“His wild horsemen worshipped him in their savage way, but he was an alien among them, after all, and they could never understand his inmost thoughts.”

-Lord of Samarcand

Particularly in his historic fiction, Howard used a terser diction than what might be expected by the reader, as in the use of inmost instead of the more conventional innermost, a habit that is both subtly and starkly effective in conveying the direct and abrasive nature of his Crusader Era heroes. .

1. in•most

[ˈinˌmōst]

ADJECTIVE

1. literary

innermost.

ORIGIN

Old English innemest (see in, -most).