oscitate means to gape or yawn. It carries an Arena rating of 1553, earned across 15 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, oscitate ranks #350 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #372 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #816 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,783 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
Why “oscitate” is a great word
To yawn with sleepy or inattentive indifference. From Latin ōscitātus, perfect passive participle of ōscitō, from ōs ("the mouth") + citō ("to cause to move, to put in motion"). First attested in English in 1623. Unlike "yawn" (a common, physiological reflex) or "gawk" (to stare stupidly, without the weariness), to oscitate is to perform the act with a specific, languid vacancy. It is the slow, silent parting of lips in the back row of a dim lecture hall, the involuntary surrender of the jaw during a tedious tale, or the mute, drawn-out breath of a cat on a sun-warmed sill—the body's quiet confession that the mind has already departed.
Etymology
First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin ōscitātus, perfect passive participle of ōscitō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ōs (“the mouth”) + citō (“to cause to move”).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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