vagary - Word of the Day : - 01/04/16

vagary

noun

Pronunciation

VAY-guh-ree

Definition

 - an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion

Examples

The vagaries of fashion make it difficult to predict what styles will be popular a year or two from now.

"Being an attentive parent of a small family invariably means that you know, in minute detail, every quirk and vagary of your child's life." — Michael Grose, The Huffington Post, Australia, 15 Feb. 2016
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Did You Know?

In the 16th century, if you "made a vagary" you took a wandering journey, or you figuratively wandered from a correct path by committing some minor offense. If you spoke or wrote vagaries, you wandered from a main subject. These senses hadn't strayed far from their origin, as vagary is probably based on Latin vagari, meaning "to wander." Indeed, in the 16th and 17th centuries there was even an English verb vagary that meant "to wander." Nowadays, the noun vagary is mostly used in its plural form, and vagaries have more to do with unpredictability than with wandering.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to create a word for someone who clowns around publicly: m _ _ ry–an _ r _ _.

Merriam-Webster

parry - Word of the Day : 31/03/16

parry

verb

Pronunciation

PAAR-ee

Definition

1 - to ward off a weapon or blow
2 - to evade especially by an adroit answer

Examples

The fencer skillfully parried her opponent's thrusts.

"The AMP [Accelerated Mobile Pages] technology … indirectly parries one of the main threats facing digital ad companies—the growing use of ad-blocking software in response to slow, buggy, and hard-to-use Web pages—by stopping ads from slowing down access to articles." — Jack Clark and Gerry Smith, The Boston Globe, 25 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Parry (which is used in fencing, among other applications) probably comes from parez, a form of the French verb parer, meaning "to guard or ward off." Its history can be compared with that of two other English words: parapet and parasol. Those two terms go back to an Italian word (parare) that means "to shield or guard." (A parapet shields soldiers and a parasol wards off the sun.) All three—parry, parapet, and parasol—can ultimately be traced to the Latin parare, meaning "to prepare." And they're not alone. Other descendants of the Latin term include apparatus, disparate, emperor, and even prepare.

Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create a verb derived from Latin parare that means "to abuse or censure severely": PEETATVUIR.

sidereal - Word of the Day : 30/03/16

sidereal

adjective

Pronunciation

sye-DEER-ee-ul

 

Definition

1  - of or relating to stars or constellations
2  - measured by the apparent motion of the stars

Examples

David's parents were so pleased by his newfound interest in sidereal phenomena that they bought him an expensive telescope for his birthday.

"Today, these various astronomical functions can mainly be found in very complicated watches…. These exceptional timekeepers are masterpieces of knowledge, technique and know-how, presenting a range of complex functions: display of sidereal time, equation of time, hours of sunrise and sunset, star charts, angular movement of the moon, phases of the moon...." — Grégory Gardinetti, CNN.com, 6 Jan. 2016

Did You Know?

In Latin, the word for a star or constellation is sidus. Latin speakers used that word to form desiderare ("from a heavenly body") and considerare ("to think about a heavenly body"), which were adopted into English as desire and consider. Sidereal, another sidus creation, was first documented in English in 1642. Thirty-four years later, an astronomer coined the phrase "sidereal year" for the time in which the earth completes one revolution in its orbit around the sun, measured with respect to the fixed stars. Not surprisingly, other sidereal measurements of time followed, including the sidereal month, the sidereal day, the sidereal hour, and even the sidereal minute.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to create an adjective that describes something resembling the shape of a star: st _ _ l _ _ e.

Merriam-Webster

quorum - Word of the Day - 29/03/16

quorum

noun

Pronunciation

KWOR-um

Definition

1 -  a select group
2 - the number (such as a majority) of officers or members of a body that when duly assembled is legally competent to transact business

Examples

The organization's charter states that a quorum of at least seven board members must be present before any voting can take place.

"The City Council meeting that was supposed to continue from Tuesday night didn't happen after only one member showed up, leaving the council without a quorum." — Garrett Brnger, KSAT.com (San Antonio, Texas), 17 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

In Latin, quorum means "of whom" and is itself the genitive plural of qui, meaning "who." At one time, Latin quorum was used in the wording of the commissions issued to justices of the peace in England. In English, quorum initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present to constitute a legally sufficient bench. That sense is now rare, but it's not surprising that quorum has come to mean both "a select group" and "the minimum people required in order to conduct business."

Quiz

Fill in the blanks to create a word formed from Latin qui that can refer to a philosophical point to be disputed or to a combination of familiar melodies: qu _ _ li _ _ t.

Merriam-Webster

undulant - Word of the Day - 25/03/16

undulant

adjective

Pronunciation

UN-juh-lunt


 Definition

1 - rising and falling in waves
2  - having a wavy form, outline, or surface

Examples

The narrow greens, pesky hazards, and undulant fairways make the golf course one of the most challenging places to play in the area.
"As the plane taxied and turned, I saw the runway rolled out before us, an undulant grey tarmac wave, swooping into and out of a substantial dip. It had been folly to come to Guernsey, I thought—and now I would pay for it with my life." — Will Self, The New Statesman, 30 Sept. 2015

Did You Know?

Unda, Latin for "wave," ripples through the history of words such as abound, inundate, redound, surround, and, of course, undulant, which first showed up in print in English around 1822. (The adjective undulate, a synonym of undulant, is almost 200 years older but rarely used today. The far more common verb undulate has several meanings including "to form or move in waves.") The meaning of undulant is broad enough to describe both a dancer's hips and a disease marked by a fever that continually waxes and wanes.

Test Your Vocabulary

Unscramble the letters to create an adjective that describes a leaf having a slightly undulating margin: PDNEAR.

Merriam-Webster

consummate - Word of the Day - 24/03/016

consummate

adjective

Pronunciation

KAHN-suh-mut

Definition

1 - complete in every detail : perfect
2  - extremely skilled and accomplished
3  - of the highest degree

Examples

Always the consummate professional, Erika has testimonials from dozens of satisfied clients on her website.

"[Daniel] Bryan, 34, loved professional wrestling, and Miami is where the consummate wrestler became a top notch WWE superstar." — Jim Varsallone, The Miami Herald, 9 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Consummate, which derives from the Latin verb consummare (meaning "to sum up" or "to finish"), has been used as an adjective in English since the 15th century. Some usage commentators feel the word is overused and others think it should be limited to the "perfect" sense (as in "a consummate little model of a clipper ship"), but neither of those positions is more than an opinion. All of the senses of the word are well-established and have served careful writers well for many, many years.
Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of consummate: HNIEFIDS.

Merriam-Webster

propensity - Word of the Day : 23/03/16

propensity

noun

Pronunciation

pruh-PENN-suh-tee

Definition

 - an often intense natural inclination or preference

Examples

His propensity to speak his mind makes some of his colleagues wary.

"In fact, Welch's propensity for forming partnerships along with her enthusiasm for the alliance's mission is what caught the attention of the search committee, says Anthony Crutcher, immediate past president of the alliance board." — Susan Pierce, The Chattanooga Times Free-Press, 22 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

When it comes to synonyms of propensity, the letter "p" predominates. Proclivity, preference, penchant, and predilection all share with propensity the essential meaning of "a strong instinct or liking." Not every word that is similar in meaning to propensity begins with "p," however. Propensity comes from Latin propensus, the past participle of propendēre, a verb meaning "to incline" or "to hang forward or down." Thus leaning and inclination are as good synonyms of propensity as any of those "p"-words.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of propensity: a _ fe _ t _ _ n.

Merriam-Webster

absquatulate - Word of the Day - 22/03/16

absquatulate

Verb

Pronunciation

/æb.ˈskwɑtʃ.ʊ.leɪt/

 Definition

  - to leave quickly or in a hurry; to take oneself off; to decamp;
 -  to depart, flee.   - to abscond.

Synonyms

 abscond, decamp

Sentence 

The robbers absquatulate the bank  seconds before the police arrived.

Etymology

Attested since the 1830s in American English, humorous, chiefly North American

The 1830s — a period of great vigour and expansiveness in the US — was also a decade of inventiveness in language, featuring a fashion for word play, obscure abbreviations, fanciful coinages, and puns. Only a few inventions of that period have survived to our times, such as sockdologer, skedaddle and hornswoggle. Among those that haven’t lasted the distance were blustrification (the action of celebrating boisterously), goshbustified (excessively pleased and gratified), and dumfungled (used up).

Absquatulate has had a good run and is still to be found in modern American dictionaries. It was common enough that it became a favourite bête noire of writers on style in the latter part of the century. One was Walton Burgess, who wrote Five Hundred Mistakes of Daily Occurrence in Speaking Pronouncing and Writing the English Language, Corrected, a title that was sufficient in itself to make the strongest heart quail. He included the word in a list of those to be avoided, with this evocative example: “He has absquatulated, and taken the specie with him”. He remarked disdainfully that “ ‘absconded’ is a more classical word”.

A writer in the New Orleans Weekly Picayune in December 1839 noted that the origin of the word lay in squat, to which had been added the Latin prefix ab– (from abscond), meaning “off, away”, and the verb ending –ulate (borrowed from words like perambulate), so making a word meaning to get up and depart quickly. Or, as a writer in the old Vanity Fair magazine in 1875 elaborated: “They dusted, vamosed the ranch, made tracks, cut dirt, hoed it out of there”.

Quiz

 Complete this word with a  synonym for  absquatulate - an informal verb - s....dd..  .

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farraginous - Word of the Day - 21/03/16

farraginous

adjective

Pronunciation

fuh-RAJ-uh-nus

 Definition

 - consisting of a confused mixture : formed of various materials in no fixed order or arrangement

Examples

The large box at the hotel's lost and found desk contained a farraginous assortment of hats, umbrellas, cell phones, and other personal items.

"The next noise was the resonant but farraginous sound of twisted metal; a nightmarish squeal followed by eerie silence, as if the night held its breath with me." — Patti Callahan Henry, Coming up for Air, 2011

Did You Know?

Farraginous is the adjective connected with farrago. In Latin, the stem farragin- and the noun farrago both mean "mixture" and, more specifically, "a mixture of grains for cattle feed." They derive from far, the Latin name for spelt, a type of grain. In the 1600s, English speakers began using farrago as a noun meaning "hodgepodge" and farraginous as an adjective meaning "consisting of a mixture." The creation of the adjective was simply a matter of adding the adjectival suffix -ous to farragin- (although at least one writer had previously experimented with farraginary, employing a different adjectival suffix).

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of hodgepodge: g _ l _ im _ _ f _ y.

Merriam-Webster

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nidifugous - Word of the Day - March 20, 2016

nidifugous

adjective

Pronunciation

 nye-DIFF-yuh-gus

Definition

-  leaving the nest soon after hatching

Examples

"Little is known about the mortality of nidifugous shorebird chicks." — Hans Schekkerman et al., The Journal of Ornithology, January 2009

"These sites are very vulnerable to predators and this may be one reason why almost all freshwater birds have nidifugous young." — Christopher Perrins, New Generation Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, 1987

Did You Know?

Nidifugous hatched from the Latin words nidus, meaning "nest," and fugere, meaning "to flee." Its contrasting word nidicolous, meaning "reared for a time in a nest," combines nidus with the English combining form -colous ("living or growing in or on"). Another relevant term is precocial. A precocial bird is capable of a high degree of independent activity as soon as it emerges from the egg. While all nidifugous birds are also necessarily precocial, some nidicolous birds are also precocial—that is, they are capable of leaving the nest soon after hatching, but instead they stick around. Other nidicolous birds are altricial, which is to say they are hatched in a very immature and helpless condition and require care for some time.

 Quiz

What is the 4-letter name for a nestling hawk that begins with "e" and is ultimately derived from nidus?


Merriam-Webster

epistemic - Word of the Day - 19 /03/16

epistemic 

Pronunciation 

\ep-uh-STEE-mik\

adjective

Definition

- of or relating to knowledge or knowing : cognitive

Examples

Professor Rich is convinced that the quest for epistemic certainty is a foolhardy one.

 "The ­Internet-enabled news-cum-entertainment industry stokes political resentments even as it creates epistemic anarchy." — Adrian Wooldridge, The New York Times, 24 Jan. 2016

Did You Know?

Epistemic has shifted from the arcane worlds of philosophy, linguistics, and rhetoric to the practical realms of business and marketing; for example, a 2007 Letter to Shareholders from the asset management firm Legg Mason referred to investors who "have a high epistemic threshold and do exhaustive analysis to create near certainty, or at least very high conviction, about their investments." Wherever it is used, epistemic traces back to the knowledge of the Greeks. It comes from epistēmē, Greek for "knowledge." That Greek word is from the verb epistanai, meaning "to know or understand," a word formed from the prefix epi- (meaning "upon" or "attached to") and histanai (meaning "to cause to stand"). The study of the nature and grounds of knowledge is called epistemology, and one who engages in such study is an epistemologist.

 Quiz

Unscramble the letters to find a word derived from Greek histanai that refers to a state of overwhelming emotion: SSETCYA.

Merriam-Webster

obnubilate - Word of the Day - 18/01/16

obnubilate  

 Pronunciation

  \ahb-NOO-buh-layt\

 verb

Definition

 - becloud, obscure

Examples

The writer's essay includes some valid points, but they are obnubilated by his convoluted prose style.

"Early street lighting had the disconcerting effect of obnubilating as well as illuminating urban space." — Matthew Beaumont, Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London, 2015

Did You Know?

The meaning of obnubilate becomes clearer when you know that its ancestors are the Latin terms ob- (meaning "in the way") and nubes ("cloud"). It's a high-flown sounding word, which may be why it often turns up in texts by and about politicians. This has been true for a long time. In fact, when the U.S. Constitution was up for ratification, 18th-century Pennsylvania statesman James Wilson used obnubilate to calm fears that the president would have too much power: "Our first executive magistrate is not obnubilated behind the mysterious obscurity of counsellors…. He is the dignified, but accountable magistrate of a free and great people."

 Quiz

What English word beginning with "n" is a French borrowing that traces back to Latin nubes and is used to refer to subtle distinctions or variations?

Merriam-Webster

Verbatim - Word of the Day -15/03/16

Verbatim

Pronunciation

\ver-BAY-tim\

adverb

Definition

  - in the exact words : word for word

Examples

The coach was quoted verbatim in the article announcing that she would retire at the end of the season.

"The year is 1993. Carlito's Way is our favorite movie. We watched it at least 10 times. We knew the lines of our favorite scenes verbatim. Moya would play Gail, and I Carlito." — Dr. Kirk Anthony James, The Huffington Post, 2 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Latin has a phrase for "exactly as written": verbatim ac litteratim, which literally means "word for word and letter for letter." Like the verbatim in that Latin phrase, the English verbatim means "word for word." As you may have noticed, there's a verb in verbatim—and that's no mere coincidence. Both verb and verbatim are derived from the Latin word for "word," which is verbum. Other common English words that share this root include adverb, proverb, and verbose. Even the word word itself is related. Verbatim can also be an adjective meaning "being in or following the exact words" (as in "a verbatim report") and a rarer noun referring to an account, translation, or report that follows the original word for word.

Quiz

Fill in the blanks to create a hyphenated word that refers to the verb do when it is used to avoid repeating another verb (such as do in "my brother plays guitar and I do too"): _ _ _ - verb.

 Merriam-Webster

levigate - Word of the Day - 12/03/16

levigate

Pronunciation

  \LEV-uh-gayt\

Verb

Definition

1 - polish, smooth

2 -
        a  - to grind to a fine smooth powder while in moist condition


        b - to separate (fine powder) from coarser material by suspending in a liquid

Examples

The apothecary levigated zinc oxide and calcium carbonate with linseed oil.

"There were water wheels for breaking down porcelain stone, stone stamping poles, stone mortars and different ponds for washing, draining, levigating, kneading, drying, and storing clay." — Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, volume 5, 2

Did You Know?

Levigate comes from Latin levigatus, the past participle of the verb levigare ("to make smooth"). Levigare is derived in part from levis, the Latin word for "smooth." Alleviate and levity can also be traced back to a Latin levis, and the levi- root in both words might suggest a close relationship with levigate. This is not the case, however. The Latin levis that gives us alleviate and levity does not mean "smooth," but "light" (in the sense of having little weight). One possible relative of levigate in English is oblivion, which comes from the Latin oblivisci ("to forget"), a word which may be a combination of ob- ("in the way") and the levis that means "smooth."

Quiz

Fill in the blanks to create a relative of Latin levis (meaning "light") that refers to mental or physical agility and quickness: le _ _ r _ _ y.

Merriam-Webster

Palatable - Word of the Day - 11/03/16

  Palatable

Pronunciation

\PAL-uh-tuh-bul\

 adjective

Definition

1 - agreeable to the palate or taste

2 - agreeable or acceptable to the mind

Examples

Derrick is afraid of flying so traveling by train is the best and most palatable alternative.

"Cooking with a special someone fosters a kinship, a connection, an appreciation that infuses the relationship with a sense of harmony that's as palatable as the aromas that linger on in memory long after the meal has been consumed." — Silvia Bianco, quoted in The Darien (Connecticut) Times, 4 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Palatable comes from palate, a Latin-derived word for the roof of the mouth. The palate was once thought of as the seat of the sense of taste, so the word eventually came to mean "sense of taste," or broadly, "liking." Palatable has been used in English to refer to palate-pleasing foods since 1619, but it isn't our only—or our oldest—adjective for agreeable tastes. Savory dates from the 14th century. Toothsome has been around since 1551. Tasty was first used in the early 17th century. And appetizing has been gracing culinary reviews since 1653.

Test Your Vocabulary

Unscramble the letters to create a verb meaning "to make superficially palatable": TRGUAAOSC.


Merriam-Webster

Rankle - Word of the Day - 10/03/16

Rankle

Pronunciation

\RANK-ul\

verb

Definition

1 - To cause anger, irritation, or deep bitterness in

2 - To feel anger and irritation.

Examples

The ongoing roadwork has begun to rankle local owners who worry that the closed-off streets are hurting their businesses.

"That goal should sit well with many neighborhood residents—but it might rankle some landlords." — Avery Wilks and Sarah Ellis, The State (Columbia, South Carolina), 26 Sept. 2015

Did You Know?

The history of today's word is something of a sore subject. When rankle was first used in English, it meant "to fester," and that meaning is linked to the word's Old French ancestor—the noun raoncle or draoncle, which meant "festering sore." Etymologists think this Old French word was derived from the Latin dracunculus, a diminutive form of draco, which means "serpent" and which is the source of the English word dragon. The transition from serpents to sores apparently occurred because people thought certain ulcers or tumors looked like small serpents.


Merriam-Webster

Dyslexia - Word of the Day - 09/03/16

Dyslexia

Line breaks:

 dys|lexia

Pronunciation

 /dɪsˈlɛksɪə/

Noun

Definition of Dyslexia

A general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.

The term dyslexia covers a range of symptoms and learning difficulties related to the written word.

Example Sentences

The youngster, who suffers from dyslexia and severe learning difficulties, no longer attends school or college.

The Oaklands unit is also open to those with more serious learning difficulties like dyspraxia and dyslexia.

Origin

Late 19th century: coined in German from dys- 'difficult' + Greek lexis 'speech' (apparently by confusion of Greek legein 'to speak' and Latin legere 'to read').

Words That Rhyme With Dyslexia

anorexia

Oxford Dictionary

Bombilate - Word of the Day - 08/03/16

Bombilate

Verb

 
Pronunciation:

/ˈbɒmbɪleɪt/

Line breaks:

 bom¦bi|late

Definition

To make a humming or buzzing noise.

Examples

• Smoke, indeed, was pouring out of the dining room, and the gong was bombilating.

• There is a fine echo about these words, which keeps bombilating round and round in the head with utter defiance of sense and progress.

• I was exhausted and losing concentration but a few insects were bombilating in from the flight.

Etymology:

Late 19th century: from medieval Latin bombilare 'to buzz', from Latin bombus 'humming' Earliest documented use: 1600s.

Lay or Lie - Word of the Day - 07/03/16

How to Use Lay and Lie

Tripping Up English Speakers for 700 Years
 
Incorrect "I'm going to lay down"
Correct - "I'm going to lie down,"

Lay means - to place (something or someone) down in a flat position.

Lie - to be in a flat position on a surface."

Lay is transitive - the verb (lay) must have an object.

A thing or person being placed - Lay it down.

Lie is intransitive. 

You can lie down there.
You can lie there all day.

Tricky - using the words beyond the present tense.

lay 

I was told to lay the book down.
I laid it down as I have laid other books down.
I am laying more books down now.

lie

I was told to lie down.
I lay down.
I have lain here since.
I'm still lying here.

Note 

 For lay, we have lay, laid, have laid, laying.
 For lie, we have lie, lay, have lain, lying.

Unrelated verb meaning - to tell an untruth.

lie   lie, lied, have lied, lying.

Jettison - Word of the Day - 06/03/16

Jettison

verb

Pronunciation

\JET-uh-sun\

 Definition

1 - to throw (goods) overboard to lighten a ship or aircraft in distress

2 - discard

Examples

As the boat began to take on water, the pirates argued over whether they should jettison some of the heavy, stolen loot.

"… [Wayne Pathman, chair of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce] says banks have not yet jettisoned the 30-year mortgage, but 'it's out there,' and he expects them to 'start looking at how they give mortgages and protect their collateral' as sea levels rise." — Nina Burleigh, Newsweek, 28 Jan. 2016

 Did You Know?

Jettison comes from the Anglo-French noun geteson, meaning "action of throwing," and is ultimately from the Latin verb jactare, meaning "to throw." The noun jettison ("a voluntary sacrifice of cargo to lighten a ship's load in time of distress") entered English in the 15th century; the verb has been with us since the 19th century. The noun is also the source of the word jetsam ("jettisoned goods"), which is often paired with flotsam ("floating wreckage"). These days you don't have to be on a sinking ship to jettison something. In addition to literally "throwing overboard," jettison means simply "to get rid of." You might jettison some old magazines that are cluttering your house, or you might make a plan but jettison it at the last minute.

Quiz

What word is derived from Latin jactare and refers to the tossing to or fro of the body or to the jerking or twitching of its parts?

Merriam-Webster

Zaftig - Word of the Day - 05/03/16

Zaftig  

Adjective

Pronunciation

\ZAHF-tig\

Definition

- having a full rounded figure : pleasingly plump.

Examples 

"… Marilyn is lucky that … the Hollywood powers at least had the smarts not to put her on a diet. She looked plenty good zaftig." — Bookwormroom.com, 31 May 2012

 "But Oprah—now there's a woman who has run the dieting gauntlet over the years. In 1988, she pulled a wagon full of 67 pounds of quivering fat onto the stage to show what she had lost on a liquid diet. Then she ballooned up to 200 pounds after a thyroid malfunction, before running the Marine Corps Marathon at a healthy zaftig size." — Leah McLaren, The Globe and Mail (Canada), 23 Oct. 2015

 Did You Know?

 Over the centuries, some women have been approvingly described as full-figured, shapely, womanly, curvy, curvaceous, voluptuous, and statuesque. Such women are, in a word, zaftig. Zaftig has been juicing up our language since the 1930s (the same decade that gave us Yiddish-derived futz, hoo-ha, and schmaltz, not to mention lox). It comes from the Yiddish zaftik, which means "juicy" or "succulent" and which in turn derives from zaft, meaning "juice" or "sap."

 Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create an adjective that can mean "notably plump": TDUONR.

Merriam-Webster

Camaraderie - Word of the Day - 04/03/16

Camaraderie

Noun

Pronunciation

\kahm-RAH-duh-ree\

  

Definition

 - a spirit of friendly good-fellowship

Examples

The sense of camaraderie among colleagues in the sales department is the main reason Julie enjoys coming to work each day.

"Today, visits combine adventure, relaxation and camaraderie. The latter is hard to come by in winter when snow and cold isolate people in this already desolate part of the state." — Paul Post, The New York Times, 2 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Camaraderie made its first appearance in English in the middle of the 19th century. It comes from camarade, the French word whose Middle French ancestor was also the source for our word comrade. In Middle French, camarade was used to mean "roommate," "companion," or "a group sleeping in one room." It derived by way of Old Spanish from the Late Latin camera, or camara, meaning "chamber." We also have the word comradery, which means the same thing as camaraderie but did not take the same etymological route as its synonym. That word, formed by attaching the -ry suffix (as found in wizardry and citizenry) to comrade, didn't appear in English until almost 40 years after camaraderie.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to create a verb that means "to display excessive cordiality or goodwill": b _ _ ks _ _ p.

Merriam-Webster

Somnolent - Word of the Day - 03/03/16

Somnolent

adjective

Pronunciation

\SAHM-nuh-lunt\

Definition

1 - of a kind likely to induce sleep

2 - a - inclined to or heavy with sleep : drowsy

     b  - sleepy

Examples

"George, a somnolent ginger [cat] curled in an orange felt bed, was sleeping through the overtures of Molly Flanagan…." — Penelope Green, The New York Times, 6 Nov. 2015

"Traditionally, Bordeaux had turned its back on its tourists. Sooty and somnolent, it was an insular place where the streets were clogged with traffic and shutters snapped closed on weekends." — Suzanne Mustacich, Wine Spectator, 31 Mar. 2012

Did You Know?

Somnolent first appeared in the late 15th century in the redundant phrase "somnolent sleep." It came into English by way of Anglo-French from the Latin word somnolentus, which itself comes from somnus, meaning "sleep." Another offspring of somnus is somnambulism, a synonym of sleepwalking. Insomnia is also a member of this sleepy word family, though it might be considered the black sheep, since it means, of course, "the inability to sleep."

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of somnolent: s _ p _ r _ _ ic.

Merriam-Webster

Expurgate - Word of the Day - 01/03/16

Expurgate

Line breaks: ex|pur|gate

Pronunciation:

 /ˈɛkspəːɡeɪt/

Verb

Definition of expurgate in English:

Remove matter thought to be objectionable or unsuitable from (a text or account):

EXAMPLE SENTENCES

An expurgated English translation.

It had been on the books since 1897, when expurgated editions of the classics, especially for consumption in classrooms, were common.

She found that most of them had been expurgated to remove anything that was remotely controversial, in some cases making the author's intention unrecognizable.

Thomas Jefferson expurgated his own version by cut and paste method.

SYNONYMS

censor, bowdlerize, blue-pencil, redact, cut, edit; clean up, purge, purify, sanitize, make acceptable, make palatable, make presentable, water down, emasculate

Derivatives

Expurgation

Pronunciation:

/ɛkspəːˈɡeɪʃ(ə)n/

Noun

Expurgator

Pronunciation:

 /ˈɛkspəːɡeɪtə/

Noun

Expurgatory

Pronunciation: /ɛkˈspəːɡət(ə)ri/

adjective

Origin

Early 17th century (in the sense 'purge of excrement'): from Latin expurgat- 'thoroughly cleansed', from the verb expurgare, from ex- 'out' + purgare 'cleanse'.

  

Oxford Dictionary

Glean - Word of the Day - 01/03/16

Glean

Verb

Pronunciation

\GLEEN\

Definition

1 - to gather grain or other produce left by reapers.

2 - a - to gather (as information) bit by bit.

     b - to pick over in search of relevant material.

 3 - to find out.

  

Examples

Investigators have been able to glean some useful information from the seized documents.

"He won four gold medals in London on his talent and the experience he gleaned from three previous Olympics." — Suzanne Halliburton, The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, 15 Jan. 2016

Did You Know?

Glean comes from Middle English glenen, which traces to Anglo-French glener, meaning "to glean." The French borrowed their word from Late Latin glennare, which also means "to glean" and is itself of Celtic origin. Both the grain-gathering sense and the collecting-bit-by-bit senses of our glean date back at least to the 14th century. Over the years, and especially in the 20th and 21st centuries, glean has also come to be used frequently with the meaning "to find out, learn, ascertain." This sense has been criticized by folks who think glean should always imply the drudgery involved in the literal grain-gathering sense, but it is well established and perfectly valid.

Test Your Vocabulary

What 6-letter verb beginning with "g" refers to the gathering of grain into a granary and can mean "to acquire by effort" or "to accumulate"? 

Merriam-Webster