Neologist

ne-ol-o-gist (niˈɑlədʒəst)

noun

1. a person who coins new words or phrases.

Some clever neologist has been running around the internet trying to make librocubicularist a new word, with varying degrees of success. I did find it on Wordnik, a site that often seems full of neologisms.  

Synonyms: bombast, child, circumlocutionist, poet, teenager, undergrad.

Nebulous

neb-u-lous (nby-ls)

adjective
1. Characterized by a cloud-like haziness.
My understanding of life after death is nebulous at best. I fancy the belief that the soul carries on in some nebulous manner, but, then again, my affection for those fantasies are the direct result of neurochemical reactions in my brain that will cease after my heart stops beating.
2. Vague or ill-defined.
If the second definition for this word isn't nebulous, I have failed at my goals as a logophile.
3. Related to or resembling a nebula.
That diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas is nebulous to say the least.

Synonyms: ambiguous, amorphous, blobby, characterless, cloudy, formless, hazy, inchoate, imprecise, indefinite, indeterminate, indistinct, irregular, misty, murky, nondescript, shadowy, shapeless, uncertain, unclear, unformed, unshapen, unstructured, vague.

* Anything we say about life is nebulous. All we have is now. No one really knows why we are here or what it's all for. All we can do is make the most of what we've got and give everything we have.

Nebby

neb-by (nebē)

adjective
1. Inquisitive without being polite.
Stress makes her nebby. She demands to know without remembering to ask.

Synonyms: forceful, forward, fussy, intrusive, meddlesome, obtrusive, pushy, sharp.

Niggle

nig-gle (nĭgˈəl)

verb
1. To obsess over petty details.
I am resisting the urge to niggle in writing historical fiction, even though excessive research only increases the temptation.
2. To find fault constantly and trivially.
The most difficult people to argue with are those who niggle about your words or phrases, rather than listening to what you have to say.

Synonyms: bother, carp, cavil, censure, complain, criticize, find fault, fuss, grumble, knock, nitpick, objurgate, pain, peck, pick, quibble, reproach.

3. To eat sparingly.
At lunch, I tend to just niggle over treats or whatever else is available.

Synonyms: nibble, snack.

4. To tease contemptuously.
I suppose she has been niggled so much in her life that she doesn't know how to discuss things rationally when someone disagrees with her.

Synonyms: annoy, badger, bait, bedevil, beleaguer, bully, dog, gnaw, goad, harass, hector, jive, josh, mock, pick on, plague, rag, ride, ridicule, roast, slam, taunt, torment, vex, worry.

noun
1. Small cramped handwriting.
She had so much to tell me on one small postcard that her message arrived as an illegible niggle.

Synonyms: scribble, scrawl.

Neophyte

ne-o-phyte (nēˈə-fītˌ)

noun
1. Someone recently converted to a belief or belief system.
With the conviction of a neophyte, he dances forth into the hereafter.
2. A beginner.
In the neophyte's mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert's, there are few.
3. A newly ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church.
A neophyte and a nun are on their way back home from a trip when their car breaks down. They are unable to get it fixed, so they decide to spend the night in a hotel. The only hotel in the town has only one room available.
Neophyte: Sister, I don't think the Lord would have a problem, under the circumstances, if we spent the night together in this one room. I'll sleep on the lounge and you have the bed.
Nun: I think that would be okay. They prepare for bed and each one takes their agreed place in the room. Ten minutes later...
Nun: Father, I'm terribly cold.
Neophyte: Okay, I'll get you a blanket. (He does) Ten minutes later...
Nun: Father, I'm still terribly cold.
Neophyte: Okay Sister, I'll get you another blanket. (He does)
Ten minutes later... Nun: Father, (she lamented) I'm still terribly cold. I don't think the Lord would mind if we act as man and wife just for this one night.
Neophyte: You're probably right...get up and get your own blanket.
4. A novice of a religious order or congregation.
Church attendance is so low these days, neophytes get to feel like superstars Sunday mornings. Good place to go, if you want a lot of attention.

Synonyms: abdecedarian, aesthete, aficionado, amateur, aspirant, cognoscente, connoisseur, dabbler, dallier, dilettante, greenhorn, hobbyist, learner, neophyte, nonprofessional, noob, putterer, rookie, smatterer, tenderfoot, trifler, tyro, uninitiate.

Necromantic

nec-ro-man-tic (nĕkˈrə-mănˈtĭk)

adjective
1. Involving communication or resurrection of the dead, especially through black magic.
Saying "I told you so" should never involve necromantic feats.

Synonyms: bewitched, clairvoyant, conjuring, demonic, eerie, enchanted, ensorcelled, entranced, ghostly, haunted, imaginary, mystic, occult, otherworldly, parapsychological, runic, spectral, thaumaturgic, weird.

noun
1. A magic trick or feat of conjuring.
If necromantics only worked, I could settle a few things with someone I miss.

Synonyms: abracadabra, bewitchment, charm, cunjuration, enchantment, hex, hocus-pocus, incantation, jinx, magic, mumbo jumbo, voodoo, witchery.

2. A magician or conjurer.
I'm a set-up for the moon when its bright,
I'm incurably necromantic.*
And I shouldn't be allowed out at night,
With anyone quite like you.

Synonyms: charmer, conjurer, diabolist, diviner, enchanter, enchantress, fortune teller, illusionist, magician, medium, mentalist, necromancer, seer, shaman, sorcerer, theurgist, trickster, warlock, witch, witch doctor, wizard.

* I may have mixed up romantic and necromantic here, which isn't hard. Necromantic sounds a little like a what you feel on a date with a vampire. Really, this is the most necromantic song I know.

Noctambulism

noc-tam-bu-lis-m (nk-tmby-lzm)

noun
1. Technically means night walker, but usually refers to sleep walking.*
Noctambulism is how the Living Dead Girl gets around.**
One malady zombies suffer from is Noctambulism.

Synonym: sleep walking, somnambulism.

*The sleepwalker is a noctambulist.
**I use Rob Zombie's Living Dead Girl here because I mentioned zombies in this post AND because his video is a take on the Cabinet of Dr. Caligary (1920), which is about a noctambulist.