None of these words should be deleted, in fact no word should ever be deleted, language is important and we've lost too much of it as it is. By getting rid of these words you would be encouraging Caliginosity!

Billy, Aberdeen, Scotland

How can they get rid of periapt? I've actually seen that word used! Fubsy, skirr, and griseous are awesome words, too. They shouldn't get rid of any of these words.

JessPhoenix, Magna,

I like these words =) Skirr and caducity are definite favorites, and calignosity is pretty awesome.

The sounds and derivatives of these words affect their meaning in subtle ways that make them different from their synonyms, even if those are more usable. Fubsy and olid are great examples of this.

Madison, Jacksonville, FL,

I don't see why any word has to be eliminated from the dictionary. Isn't that the purpose of a dictionary, to preserv words? I find it offensive when slang words that do now stay around very long are included.
I only hope that there are enough people who still enjoy the english language.

Barbara Zientek, Warren.Mich,

Fubsy. We have to save Fubsy.

Rhiannon, bristol,

Though I could probably have guessed what some of those words meant, I have never seen or heard any of them except 'exuviate'.

It's fun and interesting to try to resuscitate them, nevertheless.

Gregory Bryce, Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

I can't see skirr being lost, whatever the dictionary says, because it's so wonderfully onomatopoeic. I'd never heard the word before reading this article, but knew exactly what it meant by the sound of it. It's the other words that need protection.

Caroline, Sydney, Australia

Oddly, no one has noted that the US TV series "Weeds" was set, for its first three seasons, in a horrendous suburb called Agrestic. The theme music was the Malvina Reynolds folk song "Little Boxes." And all that time I thought it was simply a synthetic-sounding exurban name...

Jesse, San Francisco, USA

I should have mentioned in the article that Collins will be keeping these words in its online dictionary, which of course has unlimited space. However, for those who love good old paper dictionaries, this is a genuine threat.
Cormac McKeown, senior editor of Collins's English dictionaries, believes that the book should be a mirror of the language rather than a comprehensive list of all words regardless of their obscurity. For example, some dictionaries include words that were only ever used by Edmund Spenser, the linguistically inventive author of the Faerie Queene. Collins, for good or ill, does not.
It seems unlikely to me that Collins will change its overall policy, but it is duty bound to retain periapt, apodeictic or griseous if fantasy fiction fans, philosophers or geologists coax the words out of specialist use and into the wider world. I promise to inform you, come February, how well you did.

Jack Malvern, London,

Why can't more pages be added to fit all the words in? Or include all the new ones in a separate volume/appendice?

Liga Baumanis Stils, Rowville, Australia

How can any of these words be considered recrement? I will agree that they are not terribly commonplace words, but they are all words that build upon our beautiful and complex language to make it one of the most lyrical languages in the world. Must-keeps: villipend, embrangle, and niddering.

Sarah Adams, Overland Park, KS, United States of America

I'm all for it - I love words. I teach (not English) & am always criticized by my students (11-19) for using 'long' words they don't understand. I regard the words I use as normal; the last one they complained about was 'flippantly'. Our language is being stunted & we need to fight back

Kate Dickson, Hastings,

The bigger our chalenges the better we feel when overcoming them... by using a wide range of words, increasingly empowers our brain, which as an end result will make a substantial difference in preparing it to face bigger challenges yet... God Bless America.

Francisco, Zihuatanejo, Mexico

The real shocker on the list is apodeitic. That is a basic term in philosophy, unlike some of the inkhorn terms listed which are rarely found outside dictionaries anyway. If Collins thinks a dictionary can be taken seriously without apodeitic, it has been taken over by philistines.

Nelson, Bournemouth,

I'm seventeen years old and have heard (and even used!) many or most of these words. Obscure in what respect? We should try to end ignorance and mental simplicity, not banish big words because some people don't use them.

Paige, San Jose, USA

I want to save "periapt" because it's the only one on the list I knew! Ahh, the heritage of teenage years wasted on Dungeons and Dragons...

James Dominguez, Melbourne, Australia

Words add colour to our language; to get rid of even one nudges us another step closer to black and white and an Orwellian '1984'.

Gill, Westerham, Kent

To Kewern Gibson, of Australia, please note that it is "mea culpa" (third person feminine ablative singular), not "mei culpa".

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

If they aren't on parliament's list of forbidden words I can see several being used in the House of Commons such as caducity, fubsy, olid, recrement etc.

Stephen, St. Ives, England

If the word is deleted from the dictionary how will this affect the rules in Scrabble?

Marlene , Bergerac, France

If there aren't all that many words to be purged, and if they are still present in old books that may be read, then why remove them?

Greg Lorriman, Leatherhead, UK

Given the ingress of "teenglish" and similar Anglo-American lazy drivel and the fact that about 2/3rds of the English speaking world have a useable vocabulary of between 300 and 600 , surely anything helps ! Oops , sorry , two "ands" in one sentance ! Mei culpa !Let our language expand not diminish.

Kewern Gibson , Beenleigh , Australia

It is apodeictic that these words should die (or already be dead). Use of them will only cause embranglement in an oppugnant society. Put recrement where it belongs. I villipend these words with a malison.

Simony, Haywards Heath, UK

Whether Collins should get rid of these words depends on its aims as dictionary compiler.

If it wants to increase market share as a lexicon of current usage, fine. If it wants to be a lexicon of all words ever used, it's a bad idea.

Keep them, I say, else we lose our linguistic heritage.

Simon Brook, London,

I think Exuviate should be safe - its derivatives (exuvium/exuviae) are used relatively frequently in technical/scientific entomological literature. A niche I know but it should count. As for the others, working those into my writing will cause me to become premanturely griseous.

PFB, Rockville, USA

That list is perfectly cromulent.

Hazel, Michigan, US

These words are not necessary. The Anglo Saxon equivalents are far more descriptive. People who use these words do so because they have nothing useful to say. In fact the entire article is prolix and boring.

ian fitzsimmons, London,

What is the fate of words like bootylicious, which had the lifespan of a song's popularity? It is not found in the Collin's online dictionaty but allowed in the Official Scrabble Checker (min points 19).

Such embranglement is making me fubsy.

M Khan, Peterborough, UK

It is bad English to use an obscure word (or a foreign word) where a common word would serve equally as well.

If you come up with any dying words that don't have synonyms in common use let us know.

Keith S, Winnipeg, Canada

Very well,if Collins wishes to be Agrestic,I shall carry on with the OED.

L. Shaw, Vancouver Island, Canada

We don't need these words. They're nearly all Latin imports and constructed words, with better English equivalents as shown in your key. This is why real English speakers, as opposed to show-offs, don't use them. There is no excuse for muliebrity, for example, or caliginosity, or oppugnant.

Kiera Hardie, Kennaquhair,

Do you know? There's probably a very good reason why those words risk becoming forgotten: most of them sound absolutely horrible.

Abdul Majeed, Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

We hear the niddering skirr of absconding financial probity, and at last there are words to describe it.

Lord, save these words: Lord, save us.

Colin Miles, Charlotte, NC, USA