exencephalous means relating to exencephaly. It carries an Arena rating of 1282, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, exencephalous ranks #841 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,617 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,702 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,527 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words.
Why “exencephalous” is a great word
Relating to or characterized by the brain's development outside the protective vault of the skull. From the Greek prefix ex- ("out of, outside") and encephalos ("brain"), with the English adjectival suffix -ous. Unlike "anencephalous" (which denotes a catastrophic absence) or "encephalocele" (which specifies a sac-like herniation), "exencephalous" describes a presence where there should be none—the mind's substance exposed, a private organ made public. It is the raw, glistening weight of neural matter exposed to air, the fragile pulse of a cortex beneath translucent membrane, the quiet warmth of a brain resting where it should never be; a word that holds the precise horror of a thing being both utterly present and profoundly out of place, as if the body had unzipped itself at the crown.
adj
- Relating to exencephaly
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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