Today's words

I haven't seen a WOTD that caught my attention on the site in a while, but I haven't been checking daily so I figured I should look back at the archive for any I've missed of late. I found a few new ones - well, new to me, of course.

longueur \lawn-GUR\ - a dull and tedious passage or section (as of a book, play, or musical composition) — usually used in plural

I've encountered plenty of these, and it seems to me that I've probably seen the word before, too.

claque \KLAK\ - 1. a group hired to applaud at a performance  2. a group of sycophants

All my new words for the year seem to be of French lineage. There are times I wish I had one of these of my own.

solecism \SAH-luh-sih-zum\ - 1. an ungrammatical combination of words in a sentence; also : a minor blunder in speech  2. something deviating from the proper, normal, or accepted order 3. a breach of etiquette or decorum

Okay, this one doesn't seem to have passed through French to get to us. These drive me crazy, especially when I'm the solecist.

ne plus ultra \nay-plus-UL-truh\ - 1. the highest point capable of being attained : acme  2. the most profound degree of a quality or state

I think I probably don't need any more vocabulary that means something like this, but at least I might recognize it if I see it again.