38 Taylor Swift Lyrics That Will Have You Reaching for a Dictionary

Hey kids, spelling is fun!

Songwriters are poets, and Taylor Swift is arguably one of the best. No one can tell me that “You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath” isn’t some of the best modern poetry out there. Many of Taylor Swift’s songs—and especially some in her more recent albums—are full of lyrics that make my wordplay-loving heart so happy.

Taylor isn’t afraid to use some less-than-common words in her songs, and sometimes the lyrics might have you reaching for a dictionary (especially songs from folklore and The Tortured Poets Department—two of my favorite albums). Here are 38 words from Taylor Swift songs that you might not know the meaning of!

Red (Taylor’s Version)

ingénue

Lyric: Are we only biding time ’til I lose your attention? / And someone else lights up the room / People love an ingénue

Song: “Nothing New” (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]

Definition: a naive girl or young woman

maim

Lyric: Just between us, did the love affair maim you too?

Song: “All Too Well” (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) [From The Vault]

Definition: to mutilate, disfigure, or wound seriously

mosaic

Lyric: We learn to live with the pain, mosaic broken hearts

Song: “State of Grace” (Taylor’s Version)

Definition: a surface decoration made by inlaying small pieces of variously colored material to form pictures or patterns

nonchalant

Lyric: If I had known what I know now / I never would’ve played so nonchalant

Song: “Come Back…Be Here” (Taylor’s Version)

Definition: having an air of easy unconcern or indifference

Lover

fever dream

Lyric: Fever dream high in the quiet of the night / You know that I caught it

Song: “Cruel Summer”

Definition: a very strange experience or situation, usually a bad one, that seems like a dream rather than like something that would really happen

lyrical

Lyric: Lyrical smile, indigo eyes, hand on my thigh / We could follow the sparks, I’ll drive

Song: “I Think He Knows”

Definition: having an artistically beautiful or expressive quality suggestive of song

folklore

august

Lyric: August slipped away into a moment in time / ‘Cause it was never mine

Song: “august”

Definition: august (lowercase) means “marked by majestic dignity or grandeur”; August (uppercase) is, of course, the eighth month of the year.

Note that the song’s title is lowercase, but so is every other song title in the folklore album (including other words that are normally uppercase, like “american” in “the last great american dynasty). Whether Taylor meant to insinuate the double meaning of august is unknown, but it certainly would work in the context of the song!

calamitous

Lyric: While I bathe in cliffside pools / With my calamitous love and insurmountable grief

Song: “the lakes – bonus track”

Definition: being, causing, or accompanied by a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering

clandestine

Lyric: And that’s the thing about illicit affairs / And clandestine meetings and longing stares

Song: “illicit affairs”

Definition: marked by, held in, or conducted with secrecy

dynasty

Lyric: And they said / “There goes the last great American dynasty”

Song: “the last great american dynasty”

Definition: a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time

elegy

Lyric: Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me?

Song: “the lakes – bonus track”

Definition: a song or poem expressing sorrow or lamentation especially for one who is dead

BONUS: the definition of eulogize is “to speak or write in high praise of.” This word is also usually used in the context of someone who has died.

gauche

Lyric: The wedding was charming, if a little gauche

Song: “the last great american dynasty”

Definition: lacking social experience or grace; crudely made or done

illicit

Lyric: And that’s the thing about illicit affairs

Song: “illicit affairs”

Definition: not permitted; unlawful

mercurial

Lyric: Take the words for what they are / A dwindling, mercurial high

Song: “illicit affairs”

Definition: characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood; having qualities of eloquence, ingenuity, or thievishness attributed to the god Mercury or to the influence of the planet Mercury

revelers

Lyric: You are not like the regulars / The masquerade revelers

Song: “mirrorball”

Definition: one who engages in noisy partying or merrymaking

understudy

Lyric: I can see you starin’, honey / Like he’s just your understudy

Song: “exile”

Definition: one who is prepared to act another’s part or take over another’s duties

evermore

contrarian

Lyric: At dinner parties, I call you out on your contrarian s**t

Song: “gold rush”

Definition: a person who takes an incompatible or opposite position or attitude

crestfallen

Lyric: Because I dropped your hand while dancing / Left you out there standing / Crestfallen on the landing

Song: “champagne problems”

Definition: feeling shame or humiliation; dejected

incandescent

Lyric: Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow

Song: “ivy”

Definition: white, glowing, or luminous with intense heat

lark

Lyric: When we were younger, down in the park / Honey, making a lark of the misery

Song: “dorothea”

Definition: a source of or quest for amusement or adventure

Midas

Lyric: Your Midas touch on the Chevy door

Song: “champagne problems”

Definition: a legendary Phrygian king who is given the power of turning everything he touches to gold

NOTE: Midas touch is defined as “an uncanny ability for making money in every venture,” so there are multiple ways to interpret this lyric: Either the subject had a literal talent for making money, or they metaphorically turned everything they touched to gold because they were seen as being charismatic and accomplished.

precipice

Lyric: Pushed from the precipice / Clung to the nearest lips / Long story short, it was the wrong guy

Song: “long story short”

Definition: a very steep or overhanging place

Midnights

altruism

Lyric: Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism / Like some kind of congressman?

Song: “Anti-Hero”

Definition: unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others

antithetical

Lyric: Bet I could still melt your world / Argumentative, antithetical dream girl

Song: “Hits Different”

Definition: being in direct and unequivocal opposition; directly opposite or opposed

hucksters

Lyric: Industry disruptors and soul deconstructors / And smooth-talking hucksters out glad-handing each other

Song: “Sweet Nothing”

Definition: one who sells or advertises something in an aggressive, dishonest, or annoying way

labyrinth

Lyric: It only feels this raw right now / Lost in the labyrinth of my mind

Song: “Labyrinth”

Definition: a place constructed of or full of intricate passageways and blind alleys

Machiavellian

Lyric: I’m only cryptic and Machiavellian / ‘Cause I care

Song: “Mastermind”

Definition: marked by cunning, duplicity, or bad faith; suggesting the principles of conduct laid down by Niccolò Machiavelli, who was an Italian political philosopher (1469-1527) and the author of a famous treatise on bare-knuckled politics, The Prince

melancholia

Lyric: And you don’t really read into / My melancholia

Song: “Lavender Haze”

Definition: severe depression characterized especially by profound sadness and despair

The Tortured Poets Department

albatross

Lyric: She’s the albatross / She is here to destroy you

Song: “The Albatross”

Definition: any of a family (Diomedeidae) of large web-footed seabirds that have long slender wings, are excellent gliders, and include the largest seabirds; something that causes persistent deep concern or anxiety

Albatross is synonymous with a burden because of a poem called The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Per Merriam-Webster, in this poem, “the titular mariner kills an albatross that has been following his ship, bringing down a curse that leads to the death of all other crew members. As a punishment, the crew hang the dead bird from the mariner’s neck, and he remains alive to witness the ship’s fate unfold. This potent emblem led to the coining of a metaphorical meaning for albatross as something that causes anxiety or guilt or that burdens and encumbers.”

esoteric

Lyric: Were you making fun of me / With some esoteric joke?

Song: “The Black Dog”

Definition: requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group; private, confidential

fortnight

Lyric: And for a fortnight there, we were forever

Song: “Fortnight”

Definition: a period of 14 days (two weeks)

litany

Lyric: There was a litany of reasons why / We could’ve played for keeps this time

Song: “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”

Definition: a sizable series or set; a usually lengthy recitation or enumeration

persona non grata

Lyric: And when that sky rains fire on you / And you’re persona non grata / I’ll tell you how I’ve been there too / And that none of it matters

Song: “The Albatross”

Definition: a person who is unacceptable or unwelcome

petulance

Lyric: Now I’m down bad, cryin’ at the gym / Everything comes out of teenage petulance

Song: “Down Bad”

Definition: the quality of being insolent or rude in speech or behavior; peevishness

precocious

Lyric: Growing up precocious sometimes means / Not growing up at all

Song: “But Daddy I Love Him”

Definition: exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age

rivulets

Lyric: The sickest army doll / Purchased at the mall / Rivulets descend my plastic smile

Song: “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys”

Definition: a small stream

sanctimoniously

Lyric: God save the most judgmental creeps / Who say they want what’s best for me / Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see

Song: “But Daddy I Love Him”

Definition: hypocritically pious or devout

synchronicity

Lyric: And the tears fell in synchronicity with the score / And at last she knew what the agony had been for

Song: “The Manuscript”

Definition: happening, existing, or arising at precisely the same time

I’m sure I missed some cool or unusual words, especially from Taylor’s earlier albums. If you think of any, drop them in the comments!

Sources:

• Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage. 14th ed. Taunton, MA: QuadGraphics, 2016.
• Spotify
• Genius.com (for song lyrics)