élan - Word of the Day - 30/04/16

élan

noun

Pronunciation

 \ā-ˈläⁿ\

 Definition

 - vigorous spirit or enthusiasm

Examples

The dancer performed with great élan.

Did You Know?

Once upon a time, English speakers did not have "élan" (the word, that is; that's not to say we haven't always had potential for vigorous spirit). We had, however, "elance," a verb meaning "to hurl" that was used specifically for throwing lances and darts. "Elance" derived down the line from Middle French (s')eslancer ("to rush or dash"), itself from lancer, meaning "to hurl." With the decline of lance-throwing, we tossed out "elance" a century and half ago. Just about that time we found "élan," a noun that traces to "(s')eslancer." We copied "élan" in form from the French, but we dispensed with the French sense of a literal "rush" or "dash," retaining the sense of enthusiastic animation that we sometimes characterize as "dash."

Origin of élan

French, from Middle French eslan rush, from (s')eslancer to rush, from ex- + lancer to hurl — more at lance

First Known Use: 1864

Merriam-Webster

mulct - Word of the Day - 26/04/16

mulct

verb

Pronunciation

MULKT

Definition

1 - to punish by a fine
2 a - to defraud especially of money : swindle
   b - to obtain by fraud, duress, or theft

Examples

Francis was finally barred from the securities industry when it was discovered he'd been mulcting investors for years.

"Attacking these firms is a crowd-pleasing sport for lawmakers, in part because every constituent has a story about being mulcted by a card issuer." — Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2009

Did You Know?

A fine assessed as a penalty for an infraction is generally considered justifiable. Fraud, on the other hand, is wrong—it's just the sort of thing that deserves a fine. So in mulct we have a unique word, one that means both "to fine" and "to defraud." The "fine" sense came first. Mulct was borrowed from the Latin word for a fine, which is multa or mulcta. The "fine" sense is still in use, mostly in legal contexts ("the court mulcted the defendant for punitive damages"), but these days mulct is more often used for an illegal act. It has been speculated that the use may have come about by association with the verb milk, in its sense "to exploit, to coerce profit from" (as in "she was milked by the lawyers for everything she had"), but that speculation has never been proven.

Merriam-Webster

invincible - Word of the Day - 28/04/16

invincible 

adjective

Pronunciation

in-VIN-suh-bul

Definition

 - incapable of being conquered, overcome, or subdued

Examples

"He calls the mixture Bulletproof coffee. Drink it, the name implies, and you'll feel invincible." — Gordy Megroz, Bloomberg Businessweek, 4 May 2015

"Eventually he stops terrorizing poor Holly Hunter and retires to Superman's spaceship … where he uses the Krypton Siri to create the invincible supervillain whom Batman and Superman will have to fight after they're done throwing each other through various walls…." — Rob Havilla, Deadspin, 23 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

The origins of invincible are easily subdued. The word derives, via Middle French, from Late Latin invincibilis—a combination of the negative prefix in- with vincibilis, an adjective meaning "conquerable," from the Latin verb vincere, "to conquer." Other descendants of vincere in English include convince, evince, vanquish, and even victor. Vincere also gave English vincible, meaning (unsurprisingly) "capable of being overcome or subdued," though it is significantly less common than invincible.

Name That Antonym

Unscramble the letters to create an antonym of invincible: RUEBELSPA.


Merriam-Webster

belvedere - Word of the Day - 27/04/16

belvedere

noun

Pronunciation

BEL-vuh-deer

Definition

 -  a structure (such as a cupola or summerhouse) designed to command a view

Examples

The couple wandered down to the belvedere at the edge of the bluff to take in the vivid colors of the sunset.

"… he chiefly talked of the view from the little belvedere on the roof of the casino, and how it looked like the prospect from a castle turret in a fairy tale." — Henry James, Roderick Hudson, 1875

Did You Know?

It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder—and someone with a belvedere will likely have a great deal of beauty to behold. Given the origins of the word, belvedere is the ideal term for a building (or part of a building) with a view; it derives from two Italian words, bel, which means "beautiful," and vedere, which means "view." The term has been used in English since the 1570s.
Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of belvedere: ga _ e _ _.

Merriam-Webster

inveterate - Word of the Day - 26/04/16

inveterate

adjective

Pronunciation

in-VET-uh-rut

 Definition

 -  firmly established by long persistence
 -  confirmed in a habit : habitual

Examples

Since Ernie is an inveterate liar, we naturally didn't believe him when he told us he'd met the movie star.

"As an inveterate letter writer, I started sending email as soon as I could sign on with dial-up, and became impatient to connect via DSL." — Deborah Lee Luskin, The Rutland (Vermont) Herald, 25 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Like veteran, inveterate ultimately comes from Latin vetus, which means "old," and which led to the Latin verb inveterare ("to age"). That verb in turn gave rise eventually to the adjective inveteratus, the direct source of our adjective inveterate (in use since the 14th century). In the past, inveterate has meant "long-standing" or simply "old." For example, one 16th-century writer warned of "Those great Flyes which in the springe time of the yeare creepe out of inveterate walls." Today, inveterate most often applies to a habit, attitude, or feeling of such long existence that it is practically ineradicable or unalterable.

Test Your Memory

Fill in the blank in this sentence from our March 25th Word of the Day: "The narrow greens, pesky hazards, and _______fairways make the golf course one of the most challenging places to play in the area."

Merriam-Webster

juxtapose - Word of the Day - 25/04/16

juxtapose

verb

Pronunciation

JUK-stuh-pohz

Definition

- to place side by side (as to compare or contrast)

Examples

Darlene has a keen eye for fashion, and she likes to juxtapose vintage pieces with contemporary styles to create new looks.

"ESPN posted an image of poverty outside Havana's sports stadium last week, to juxtapose the well-kept stadium with the shabby neighborhood around it." — Carolina Miranda, The Los Angeles Times (latimes.com), 28 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

A back-formation is a word that has come about through the removal of a prefix or a suffix from a longer word. Etymologists think juxtapose is a back-formation that was created when people trimmed down the noun juxtaposition. Historical evidence supports the idea: juxtaposition was showing up in English documents as early as 1654, but juxtapose didn't appear until 1851. Juxtaposition is itself thought to be a combination of Latin juxta, meaning "near," and English position.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to create the word that refers to the juxtaposition of similar sounds and especially those of vowels: a _ _ o _ an _ e.

Merriam-Webster

tintinnabulation - Word of the Day - 24/04/16

tintinnabulation

noun

Pronunciation

tin·tin·nab·u·la·tion \ˌtin-tə-ˌna-byə-ˈlā-shən\

 Definition

 -  the ringing or sounding of bells
 -  a jingling or tinkling sound as if of bells

Examples

The merry tintinnabulation of church bells called the people to worship.

Did You Know?

If the sound of tintinnabulation rings a bell, that may be because it traces to a Latin interpretation of the sound a ringing bell makes. Our English word derives from tintinnabulum, the Latin word for "bell." That Latin word, in turn, comes from the verb tintinnare, which means "to ring, clang, or jingle." Like the English terms "ting" and "tinkle," tintinnare originated with a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it-that is, it is onomatopoeic. Edgar Allan Poe celebrates the sonic overtones of tintinnabulation in his poem "The Bells," which includes lines about "the tintinnabulation that so musically wells / From the bells, bells, bells, bells, / Bells, bells, bells-/ From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells."

Origin of tintinnabulation

Latin tintinnabulum bell, from tintinnare to ring, jingle, from tinnire

First Known Use: 1831


 Merriam-Webster

saturnine - Word of the Day - 23/04/16

saturnine

adjective

Pronunciation

sat·ur·nine \ˈsa-tər-ˌnīn\

 Definition 

1 - born under or influenced astrologically by the planet Saturn
2
     a -  cold and steady in mood :  slow to act or change
     b -  of a gloomy or surly disposition
     c - having a sardonic aspect <a saturnine smile>

Examples 

He is saturnine in temperament.

The men awaiting interrogation by the police shared a saturnine silence.

Did You Know?

Eeyore is saturnine. The gloomy, cynical character of A. A. Milne's gray donkey typifies the personality type the ancient Romans ascribed to individuals born when the planet Saturn was rising in the heavens. Both the name of the planet and the adjective derive from the name of the Roman god of agriculture, who was often depicted as a bent old man with a stern, sluggish, and sullen nature. The Latin name for Saturn was Saturnus, which is assumed to have yielded the word Saturninus (meaning "of Saturn") in Medieval Latin; that form was adapted to create English saturnine in the 15th century.


Merriam-Webster

noetic - Word of the Day - 22/04/16

noetic

adjective

Pronunciation

noh-ET-ik

 Definition

- of, relating to, or based on the intellect

Examples

In addition to her chemistry courses, Elena took electives in philosophy and the classics to satisfy her thirst for noetic stimulation.

"But the new emphasis on curiosity as a noetic virtue adds a note of transcendence to the portrait of the ideal thinker." — John J. Conley, America: The National Catholic Review, 1 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Noetic derives from the Greek adjective noētikos, meaning "intellectual," from the verb noein ("to think") and ultimately from the noun nous, meaning "mind." (Nous also gave English the word paranoia by joining with a prefix meaning "faulty" or "abnormal.") Noetic is related to noesis, a rare noun that turns up in the field of philosophy and refers to the action of perceiving or thinking. The most notable use of noetic might be in the name of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a research organization based in California that is devoted to studies of consciousness and the mind.

Test Your Memory

What former Word of the Day means "of or relating to knowledge or knowing" and is based on the Greek prefix epi-, meaning "upon" or "attached to"?

Merriam-Webster

litany - Word of the Day - 21/04/16

litany

noun

Pronunciation

LIT-uh-nee

 Definition

1 - a prayer consisting of a series of invocations and supplications by the leader with alternate responses by the congregation

2 a - a resonant or repetitive chant
  b - a usually lengthy recitation or enumeration
  c - a sizable series or set

Examples

"In a silent inner litany, I say 'thank you' for the magnificent gifts of a healthy body: lungs that breathe the cool, foggy air; a nose that smells eucalyptus leaves and banana muffins; eyes that see hummingbirds swooping outside my window; a tongue that has just savored a golden, juicy peach." — Anne Cushman, The Yoga Journal, January/February 2004

"A litany of NFL stars have retired early in recent years, with most of them citing the dangers of football as the primary reason they decided to hang it up." — Alex Reimer, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

Litany came to English through Anglo-French and Late Latin, ultimately from the Greek word litaneia, meaning "entreaty." Litany refers literally to a type of prayer in which a series of lines are spoken alternately by a leader and a congregation. This use dates to the 13th century. Between that century and the 20th, three figurative senses developed. The chant-like quality of a literal litany led first to a "repetitive chant" sense. Next, the repetitious—and sometimes interminable—nature of the original litany led to a "lengthy recitation" sense. Finally, the "lengthy recitation" sense was extended to refer to any sizable series or set.

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of litany relating to prayer: AIRTNOOG.


Merriam-Webster

piebald - Word of the Day - 20/04/16

piebald

adjective

Pronunciation

PYE-bawld

Definition

1 - composed of incongruous parts

2 - of different colors; especially : spotted or blotched with black and white

Examples

The horse she most enjoys riding is a sleek, leggy piebald mare.

"What they did find, though, were some surprise photos of a piebald deer, something few people ever get to see in the woods." — Brenda Charpentier, The New Hampshire Sunday News, 3 Jan. 2016

Did You Know?

To many people, the noisy black and white birds that go by the scientific name Pica pica—better known as magpies—are nothing but pests. But the Latin root that was adopted for their name isn't a linguistic nuisance; it played an important role in the development of piebald. The pie of piebald (pie is another name for a magpie) derives from pica, which is Latin for "magpie." The other part of piebald comes from the word bald, which can mean "marked with white"; it can also be found in skewbald, an adjective used to describe animals marked with patches of white and any other color but black.

Test Your Vocabulary

What 4-letter adjective begins with "r" and is used to describe an animal whose base color (such as red, black, or brown) is muted and lightened by white hairs?

Merriam-Webster

koine - Word of the Day : April - 19/04/16

koine

noun

Pronunciation

koy-NAY

 Definition

1 - the Greek language commonly spoken and written in eastern Mediterranean countries in the Hellenistic and Roman periods

2 - a dialect or language of a region that has become the common or standard language of a larger area

Examples

"Examples of koines … include the Hindi/Bhojpuri varieties spoken in Fiji and South Africa, and the speech of 'new towns' such as Høyanger in Norway and Milton Keynes in England." — Paul Kerswill, in The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, 2013

"Hedrick has taken 30 hours of ancient languages—rendering him proficient in koine Greek, Aramaic and ancient Hebrew—and he tutored students in those subjects while in Greece." — Angela Spencer, ArkansasOnline.com, 28 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Koine, which means "common" or "shared" in Greek, was the language spoken in the eastern Mediterranean countries from the 4th century B.C.E. until the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (mid-6th century C.E.). In linguistics, the word koine is applied to a language developed from contact between dialects of the same language over a large region. Basically, a koine adopts those grammatical and lexical elements from the dialects of the region that are easily recognized by most area speakers and dispenses with those that are not.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to form a word that refers to a dialect other than the standard dialect: pa _ _ is.

Merriam-Webster

unctuous - Word of the Day - 18/04/16

unctuous

adjective

Pronunciation

UNK-chuh-wus

Definition

1 a - fatty, oily
   b -smooth and greasy in texture or appearance
2 - plastic
3 - insincerely smooth in speech and manner

Examples

Anna was thankful that the unctuous man who first greeted her at the modeling agency would not be the person she would be working with.

"To make the most of its amazing qualities, marinate the lamb for a few hours and then slow-cook the meat. Over time, the layers of fat reduce to sticky, unctuous, lip-smacking perfection and help keep the meat moist…." — Ben Tish, The Guardian, 5 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

Nowadays, unctuous usually has a negative connotation, but it originated as a term describing a positive act, that of healing. The word comes from the Latin verb unguere ("to anoint"), a root that also gave rise to the words unguent ("a soothing or healing salve") and ointment. The oily nature of ointments may have led to the application of unctuous to describe things marked by an artificial gloss of sentimentality. An unctuous individual may mean well, but his or her insincere earnestness can leave an unwelcome residue with others, much like some ointments.

Name That Synonym

What synonym of unctuous originated as a spelling alteration of the adjective slick?

Merriam-Webster

fossick - Word of the Day - 17/04/16

fossick

verb

Pronunciation

FAH-sik

Definition

1 - (Australia & New Zealand) to search about especially for gold or gemstones

2 - (chiefly Australia & New Zealand) to search about : rummage

Examples

As teenagers, the twins spent many summer afternoons fossicking for opals in the old mine.

"McDowall outlines the last day's activities: a morning jaunt to Southport…, then the afternoon at Franklin discovering the Wooden Boat Centre, fossicking for antiques and having a pint at a colourful local bar." — Kendall Hill, The Australian, 20 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

The first people to fossick (in the oldest and still-current meaning of the word), back in the 1850s, were picking over abandoned mining excavations in Australia and New Zealand in search of gold or gemstones. But within a few decades fossick was being used more generally to mean "to search about" or "to rummage." Fossick, as we know it, is a native of Down Under, but it may have its origins in a word known to immigrants from the United Kingdom: the dialect term fussock, meaning "to bustle about" or "to fidget."

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of fossick: OSCREPPT.

Merriam-Webster

withy - Word of the Day : 16/04/16

withy

noun

Pronunciation

WITH-ee

Definition

 -  willow; especially : one whose pliable twigs are used for furniture and basketry

 - a flexible slender twig or branch

Examples

"The switch, significantly, is  … a withy of great suppleness and bite, a two-edged sword." — Janette Turner Hospital, The Last Magician, 1992

"'Care to walk up wi' me, Sassenach? It's a fine morning, and ye can bring your wee basket.' He cocked an ironic eye at the enormous withy basket I used for gathering." — Diana Gabaldon, Outlander, 1991

Did You Know?

Withy is a word with several synonyms. In its broadest use, it is simply another word for "willow," but it can also be used for a particular category of willows which are also known by the name osier. Additionally, the word withe can be substituted for the "flexible slender twig or branch" sense of withy. Osier entered English from medieval French, whereas willow, withy, and withe all have their origins in Old English. Willow comes from welig; withy comes from wīthig; and withe comes from withthe, a word indirectly related to wīthig.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of withy and withe that refers to a flexible slender twig or branch: wi _ _ e _.

Merriam-Webster

galvanize - Word of the Day : 15/04/16

galvanize

verb

Pronunciation

GAL-vuh-nyze

Definition

1 - to subject to the action of an electric current especially for the purpose of stimulating physiologically
2  a - to stimulate or excite as if by an electric shock
    b - to react as if stimulated by an electric shock
3 - to coat (iron or steel) with zinc; especially : to immerse in molten zinc to produce a coating of zinc-iron alloy

Examples

The singer was amazed by how her single tweet galvanized so much support from the Twitter community.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new push for accessibility has galvanized a disability rights movement in a country with a notably poor record on inclusive infrastructure." — Rama Lakshmi, The Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

Luigi Galvani was an Italian physician and physicist who, in the 1770s, studied the electrical nature of nerve impulses by applying electrical stimulation to frogs' leg muscles, causing them to contract. Although Galvani's theory that animal tissue contained an innate electrical impulse was disproven, the Italian word galvanismo came to describe a current of electricity especially when produced by chemical action. English speakers borrowed the word as galvanism around 1797; the verb galvanize appeared a few years later, in the early 19th century. Charlotte Brontë used the verb figuratively in her 1853 novel Villette: "Her approach always galvanized him to new and spasmodic life." These days, galvanize also means to cover metal with zinc or a zinc alloy to protect it from rust (as in galvanized carpentry nails).

Test Your Memory

Merriam-Webster

canaille - Word of the Day - 14/04/16

canaille

noun

Pronunciation

kuh-NYE

Definition

1 - rabble, riffraff
2 - proletarian

Examples

"I am not going to write for [The New York Weekly]—like all other papers that pay one splendidly, it circulates among stupid people & the canaille." — Mark Twain, letter, 1 June 1867

"Where the beau monde leads, the canaille will follow." — Richard Brookhiser, The New York Observer,12 May 2003

Did You Know?

For a creature said to be man's best friend, the dog doesn't get a whole lot of respect in the English language. Something that has "gone to the dogs," for example, has gone to ruin, and the Britishism dog's breakfast means a confused mess of something. The word canaille, which debuted in English in the 17th century, shows that we have no qualms about associating dogs with the lower levels of human society; it derives via French from Italian canaglia, and ultimately from canis, the Latin word for "dog." Canis, of course, is also the source of canine, which as a noun refers to a dog (as well as a conical pointed tooth), and as an adjective means "of or relating to dogs or to the family to which they belong."

Quiz

Reorganise this adjective, curlaanic, so it relates to Latin canis and refers to the hot summer period - the dog days of summer?

Merriam-Webster

neologism - Word of the Day - 13/04/16

neologism

noun

Pronunciation

ne·ol·o·gism \nē-ˈä-lə-ˌji-zəm\

Definition 

 - a new word or expression or a new meaning of a word
 - a new word that is coined especially by a person affected with schizophrenia and is meaningless except to the coiner

Did You Know? 

A neologism (/niːˈɒlədʒɪzəm/; from Greek νέο- néo-, "new" and λόγος lógos, "speech, utterance") is the name for a relatively new or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event.

The term neologism is first attested in English in 1772, borrowed from French néologisme (1734). A proponent of a new word or doctrine may be called a neologist. Neologists might study cultural and ethnic vernacular. A neologism may also be a new usage of an existing word, sometimes called a semantic extension.This is distinct from a person's idiolect, one's unique patterns of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

In psychiatry, the term neologism is used to describe the use of words that have meaning only to the person who uses them, independent of their common meaning. This tendency is considered normal in children, but in adults it can be a symptom of psychopathy[9] or a thought disorder (indicative of a psychotic mental illness, such as schizophrenia). People with autism also may create neologisms. Additionally, use of neologisms may be related to aphasia acquired after brain damage resulting from a stroke or head injury.

In theology, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine (for example, Transcendentalism). In this sense, a neologist is one who proposes either a new doctrine or a new interpretation of source material such as religious texts

Merriam-Webster / Wikipedia

hobnob - Word of the Day - 12/04/2016

hobnob

verb

Pronunciation

HAHB-nahb?

Definition

 - to associate familiarly

Examples

"We were so far from A-listers they couldn't see us with a telescope, yet there we were, hobnobbing with athletes and celebrities, all the while making good use of the free drinks and appetizers, especially the sushi rolls." — Eric Plummer, The Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) Press, 14 Feb. 2016

"The Oscars ceremony might be one of the most prestigious events in the celebrity world, but the Vanity Fair celebration is the most exclusive after-party … in which all of the movie stars in all of the land are brought to one large building to hobnob and glad-hand and get away from the mortals." — Monica Hesse, The Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

Hob and nob first came together in print in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, when Sir Toby Belch warns Viola (who is disguised as a man) that Sir Andrew wants to duel. "Hob, nob is his word," says Sir Toby, using hob and nob to mean something like "hit or miss." Sir Toby's words are probably from the term habnab (also styled as a phrase: hab or nab), which meant "in one way or another" or "however it may turn out." After Shakespeare's day, hob and nob became established in the phrase to drink hobnob (also styled as to drink hob or nob), which meant "to drink alternately to each other." Since "drinking hobnob" was generally done among friends, hobnob came to refer to congenial social interaction.

Name That Synonym

What 6-letter synonym of hobnob begins with "m" and can also mean "to mix together"

Merriam-Webster

twee - Word of the Day - 11/04/2016

adjective

Pronunciation

 TWEE

 Definition

 - chiefly British) affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint

Examples

The cutesy knickknacks sold in that shop are a bit twee for my taste.

"Some of the footage from decades gone by showcases amusingly twee TV staging and set design…." — Jack Seale, The Guardian, 11 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

Most adults wouldn't be caught dead saying, "Oh, look at the twee little birdie!" but they probably wouldn't be averse to saying: "He went fishing with his dad," "She works as a nanny," or "Hey, buddy, how's it going?" Anyone who uses dad, nanny, or buddy owes a debt to "baby talk," a term used for both the childish speech adults adopt when addressing youngsters and for the speech of small children who are just learning to talk. Twee also originated in baby talk as an alteration of sweet. In the early 1900s, it was a term of affection, but nowadays British speakers and writers—and, increasingly, Americans as well—use twee for things that have passed beyond agreeable and into the realm of cloying.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of twee: r _ s _ w _ _ er.

Merriam-Webster

exasperate - Word of the Day :10/08/2016

exasperate

verb

Pronunciation

ig-ZASS-puh-rayt

 Definition

1 : to excite the anger of : enrage
2 : to cause irritation or annoyance to

Examples

Lila quickly became exasperated by her new roommate's habit of leaving her dirty dishes in the sink.

"'Bless me, Father, for I have sinned' are the first words we hear from Mannix, a married Catholic who exasperates his priest in Confession by asking forgiveness on an almost daily basis."

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Exasperate hangs with a rough crowd. It derives from exasperatus, the past participle of the Latin verb exasperare, which in turn was formed by combining ex- with asper, meaning "rough." Another descendant of asper in English is asperity, which can refer to the roughness of a surface or the roughness of someone's temper. Another relative, albeit a distant one, is the English word spurn, meaning "to reject." Lest you wish to exasperate your readers, you should take care not to confuse exasperate with the similar-sounding exacerbate, another Latin-derived verb that means "to make worse," as in "Their refusal to ask for help only exacerbated the problem."

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of exasperate: p _  _ ue.

Merriam-Webster

wherefore - - Word of the Day - 09/04/16

wherefore 

adverb

Pronunciation

WAIR-for

Definition

 - for what reason or purpose : why
 - therefore

Examples

"What had already fallen from her, however, had not only piqued his curiosity, but seriously alarmed him, wherefore he urged her to tell him the worst at once." — Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841

"There's a frivolity to the lopsidedness with which Hyundai designed the 2012 Veloster.... The left brain just doesn't know what to make of it, and frankly, we can sympathize: 'Wherefore the asymmetry?' it asks, brow furrowed in frustration." — Natalie Neff, AutoWeek, 31 Oct. 2011

Did You Know?

When Shakespeare's Juliet asks, "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" she is not inquiring into her beloved's whereabouts. Rather she is asking why it is that Romeo must be Romeo, a member of the Montague family and, therefore, an enemy of Juliet's own family, the Capulets. Yet, wherefore does wherefore mean "why"? Starting in the early 13th century, a number of new words were formed by combining where with a preposition. In such words, where had the meaning of "what" or "which," giving the English language such adverbs as wherein ("in what"), whereon ("on what"), and wherefore ("for what"). English speakers have largely dropped the adverb wherefore in favor of why, but the noun wherefore, meaning "an answer or statement giving an explanation," continues to be used, particularly in the phrase "the whys and wherefores."


Merriam-Webster

batten - Word of the Day : April 8, 2016

batten

verb

Pronunciation

BAT-un

Definition

- to grow or make fat
- to feed gluttonously
- to grow prosperous especially at the expense of another (usually used with on)

Examples

There have always been unscrupulous individuals who batten on the misfortunes of others.

"At the same time, others who had battened on the business of originating mortgages—thousands of small-time mortgage brokers—went out of business." — Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm, Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance, 2010

Did You Know?

The origin of today's word is believed to be the Old Norse verb batna, meaning "to improve." Batna is akin to Old Norse betr and Old English betera, from which we get the modern English word better. Batten entered the English language in the 1500s, with the meaning "to improve," and was especially used in the sense of improving or thriving by feeding. It is not related to the verb batten (3batten) found in expressions such as "batten down the hatches." This latter batten comes from the noun batten, which denotes, among other things, an iron bar used to secure the covering of a hatchway on a ship. This batten has Latinate rather than Germanic origins and can be traced back through Anglo-French batre to the Latin verb battuere ("to beat").

Merriam-Webster

ruthless - Word of the Day -07/04/2016

ruthless

adjective

Pronunciation

ROOTH-lus

Definition

 -  having no pity : merciless, cruel

Examples

The country was ruled by a ruthless dictator who could inflict punishment at will on any person who defied his orders.

"While Wyatt's business tactics were said to be ruthless, they sure were smart." — James Reginato, Vanity Fair, February 2016
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Did You Know?

Ruthless can be defined as "without ruth" or "having no ruth." So what, then, is ruth? The noun ruth, which is now considerably less common than ruthless, means "compassion for the misery of another," "sorrow for one's own faults," or "remorse." And, just as it is possible for one to be without ruth, it is also possible to be full of ruth. The antonym of ruthless is ruthful, meaning "full of ruth" or "tender." Ruthful can also mean "full of sorrow" or "causing sorrow." Ruth can be traced back to the Middle English noun ruthe, itself from ruen, meaning "to rue" or "to feel regret, remorse, or sorrow."

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of ruthless: IAPGNNSRU.

Merriam-Webster

mithridate - Word of the Day - 02/04/16

mithridate

noun

MITH-ruh-dayt

Definition

- an antidote against poison; especially : a confection held to be effective against poison

Examples

"What he wanted, in effect, was a universal antidote, which medical science has for years referred to as a mithridate." — Harold L. Klawans, Newton's Madness, 1990

"Is enough known about the mechanisms of poisoning to construct effective antidotes, or even a universal antidote (a true mithridate), a panacea to all toxic ills?" — Rosemary H. Waring et al., Molecules of Death, 2007

Did You Know?

Mithridates the Great was the tyrannical king of Pontus (an ancient kingdom in Northeast Asia Minor) from 120 to 63 B.C.E. He was killed by a Gallic mercenary whose services he himself engaged after failing to poison himself following an insurrection by his troops. Supposedly, his suicide was unsuccessful because he had made himself immune to poison by taking small doses of it since childhood in an attempt to avoid the fate of assassination by poison. The story of Mithridates' tolerance is behind the English word mithridate, which dates to the early 16th century, as well as the word mithridatism, defined as "tolerance to a poison acquired by taking gradually increased doses of it."

Quiz

What former Word of the Day begins with "th" and refers to a mixture of many drugs and honey formerly held to be an antidote to poison?

Merriam-Webster

see definition - http://wordoftday.blogspot.com.au/

http://writingthestorypruthpunton.blogspot.com.au/

declension - Word of the Day - 05/04/16

declension

noun

Pronunciation

dih-KLEN-shun

Definition

1 - the inflectional forms of a noun, pronoun, or adjective
2 - a falling off or away : deterioration
3 - descent, slope

Examples

The most common declension in modern English is the set of plural nouns marked as plural with a simple "-s."

"You jump in and begin seeing and hearing simple words in the foreign language and start translating, learning nouns, verbs, and other parts of speech without memorizing declensions and without tears." — Reid Kanaley, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2 May 2016

Did You Know?

Declension came into English (via Middle French) in the first half of the 15th century, originating in the Latin verb declinare, meaning "to inflect" or "to turn aside." The word seems to have whiled away its time in the narrow field of grammar until Shakespeare put a new sense of the word in his play Richard III in 1593: "A beauty-waning and distressed widow / … Seduc'd the pitch and height of his degree / To base declension and loath'd bigamy." This "deterioration" sense led within a few decades to the newest sense of the word still in common use, "descent" or "slope." The 19th century saw still another new sense of the word—meaning "a courteous refusal"—but that sense has remained quite rare.

Test Your Vocabulary

Unscramble the letters to create a word that means "typical example" and that can also specifically mean "an example of a declension showing a word in all its inflectional forms": AGDRAMIP.

Merriam-Webster

existential - Word of the Day - 04/04/16

existential

adjective

Pronunciation

ex·is·ten·tial  \ˌeg-(ˌ)zis-ˈten(t)-shəl, ˌek-(ˌ)sis-\

Definition of existential

1-  of, relating to, or affirming existence  - existential propositions
2 -
   a - grounded in existence /the experience of existence/ empirical
   b  -  having being in time and space

Example

Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim believed that fairy tales help children cope with their existential anxieties and dilemmas,
Logic (Of a proposition) affirming or implying the existence of a thing.

Philosophy Concerned with existence, especially human existence as viewed in the theories of existentialism.

Origin

Late 17th century: from late Latin existentialis, from existentia (see existence). First known use 1693.

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

zenith

noun

Pronunciation

ZEE-nith

Definition

1 -  the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the nadir and vertically above the observer.

2 -  the highest point reached in the heavens by a celestial body.

3  - culminating point : acme.

Examples

"'As a film actor,' muses [Helen] Mirren, 'I didn't really reach my zenith until comparatively recently.' That zenith was probably the 2006 release of The Queen, with Mirren portraying Queen Elizabeth's response to the death of Princess Diana…." — Neala Johnson, The Courier Mail (Australia), 19 July 2014

"Dr. Seuss rocks. I thought reading the collected works of Shakespeare was the zenith of my intellectual development. Ha. As every parent knows, nothing compares to the collected works of Theodor Geisel." — Rob Jenkins, Gwinnett Daily Post (Lawrenceville, Georgia), 14 June 2014
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Did You Know?

When you reach the zenith, you're at the top, the pinnacle, the summit, the peak. Zenith developed from Arabic terms meaning "the way over one's head," and then traveled through Old Spanish, Medieval Latin, and Middle French before arriving in English. As long ago as the 1300s, English speakers used zenith to name the highest point in the celestial heavens, directly overhead. By the 1600s, zenith was being used for other high points as well. The celestial term is often contrasted with nadir, or the point that is vertically downward from the observer (imagine a line going through the earth from the observer's feet and out the other side into the sky). Figuratively, nadir simply means "the lowest point."

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to create the name for any one of the lines that go from the North Pole to the South Pole on maps: me _i _ _ _ n.

Merriam-Webster

abrasive - Word of the Day -02/04/16

abrasive 

adjective

Pronunciation

uh-BRAY-siv

Definition

1 -  tending to wear away by rubbing
2 -  causing irritation

Examples

Coworkers tolerated ane's abrasive personality because she was brilliant, but many privately wished she could learn to be a bit more polite.

"He comes across as direct, confident but not cocky or abrasive." — Steve Flowers, The Jacksonville (Alabama) News, 23 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Once upon a time, English had two different but similarly derived words meaning "to wear down": abrade and abrase. However, in this fairy tale, only one of the two had a happy ending; while abrade remains a familiar word to modern English speakers, abrase has become quite rare. And yet, abrase lives on in its descendantabrasive, which was formed by combining the verb with the -ive suffix. Both of the verbs, and by extension abrasive, can be traced back to the Latin verb abradere, meaning "to scrape off."Abradere in turn is a combination of ab- andradere, meaning "to scrape."

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of abradethat can also mean "to censure scathingly": e _ c _ _ i _ te.

Merriam-Webster