nadir - Word of the Day - 30/06/16

nadir 

noun

Pronunciation

NAY-deer

Definition

1 : the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer
2 : the lowest point

Examples

Only once the novel's protagonist reaches her nadir does she arouse the reader's empathy, and we root for her to climb back to respectability.

"The nadir came in the MLS Cup Final, when a gaffe in front of his net led to a Portland goal just 27 seconds after the opening whistle." — Shawn Mitchell, The Columbus Dispatch, 4 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

Nadir is part of the galaxy of scientific words that have come to us from Arabic, a language that has made important contributions in the vocabulary of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry. Nadir derives from an Arabic word meaning "opposite"—the opposite, that is, of the zenith, or the highest point of the celestial sphere, the one vertically above the observer. (The word zenith itself is a modification of another Arabic word that means "the way over one's head.") The English poet John Donne is first on record as having used nadir in the figurative sense of "lowest point" in a sermon he wrote in 1627.

Name That Synonym

What synonym of nadir can refer to the lowest point of something or to underlying solid rock?

Merriam-Webster

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attenuate - Word of the Day - 29/06/16

attenuate

verb

Pronunciation

uh-TEN-yuh-wayt

Definition

1 : to make thin or slender
2 : to make thin in consistency : rarefy
3 : to lessen the amount, force, magnitude, or value of : weaken
4 : to reduce the severity, virulence, or vitality of

Examples

"… it's been well established that daily exercise such as walking for 30 minutes yields substantial health benefits and that regular physical activity attenuates the health risks associated with overweight and obesity." — Yuri Elkaim, The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, 4 June 2016

"Confined to a contemporary art emporium, however, an artist such as Ms. Abdalian is often forced either to fill up the chamber so much that it feels like granny’s attic, or to attenuate the offering so that the viewer gets a pretty good idea of what the artist is usually up to, aesthetically and philosophically, elsewhere." — Peter Plagens, The Wall Street Journal, 6 May 2016

Did You Know?

Attenuate ultimately comes from a combination of the Latin prefix ad-, meaning "to" or "toward," and tenuis, meaning "thin." It has been on the medical scene since the 16th century, when a health treatise recommended eating dried figs to attenuate bodily fluids. That treatment might be outmoded nowadays, but attenuate is still used in medicine to refer to procedures that weaken a pathogen or reduce the severity of a disease. Most often, though, attenuate implies that something has been reduced or weakened by physical or chemical means. You can attenuate wire by drawing it through successively smaller holes, or attenuate gold by hammering it into thin sheets. You can even attenuate the momentum of a play by including too many costume changes.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of the verb attenuate: w _ r _ _ r _ w.

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licit - Word of the Day - 28/06/16

licit 

adjective

Pronunciation

LISS-it

Definition

: conforming to the requirements of the law : not forbidden by law : permissible

Examples

The program subsidizes farmers growing licit crops, such as rubber, cassava, and cocoa.

"The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) explained, opioids are a class of drugs that include the illicit drug heroin and the licit prescription pain relievers oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl and others." — The Recorder: Central Connecticut University, 5 May 2016

Did You Know?

Licit is far less common than its antonym illicit, but you probably won't be surprised to learn that the former is the older of the two. Not by much, though: the first known use of licit in print is from 1483, whereas illicit shows up in print for the first time in 1506. For some reason illicit took off while licit just plodded along. When licit appears these days, it often modifies drugs or crops. Meanwhile, illicit shows up before words like thrill and passion (as well as gambling, relationship, activities, and, of course, drugs and crops.) The Latin word licitus, meaning "lawful," is the root of the pair; licitus itself is from licēre, meaning "to be permitted."

Name That Antonym

Fill in the blanks to create an antonym of licit: _ _ rb _ t _ n.


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crackerjack - Word of the Day - 27/06/16

crackerjack 

adjective

Pronunciation

CRACK-er-jack

Definition

: of striking ability or excellence

Examples

She is a crackerjack athlete who excels in soccer and softball.

"Like a well-made suspense film, Mr. Scovel's jokes have twists you don't see coming and the thrilling tension of a crackerjack plot where you have no idea what will happen next." — Jason Zinoman, The New York Times, 12 May 2016

Did You Know?

The late 19th-century pairing of crack and jack to form crackerjack topped off a long history for those words. Cracker is an elongation of crack, an adjective meaning "expert" or "superior" that dates from the 18th century. Prior to that, crack was a noun meaning "something superior" and a verb meaning "to boast." (The verb use evolved from the expression "to crack a boast," which came from the sense of crack meaning "to make a loud sharp sound.") Jack has been used for "man" since the mid-1500s, as in "jack-of-all-trades." Crackerjack entered English first as a noun referring to "a person or thing of marked excellence," then as an adjective. You may also know Cracker Jack as a snack of candied popcorn and peanuts. That trademarked name dates from the 1890s.

Name That Antonym

Unscramble the letters to create an antonym of crackerjack: GCEALKJ.

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jactitation - Word of the Day - 26/06/16

jactitation

noun

Pronunciation

jak-tuh-TAY-shun

Definition

: a tossing to and fro or jerking and twitching of the body

Examples

"The effect of the first dose was most fortunate. In about ten minutes after it was swallowed, the jactitation ceased." — Edward H. Clarke, The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 16 June 1870

"It is clear that Mrs Y.'s tics are far more complex in form than mere Parkinsonian jerks, jactitations, or precipitations...." — Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, 1973

Did You Know?

In the 17th century, lawyers began tossing around the word jactitation, which can be traced back to the Latin verb jactare, meaning "to throw." Originally, jactitation was used as a word for a false claim or assertion being publicly thrown about to the detriment of another person. Run-of-the-mill slander and false claims of being married to someone were two common types of jactitation brought to court. Before long, jactitation had jumped over to the medical profession, where it continues to serve as a word for restless, jerky, or twitchy body movements. In 1761, British writer Laurence Sterne threw jactitation into his novel Tristram Shandy as a substitute for discussion, but that meaning never caught on.

Test Your Memory

What former Word of the Day is derived from the Latin name for gold (aurum) and can mean "marked by grandiloquent and rhetorical style"?

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extirpate: - Word of the Day - 25 /06/16

extirpate:

verb

Pronunciation

EK-ster-payt

Definition

1
a : to destroy completely : wipe out
b : to pull up by the root

2 : to cut out by surgery

Examples

"The spread of piracy has been treated more as a nuisance to be endured rather than as a deadly cancer that must be extirpated for the sake of both Somalia and the rule of law." — Tara Helfman and Dan O'Shea, Commentary, February 2011

"Over the past decades, the reptiles have reclaimed much of the native range from which they'd been extirpated." — Shannon Tompkins, The Houston Chronicle, 12 May 2016

Did You Know?

If we do a little digging, we discover that extirpate finds its roots in, well, roots (and stumps). Early English uses of the word in the 16th century carried the meaning of "to clear of stumps" or "to pull something up by the root." Extirpate grew out of a combination of the Latin prefix ex- and the Latin noun stirps, meaning "trunk" or "root." The word stirp itself remains rooted in our own language as a term meaning "a line descending from a common ancestor."

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of extirpate: e _ a _ ic _ _ e.

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hermetic - Word of the Day - 24/06/16

hermetic

adjective

Pronunciation

her-MET-ik

Definition

1 : relating to or characterized by occultism or abstruseness : recondite
2
a : airtight
b : impervious to external influence
c : recluse, solitary

Examples

The infomercial claimed that the new containers used modern technology to guarantee a hermetic seal that would keep food fresh for months.

"Later, as Western Europe welcomed foreign guest workers, Central Europe remained in the hermetic enclosure of Soviet rule." — Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

Hermetic derives from Greek via the Medieval Latin word hermeticus. When it first entered English in the early 17th century, hermetic was associated with writings attributed to Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom. Thoth, whom the Greeks called Hermes Trismegistus ("thrice-great Hermes"), was believed to be the author of a number of mystical, philosophical, and alchemistic works. The obscure subject matter of these works may have made them difficult to wade through, for soon English speakers were also applying hermetic to things that were beyond ordinary human comprehension. Additionally, Hermes Trismegistus was said to have invented a magic seal that could keep vessels airtight. Hermetic thus came to mean "airtight," both literally and figuratively. These days, it can also sometimes mean "solitary."

Test Your Memory

What former Word of the Day begins with "l" and refers to a type of understatement—for example, "Vacationing in the Caribbean wasn't a total drag"?

Merriam-Webster

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genius - Word of the Day - 23/06/16

genius

noun

Pronunciation

 JEEN-yus

Definition

1 : a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude
2 : extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity
3 : a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially : a person with a very high IQ

Examples

"An airplane mechanic in World War II, my father had a genius for anything mechanical. He would overhaul an engine at the drop of a hat." — Jack McCall, The Hartsville (Tennessee) Vidette, 28 Apr. 2016

"By the time Purple Rain was released, Prince's overt sexiness, inventive style, technical brilliance, and musical genius had established an irrefutable fact: He was the new James Brown." — Simon Doonan, Slate.com, 26 Apr. 2016

Did You Know?

The belief system of the ancient Romans included spirits that were somewhere in between gods and humans and were thought to accompany each person through life as a protector. The Latin name for this spirit was genius, which came from the verb gignere, meaning "to beget." This sense of "attendant spirit" was first borrowed into English in the 14th century. Part of such a spirit's role was to protect a person's moral character, and from that idea an extended sense developed in the 16th century meaning "an identifying character." In time, that meaning was extended to cover a special ability for doing something, and eventually genius acquired senses referring particularly to "very great intelligence" and "people of great intelligence."

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a 2-word term that refers to natural wit or intelligence: m _ t _ _ r  wit.

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feign - Word of the Day - 22/06/16

feign 

verb

Pronunciation

FAYN

Definition

1 : to give a false appearance of : to induce as a false impression
2 : to assert as if true : pretend

Examples

"If a predator approaches the nest, the parent feigns a broken wing, often leading the predator far from the nest before bursting into flight, the injured wing suddenly fully functional." — Jan Bergstrom, The St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times, 7 May 2016

"The local high school … wasn't of particularly high quality, and I was not intellectually stimulated or motivated there. In fact, I became disinterested, started skipping class and feigning illness to avoid going to school." — Brian Calle, The Orange County (California) Register, 8 May 2016

Did You Know?

Feign is all about faking it, but that hasn't always been so. In one of its earliest senses, feign meant "to fashion, form, or shape." That meaning is true to the term's Latin ancestor: the verb fingere, which also means "to shape." The current senses of feign still retain the essence of the Latin source, since to feign something, such as surprise or an illness, requires one to fashion an impression or shape an image. Several other English words that trace to the same ancestor refer to things that are shaped with either the hands, as in figure and effigy, or the imagination, as in fiction and figment.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of feign: g _ m _ _ n.

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inchoate - Word of the Day - 21/06/16

inchoate

adjective

Pronunciation

 in-KOH-ut

 Definition

 - being only partly in existence or operation : incipient; especially : imperfectly formed or formulated : formless, incoherent

Examples

Five years ago, the restaurant was merely an inchoate notion in Nathan's head; today it is one of the most popular eateries in the city.

"The nexus point in any populist upwelling is whether or not it evolves from an inchoate outrage into a legitimate movement." — Gene Altshuler, The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California), 2 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

Inchoate derives from inchoare, which means "to start work on" in Latin but translates literally as "to hitch up." Inchoare was formed from the prefix in- and the noun cohum, which refers to the part of a yoke to which the beam of a plow is fitted. The concept of implementing this initial step toward the larger task of plowing a field can help provide a clearer understanding of inchoate, an adjective used to describe the imperfect form of something (such as a plan or idea) in its early stages of development. Perhaps because it looks a little like the word chaos (although the two aren't closely related), inchoate now not only implies the formlessness that often marks beginnings but also the confusion caused by chaos.

Test Your Memory

What verb beginning with "h" and meaning "to intimidate or harass by bluster or personal pressure" is said to be influenced by the name for rowdy toughs who roamed the streets of 17th-century London?




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heliolatry - Word of the Day - 20/06/16

heliolatry

noun

Pronunciation

hee-lee-AH-luh-tree

Definition

 - sun worship

Examples

Archeologists believe that the members of the ancient civilization practiced heliolatry because each temple faced east, toward the rising sun.

"An observer would assume that all of us—humans and shorebirds alike—are guilty of heliolatry…. We had endured a series of dark, gloomy, winter days, during which the sun had been continually hidden behind dense, rain clouds. Now that the sun has emerged from its cloudy cave, the beach is bathed in brilliant sunshine." — George Thatcher, The Biloxi (Mississippi) Sun Herald, 22 Jan. 2013

Did You Know?

The first half of heliolatry derives from hēlios, the Greek word for "sun." In Greek mythology, Hēlios was the god of the sun, imagined as "driving" the sun as a chariot across the sky. From hēlios we also get the word helium, referring to the very light gas that is used in balloons and airships, and heliocentric, meaning "having or relating to the sun as center," as in "a heliocentric orbit." The suffix -latry, meaning "worship," derives via Late Latin and French from the Greek latreia, and can be found in such words as bardolatry ("worship of Shakespeare") and zoolatry ("animal worship"). A person who worships the sun is called a heliolater.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of sun: _ a _ s _ _ r.


Merriam-Webster

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dolorous - Word of the Day - 19/06/16

dolorous 

adjective

Pronunciation

DOH-luh-rus

Definition

: causing, marked by, or expressing misery or grief

Examples

With his dolorous songs about hard-bitten people down on their luck, Johnny Cash garnered legions of fans across generations.

"I felt myself sinking now and then into a dolorous state in which I allowed myself to succumb to a deep despair about life here…." — Alan Cheuse, Song of Slaves in the Desert, 2011

Did You Know?

"No medicine may prevail … till the same dolorous tooth be … plucked up by the roots." When dolorous first appeared around 1400, it was linked to physical pain—and appropriately so, since the word is a descendant of the Latin word dolor, meaning "pain" as well as "grief." (Today, dolor is also an English word meaning "sorrow.") When the British surgeon John Banister wrote the above quotation in 1578, dolorous could mean either "causing pain" or "distressful, sorrowful." "The death of the earl [was] dolorous to all Englishmen," the English historian Edward Hall had written a few decades earlier. The "causing pain" sense of dolorous coexisted with the "sorrowful" sense for centuries, but nowadays its use is rare.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of dolorous: w _ _ b _ _ _ ne.

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kvell- Word of the Day - 19/06/16

kvell

verb

Pronunciation

 KVEL

Definition

 - to be extraordinarily proud : rejoice

Examples

Critics kvelled over the violinist's triumphant return to the stage where she had made her debut many years ago.

"My older brother, by two years and nine months, was a loving uncle who absolutely kvelled over his two nephews and was always asking me when I was next bringing them to San Francisco to see him." — Lincoln Mitchell, The New York Observer, 28 Oct. 2014

Did You Know?

We are pleased to inform you that the word kvell is derived from Yiddish kveln, meaning "to be delighted," which, in turn, comes from the Middle High German word quellen, meaning "to well, gush, or swell." Yiddish has been a wellspring of creativity for English, giving us such delightful words as meister ("one who is knowledgeable about something"), maven ("expert"), and shtick ("one's special activity"), just to name a few. The date for the appearance of kvell in the English language is tricky to pinpoint exactly. The earliest known printed evidence for the word in an English source is found in a 1952 handbook of Jewish words and expressions, but actual usage evidence before that date remains unseen.

Test Your Vocabulary

What 6-letter verb beginning with "k" and ending in "z" is derived from Yiddish and is synonymous with chat?

Merriam-Webster

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benign - Word of the Day - 17/06/16

benign 

adjective

Pronunciation

bih-NYNE

Definition

1 : of a gentle disposition : gracious
2 a : showing kindness and gentleness
   b : favorable, wholesome
3 a : of a mild type or character that does not threaten health or life; especially : not becoming cancerous
   b : having no significant effect : harmless

Examples

"No doubt the history of this genial, white-haired American emigre was benign, but, still, I remember wondering about his real story, as distinct from the one he was telling me." — Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune, 29 July 2013

"University of Florida Health researchers say they are making progress in ascertaining whether a kidney tumor is cancerous or benign before a patient is subjected to an invasive needle biopsy or surgery." — TheLedger.com (Polk County, Florida), 5 May 2016

Did You Know?

Benediction, benefactor, benefit, benevolent, and benign are just some of the English words that derive from the well-tempered Latin root bene, which means "well." Benign came to English via Anglo-French from the Latin benignus, which in turn paired bene with gignere, meaning "to beget." Gignere has produced a few offspring of its own in English. Its descendants include congenital, genius, germ, indigenous, and progenitor, among others. Benign is commonly used in medical contexts to describe conditions, such as noncancerous masses, that present no apparent harm to the patient. It is also found in the phrase benign neglect, which refers to an attitude or policy of ignoring an often delicate or undesirable situation that one has the responsibility to manage.

Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create an adjective derived from Latin gignere that means "showing innocent simplicity and candidness": UNIESOGUN.

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MacGuffin - Word of the Day - 16/06/16

MacGuffin 

noun

Pronunciation

 muh-GUFF-in

Definition

: -  an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance

Examples

The missing document is the MacGuffin that brings the two main characters together, but the real story centers on their tumultuous relationship.

"The story opens … at the funeral of elderly Oleander Gardener…. The childless Oleander has several nieces and nephews…. Questions of inheritance and a mysterious seed pod that each of her heirs receives constitute the framework of a tenuous plot, but these are primarily MacGuffins." — The Publisher's Weekly Review, 14 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

The first person to use MacGuffin as a word for a plot device was Alfred Hitchcock. He borrowed it from an old shaggy-dog story in which some passengers on a train interrogate a fellow passenger carrying a large, strange-looking package. The fellow says the package contains a "MacGuffin," which, he explains, is used to catch tigers in the Scottish Highlands. When the group protests that there are no tigers in the Highlands, the passenger replies, "Well, then, this must not be a MacGuffin." Hitchcock apparently appreciated the way the mysterious package holds the audience's attention and builds suspense. He recognized that an audience anticipating a solution to a mystery will continue to follow the story even if the initial interest-grabber turns out to be irrelevant.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to create a word for a person who serves as a foil to another: de _ t _ rag _ _ _ st.

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verdure - Word of the Day - 15/06/16

verdure 

noun

Pronunciation

VER-jer

Definition

 -  the greenness of growing vegetation; also : such vegetation itself
 - a condition of health and vigor

Examples

"All right, I have to admit it. It's stunning. Even though the summer drought has leached the verdure from the grand, sweeping lawns." — Zofia Smardz, The Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2007

"The visit began and culminated with Can Tomas, her family house, which crests one of the hills on the island, providing unobstructed views of San Antonio Bay's sunsets and the seething palette of verdure and ocher soil that composes the island's countryside." — Nikil Saval, The New York Times, 10 Nov. 2015

Did You Know?

English speakers have had the use of the word verdure since the 14th century, when it made its way into Middle English from Anglo-French. Like the more common verdant, the word traces back to Latin virēre, meaning "to be green." Since the early 16th century, verdure has also been used to refer to a kind of tapestry with a design based on plant forms. The verdure that English speakers sometimes encounter on menus is Italian; in that language verdure refers to green vegetables or to vegetables in general (as in "fettuccine con verdure").

 Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create an adjective derived from Latin virēre that means "beginning to be green": ENIRTCEVS.


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obtuse- Word of the Day - 14 /06/16

obtuse 

adjective

Pronunciation

ahb-TOOSS

Definition

1 a : not pointed or acute : blunt
   b : exceeding 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees
   c : having an obtuse angle
2 a : lacking sharpness or quickness of sensibility or intellect : insensitive, stupid
   b : difficult to comprehend : not clear or precise in thought or expression

Examples

"A wrinkled brow or wrinkled nose in response to someone volunteering life-changing news, imbued with hope for change, is the domain of the ignorant, the determinedly obtuse or the bigot." — Nicky Clark, The Independent (London), 8 Mar. 2016

"The angled walls and obtuse openings led to gallery areas beyond and made for a private and original environment that gave booths a more secluded and comfortable feeling." — Greg Smith, Antiques and The Arts Weekly, 18 May 2016

Did You Know?

Obtuse, which comes to us from the Latin word obtusus, meaning "dull" or "blunt," can describe an angle that is not acute or a person who is mentally "dull" or slow of mind. The word has also developed a somewhat controversial sense of "hard to comprehend," probably as a result of confusion with abstruse. This sense of obtuse is well established, and it is now possible to speak of "obtuse language" and "obtuse explanations," as well as "obtuse angles" and "obtuse readers"; however, it may attract some criticism. If you're hesitant about using new meanings of words, you should probably stick with abstruse when you want a word meaning "difficult to understand."

Name That Antonym

Unscramble the letters to create an antonym of obtuse that means "clear in thought or expression": CLUTLEUN.

Merriam-Webster

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tocsin - Word of the Day - 13/06/16

tocsin

noun

Pronunciation

TOCK-sin

Definition

 -  an alarm bell or the ringing of it
 -  a warning signal

Examples

A coalition of parents was sounding the tocsin for the school music program—if voters didn't approve a tax increase, the program was sure to be axed.

"That may sound alarmist, but the tocsin is being rung by some pretty sober people." — Doyle McManus, Advance-News (Ogdensburg, New York), 16 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

Although it has occasionally been spelled like its homonym toxin, tocsin has nothing to do with poison. Rather, it is derived from the Middle French toquassen, which in turn comes from the Old Occitan tocasenh, and ultimately from the assumed Vulgar Latin verb toccare ("to ring a bell") and the Latin signum ("mark, sign"), which have given us, respectively, the English words touch and signal. Tocsin long referred to the ringing of church bells to signal events of importance to local villagers, including dangerous events such as attacks. Its use was eventually broadened to cover anything that signals danger or trouble.

Test Your Vocabulary

What 16-letter noun refers to the ringing or sounding of bells?

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quaff - Word of the Day - 12 /06/16

quaff 

verb

Pronunciation

KWAHF

Definition

 - to drink deeply

Examples

The kids thoroughly enjoyed running a lemonade stand for the day, and weren't bothered in the least by the paltry profits that always result when the proprietors quaff most of the product.

"Contrary to the time-honored campaign tradition of stopping at a local pub to quaff Budweiser with the after-work crowd, this cycle's candidates have gravitated toward local beer makers." — Matthew Osgood, The Atlantic, 8 May 2016

Did You Know?

Nowadays, quaff has an old-fashioned, literary sound to it. For more contemporary words that suggest drinking a lot of something, especially in big gulps and in large quantity, you might try drain, pound, or slug. If you are a daintier drinker, you might say that you prefer to sip, imbibe or partake in the beverage of your choice. Quaff is by no means the oldest of these terms—earliest evidence of it in use is from the early 1500s, whereas sip dates to the 14th century—but it is the only one with the mysterious "origin unknown" etymology.

Test Your Memory

What is the meaning of nonplus, our May 8th Word of the Day?



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renovate - Word of the Day - 11/06/16

renovate 

verb

Pronunciation

REN-uh-vayt

Definition

 - to restore to a former better state (as by cleaning, repairing, or rebuilding)

 - to restore to life, vigor, or activity : revive

Examples

"… society gains nothing whilst a man, not himself renovated, attempts to renovate things around him: he has become tediously good in some particular, but negligent or narrow in the rest…." — Ralph Waldo Emerson, "New England Reformers," 3 Mar. 1844

"Voters in Sag Harbor on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for the Sag Harbor School District to purchase and renovate the former Stella Maris school building…." — Christine Sampson, The East Hampton Star, 17 May 2016

Did You Know?

Renovate, renew, restore, refresh, and rejuvenate all mean to make like new. Renovate (a word ultimately derived from the Latin verb novare, meaning "to make new," itself a descendant of novus, meaning "new") suggests a renewing by cleansing, repairing, or rebuilding. Renew implies a restoration of what had become faded or disintegrated so that it seems like new ("efforts to renew the splendor of the old castle"). Restore suggests a return to an original state after depletion or loss ("restored a piece of furniture"). Refresh implies the supplying of something necessary to restore lost strength, animation, or power ("a refreshing drink"). Rejuvenate suggests the restoration of youthful vigor, powers, or appearance ("she was rejuvenated by her new job").

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of renovate: _ ur _ is _.

Merriam-Webster

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semelparous - Word of the Day - 10/06/16

semelparous

adjective

Pronunciation

seh-MEL-puh-rus

Definition

 - reproducing or breeding only once in a lifetime

Examples

The article's author is a scientist who spent years studying semelparous butterflies.

"[The century plant's] common name derives from its semelparous nature of flowering only once at the end of its long life." — Fred Whitley, The St. Augustine (Florida) Record, 3 Oct. 2014

Did You Know?

The combining form -parous was first used in English by the 17th-century physician and writer Sir Thomas Browne, who wrote about organisms that were multiparous ("producing more than one at a birth"), oviparous ("producing eggs that develop outside the maternal body"), and viviparous ("producing living young instead of eggs from within the body"). The suffix is based on the Latin verb parere, meaning "to give birth to," which is also a relative of the word that gave us parent. Semelparous, the youngest offspring of -parous, was born in 1954. Its other parent is semel, the Latin word for "once."

Quiz

Fill in the blanks to create a word related to Latin parere (meaning "to produce") that can refer to a theater company: r _ _ er _ _ ry.

Merriam-Webster

http://grammarandpunctuationmodule4.blogspot.com.au/

passel - Word of the Day - 09/06/16

passel

noun

Pronunciation 

PASS-ul

Definition

 - a large number or amount

Examples

When problems at the printing plant caused a delay in delivery of the newspaper, Rebecca was tasked with handling the passel of complaints from angry subscribers.

"It's no easy feat being the standout here—the marquee names are all delightfully funny, not to mention the passel of character actors playing the blacklisted writers—but Ehrenreich's going to have moviegoers learning how to spell his name." — Alonso Duralde, TheWrap.com, 3 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?

The loss of the sound of "r" after a vowel and before another consonant in the middle of a word is common in spoken English. This linguistic idiosyncrasy has given our language a few new words, such as cuss from curse, bust from burst, and our featured word passel from parcel. The spelling passel originated in the 15th century, but the word's use as a collective noun for an indefinite number is a 19th-century Americanism. It was common primarily in local-color writing before getting a boost in the 1940s, when it began appearing in popular weekly magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and Saturday Review.

Name That Synonym

What 5-letter synonym of passel begins with "s" and can also refer to a quantity of stalks and ears of grain bound together?

Merriam-Webster

http://creatingcharactersforfictionwriters.blogspot.com.au/

ululate - Word of the Day - 10/06/16

ululate 

verb

Pronunciation

ULL-yuh-layt

Definition

 - howl, wail

Examples

"Millions of pop culture devotees weep and ululate over the death of David Bowie. His passing is noteworthy, given his significant celebrity profile, but I shall miss [journalist] George Jonas' contributions more." — Randall Bell, letter in The National Post (Canada), 13 Jan. 2016

"They talked loud in their language, and together they sounded like mourners ululating." — Sefi Atta, Everything Good Will Come, 2005 (2008)

Did You Know?

"When other birds are still, the screech owls take up the strain, like mourning women their ancient u-lu-lu." When Henry David Thoreau used "u-lu-lu" to imitate the cry of screech owls and mourning women in that particular passage from Walden, he was re-enacting the etymology of ululate (a word he likely knew). Ululate descends from the Latin verb ululare. That Latin root carried the same meaning as our modern English word, and it likely originated in the echoes of the rhythmic wailing sound associated with it. Even today, ululate often refers to ritualistic or expressive wailing performed at times of mourning or celebration or used to show approval.

Test Your Vocabulary

What 6-letter word begins with "l" and refers to wailing as an expression of mourning?

Merriam-Webster

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nescience - Word of the Day - 07/06/16

nescience

noun

Pronunciation

NESH-ee-unss

Definition

 - lack of knowledge or awareness : ignorance

Examples

"Fallacious statements, which I will be generous and attribute to nescience and not to deliberate equivocation, include the following examples…." — H. B. "Bud" Thompson, The Fresno (California) Bee, 26 Sept. 2009

"Unnecessary obstacles to information—and the possibility of greater restrictions against getting it—promote nescience." — Jackie Torok, The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, North Carolina), 22 Dec. 2015

Did You Know?

Eighteenth-century British poet, essayist, and lexicographer Samuel Johnson once said, "There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable that I would not rather know it than not know it." He probably knew a thing or two about the history of the word nescience, which evolved from a combination of the Latin prefix ne-, meaning "not," and scire, a verb meaning "to know." And he may also have known that scire is an ancestor of science, a word whose original meaning in English was "knowledge."

Name That Antonym

Fill in the blanks to create an antonym of nescience: _ o _ ni _ an _ e.

Merriam-Webster

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welter - Word of the Day - 06/06/16

welter 

verb

Pronunciation

WEL-ter

Definition

1 a : writhe, toss; also : wallow
   b : to rise and fall or toss about in or with waves
2 : to become deeply sunk, soaked, or involved
3 : to be in turmoil

Examples

"As debris weltered in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, the landfill company River Birch Inc. used helicopter tours to argue against the government's reopening of Old Gentilly Landfill in eastern New Orleans." — Richard Rainey, NOLA.com, 5 June 2011

"He liked social democracy, thought it a good promoter of liberty, urged on its expansion of higher education, but found that this too weltered in bureaucracy in the end." — The Economist, 25 June 2009

Did You Know?

Welter can be used both as a noun (meaning "turmoil" or "chaos") and a verb. The verb is the older of the two; it has been part of English since at least the 1300s, while the earliest uses of the noun date from the late 1590s. Both noun and verb have roots related to Dutch and Germanic terms meaning "to roll," and both have found a place in historical English literature. The verb helps demonstrate extreme despair in the early Arthurian legend Morte Arthure ("He welterys, he wristeles, he wrynges hys handes!"), and in 1837 Thomas Carlyle used the noun in The French Revolution ("I leave the whole business in a frightful welter: … not one of them understands anything of government").

Test Your Vocabulary

What 6-letter verb begins with "b" and can mean "to rise or roll in waves" or "to bulge out"?

Merriam-Webster

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lucid - Word of the Day - 05/06/16

lucid 

adjective

Pronunciation

LOO-sid

Definition

1 a : suffused with light : luminous
   b : translucent
2 : having full use of one's faculties : sane
3 : clear to the understanding : intelligible

Examples

"The sound swelled and enveloped us, and indeed it was like laughter, waves upon waves of … lucid laughter…." — Anne Rice, Memnoch the Devil, 1995

Did You Know?

It's easy enough to shed some light on the origins of lucid: it derives—via the Latin adjective lucidus, meaning "shining"—from the Latin verb lucēre, meaning "to shine." Lucid has been used by English speakers since at least the late 16th century. Originally, it meant merely "filled with light" or "shining," but it has since developed extended senses describing someone whose mind is clear or something with a clear meaning. Other shining examples of lucēre descendants include translucent, lucent ("glowing"), and the somewhat rarer relucent ("reflecting light" or "shining"). Even the word light itself derives from the same ancient word that led to lucēre.

Name That Antonym

Unscramble the letters to create an antonym of lucid: EOBNSTEUR.

Merriam-Webster

ablution - Word of the Day - 04/06/16

ablution 

noun

Pronunciation

uh-BLOO-shun

Definition

 -  the washing of one's body or part of it (as in a religious rite)
 -  the act or action of bathing — used in the plural form

Examples

Francis awakened at dawn and performed his ablutions.

"While it's true that many folks enjoy the ease of hopping into a shower stall for their morning ablutions, you are still likely to find at least one tub in just about every American home." — Laura First, The Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Oklahoma), 27 Sept. 2015

Did You Know?

Ablution derives via Middle French and Middle English from the Latin verb abluere, meaning "to wash away," formed from the prefix ab- ("away, off") and lavere ("to wash"). Early uses of the word occurred in contexts of alchemy and chemistry. The first known use of ablution to refer to washing as a religious rite occurs in Thomas More's The Apologye Made by Hym (1533). Many religions include some kind of washing of the body in their rituals, usually as a form of purification or dedication. The use of the term to refer to the action of washing one's body without any religious significance did not take hold in English until the mid-18th century. In British English, ablutions can also refer to a building housing bathing and toilet facilities on a military base.

Word Family Quiz

Fill in the blanks to create a word derived from Latin lavere that can refer to a flow of water against a shore or to a flood: a _ lu _ _ _ n.

Merriam-Webster

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

jubilate

verb

Pronunciation

JOO-buh-layt

Definition

 - to rejoice

Examples

The crowd jubilated as the baserunner slid across home plate with the winning run.

"When the game was over … there was a lot of jumping up and down and jiggling and hugging and jubilating in the luxury box belonging to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones." — Cindy Boren, The Washington Post, 5 Jan. 2015

Did You Know?

When things are going your way, you may want to shout for joy. Jubilate testifies to the fact that people have had the urge to give (loud) voice to their happiness for centuries. Although jubilate first appeared in print around the middle of the 17th century, its connection to vocal joy goes back much farther; it is derived from the Latin verb jubilare, which means "to shout for joy." Jubilare has also played a role in the development of a few other closely related joyful English words, including jubilant (the earliest meaning was "making a joyful noise," though it is now most often used to mean simply "exultant") and jubilation ("an act of rejoicing").

Test Your Memory

What former Word of the Day developed from a Middle English word meaning "bald" but today means "immature"?

Merriam-Webster

http://grammarandpunctuationmodule4.blogspot.com.au/

cadence - Word of the Day - 02/06/16

cadence

noun

Pronunciation

KAY-dunss

Definition

1 a : a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds in language
   b : the beat, time, or measure of rhythmical motion or activity
2 a : a falling inflection of the voice
   b : a musical chord sequence moving to a harmonic close or rest
3 : the modulated and rhythmic recurrence of a sound especially in nature

Examples

Stephanie relaxed at the beach, listening to the cadence of the surf.

"The app detects your natural cadence when you walk or run, and cues up a playlist that matches your rhythm." — Alison Sweeney, Redbook, 1 Apr. 2016

Did You Know?

Falling into the hands of English speakers in the 14th century, cadence derives via Middle English and Old Italian from the Latin verb cadere, meaning "to fall." (Cadere can be found in the history of many common English words, including decay, coincide, and accident.) We most often hear cadence used in contexts pertaining to voice or music—it might refer to the familiar way in which someone speaks, or the rhythms employed by a rap artist, or the rising and falling notes of a bird's call. Cadenza, the Old Italian word that factors into the history of cadence, has its own place in English as well. Cadenza in English usually refers to a brilliant musical flourish played before closing out an aria.

Word  Quiz

Fill in the blanks to create an adjective derived from Latin cadere that describes a plant that has leaves that fall off every year: d _ _ i _ u _ u _.

Merriam-Webster

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exemplary - Word of the Day - 01/06/16

exemplary 

adjective

Pronunciation

ig-ZEM-pluh-ree

Definition

 - serving imitation especially because of excellence : commendable
 - serving as a warning : monitory
 - serving as an example, instance, or illustration

Examples

Members of the community who have demonstrated exemplary public service will be honored at the ceremony.

"Since 1962, Big Blue's Fellows program annually honors exemplary technologists, researchers and scientists within the company." — The Poughkeepsie (New York) Journal, 25 Apr. 2016

Did You Know?

Since the 1500s, exemplary has been used in English for things deserving imitation. The word (and its close relatives example and exemplify) derives from the Latin noun exemplum, which means "example." Usage commentators have sometimes warned against using exemplary as if it were simply a synonym of excellent, but clear-cut instances of such usage are hard to come by. When exemplary describes something excellent, as it often does, it almost always carries the further suggestion that the thing described is worthy of imitation.

Test Your Memory

What former Word of the Day begins with "m" and can mean "to punish by a fine" or "to defraud"?

Merriam-Webster

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