Swifties have been pulling out their dictionaries at least since Taylor Swift's 2020 surprise albums, which came with some equally surprising word choices.These complex words didn't stop with folklore and evermore. Her use of elevated language in her lyrics continued in the releases that have followed, 2021's Red (Taylor's Version), 2022's Midnights, 2024's double album, The Tortured Poets Department and now 2025's The Life of a Showgirl.After all, Taylor wants auroras and sad prose...and complicated nomenclature.We, along with some help from good old Merriam-Webster, break down the words in some of the lyrics found on her last six albums that have fans scratching their heads and asking, "Huh?"Related: Prove You're a Mastermind By Answering These 50 'Tricksy' Taylor Swift Trivia Questions
Taylor Swift Dictionary for folklore
"the last great american dynasty"
Word: DynastyLyric: "There goes the last great American dynasty"Meaning: "a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time"
Related: Taylor Swift's Net Worth in 2025 and How She Achieved Billionaire Status
"mirrorball"
Word: RevelersLyric: "You are not like the regulars, the masquerade revelers"Meaning: "one who engages in revelry," which is "noisy partying or merrymaking"
Word: ClandestineLyric: "...and clandestine meetings and longing stares"Meaning: "marked by, held in, or conducted with secrecy"
Related: Taylor Swift's Dating and Relationship History—And the Songs Each Lucky Guy Inspired
"the lakes"
Word: EulogizeLyric: "It it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me?"Meaning: "to speak or write in high praise of"
Word: WisteriaLyric: "I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet"Meaning: "any of a genus (Wisteria) of mostly woody leguminous vines of China, Japan, and the southeastern U.S. that have pinnately compound leaves and long racemes of showy blue, white, purple, or rose papilionaceous flowers and that include several (such as W. sinensis and W. floribunda) grown as ornamentals"
?| Taylor Swift holding her new evermore dictionary to help swifties understand the lyrics! pic.twitter.com/SO5DILktaZ
— JESSICA ୨୧₊∘ (@jessdipaola13) December 16, 2020"gold rush"
Word: ContrarianLyric: "At dinner parties, I call you out on your contrarian s--t"Meaning: "a person who takes a contrary position or attitude"
"ivy"
Word: Incandescent Lyric: "Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow"Meaning: "white, glowing, or luminous with intense heat"
Word: PrecipiceLyric: "Pushed from the precipice, clung to the nearest lips"Meaning: "a very steep or overhanging place"
"evermore"
Taylor Swift Dictionary for Red (Taylor's Version)
Word: MosaicLyric: "We learn to live with the pain, mosaic broken hearts"Meaning: "a surface decoration made by inlaying small pieces of variously colored material to form pictures or patterns"
"The Lucky One (Taylor's Version)"
Word: NonchalantLyric: "If I had known what I know now, I never would've played so nonchalant"Meaning: "having an air of easy unconcern or indifference"
"Nothing New (Taylor's Version) [From the Vault]"
Word: IngénueLyric: "And someone else lights up the room, people love an ingénue"Meaning: "a naive girl or young woman"
"All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) [From the Vault]"
Word: DispositionLyric: "Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide-eyed gaze"Meaning: "the tendency of something to act in a certain manner under given circumstances"
Word: Self-effacingLyric: "You who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes"Meaning: "having or showing a tendency to make oneself modestly or shyly inconspicuous"
currently thinking about all the words taylor swift used in midnights lyrics that I’ll have to look up in a dictionary
— Sel ❤️? (@butwhatcanitay) September 6, 2022"Anti-Hero"
Word: CovertLyric: "Did you hear my covert narcissism..."Meaning: "not openly shown, engaged in, or avowed: veiled"
Word: Aurora borealisLyric: "This scene feels like what I once saw on a screen, I searched 'aurora borealis green'"Meaning: "an aurora that occurs in earth's northern hemisphere [also called northern lights]"
"Labyrinth"
Word: LabyrinthLyric: "It only feels this raw right now, lost in the labyrinth of my mind"Meaning: "a place constructed of or full of intricate passageways and blind alleys"
Word: OpacityLyric: "Spiderboy, king of thieves, weave your little webs of opacity"Meaning: "obscurity of sense: unintelligibility," meaning "unable to be understood or comprehended"
"Sweet Nothing"
Word: MachiavellianLyric: "And I swear I'm only cryptic and machiavellian 'cause I care"Meaning: "marked by cunning, duplicity, or bad faith"
"The Great War"
Word: CryptLyric: "And maybe it's the past that's talkin', screamin' from the crypt"Meaning: "a chamber (such as a vault) wholly or partly underground"
"Hits Different"
Word: AntitheticalLyric: "Bet I could still melt your world, argumentative, antithetical dream girl"Meaning: "being in direct and unequivocal opposition: directly opposite or opposed"
Taylor Swift Dictionary for The Tortured Poets Department
Word: TreasonLyric: "And no one here's to blame. But what about your quiet treason?"Meaning: "the betrayal of a trust"
"My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys"
Word: LitanyLyric: "There was a litany of reasons why we could've played for keeps this time."Meaning: "a sizable series or set"
"But Daddy I Love Him"
Word: PrecociousLyric: "Growing up precocious sometimes means not growing up at all."Meaning: "exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age"
Word: SoliloquiesLyric: "God save the most judgmental creeps who say they want what's best for me sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I'll never see."Meaning: "the act of talking to oneself; a poem, discourse, or utterance of a character in a drama that has the form of a monologue or gives the illusion of being a series of unspoken reflections"
"The Albatross"
Word: Persona non grataLyric: "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."Meaning: "a person who is unacceptable or unwelcome"
"Peter"
Word: BeguilingLyric: "The goddess of timing once found us beguiling. She said she was trying. Peter, was she lying?"Meaning: "agreeably or charmingly attractive or pleasing"
Taylor Swift Dictionary for The Life of a Showgirl
"The Fate of Ophelia"
Word: PurgatoryLyric: "And if you'd never come for me (come for me), I might've lingered in purgatory."Meaning: "an intermediate state after death for expiatory purification" or "a place or state of temporary suffering or misery"
Word: Plaza AthénéeLyric: "That view of Portofino was on my mind when you called me at the Plaza Athénée."Meaning: a five-star hotel in Paris
"Opalite"
Related: Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Easter Eggs and Hidden Meanings Revealed
"Wi$h Li$t"
Word: Palme d'OrLyric: "They want that critical smash Palme d'Or and an Oscar on their bathroom floor."Meaning: "a timeless symbol of the Festival de Cannes, has been awarded to the best film in the Official Competition for over 60 years"
"The Life of a Showgirl"
Word: KismetLyric: "Looking back, I guess it was kismet."Meaning: "a hypothetical force or personified power that determines the course of the future events"
Related: 72 Baby Names Inspired by Taylor Swift for Your Future Swiftie
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