Stephen Fry

adj. overflowing with fervor or enthusiasm or excitement

His ebullient enthusiasm for language makes even a lecture on grammar feel like a carnival of ideas.

adj. 1 extremely clear; transparent; 2 expressed simply; easily understood

Good prose, he insists, should be pellucid — letting meaning shine through without obstruction.

adj. difficult to understand; abstruse

He delights in recondite knowledge, unearthing forgotten facts with the joy of a seasoned treasure hunter.

adj. come upon or found by accident

The most serendipitous discoveries in literature come from wandering without a destination in mind.

adj. meeting the requirements of a purpose or situation

A felicitous turn of phrase, he believes, is among the highest pleasures civilisation has yet produced.

v. 1 to flash or sparkle; 2 to be lively and witty.

His scintillating conversation leaves every dinner guest simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated.

adj. roomy; able to hold a large amount; large in capacity

His capacious memory holds Wodehouse passages, quantum theory, and obscure Victorian gossip in equal measure.

adj. having a pleasant sound

He chooses words the way a composer chooses notes — always reaching for something euphonious and true.

adj. devoted to feasting or to goodfellowship in eating or drinking

Convivial by nature, he transforms any gathering into a salon buzzing with wit and warm intellectual energy.

the study of the history and meaning of words

His philological passion for the history of individual words transforms etymology from footnote into narrative.

n. the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things.

Apophenia — the mind's irresistible compulsion to connect what randomness left unconnected — is the engine of both conspiracy and comedy.

adj. beyond description; inexpressible; too great for words

There are moments in great poetry, he says, that touch something utterly ineffable — beyond all paraphrase.

adj. 1 resembling a complex system of paths or tunnels in which it is easy to get lost; 2 complicated; tortuous

His labyrinthine anecdotes spiral through history, comedy, and pathos before arriving somewhere unexpected.

n. a formal or discriminating expression of praise

Every book he loves receives an encomium of such infectious enthusiasm that the reader feels personally guilty for not having read it sooner.

the quality of being very talkative

He defends his celebrated loquacity not as indulgence but as the only honest response to a world this astonishingly rich in material.