... strike that last one from the record.
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COMMENTS:
Sorry- no "leap" involved...unless it's voluntarily onto the pavement below. - metrohumanx, 2009-01-22: 06:04:00
Interesting word, m, although way too short! - Nosila, 2009-01-22: 20:11:00
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Forgetwit
Created by: artr
Pronunciation: fərgetwit
Sentence: As he took up the mantle of his new job, Barry took the high road and chose to ignore the blunders of his predecessor — to forgetwit. It was not an easy thing to do.
Etymology: forget (fail to remember) + twit (fool)
Shiftyeyenesia
Created by: youngin105
Pronunciation:
Sentence: When someone has been caught pretending to have forgotten an embarrassing event: 'God, what a shiftyeyenesiac!'
Etymology: Shifty-eye: motion associated with guilt and/or embarrassment + nesia: the latter part of 'amnesia'.
Pretendshuhsh
Created by: Jabberwocky
Pronunciation: pree/tend/sh/huh/sh
Sentence: Sally was so pretendshuhsh that she would never acknowledge recognizing the employee at the liquor store who routinely pushed her heavily laden cart around the store.
Etymology: pretend + huh? + shush + hush + pretentious
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COMMENTS:
Great combo. Great word. - silveryaspen, 2009-01-22: 10:55:00
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Washingone
Created by: mweinmann
Pronunciation: wash - ing - gone
Sentence: When in Washington, it is often to your advantage to play Washingone when you are asked too many questions about which you are unsure of the "best" answers to; especially when you are asked by media representatives who will broadcast your responses to be seen by millions of viewers.
Etymology: Wash + Washing + Washington + Gone --- Wash(ing) (the work of cleansing (usually with soap and water;Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the original) - Washington (the capital of the United States in the District of Columbia) - Gone (destroyed or killed)
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COMMENTS:
Sometimes those in DC also inspires Wishingone! Capital create! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-22: 10:52:00
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Blunderhush
Created by: OZZIEBOB
Pronunciation: Bluhn-der-HUHSH
Sentence: Even though the weather forecaster warned of a hot day ahead, we looked forward to our afaring to town. The train came along on time. But where would we sit? Not a seat to be found. Another stop; a further folk-throng squeeze themselves somehow through the doors into this airless "coffin". One stop from "heaven", a few sweaty, weary wayfarers alight, but still my 102 year old grandmother is standing. We arrive at where we want to be. As we stumble blindly from the train, the Minister of Transport, "undergoing the hardships" of daily travel, chirms from the platform," Did you all have a good trip." His thoughtless hooting is met with blunderhush; until gran's voice breaks the wordless still: " Better you give up your day job and go into selling saunas."
Etymology: Blunder : To bungle, botch act stupid & Hush: silence or quitness; to suppress mention of.
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COMMENTS:
tERRORific. Great granny! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-22: 10:49:00
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Feigngotten
Created by: GlobalGallery
Pronunciation: Fayn-got-ten
Sentence: "Are you fit to hold a drivers licence? How many other accidents have you caused?", asked the curious reporter from the Channel 6 News Team. "None!" barked the heiress, wobbly on her feet. Clearly she'd feigngotten about the two other luxury sedans she had written off earlier that December.
Etymology: 1.Feign - to pretend. 2.Forgotten - unable to be recalled.
Selectdumb
Created by: silveryaspen
Pronunciation: See lekt dumb ...
Sentence: Barey put on his swim suit, threw a towel over his shoulder, and headed out the door of his luxury suite in the swankest hotel in town. As he was entering the lobby, the desk clerk, Sally, saw him. Sally hurried to him, catching him in the middle of the lobby. "Sir, you can't wear your swim suit in the lobby" She admonished. Without saying a word, he took off his swim suit and handed it to her. Barey, naked, proceeded to the pool. After several complaints from other guests about the incident, the manager called Sally into his office. "You are in serious trouble and may lose your job. What did you say to Barey in the lobby, that made him take off his swim suit and give it to you?" Sally decided her only chance to keep her job, was to practice careful selectdumb. Sally replied, "Barey who? What swimsuit? What are you talking about?"
Etymology: SELECTION, DUMB. // SELECTION - a careful choosing, especially when choosing what to remember. // DUMB - as in playing dumb, pretending not to know/remember.
Chagret
Created by: jajsr
Pronunciation: Sha-gr-ette
Sentence: When asked about the former President's news conference, President Obama conveniently chagretted the incident.
Etymology: Mixture of "chagrin" - disquietude or distress of mind caused by humiliation, disappointment or failure; and "forget" - to lose the remembrance of.
Recollectchump
Created by: galwaywegian
Pronunciation: rek oll ek tshump
Sentence: He went from election to recollectchump in mid oath.
Etymology: recollection, chump
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COMMENTS:
Well-said. - silveryaspen, 2009-01-22: 10:54:00
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Shamnesia
Created by: Mustang
Pronunciation: sham-NEEZ-ya
Sentence: Embarrassed at the prospect of actually revealing that he had been doing some personal 'research' on his predecessor, Barry instead created for himself, a state of shamnesia wherein he merely pretended that he knew nothing at all regarding the details of that 'research'.
Etymology: Blend of 'sham' (fake) and 'amnesia' (loss of a large block of interrelated memories)
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COMMENTS:
Can't understand why it isn't in common usage already! well done! - galwaywegian, 2009-01-22: 03:42:00
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Dubbayude
Created by: Nosila
Pronunciation: dub ba yewd
Sentence: When asked by Katie Couric, what was his most emBaracksing moments leading up to winning the election, Obama said it was admitting that he followed GWB into the White House. When asked why he would find that emBaracksing, Obama said he lacked the knack of making up his own words and their meanings and that he had virtually no experience invading foreign countries and making them hate his fellow Americans! He felt like a school janitor. That meant he dubbayude mopping up the verbal diarrhea and intellectual constipation he found himself surrounded by and cleaned up for the next time. You see, he was just Biden his time up until now!
Etymology: dubba (George W. Bush's nickname, one of the kinder ones; also means double) & You'd (you would, too!)
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COMMENTS:
luv the way you play with words and ideas! - silveryaspen, 2009-01-22: 01:06:00
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Whodat
Created by: otherguy
Pronunciation: hoōdat
Sentence: When John took over from the dolt who used to do his job he developed a whodat attitude, acting as if he didn't even know what had been done in the past or the people who had done it.
Etymology: Who: what or which person or people + that: used to identify a specific person or thing observed by the speaker (a play on Who's that? a question you might ask if you are trying to forget someone)
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COMMENTS:
Simple. To the point. I like it. - artr, 2009-01-22: 06:44:00
nice - galwaywegian, 2009-01-22: 14:31:00
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Electamnesia
Created by: kateinkorea
Pronunciation: e LEKT am NEE zha
Sentence: The leader was told that if he was asked any questions that might embarrass him to just use his electamnesia strategy.
Etymology: SELECT: choose ELECT: choose or to select by vote AMNESIA: to forget
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COMMENTS:
Got my vote...but I can't remember. - Nosila, 2009-01-22: 20:20:00
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Comments:
Verbotomy - 2009-01-22: 00:01:01
Today's definition was suggested by Mustang. Thank you Mustang. ~ James
metrohumanx - 2009-01-22: 06:33:00
Well, they found methane on Mars. Now we have to find the Martian cows responsible for the bovine flatulence.
silveryaspen - 2009-01-22: 11:12:00
readerwriter - 2009-01-22: 16:19:00
It's the one who jumped over the moon, Metro...
Nosila - 2009-01-22: 20:08:00
Isn't Mars part of the Milky Way?
Verbotomy - 2014-10-24: 00:01:00
Today's definition was suggested by Mustang. Thank you Mustang. ~ James