As has already been mentioned in an earlier post, the purpose of this website is to provide the reader with words which have the sense of being beautiful, either through their construction or the images they bring to our minds.

Now, what is beautiful to one is not necessarily beautiful to another and I am not looking to brook any argument but simply to promote what I recognise as words that sound beautiful to me and hopefully you, too.

The actual meaning doesn’t always have to be known to appreciated the way the word sounds and for a long time I had absolutely no idea what Antediluvian meant only that it sounded beautiful.  The softness of the consonants undoubtedly make it so.

I have learned that the word actually means “concerning or referring to the period before the flood” (OED) – i.e. belonging to a time before even Noah was a lad – and this has only helped increase the loveliness of its sound.

 (The Building of the Ark (Bedford Masters))

The fact that it is often used in a disparaging way to suggest someone belonging to a world long-past and antiquated made it resonate with me even further as I surely fit that bill admirably.

Antediluvian is added to the Word list.