Reading the entire dictionary from front to back! Something I’ve always wanted to try. Not only are we in the middle of the I section, but we’re in the middle of words that start with in-. We’re in the ins!

You’d think that indefatigable would be the type of word you’d actually go to the dictionary for, but the definition is nothing but “untiring.”

It’s another case of using-a-word-in-that-word’s-own-definition with individual, “of, relating to, or associated with an individual,” “being an individual,” and “existing as an individual whole.” To be fair, it’s also “a particular person, animal, or thing,” and “a single member of a category.”

To indulge is “to give free rein to gratify,” “humor,” and “to gratify one’s taste or desire.” But then, indulgence is “remission of temporal punishment due in the Roman Catholic doctrine for sins whose eternal punishment has been remitted by reception of the sacrifice of penance.” That sounds like a whole lot more than, say, a chocolate sundae.

This begins another three pages with footnote-like words along the bottom of the page for spelling only, including interesting inclusions like inelasticity, ineradicable, and inextinguishable.

Here’s a new one: infelicitous is “not appropriate in application or expression,” with the word “comments” in parentheses. If you’re going to leave a comment, it better not be infelicitous.

Infinite is “limitless, boundless, endless,” and also “greater than any preassigned finite value, however large.” Isn’t that just a fancy way of saying “infinity plus one?”

The suffix -ing somehow gets its own entry, as an “action or process,” and multiple follow-up definitions mostly using that same phrase. It feels like the dictionary writers came up with “action or process” and decided to lean into it hard here.

Another new one: an inglenook is “a nook by a large open fireplace, also a bench occupying this nook.” Maybe a better word for this would be “fire hazard.”

Next we make it permanent with ink, “usually a liquid and colored material for writing and printing.” Why add “usually” to that? This one also has the word’s origins in parentheses, saying this comes from Latin for “burned in” and Greek for “to burn in.” I guess at some point, ink must’ve been developed to mimic or replace permanent writing done by burning. Maybe this story can be Christopher Nolan’s next movie.

Next: Why be galactic when you could be intergalactic?

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