Nadir

Noun

Lowest point

As Joey waited in line to audition for the diaper commercial, he realized he had reached the nadir of his acting career

Synonyms: bottom; depth; pit

Naive

Adj

Lacking sophistication or experience

Inexperienced writers often are naive and assume that big words make them sound smarter

Synonyms: artless; credulous; guileless; ingenuous; simple; unaffected; unsophisticated

Neologism

Noun

New word or expression

Aunt Mabel simply does not understand today's youth; she is perplexed by their clothing, music, and neologisms

Synonyms: slang; slip-of-the-tongue

Noisome

Adj

Stinking; putrid

A dead mouse trapped in your walls produces a noisome odor

Synonyms: disgusting; foul; malodorous

Nascent

Adj

Starting to develop; coming into existence

The advertising campaign was still in a nascent stage, and nothing had been finalized yet

Synonyms: embryonic; emerging; inchoate; incipient

Nettle

Verb

To irritate

I don't particularly like having blue hair - I just do it to nettle my parents

Synonyms: annoy; vex

Neophyte

Noun

Novice; beginner

A relatice neophyte at bowling, Rodolfo rolled all of his balls into the gutter

Synonyms: apprentice; greenhorn; tyro

Nominal

Adj

Existing in name only; negligible

A nominal but far from devoted member of the high school yearbook committee, she rarely attends meetings

Synonyms: minmal; titular

Numismatics

Noun

Coin collecting

Tomas's passion for numismatics has resulted in an impressive collection of coins from all over the world

Nuance

Noun

A subtle expression of meaning or quality

The scholars argued for hours over tiny nuances in the interpretation of the last line of the poem

Synonyms: gradation; subtlety; tone