boniface - Word of the Day - 21/12/17

boniface

noun

Pronunciation

BAH-nuh-fuss
 

Definition

: the proprietor of a hotel, nightclub, or restaurant

Did You Know?

Boniface has been the name of eight popes, one antipope, and one saint, but none of those had anything (directly) to do with the English word boniface. The word boniface comes from the name of the jovial innkeeper in George Farquhar's 1707 play The Beaux' Strategem, the story of two penniless rakes who determine that one of them must find and marry a wealthy lady. Farquhar's play made more than one contribution to the English language. The name of the character Lady Bountiful is a byword for a generous (and often conspicuously so) philanthropist. Farquhar, incidentally, never got to see the influence his play had on the lexicon. He finished The Beaux' Strategem on his deathbed, and died on the night of its third performance.

Examples

"Vince Bommarito, boniface of Tony's restaurant at 410 Market Street, said last week was one of his busiest in years and that this week is shaping up to look the same." — Deb Peterson, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 18 Oct. 2011

"In 1901, a correspondent writing to a local paper about the pubs of Cardiff said … that its former name was Winstones, having been kept by the late Alderman John Winstone, 'a rare old bluff gentleman who, for some years, like a good many more bonifaces, was a member of our local parliament.'" — Brian Lee, WalesOnline, 20 Mar. 2014

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a word for an English class of landed gentry or landed proprietors in the past: s _ _ ir _ a _ c _ y.

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

recumbent - Word of the Day - 20/12/17

recumbent

adjective

Pronunciation

 rih-KUM-bunt 

Definition

1 a : suggestive of repose : leaning, resting

   b : lying down

2 : representing a person lying down

3 : (of a bicycle) having the seat positioned so that the rider's legs are extended horizontally forward to the pedals and the body is reclined

Did You Know?

If you're ready to take your vocabulary lying down, you'll want to be familiar with the synonyms recumbent, prone, supine, and prostrate, all of which mean "lying down." Recumbent, which derives from the Latin prefix re- and the verb cumbere, meaning "to lie down," focuses on the posture or position native to sleeping or resting. Prone describes someone who is lying facedown, as, for example, in doing push-ups. Supine flips it over, suggesting the position of someone lying inert on the back, while prostrate implies a full-scale physical collapse or submission, regardless of the exact position of the defeated body. Recumbent, dating from 17th century, is the newest of the four words; the others all entered English before the 16th century.

Examples

When Bert glanced at his father's recumbent form in the armchair, he immediately realized that he could use a good nap himself.

"The exhibit includes a limestone statue of a recumbent lion carved between 305 and 30 BCE." — Amy McRary, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, 29 Jan. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of recumbent that is used especially to mean "lying down with the head up": c _ _ c _ a _ t.

Merriam-Webster

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

stultify - Word of the Day - 19/12/17

stultify

verb

Pronunciation

STUL-tuh-fye

Definition

1 : to cause to appear or be stupid, foolish, or absurdly illogical

2 a : to impair, invalidate, or make ineffective : negate

   b : to have a dulling or inhibiting effect on

Did You Know?

Stupid or absurd behavior can be almost laughable at times. That's the kind of situation depicted in an 1871 London Daily News article, describing how a witness "stultified himself" by admitting that he was too far off to hear what he had claimed to have heard. But there is nothing especially funny about the now-archaic original usage of stultify. The word was first used in the mid-1700s in legal contexts, where if you stultified yourself, you claimed to be of unsound mind and thus not responsible for your acts. Nor is there humor in the most common meaning of stultify nowadays, that of rendering someone or something useless or ineffective.

Examples

What started out as a promising plan to redesign the town square ended up being stultified by bureaucracy and too many conflicting special interests.

"But I have found the capacity to block off certain thoughts. Like, with this film, about the scale of it or how people loved the Potter films and what's at stake and not wanting to screw it up. I'm getting better at blocking that part of my head because it can stultify you." — Eddie Redmayne, quoted in The Straits Times (Singapore), 16 Nov. 2016

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of stultify meaning "to invalidate or make ineffective": _ u _ l _ _ y.

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

permeable - Word of the Day - 18/12/17

permeable

adjective

PER-mee-uh-bul

 Pronunciation

Definition

: capable of being permeated : penetrable; especially : having pores or openings that permit liquids or gases to pass through

Did You Know?

The synonyms permeable and pervious both make good use of the Latin prefix per-, meaning "through." Permeable traces back to a combination of per- and the Latin verb meare, meaning "to go" or "to pass," whereas the history of pervious calls upon Latin via, meaning "way." Both permeable and its more common relative, the verb permeate, still retain the original Latin idea of "passing through." Pervious also has the connotation of "penetrating through" but is also used to describe a susceptible mind, as in "Though set in his ways, the professor was pervious to reason." The prefix per- also gave English pervade, meaning "to become diffused throughout every part of." Meare also has other English descendants, including congé, which can mean "a formal permission to depart," and irremeable, meaning "offering no possibility of return."

Examples

"More rigid, less permeable foam insulation lines the home's walls to block wind and water from breaching its facade." — Troy McMullen, Forbes, 30 Aug. 2017

"Massachusetts politicians chasing the company will soon realize just how insular and secretive Amazon is. I often compare it to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. They sometimes invite people in—to hire them or pitch them to be customers of collaborators—but the current headquarters in Seattle is not a very permeable place." — Scott Kirsner, The Boston Globe, 29 Oct. 2017

Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create a verb that means "to pass through a permeable substance": NUASDTER.

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

lothario - Word of the Day - 17/12/17

lothario

noun

Pronunciation

loh-THAIR-ee-oh
 

Definition

: a man whose chief interest is seducing women

Did You Know?

Lothario comes from The Fair Penitent (1703), a tragedy by Nicholas Rowe. In the play, Lothario is a notorious seducer, extremely attractive but a haughty and unfeeling scoundrel beneath his charming exterior. He seduces Calista, an unfaithful wife and later the fair penitent of the title. After the play was published, the character of Lothario became a stock figure in English literature. For example, Samuel Richardson modeled the character of Lovelace on Lothario in his 1748 novel Clarissa. As the character became well known, his name became progressively more generic, and lothario (often capitalized) has since been used to describe a foppish, unscrupulous rake.

Examples

"He was now quite an elderly Lothario, reduced to the most economical sins; the prominent form of his gaiety being this of lounging at Mr. Gruby's door, embarrassing the servant-maids who came for grocery, and talking scandal with the rare passers-by." — George Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life, 1858

"He probably even envisioned himself as a prized Lothario, never for a moment identifying with this observation by the great songwriter Kinky Friedman: 'Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail.'" — Joe Fitzgerald, The Boston Herald, 16 Oct. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

Unscramble the letters to create a word for a conceited foolish person or a fop: CMCXBOO.

Merriam-Webster

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

terpsichorean - Word of the Day - 16/12/17

terpsichorean

adjective

Pronunciation

terp-sih-kuh-REE-un

 Definition

: of or relating to dancing

Did You Know?

In Greek and Roman mythology, Terpsichore was one of the nine muses, those graceful sister-goddesses who presided over learning and the arts. Terpsichore was the patron of dance and choral song (and later lyric poetry), and in artistic representations she is often shown dancing and holding a lyre. Her name, which earned an enduring place in English through the adjective terpsichorean, literally means "dance-enjoying," from terpsis, meaning "enjoyment," and choros, meaning "dance." Choros is also the source of choreography and chorus (in Athenian drama, choruses consisted of dancers as well as singers). The only other word we know that incorporates terpsis is terpodion, an obsolete term for a piano-like musical instrument that was invented around 1816 but never really caught on.

Examples

"Cronkhite's exuberant dances look great but let the kids act like kids, and don't demand terpsichorean polish beyond the cast's abilities." — Marty Clear, The Bradenton Herald, 13 Jan. 2017

"The musical theater specialists at Signature Theatre will test their terpsichorean mettle with the toe-tappin' 'Crazy for You,' the show that clinched Susan Stroman's reputation as a gleeful and inventive choreographer...." — Nelson Pressley, The Washington Post, 8 Sept. 2017

Word  Quiz

What word derived from Greek choros refers to an old round dance with singing or to a song of joy?

Merriam-Webster

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

fructify- Word of the Day - 15/12/17

fructify

verb

Pronunciation

FRUK-tuh-fye 

Definition

1 : to bear fruit
2 : to make fruitful or productive

Did You Know?

Fructify derives from Middle English fructifien and ultimately from the Latin noun fructus, meaning "fruit." When the word was first used in English in the 14th century, it literally referred to the actions of plants that bore fruit; later it was used transitively to refer to the action of making something fruitful, such as soil. The word also expanded to encompass a figurative sense of "fruit," and it is now more frequently used to refer to the giving forth of something in profit from something else (such as dividends from an investment). Fructus also gave us the name of the sugar fructose, as well as usufruct, which refers to the legal right to enjoy the fruits or profits of something that belongs to someone else.

Examples

My parents are in a comfortable financial position, thanks to some investments that have recently begun to fructify.

"I don't care for the jokey body language and elaborate costuming of the four male bees in the Waltz of the Flowers, and yet I find myself paying close attention each time to how tightly they're woven into the musical tapestry. They're not just there to fructify the 16 female flowers, they also become part of one dance pattern after another…." — Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times, 16 Dec. 2013

Test Your Vocabulary

What verb can mean "to break at once into pieces" or "to drop off leaves, petals, or fruit"?

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

gravamen - Word of the Day - 14/12/17

gravamen

noun

Pronunciation

gruh-VAY-mun 

Definition

: the material or significant part of a grievance or complaint

Did You Know?

Gravamen is not a word you hear every day, but it does show up occasionally in modern-day publications. It comes from the Latin verb gravare, meaning "to burden," and ultimately from the Latin adjective gravis, meaning "heavy." Fittingly, gravamen refers to the part of a grievance or complaint that gives it weight or substance. In legal contexts, gravamen is used, synonymously with gist, to refer to the grounds on which a legal action is sustainable. Gravis has given English several other weighty words, including gravity, grieve, and the adjective grave, meaning "important" or "serious."

Examples

The gravamen of Walter's letter to the editor was that the newspaper frequently reported on the school system's failures but rarely covered its successes and improvements.

"In the ultimate legal absurdity, even the prosecutors trying the case occasionally are barred from seeing the evidence that provides the gravamen of their arguments."

Word Quiz

What is the meaning of the adjective gravid (a descendant of Latin gravis)?

Merriam-Webster

diaphanous - Word of the Day - 13/12/17

diaphanous

adjective

Pronunciation

 dye-AF-uh-nus
 

Definition

1 : characterized by such fineness of texture as to permit seeing through
2 : characterized by extreme delicacy of form : ethereal
3 : insubstantial, vague

Did You Know?

Can you guess which of the following words come from the same Greek root as diaphanous?
A. epiphany B. fancy C. phenomenon D. sycophant E. emphasis F. phase
The Greek word phainein shows through more clearly in some of our quiz words than others, but it underlies all of them. The groundwork for diaphanous was laid when phainein (meaning "to show") was combined with dia- (meaning "through"). From that pairing came the Greek diaphanēs, parent of the Medieval Latin diaphanus, which is the direct ancestor of our English word.


"For an hour and 45 minutes, Jackson wound through the various chapters of her career, directing her diaphanous voice to nearly three dozen songs…. " — Brian McCollum, The Detroit Free Press, 30 Oct. 2017

"… no element of Sienna Miller’s wardrobe—the hippy vests, the diaphanous vintage dresses, the scrunched, sun-weathered lace blouses—went undiscussed or undocumented." — Mark Holgate, Vogue, 30 Oct. 2017

Word Quiz

What word is derived from Greek phainein ("to show") and is the name for the luminous floating shapes that you see when closing your eyes tight and pressing them with your fingers?

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

sustain - Word of the Day - 12/12/17

sustain

verb

Pronunciation

suh-STAYN

Definition

1 : to provide with nourishment
2 : keep up, prolong
3 : to support the weight of : prop; also : to carry or withstand (a weight or pressure)
4 a : to buoy up
   b : suffer, undergo
5 a : to support as true, legal, or just
   b : to allow or admit as valid

Did You Know?

Sustain, prop, buttress, and brace all mean "to provide support for something or someone." Sustain (from Latin sus-, meaning "up," plus tenēre, meaning "to hold") may suggest constantly holding up or maintaining ("the floor sustains the weight of dozens of bookcases"). Prop often implies a tendency to fall, sink, or recede on the part of the thing being treated—and therefore, a need for strengthening or reinforcing ("propped up the damaged fence with long boards"). Buttress tends to involve strengthening, reinforcing, or stabilizing at a stress point ("buttress the economy"). Brace typically suggests supporting or strengthening so that the thing treated is made firm, unyielding, or rigid against pressure ("brace the shelf with an angle iron").

Examples

"It takes a village, a tribe, and a sorority to sustain one another, to flourish and to become an accomplished adult. So sisterhood means inspiring women around me, encouraging each other, crying, laughing, stumbling, and continuing on the path." — Diana Tofan, Glamour, November 2017

"So one of our main goals was how can we make the game safer, prevent the injury that I sustained and that others sustained, head and neck injuries, from happening without affecting the speed, intensity, heritage or adding any more rules to the game." — Thomas Smith, quoted on National Public Radio, 6 Jan. 2014

Word  Quiz

What offspring of tenēre means "a principle, belief, or doctrine generally held to be true"?

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

orphic - Word of the Day - 11/12/17

orphic

adjective

Pronunciation

OR-fik
 

Definition

1 : (capitalized) of or relating to Orpheus or the rites or doctrines ascribed to him
2 : mystic, oracular
3 : fascinating, entrancing

Did You Know?

Orpheus was a hero of Greek mythology who was supposed to possess superhuman musical skills. With his legendary lyre, he was said to be able to make even the rocks and trees dance around. In fact, when his wife Eurydice died, he was nearly able to use his lyre to secure her return from the underworld. Later on, according to legend, he was killed at the bidding of Dionysus, and an oracle of Orpheus was established that came to rival the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Because of the oracle of Orpheus, orphic can mean "oracular." Because of Orpheus' musical powers, orphic can also mean "entrancing."

Examples

"'No summer ever came back, and no two summers ever were alike,' said I, with a degree of Orphic wisdom that astonished myself." — Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance, 1852

"The market skipped higher last week after some Orphic hints from the Federal Reserve Board that it may lower interest rates this summer." — Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 26 Mar. 2007

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a word for a woman who practices divination: p _ _ ho _ _ s _.

Merriam-Webster

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

cachinnate - Word of the Day - 10/12/17

cachinnate

verb

Pronunciation

 KAK-uh-nayt

Definition

: to laugh loudly or immoderately

Did You Know?

Cachinnate has been whooping it up in English since the 19th century. The word derives from the Latin verb cachinnare, meaning "to laugh loudly," and cachinnare was probably coined in imitation of a loud laugh. As such, cachinnare is much like the Old English ceahhetan, the Old High German kachazzen, and the Greek kachazein—all words of imitative origin that essentially meant "to laugh loudly." Our words giggle and guffaw are unrelated to those (and to each other) but they too are believed to have been modeled after the sound of laughter.

Examples

As the author read from her newest book, we tried to tune out the spectator cachinnating at the back of the auditorium.

"And all the way the Fates walking with him, whispering and cachinnating, ordering him to tread there, breathe here, spit there, unless he wanted to be eviscerated by destiny." — Will Self, Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys, 1998

Test Your Vocabulary

Unscramble the letters to create a verb with the meaning "to laugh when amused or pleased": RHTLCOE.

Merriam-Webster

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

zoomorphic - Word of the Day - 09/12/17

zoomorphic

adjective

Pronunciation

 zoh-uh-MOR-fik 

Definition

1 : having the form of an animal

2 : of, relating to, or being a deity conceived of in animal form or with animal attributes

Did You Know?

Zo- (or zoo-) derives from the Greek word zōion, meaning "animal," and -morph comes from the Greek morphē, meaning "form." These two forms combined to give us the adjective zoomorphic in the 19th century to describe something that resembles an animal. English includes other words that were formed from zo- or zoo-, such as zoology (made with -logy, meaning "science"). And there are also other words that were formed from -morph, such as pseudomorph, for a mineral having the outward form of another species. (The combining form pseud- or pseudo- means "false.")

Examples

The couple could not agree on a dining room set: one preferred a sleek, modern style, while the other liked a more elaborate one with the table and chairs ending in zoomorphic clawed feet.

"The vibrant postmodern façades of Mamani's buildings (and their imitators) contrast with the raw brick and concrete of El Alto's ramshackle architecture.… Ancient motifs, like … zoomorphic figures from mythology, are abstracted and merged with futuristic flourishes." — Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 2015

Word Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete a "morph" word that describes something (such as a lens) that distorts an image: _ n _ morph _ _.

Merriam-Webster

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

wend - Word of the Day - 08/12/17

wend

verb

Pronunciation

WEND
 

Definition

: to direct one's course : travel, proceed

Did You Know?

Wend is related to the verb wind, which means, among other things, "to follow a series of curves and turns." It is also a distant relative of the verb wander. Wend itself began its journey in Old English as wendan, which was used in various now-obsolete senses relating to turning or changing direction or position and which is akin to the Old English windan ("to twist"). Wend has twisted itself into various meanings over the years. Most of its senses—including "to come about," "to depart," "to change," and "to betake"—have since wandered off into obscurity, but its use in senses related to going or moving along a course has lent the English verb go its past tense form went (as a past tense form of wend, went has long since been superseded by wended). The current sense of wend, "to direct or to proceed," is holding steady on the path.

Examples

The hikers wended their way along the forest trail toward the evening's campsite.

"Meanwhile, several lawsuits involving the hotel developments that stoked the city's political divides are still wending their way through the courts." — Sheila Mullane Estrada, The Tampa Bay Times, 13 Oct. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

What verb beginning with "t" can mean "to travel over" or "to trade or barter"?

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

maieutic - Word of the Day - 07/11/17

maieutic

adjective

Pronunciation

may-YOO-tik
 

Definition

: relating to or resembling the Socratic method of eliciting new ideas from another

Did You Know?

Maieutic comes from maieutikos, the Greek word for "of midwifery." In one of Plato's Dialogues, Socrates applies maieutikos to his method of bringing forth new ideas by reasoning and dialogue; he thought the technique analogous to those a midwife uses in delivering a baby (Socrates' mother was a midwife). A teacher who uses maieutic methods can be thought of as an intellectual midwife who assists students in bringing forth ideas and conceptions previously latent in their minds.

Examples

"The maieutic art of Socrates consists, essentially, of asking questions designed to destroy prejudices; false beliefs which are often traditional or fashionable beliefs; false answers, given in the spirit of ignorant cocksureness." — Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations, 1962

"Montaigne wrote as a kind of maieutic exercise, a way of drawing his thoughts into the light of day, of discovering what he wanted to say as he said it." — James Somers, The Atlantic, 21 Dec. 2010

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective that means "of, relating to, or associated with childbirth": _ _ s _ et _ ic.

Merriam-Webster

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

candor - Word of the Day - 06/12/17

candor

noun

Pronunciation

KAN-der 

Definition

1 : whiteness, brilliance
2 : freedom from prejudice or malice : fairness
3 : unreserved, honest, or sincere expression : forthrightness

Did You Know?

The origins of candor shine through in its first definition. Candor traces back to the Latin verb candēre ("to shine or glow"), which in turn derives from the same ancient root that gave the Welsh language can, meaning "white," and the Sanskrit language candati, which translates to "it shines." Other descendants of candēre in English include candid, incandescent, candle, and the somewhat less common candent and candescent (both of which are synonyms of incandescent in the sense of "glowing from or as if from great heat"). There is even excandescence, an uncommon word that refers to a feverish condition brought on by anger or passion.

Examples

"In an e-mail, Shonda Rhimes praised [Jenji] Kohan's kindness and candor, calling her one of the few showrunners with whom she can talk honestly about career strategy." — Emily Nussbaum, The New Yorker, 4 Sept. 2017

"'I pay very little attention to legal rules, statutes, constitutional provisions,' he said in a retirement interview. He deserves credit for candor, at least." — National Review, 2 Oct. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a word that means "lacking in candor": _ i _ i _ g _ n _ o _ s.

Merriam-Webster

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

maudlin - Word of the Day - 04/12/17

maudlin

adjective

Pronunciation

MAUD-lin

Definition

1 : drunk enough to be emotionally silly
2 : weakly and effusively sentimental

Did You Know?

The history of maudlin owes as much to the Bible as to the barroom. The biblical Mary Magdalene is often (though some say mistakenly) identified with the weeping sinner who washed Jesus' feet with her tears to repent for her sins. This association led to the frequent depiction of Mary Magdalene as a weeping penitent, and even the name Magdalene came to suggest teary emotion to many English speakers. It was then that maudlin, an alteration of Magdalene, appeared in the English phrase "maudlin drunk," which, as one Englishman explained in 1592, described a tearful drunken state whereby "a fellow will weepe for kindnes in the midst of his Ale and kisse you."

Examples

Rather than give his aunt a maudlin greeting card, Jake looked for one that was more in line with her snarky sense of humor.

"There are scenes of violence, grieving, hardship and heartbreak, but 'Rags' never melts into a puddle of maudlin self-pity. It maintains an optimistic attitude." — James Gill, The New Orleans Advocate, 25 Oct. 2017

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of maudlin: ONLCYIG.

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

pillory - Word of the Day - 03/11/17

pillory

noun

Pronunciation

PILL-uh-ree
 

Definition

1 : a wooden frame for public punishment having holes in which the head and hands can be locked
2 : a means for exposing one to public scorn or ridicule

Did You Know?

In days gone by, criminals who got caught might well have found themselves in the stocks (which held the feet or both feet and hands) or a pillory. Both of those forms of punishment—and the words that name them—have been around since the Middle Ages. We latched onto pillory from the Anglo-French pilori, which has the same meaning as our English term but the exact origins of which are uncertain. For centuries, pillory referred only to the wooden frame used to hold a ne'er-do-well, but by the early 1600s, folks had turned the word into a verb for the act of putting someone in a pillory. Within a century, they had further expanded the verb to cover any process that led to as much public humiliation as being pilloried.

Examples

"When I was in college in the 1980s, the general store down the road shamed deadbeats by posting their bounced checks next to the cash register. It was a pillory of sorts, a wall of shame." — Dwight Garner, Esquire, September 2017

"The really offensive thing about the bailouts was … that Congress and the White House and the Treasury and the Fed were more or less making things up as they went along. This bank got rescued, that one didn't. This firm got a bailout on generous terms, that one got the pillory." — Stephen Spruiell and Kevin D. Williamson, The National Review, 5 Apr. 2010

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a word that means "an object of ridicule": _ a _ g _ _  n _ s _ oc _.

Merriam-Webster

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

intersperse - Word of the Day - 02/12/17

intersperse

verb

Pronunciation

 in-ter-SPERSS

 Definition

1 : to place something at intervals in or among
2 : to insert at intervals among other things

Did You Know?

Intersperse derives from Latin interspersus, formed by combining the familiar prefix inter- ("between or among") with sparsus, the past participle of spargere, meaning "to scatter." In sparsus one finds an ancestor to our adjective sparse, as well as a relative of spark. (The relationship of spark to a word that describes something being scattered about makes sense when you think of sparks bursting or scattering off a flame.) Intersperse is often followed by the preposition with, as in "a straggling street of comfortable white and red houses, interspersed with abundant shady trees" (from H. G.  Wells' 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds).

Examples

The author has interspersed the guidebook with illustrations of the different birds we might encounter on the safari tour.

"Interspersed throughout the beds of deliberately overgrown azaleas, roses, and hydrangeas is the world's largest private collection of sculptures…. — Harper's, 18 Apr. 2017

Word Quiz

What verb derives from Latin spargere ("to scatter") and can mean "to sprinkle with holy water" or "to attack with false charges"?

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

anachronism - Word of the Day - 01/12/17

anachronism

noun

Pronunciation

uh-NAK-ruh-niz-um

Definition

1 : an error in chronology; especially : a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other
2 : a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place; especially : one from a former age that is incongruous in the present
3 : the state or condition of being chronologically out of place

Did You Know?

An anachronism is something that is out of place in terms of time or chronology. The word derives from chronos, the Greek word for "time," and ana-, a Greek prefix meaning "up," "back," or "again." In its earliest English use, anachronism referred to an error in the dating of something (as, for example, in etymology, when a word or use is mistakenly assumed to have arisen earlier than it did). Anachronisms were sometimes distinguished from parachronisms, chronological errors in which dates are set later than is correct. But parachronism did not stand the test of time. It is now a very rare word.

Examples

"There are the truly strange anachronisms throughout. Félicie traipses around in denim shorts, and the characters … make 'Hammer Time' jokes. And yet we know it's supposed to be the 19th century because of the proliferation of top hats and horse-drawn carriages, and because both the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty are under construction." — Katie Walsh, The Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2017

"With social media and its instantaneous but faux connection, postcards are a quaint anachronism. Part of me is hopelessly old-fashioned, so I'll revive the practice of sending 'postcards' for the next few weeks in lieu of normal columns." — Mark A. Cohen, Forbes, 9 Oct. 2017

Memory

What is the meaning of stridulate, our November 4th Word of the Day?

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

bludge - Word of the Day - 29/11/17

bludge

verb

Pronunciation

 BLUJ

Definition

1 : (chiefly Australia & New Zealand) to avoid work or responsibility
2 : (chiefly Australia & New Zealand) to get something from or live on another by imposing on hospitality or good nature : sponge

Did You Know?

Though they can be annoying, people who bludge—bludgers—are relatively harmless. On the other hand, a bully armed with a bludgeon—a "bludgeoner"—can cause serious harm. In the 19th century, bludgeoner was shortened to bludger and used as a slang word for "pimp." That bludger was certainly a kind of bully, one apparently willing to wield a bludgeon now and then to insure his livelihood. In the early 20th century, bludge became the verb for what a bludger does. By then, a somewhat softened bludger had appeared in Australia and New Zealand: the pimping and the bullying were eliminated, and the parasitical tendencies reduced to mere cadging or sponging.

Name That Synonym

What synonym of bludge begins with "m" and has 5 letters?

Merriam-Webster

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

Quote of the Day - 28/11//17

Those who see the invisible can do the impossible.

Pandurang Shastri Vaijnath Athavale

http://quoteofthedayr.blogspot.com.au/

harbinger - Word of the Day - 28/11//17

harbinger

noun

Pronunciation

HAHR-bun-jer
 

Definition

1 : one that initiates a major change : a person or thing that originates or helps open up a new activity, method, or technology : pioneer

2 : something that foreshadows a future event : something that gives an anticipatory sign of what is to come

Did You Know?

When medieval travelers needed lodging for the night, they went looking for a harbinger. As long ago as the 12th century, harbinger was used to mean "one who provides lodging" or "a host," but that meaning is now obsolete. Later on, harbinger was also being used for a person sent ahead of a main party to seek lodgings, often for royalty or a campaigning army, but that old sense has largely been left in the past, too. Those sent ahead would announce the approach of who was following behind, and that's how our modern sense of harbinger (from the Anglo-French herberge, meaning "lodgings") acquired the sense with which we are familiar today, that of something which foretells a future event.

Examples

When the star running back went down with an injury in the team's first game, it turned out to be the harbinger of a disappointing season.

"A lot is riding on the results, which will be widely read as … a harbinger of the 2018 congressional midterm elections." — Laura Vozzella, The Washington Post, 18 Oct. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

What two-word term begins with stormy and can refer to one fond of strife or a harbinger of trouble?

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

anneal - Word of the Day - 27/11/17

anneal

verb

Pronunciation

 uh-NEEL
 

Definition

1 a : to heat and then cool (a material, such as steel or glass) usually for softening and making less brittle; also : to cool slowly usually in a furnace
  b : to heat and then cool (double-stranded nucleic acid) in order to separate strands and induce combination at lower temperature with complementary strands
2 : strengthen, toughen
3 : to be capable of combining with complementary nucleic acid by a process of heating and cooling

Did You Know?

If you were looking for a saying to apply to the word anneal, it might be "everything old is new again." The word was originally associated with one of the oldest technologies of humankind: fire. It derives from the Old English word onǣlan, which was formed from the Old English root āl, meaning "fire." In its earliest known uses, anneal meant simply "to set on fire." That sense has become obsolete, however, and nowadays anneal is associated with metalworking and glasswork as well as a much more recent technological development. As addressed in sense 3 of the definition, it has come to be used in the context of DNA research, in reference to the heating and cooling of double-stranded nucleic acid.

Examples

"Before and after the Eagles organized team activities last spring, Nelson Agholor retreated to his hometown for a series of training sessions with an old friend and mentor that would anneal his mind as much as his body." — Mike Sielski, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 Oct. 2017

"Primarily I work in brass and silver-soldered brass. The process is heating and annealing the brass, bending it, soldering pieces together to get the general form and then slowly bending until the pieces fit." — Andrew Watt, quoted in The Washington Post, 10 Sept. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

What word refers to a mixture of metals (such as lead and tin) that is melted and used to join metal parts?

Merriam-Webster

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

illustrious - Word of the Day - 26/11/17

illustrious

adjective

Pronunciation

ih-LUSS-tree-us
 

Definition

: notably or brilliantly outstanding because of dignity or achievements or actions : eminent

Did You Know?

Illustrious people seem to light up everything around them. The etymology of illustrious makes it clear that a shining glow (both literal and figurative) has long been associated with the word. Illustrious derives from the Latin illustris, which was probably a back-formation of the verb illustrare ("to illustrate"), which in turn comes from lustrare, meaning "to purify" or "to make bright," and which is related to the Latin noun lustrum that gave us luster. At one time, illustrious was used in the literal sense of "shining brightly with light," but that meaning is now considered archaic. The word is today almost exclusively used in its figurative application to describe something that stands out brilliantly, much like a bright star stands out in the sky.

Examples

During the ceremony, the illustrious star of stage and screen was presented with a lifetime achievement award.

"For the first time, WWE's illustrious father-daughter duo 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair and Charlotte come together to tell their legendary story through their autobiography Second Nature…." — Jim Varsallone, The Miami Herald, 26 Sept. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of illustrious: r _ _ o _ b _ a _ _ e.

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

non sequitur - Word of the Day - 25/11/17

non sequitur

noun

Pronunciation

NAHN-SEK-wuh-ter

 Definition

1 : an inference that does not follow from the premises
2 : a statement (such as a response) that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said

Did You Know?

In Latin, non sequitur means "it does not follow." The phrase was borrowed into English in the 1500s by people who made a formal study of logic. For them it meant a conclusion that does not follow from the statements that lead to it. But we now use non sequitur for any kind of statement that seems to come out of the blue. The Latin verb sequi ("to follow") has actually led the way for a number of English words. A sequel follows the original novel, film, or television show. Someone obsequious follows another about, flattering and fawning. And an action is often followed by its consequence.

Examples

Unprepared for the question, the speaker gave a response that was a jumble of non sequiturs and irrelevant observations.

"Chicago scored well on 'digital security,' because, as the report notes, 'the city is home to several leading cyber security firms and in January its mayor … announced the launch of a new cyber security training initiative.' This non sequitur is like saying that New Jersey is the healthiest state because it is home to so many pharmaceutical companies." — Nicole Gelinas, City Journal, 20 Oct. 2017

Word Quiz

What is the meaning of sequacious, an adjective derived from Latin sequi, meaning "to follow"?

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

mucilaginous - Word of the Day - 24/11/17

mucilaginous- Word of the Day  - 24/11/17

mucilaginous

adjective

Pronunciation

myoo-suh-LAJ-uh-nus

Definition

1 : sticky, viscid
2 : of, relating to, full of, or secreting mucilage

Did You Know?

Unlike its meanings, there's nothing terribly sticky about the origin and use of mucilaginous. Like thousands of other words in the English language, mucilaginous (and the noun mucilage) oozed out of Latin during the 15th century. Mucilage is from Late Latin's word for "mucus," mucilago, and is used for the gelatinous substance found in various plants, such as legumes or seaweeds. Mucilaginous stuck as the noun's adjective form and is used by scientists and foodies alike for sticky or mucous things.

Examples

"It started quietly last summer, when social media watchers began buzzing about it. Tweens had struck on a recipe for a mucilaginous, stomach-turning substance and were posting videos of themselves playing with it. The slime trend had hit." — Robert Klara, Adweek, 8 May 2017

"… okra is best picked right off the vine, before it gets too big. For this recipe, a simple bath in milk, a romp in a bowl of flour and cornmeal, and a dip in hot oil are all that's needed to render the mucilaginous veggie into the ambrosial stuff of cafeteria dreams." — Courtney Bond, Texas Monthly, July 2016

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of mucilaginous: gl _ _ _ no _ s.

Merriam-Webster

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

viand - Word of the Day - 23/11/17

viand

noun

Pronunciation

VYE-und
 
Definition

1 : an item of food; especially : a choice or tasty dish
2 : (plural) provisions, food

Did You Know?

Are you someone who eats to live, or someone who lives to eat? Either way, you'll find that the etymology of viand reflects the close link between food and life. Viand was borrowed into English in the 15th century from the Anglo-French viaunde or viande (viande, meaning "meat," is still found in modern French usage). The Anglo-French viaunde derives ultimately from the Medieval Latin vivanda ("food"), an alteration of vivendus, a participial form of the verb vivere, meaning "to live." Vivere is the ancestor of a number of other lively and life-giving words in English, including victual, revive, survive, convivial, and vivacious.

Examples

"The family sat down to table, and a frugal meal of cold viands was deposited before them." — Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles, 1891

"No fewer than three restaurants are planned for the new hotel, including one at ground level, and two others on the top two floors of the building, providing city vistas along with the viands." — Lewis Lazare, The Chicago Business Journal, 13 May 2016

Test Your Vocabulary

What noun begins with "k" and can refer to a fancy dish or a trinket?

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

obliterate - Word of the Day - 22/11/17

obliterate

verb

Pronunciation

uh-BLIT-uh-rayt

Definition

1 a : to remove from recognition or memory
   b : to remove from existence
2 : to make undecipherable by wiping out or covering over

Did You Know?

Far from being removed from existence, obliterate is thriving in our language today with various senses that it has acquired over the years. True to its Latin source, oblitteratus—from the prefix ob-, meaning "in the way," and littera, meaning "letter"—it began in the mid-16th century as a word for removing something from memory. Soon after, English speakers began to use it for the specific act of blotting out or obscuring anything written, and eventually its meaning was generalized to removing anything from existence. In the meantime, physicians began using obliterate for the surgical act of filling or closing up a vessel, cavity, or passage with tissue. Its final stamp on the English lexicon was delivered in the mid-19th century: "to cancel a postage or revenue stamp."

Examples

The children's chalk drawings remained on the sidewalk until a rainstorm came along and obliterated them.

"That was before Hurricane Maria obliterated the only tropical rain forest in the United States forest system. Left behind was a scene so bare that on a recent visit, it was possible to see the concrete skyline of San Juan about 30 miles west—a previously unimaginable sight." — Luis Ferré-Sadurní, The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

What two-word term includes the word letter and can refer to a law or agreement that has lost its force or authority without being formally abolished?

Merriam-Webster

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

wifty - Word of the Day - 21/11/17

wifty

adjective

Pronunciation

WIF-tee 

Definition

: eccentrically silly, giddy, or inane : ditzy

Did You Know?

Wifty is a synonym of ditzy. And, like ditzy, its origins remain unknown. The earliest print evidence of wifty goes back to the early 20th century, though the word was certainly being used in spoken English before that. Ditzy stumbled into American slang decades later—we are able to trace it back to the 1970s. But dizzy, which in its Old English origins meant "foolish" or "stupid," has been used in a sense similar to ditzy or wifty since the 16th century.

Examples

"Developers are, by nature, dreamers and gamblers, seeing opportunity and growth where others see only the Steak & Bagel Train. Many developers appear a tad wifty, perhaps existing in some altered state of consciousness, but this project is in a class by itself." — Karen Heller, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 Oct. 2012

"… he paints a tender and sensitive portrait of a modern-day Don Quixote trapped in his own grand, wifty delusions." — Laura Bennett, The Boston Globe, 2 July 2009

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of wifty: d _ _ t.

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

bombinate - Word of the Day - 20/11/17

bombinate

verb

Pronunciation

BAHM-buh-nayt

 Definition

: to make a sustained deep murmuring, humming, or buzzing sound : buzz, drone

Did You Know?

Bombinate sounds like it should be the province of bombastic blowhards who bound up and bombard you with droning blather at parties—and it is. The word derives from the Greek word bombos, a term that probably originated as an imitation of a deep, hollow sound (the kind we would likely refer to as "booming" nowadays). Latin speakers rendered the original Greek form as bombus, and that root gave forth a veritable din of raucous English offspring, including not only bombinate, but also bomb, bombard, and bound ("a leap or jump"). However, Latin bombus is not a direct ancestor of bombastic, which traces to bombyx, a Greek name for the silkworm.

Examples

The only sounds Jared could hear in the office that night were those of his own typing and the air conditioner bombinating.

"Black-marketeers and scalpers began buzzing around the theatres, bombinating ceaselessly, … 'Ten-for-five, ten-for five, ten-for-five.'" — Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey, 1991

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of bombinate: b _ m _ _ e.

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

fervid - Word of the Day - 19/11/17

fervid

adjective

Pronunciation

 FER-vid

Definition

1 : very hot : burning
2 : marked by often extreme intensity of feeling

Did You Know?

The Latin verb fervēre can mean "to boil" or "to glow," as well as, by extension, "to seethe" or "to be roused." In English, this root gives us three words that can mean "impassioned" by varying degrees: fervid, fervent, and perfervid. Fervid and fervent are practically synonymous, but while fervid usually suggests warm emotion that is expressed in a spontaneous or feverish manner (as in "fervid basketball fans"), fervent is reserved for a kind of emotional warmth that is steady and sincere (as in "a fervent belief in human kindness"). Perfervid combines fervid with the Latin prefix per- ("thoroughly") to create a word meaning "marked by overwrought or exaggerated emotion," as in "a perfervid display of patriotism."

Examples

"Here at the Toronto International Film Festival, there are posters for an upcoming Guillermo del Toro-curated exhibit called 'Influences' that will let you sample the movies and books and music that fed the director's fervid imagination." — David Edelstein, Vulture, 14 Sept. 2017

"The travellers set forth on horseback, and purposed to perform much of their aimless journeyings under the moon, and in the cool of the morning or evening twilight; the midday sun … being still too fervid to allow of noontide exposure." — Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1860

Word Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create a verb derived from Latin fervēre that can mean "to bubble, hiss, and foam as gas escapes" or "to show liveliness": VFFCEEREES.

Merriam-Webster

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

belaud - Word of the Day - 18/11/17

belaud

verb

Pronunciation

bih-LAWD 

Definition

: to praise usually to excess

Did You Know?

You may recognize the word laud (meaning "to praise or extol") in belaud. In fact, belaud was formed by combining the prefix be- and the verb laud. Since be- can denote both "to a greater degree" and "excessively or ostentatiously," it perhaps should come as no surprise that while laud may imply praise to a deserved degree, belaud often has the connotations of unreasonable or undeserved praise. Incidentally, both laud and by extension belaud derive from the Latin verb laudare, which in turn traces back to laud-, meaning "praise." Other descendants of laud- in English include laudatory, laudable, and even laudation, meaning "an act of praising."

Examples

"Several cheers went up. Piccard, unaware of the scene unfolding behind him, seemed to think they were meant to belaud his plan." — Jake Silverstein, Nothing Happened and Then It Did: A Chronicle in Fact and Fiction, 2011

"We believe it was about 1835 that Mr. Dearborn republished the Culprit Fay, which then, as at the period of its original issue, was belauded by the universal American press…." — Edgar Allan Poe, "J. G. C. Brainard" in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe, 1850

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of belaud: GIFMAYN.

Merriam-Webster

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

jalousie - Word of the Day - 17/11/17

jalousie

noun

Pronunciation

 JAL-uh-see

Definition

1 : a blind with adjustable horizontal slats for admitting light and air while excluding direct sun and rain
2 : a window made of adjustable glass louvers that control ventilation

Did You Know?

Etymologists are clear on the source of the word jalousie—it's French for "jealousy"—but the relationship between the emotion and the window treatments originally referred to as jalousies is not something they've speculated much about. Is it that those peering out through the original jalousie blinds were jealous of the people outside? Or is it more likely that the jealousy festered in the hearts of those outside, who could see the blinds but not the faces and lives of the people they hid? This excerpt from the October 23, 1766 entry in the Duchess of Northumberland's diary perhaps provides a clue: "Rows of Seats with Jalousies in Front that [the women] may not be seen."

Examples

The rooms of the little bungalow were protected from the brutal tropical heat by wooden jalousies.

"All the old jalousies have been replaced with new windows framed in mahogany, but many interior doors and much of the original hardware have been retained." — Christine Davis, The Palm Beach Daily News, 14 July 2011

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a word that refers to intense jealousy: h _ _ r _ _ ur _ in _.

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

lollygag - Word of the Day - 16/11/17

lollygag

verb

Pronunciation

LAH-lee-gag 

Definition

: to spend time idly, aimlessly, or foolishly : dawdle

Did You Know?

You certainly didn't want to be known as a lollygagger at the beginning of the 20th century. Back then, lollygag was slang for "fooling around" (sexually, that is). That sense of lollygag was in use at least as long ago as 1868, and it probably originated as an alteration of the older (and more dawdlingly innocent) lallygag. Nowadays, lollygag doesn't usually carry such naughty connotations, but back in 1946, one Navy captain considered lollygagging enough of a problem to issue this stern warning:

"Lovemaking and lollygagging are hereby strictly forbidden.... The holding of hands, osculation and constant embracing of WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service], corpsmen or civilians and sailors or any combination of male and female personnel is a violation of naval discipline...."

Examples

Owen had a habit of lollygagging in the morning when he was supposed to be getting ready for school, and that meant that he was sometimes late.

"We were spoiled in the heart of summer by daylight that lingered until 10 p.m. We felt no sense of hurry. We could get home from work and still have almost five hours to lollygag away catching walleyes, water-skiing or having picnics on the beach." — Sam Cook, The Duluth (Minnesota) News Tribune, 29 Sept. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of lollygag: l _ i _ _ r.

Merriam-Webster

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

proximity - Word of the Day - 15/11/17

proximity

noun

Pronunciation

prahk-SIM-uh-tee

Definition

: the quality or state of being proximate : closeness

Did You Know?

The history of proximity hinges on the idea of closeness, both physical and metaphorical. English speakers borrowed the word from Middle French, which in turn acquired it from Latin proximitat-, proximitas, forms of the adjective proximus, meaning "nearest" or "next." A number of other languages, including Catalan, Portuguese, and Italian, derived similar words from Latin proximus. Other descendants of proximus in English include proximal, proximate, and the somewhat more rare approximal (meaning "contiguous").

Examples

"[T]he company's main advantages as an exporter include proximity to the U.S. market, quality of production and its ability to alter production to suit the needs and design tastes of U.S. consumers." — Thomas Russell, Furniture Today, 4 Oct. 2017

"Common interests, shared experiences and momentum are the things that bind superficial relationships…, but remove the natural closeness that proximity creates and you find that having once shared a few high school classes is not enough to sustain a lifelong relationship." — Jonathan Look, Forbes, 24 Sept. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of proximity: p _ o _ i _ q _ i _ y.

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

stellar - Word of the Day - 14/11/17

stellar

adjective

Pronunciation

 STEL-er 

Definition

1 a : of or relating to the stars : astral
   b : composed of stars
2 : of or relating to a theatrical or film star
3 a : principal, leading
   b : outstanding

Did You Know?

Stella, the Latin word for "star," shines brightly in the word constellation, but stella words have been favored by scientists to describe earthly things as much as heavenly bodies. Stellar was once used to mean "star-shaped." That use is no longer current, but today biologists and geologists might use one of these synonyms: stellular, stellate, and stelliform. Poets, too, have looked to stella. John Milton used stellar in its infancy when he wrote in Paradise Lost "these soft fires … shed down their stellar virtue." Stellar shot into its leading role as a synonym of star (as when we say "stellar pupil") in the late 1800s.

Examples

Kelly's stellar academic record should help her gain acceptance to almost any college she wants to attend.

"The carbon-rich asteroid is like a time capsule from more than 4.5 billion years ago when the solar system formed. Scientists hope that the samples that Osiris-Rex collects and brings to Earth in 2023 will contain clues from the earliest history of our stellar neighborhood." — Nicholas St. Fleur, The New York Times, 28 Sept. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

What is the meaning of the adjective star-chamber?


Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

roué - Word of the Day - 13/11/17

roué

noun

Pronunciation

 roo-AY

Definition

: a man devoted to a life of sensual pleasure : rake

Did You Know?

Roué originated as a French word and gained momentum when it began to be used in reference to the libertine companions of Philippe II, France's regent from 1715-1723. Roué means "broken on the wheel" in French and ultimately derives from Latin rota, meaning "wheel." Since the wheel being referred to was an instrument of punishment, the French were implying that such dissolute beings deserved this punishment. By the end of the 18th century, English-speakers added roué to its list of synonyms for a rake, libertine, debaucher, lecher, etc.

Examples

"Hugh Grant, as a roué who seems to realize that his charm is a regrettably cheap commodity, enjoyed something of a comeback in Florence Foster Jenkins." — Tom Gliatto, People, 17 Jan. 2017       
   
"[Roger Moore's] Bond was a roué, a bounder, a debonair playboy not remotely like a real spy and arguably all the better for it." — Alex Bilmes, Esquire, 25 May 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

What word combines with path to form an expression for a figurative path of ease or pleasure?

Merriam-Webster

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

shilly-shally - Word of the Day - 12/11/17

shilly-shally

verb

Pronunciation

 SHIL-ee-SHAL-ee

Definition

1 : to show hesitation or lack of decisiveness or resolution
2 : dawdle

Did You Know?

Shall I? Shall I? When you just don't know what to do, it may feel as if asking that question twice will somehow help you decide. The 17th century saw the use of the phrase "stand shall I, shall I" to describe vacillation or indecision. By that century's end, the phrase had been altered to "shill I, shall I," most likely because people just liked the vowel alteration (that's the same process that gave us dillydally and wishy-washy). Soon after, the adverbial shilly-shally made the jump from slang to literature and writers began applying it as an adjective, a noun, and a verb as well.

Examples

"As for buying Concord grapes at either a farm stand or a supermarket, the rule of thumb is, when you see them, claim them. Don't shilly-shally, because the season for this most coveted of grapes is fleeting." — Heidi Legenbauer Williams, The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, New York), 9 Sept. 2016

"He chaired a meeting this month that called on reluctant officials not to shilly-shally with economic and social reforms…." — The Economist, 18 Feb. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of shilly-shally: b _ g _ _ e.

Merriam-Webster

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

doughty - Word of the Day - 11/11/17

doughty

adjective

Pronunciation

DOW-tee
 

Definition

: marked by fearless resolution : valiant

Did You Know?

Doughty is a persevering English word. In Old English, it shows up as dohtig, which was probably an alteration of dyhtig that resulted from the influence of the Old English dohte, meaning "had worth." By the 13th century, the spelling doughty had begun to appear. The expected pronunciation would be \DAW-tee\, paralleling other similarly spelled old words like bought and sought. But over the centuries, the spelling was sometimes confused with that of the now-obsolete word doubty, meaning "full of doubt," and thus, so it is conjectured, we have the pronunciation we use today.

Examples

Noticing that the cashier shorted him a nickel, the doughty child marched up to the counter and demanded it from her.

"The early lighthouse keepers were a doughty lot, and had to be, insofar as their job wasn't merely to light the wick, but save the occasional ship that foundered…." — Verne Gay, Newsday, 26 May 2010

Name That Antonym

Fill in the blanks to complete an antonym of doughty: _ _ m _ r _ us.

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

pathos - Word of the Day - 10/11/17

pathos

noun

Pronunciation

PAY-thahss

Definition

1 : an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion
2 : an emotion of sympathetic pity

Examples

"Clowns have always been represented as tricksters and jokers, from the days of jesters all the way through Ronald McDonald, but the high jinks were always paired with pathos and humanity." — Vulture, 7 Sept. 2017

"The best survival movies are often harrowing; packed with loss and pathos while testing the limits of human endurance." — Mathew DeKinder, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 Oct. 2017

Did You Know?

The Greek word pathos means "suffering," "experience," or "emotion." It was borrowed into English in the 16th century, and for English speakers, the term usually refers to the emotions produced by tragedy or a depiction of tragedy. Pathos has quite a few kin in English. Pathetic is used to describe things that move us to pity. Empathy is the ability to feel the emotions of another. Though pathology is not literally "the study of suffering," it is "the study of diseases." You can probably guess at more relatives of pathos. Sympathy, apathy, antipathy, sociopath, and psychopath are a few.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a verb that means "to feel or express sympathy": c _ _ m _ s _ _ _ te.

Merriam-Webster

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

cotton - Word of the Day - 09/11/17

cotton

verb

Pronunciation

 KAH-tun
 

Definition

1 : to take a liking — used with to
2 : to come to understand — used with to or on to

Examples

"He was so much fun to have in the company. He had that warm, inviting voice. Audiences just cottoned to him." — Gary Gisselman, quoted in The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 3 Mar. 2016

"This exhibition—like many of [Jim] Henson's shows—is mainly for adults, concerned with the craft of puppetry and the expansion of broadcast media…. Henson, born in Greenville, Miss., in 1936, had an early gift for landscape drawing, but he cottoned on quickly to the potentials of a new medium—and to the branding opportunities that the medium would allow." — Jason Farago, The New York Times, 21 July 2017

Did You Know?

The noun cotton first appears in English in the late Middle Ages. It comes, via Anglo-French and Old Italian, from the Arabic word for cotton, quṭun or quṭn. In the 15th century, cotton acquired a verb use meaning "to form a nap on (cloth)." Though this verb sense is now obsolete, our modern-day use might have spun from it. In 1822, English philologist Robert Nares reported that cotton had been used to mean "to succeed" and speculated that this use came from "the finishing of cloth, which when it cottons, or rises to a regular nap, is nearly or quite complete." The meaning of cotton shifted from "to get on well" to "to get on well together," and eventually to the sense we know today, "to take a liking to." The "understand" sense appeared later, in the early 20th century.

Name That Synonym

What 6-letter verb beginning with "t" is a synonym of cotton, meaning "to come to understand," and also means "to fall suddenly and helplessly"?

Merriam-Webster


http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

archetype - Word of the Day - 07/11/17

archetype

noun

Pronunciation

AHR-kih-type
 

Definition

1 : the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies : prototype; also : a perfect example
2 : a transcendent entity that is a real pattern of which existing things are imperfect representations : idea
3 : (psychology) an inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of C. G. Jung that is derived from the experience of the race and is present in the unconscious of the individual

Examples

"That archetype of the clean-cut, indefatigable and incorruptible agent was largely the invention of J. Edgar Hoover, who led the FBI for 48 years, from May 1924 to May 1972." — Vanessa Romo, NPR.org, 13 July 2017

"In Nashville, … [Shania] Twain has come to be embraced as an elder and an archetype. Carrie Underwood had to prove that she could handle one of Twain's hits when she competed on American Idol en route to becoming one of the reigning pop-country figures of the post-Shania era." — Jewly Hight, Vulture, 29 Sept. 2017

Did You Know?

Archetype derives via Latin from the Greek adjective archetypos ("archetypal"), formed from the verb archein ("to begin" or "to rule") and the noun typos ("type"). (Archein also gave us the prefix arch-, meaning "principal" or "extreme," used to form such words as archenemy, archduke, and archconservative.) Archetype has specific uses in the fields of philosophy and psychology. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, for example, believed that all things have ideal forms (aka archetypes) of which real things are merely shadows or copies. And in the psychology of C. G. Jung, archetype refers to an inherited idea or mode of thought that is present in the unconscious of the individual. In everyday prose, however, archetype is most commonly used to mean "a perfect example of something."

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of archetype: e _ _ m _ _ ar.

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

esemplastic - Word of the Day - 06/11/17

esemplastic

adjective

Pronunciation

 ess-em-PLASS-tik

Definition

: shaping or having the power to shape disparate things into a unified whole

Examples

"Art achieves its impact from something Samuel Taylor Coleridge called its esemplastic power, the ability to make sense out of chaos, to 'shape into one' the many truths around us." — Teresa Jordan, The Year of Living Virtuously: Weekends Off, 2014

"The prison walls of self had closed entirely round him; he was walled completely by the esemplastic power of his imagination…." — Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel, 1929

Did You Know?

"Unusual and new-coined words are, doubtless, an evil; but vagueness, confusion, and imperfect conveyance of our thoughts, are a far greater," wrote English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Biographia Literaria, 1817. True to form, in that same work, he assembled esemplastic by melding the Greek phrase es hen, meaning "into one," with plastic to fulfill his need for a word that accurately described the imagination's ability to shape disparate experiences into a unified whole (e.g., the poet's imaginative ability to communicate a variety of images, sensations, emotions, and experiences in the unifying framework of a poem). The verb intensify was another word that Coleridge was compelled to mint while writing Biographia.

Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective that means "formed by the collection of units or particles into a body, mass, or amount": a _ _ r _ g _ _ e.

Merriam-Webster

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

parable - Word of the Day - 05/11/17

parable

noun

Pronunciation

PAIR-uh-bul

 Definition

: example; specifically : a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle

Examples

The priest opened his homily by relating the parable of the Good Samaritan, from the Gospel of Luke.

"Remotely based on the 1844 Hans Christian Andersen tale 'The Snow Queen,' a parable about faith and friendship, the movie ['Frozen'] retained only the central metaphor of a woman who can freeze people's hearts with her witchcraft." — Jesse Green, The New York Times, 15 Sept. 2017

Did You Know?

Parable comes to us via Anglo-French from the Late Latin word parabola, which in turn comes from Greek parabolē, meaning "comparison." The word parabola may look familiar if you remember your geometry. The mathematical parabola refers to a kind of comparison between a fixed point and a straight line, resulting in a parabolic curve; it came to English from New Latin (Latin as used since the end of the medieval period, especially in scientific description and classification). Parable, however, descends from Late Latin (the Latin language used by writers in the 3rd to 6th centuries). The Late Latin term parabola referred to verbal comparisons: it essentially meant "allegory" or "speech." Other English descendants of Late Latin parabola are parole and palaver.

Word Quiz

What 6-letter noun is derived from Late Latin parabola and refers to a conference or discussion?

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

stridulate - Word of the Day - 04/11/17

stridulate

verb

Pronunciation

STRIJ-uh-layt

 Definition

: to make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing together special bodily structures — used especially of male insects (such as crickets or grasshoppers)

Examples

"When attacked from the side, the crickets stridulated and tried to bite their attacker." — Matt Walker, BBC News, 28 July 2009

"Every day throughout the year begins and ends with … insects rattling and stridulating, and birds singing their hearts out." — Alex Shoumatoff, Yale Environment 360, 18 May 2017

Did You Know?

Stridulate is one member of a word family that has its ancestry in the Latin word stridulus, meaning "shrill." The word alludes to the sharp, high-pitched sound that is produced by a number of insects—particularly crickets and grasshoppers but also certain beetles—as well as other animals, usually as a mating call or a signal of territorial behavior. Stridulus comes from stridere, which is the direct source of our noun stridor, a word found in medical dictionaries. Stridor means "a harsh, shrill, or creaking noise" and also "a harsh vibrating sound heard during respiration in cases of obstruction of the air passages."

Test Your Vocabulary

What instrument emits a high shrill sound called a skirl?

Merriam-Webster

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

tin-pot - Word of the Day - 03/11/17

tin-pot

adjective

Pronunciation

TIN-PAHT
 

Definition

: cheap or trivial of its kind : petty, small-time, two-bit

Examples

"Every fascist, authoritarian and tin-pot dictator in history has tried to shut down dissent." — Michael Goodwin, The New York Post, 15 June 2017

"What a gaggle of tin-pot soldiers we were, the intelligent bored silly, the mediocre exhausted, and the dense frightened out of their wits." — Paul West, Harper's, January 2009

Did You Know?

Tin has never commanded as much respect as some other metals. As a reflection of this, its name has long been used in terms denoting the tawdry or petty. Tin-pot has been used for minor or insignificant things or people since the early 1800s. Tinhorn has named fakes or frauds (especially gamblers) since the second half of that century, and tin lizzie has been a nickname for an inexpensive car since Ford introduced the Model T. Another example is tin-pan, meaning "noisy, harsh, tinny." That word features in the name of the famous Tin Pan Alley, in which it evokes the tinny sound of pianos pounded furiously by musicians plugging tunes to producers.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of tin-pot: p _ c _ _ u _ e.

Merriam-Webster


http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

clew - Word of the Day - 02/11/17

clew

noun

Pronunciation

KLOO

Definition

1 : a ball of thread, yarn, or cord
2 : something that guides through an intricate procedure or maze of difficulties : clue
3  a : a lower corner or only the after corner of a sail
    b : a metal loop attached to the lower corner of a sail
    c : (plural) a combination of lines by which a hammock is suspended

Examples

"High overhead, topmen scrambled to furl and unfurl sails and tend to yards and booms and spars and various clews." — Corey Kilgannon, The New York Times, 30 Aug. 2009

"But this boldness that I took to be presumption was a vital clew to the nature of Ernest Everhard." — Jack London, The Iron Heel, 1908

Did You Know?

The "ball of thread" meaning of clew (from Middle English clewe and ultimately from Old English cliewen) has been with us since before the 12th century. In Greek mythology, Ariadne gave a ball of thread to Theseus so that he could use it to find his way out of her father's labyrinth. This, and similar tales, gave rise to the use of clew for anything that could guide a person through a difficult place. This use led, in turn, to the meaning "a piece of evidence that leads one toward the solution of a problem." Today, the variant spelling clue, which appeared in the 17th century, is the more common spelling for the "evidence" sense, but you'll find clew in some famous works of literature. Also, clew is the only choice for the sailing senses.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a noun that refers to something serving as a guide to understanding or knowledge: fi _ _ _ rpo _ _.

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

apodictic - Word of the Day - 1/11/17

apodictic

adjective

Pronunciation

 ap-uh-DIK-tik

Definition

: expressing or of the nature of necessary truth or absolute certainty

Examples

"On the humbler level of recorded evidence, what is one to make of a thinker-scholar who ruled with apodictic, magisterial certainty that 'Shakespeare's tragedies are second-class with the exception of Lear'?" — George Steiner, The Times Literary Supplement, 4 June 1993

"Her writing, collected in a volume titled Sweet Nothings (a title intended, one suspects, to ward off serious criticism), has an apodictic, take-it-or-leave-it quality: 'Art is a low-risk, high-reward crime.'" — Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal, Winter 2016

Did You Know?

Apodictic is a word for those who are confident about that of which they speak. It's a handy word that can describe a conclusive concept, a conclusive person, or even that conclusive person's conclusive remarks. A well-known close relative of apodictic is paradigm ("an outstandingly clear or typical example"); both words are built on Greek deiknynai, meaning "to show." More distant relatives (from Latin dicere, a relative of deiknynai that means "to say") include diction, dictate, edict, and predict.

Word  Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create an adjective derived from Latin dicere that means "truthful" or "genuine": ICDLAIVRE.

Merriam-Webster


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

causerie - Word of the Day - 29/10/17

causerie

noun

Pronunciation

 kohz-REE

Definition

1 : an informal conversation : chat
2 : a short informal essay

Examples

The professor invited the award-winning playwright to her class to have a causerie with her literature students.

"[The book] is, to be technical, a causerie, a brilliant and engaging, though none too rigorous, monologue by a self-described archaeologist of gossip, a man who has been everywhere and seen everything and known everyone…." — Simon Callow, The Guardian (UK), 15 Mar. 2017

Did You Know?

Causerie first appeared in English in the early 19th century, and it can be traced back to French causer ("to chat") and ultimately to Latin causa ("cause, reason"). The word was originally used to refer to a friendly or informal conversation. Then, in 1849, the author and critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve began publishing a weekly column devoted to literary topics in the French newspaper Le Constitutionnel. These critical essays were called "Causeries du lundi" ("Monday chats") and were later collected into a series of books of the same name. After that, the word causerie acquired a second sense in English, referring to a brief, informal article or essay.

Word  Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create a noun derived from Latin causa that refers to a person who refuses to obey authority: SECNRUTA.


Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

alfresco - Word of the Day - 28/10/17

alfresco

adjective or adverb

Pronunciation

 al-FRESS-koh

Definition

: taking place or located in the open air : outdoor, outdoors

Examples

The restaurant has a lovely outdoor patio for customers who want to dine alfresco.

"The sleek San Fernando Road gym features ... a hand-built lounge area with highlighter-hued patio furniture and ... alfresco exercise mats and boxing bags. — Sophia Kercher, The Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2017

Did You Know?

In addition to describing a type of dining, alfresco can also describe a kind of painting. The word fresco, which comes from the Italian adjective fresco, meaning "fresh," refers to a method of painting on fresh plaster. Although the "outdoors" sense of alfresco is by far the most common in current use, the term is sometimes used to describe painting done in the fresco manner—that is, on fresh plaster.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of the adverb alfresco: _ it _ _ _ t _ o _ rs.

Merriam-Webster

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

slapdash - Word of the Day - 26/10/17

slapdash

adjective

Pronunciation

 SLAP-dash
 

Definition

: done or made without careful planning : haphazard, slipshod

Examples

"Sunflower Cottage just above the weir had been taken by two female animals…. More, it was being done properly, the River Bank's housewives agreed. There was none of this casual, slapdash housekeeping that bachelor gentlemen were so apt to consider sufficient." — Kij Johnson, The River Bank: A Sequel to Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, 2017

"Much to my surprise, Gus didn't take me to task regarding my chronic gerund abuse or my slapdash approach to punctuation." — Jerry Nelson, The Farm Forum (Aberdeen, South Dakota), 11 Sept. 2017

Did You Know?

One of the first known uses of slapdash in English came in 1679 from the British poet and dramatist John Dryden, who used it as an adverb in his play The kind keeper; or Mr. Limberham: "Down I put the notes slap-dash." The Oxford English Dictionary defines this sense in part as "[w]ith, or as with, a slap and a dash," perhaps suggesting the notion of an action (such as painting) performed with quick, imprecise movements. Over 100 years later, the word acquired the adjectival sense with which we are more familiar today, describing something done in a hasty, careless, or haphazard manner.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of slapdash: i _ d _ _ c _ _ m _ n _ te.

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

overwhelm - Word of the Day - 25/10/17

overwhelm

verb

Pronunciation

oh-ver-WELM

Definition

1 : upset, overthrow
2 a : to cover over completely : submerge
   b : to overcome by superior force or numbers
   c : to overpower in thought or feeling

Examples

"The ships … [are] small enough to maneuver into tricky anchorages and light enough on passengers to not overwhelm the wildlife or fragile communities they access." — Sophy Roberts, Traveler, September 2017

"Studies have shown that people can feel empathy, attachment, and other emotions toward robots that exhibit signs of life.… When [the Mars rover] Curiosity serenaded itself with a robotic version of 'Happy Birthday' a few years ago—a very human act—some people were in tears, overwhelmed by sympathy for a machine…." — Marina Koren, The Atlantic, 15 Sept. 2017

Did You Know?

You could say that the introduction of overwhelm to the English language was a bit redundant. The word, which originally meant "to overturn or upset," was formed in Middle English by combining the prefix over- with the verb whelmen, which also meant "to overturn." Whelmen has survived in English as whelm, a verb which is largely synonymous with overwhelm. Since their appearance in the 14th century, however, overwhelm has won over English speakers who have come to largely prefer it to whelm, despite the latter's brevity. Perhaps the emphatic redundancy of overwhelm makes it seem like the more fitting word for describing the experience of being overcome by powerful forces or feelings.

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of overwhelm: TNNUAIED.

Merriam-Webster


http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/

pelf - Word of the Day - 24/10/17

pelf

noun

Pronunciation

PELF
 

Definition

: money, riches

Examples

"Nowadays Western Union is good only if you want to wire cash to your child in college or pelf to a partner in peril." — Vincent L. Hall, The Dallas Morning News, 19 June 2011

"The glitter of guineas is like the glitter of buttercups, the chink of pelf is like the chime of bells, compared with the dreary papers and dead calculations which make the hobby of the modern miser." — G. K. Chesterton, A Miscellany of Men, 1912

Did You Know?

In the late Middle Ages, the Anglo-French word pelfre, meaning "booty" or "stolen goods," was borrowed into English as pelf with the added meaning of "property." (Pelfre is also an ancestor of the English verb pilfer, meaning "to steal.") Eventually, pelf showed gains when people began to use it for "money" and "riches." In some regions of Britain the word's use was diversified further, in a depreciative way, to refer to trash and good-for-nothings. The first of those meanings was a loss by about the mid-17th century; the second has little value outside of the Yorkshire region of England.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of pelf: l _ _ re.

Merriam-Webster

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

burke - Word of the Day - 23/10/17

burke

verb

Pronunciation

BERK PrevNext

Definition

1 : to suppress quietly or indirectly
2 : bypass, avoid

Examples

The mob boss dropped a few well-timed bribes to prosecutors in an effort to burke any investigation into possible wrongdoing.

"There is, however, a respectable and reasonable ethical argument against clinical trials of correctional treatment methods which must not be burked in our enthusiasm for the acquisition of knowledge." — Norval Morris, "Should Research Design and Scientific Merits Be Evaluated?," in Experimentation with Human Beings, 1972

Did You Know?

When an elderly pensioner died at the Edinburgh boarding house of William Hare in 1827, the proprietor and his friend William Burke decided to sell the body to a local anatomy school. The sale was so lucrative that they decided to make sure they could repeat it. They began luring nameless wanderers (who were not likely to be missed) into the house, getting them drunk, then smothering or strangling them and selling the bodies. The two disposed of at least 15 victims before murdering a local woman whose disappearance led to their arrest. At Burke's execution (by hanging), irate crowds shouted "Burke him!" As a result of the case, the word burke became a byword first for death by suffocation or strangulation and eventually for any cover-up.

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of burke: s _ _ el _ h.

Merriam-Webster

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

nuncupative - Word of the Day - 22/10/17

nuncupative

adjective

Pronunciation

 NUN-kyoo-pay-tiv 

Definition

: spoken rather than written : oral

Examples

"He left me a small Legacy in a nuncupative Will, as a Token of his Kindness for me, and he left me once more to the wide World." — Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 1791

"He did leave a will in which he bequeathed everything to Rebecca; but it turns out that John's will was not a written will. It was a nuncupative will, which means on his deathbed, John verbally told persons how he wanted his estate divided or dispensed." — Sharon Tate Moody, The Tampa (Florida) Tribune, 27 Dec. 2015

Did You Know?

Nuncupative (from Latin nuncupare, meaning "to name") has been part of the English language since at least the 15th century, most typically appearing in legal contexts as a modifier of the noun will. The nuncupative will originated in Roman law, where it consisted of an oral declaration made in the presence of seven witnesses and later presented before a magistrate. Currently, nuncupative wills are allowed in some U.S. states in extreme circumstances, such as imminent peril of death from a terminal illness or from military or maritime service. Such wills are dictated orally but are usually required to be set down in writing within a statutorily specified time period, such as 30 days. Witnesses are required, though the number seven is no longer specified.

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective meaning "having left a valid will": _ e _ t _ _ e.

Merriam-Webster

http://plotsandtension.blogspot.com.au/

adversity - Word of the Day - 21/10/17

adversity

noun

Pronunciation

ad-VER-suh-tee 

Definition

: a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortuneExamples

The movie is about a group of determined mountain climbers who triumph in the face of adversity.

"In this way, [the movie] 'It' was meant to reflect how our childhood experiences and fears influence the people we become, and how our adult selves use that to deal with adversity." — Maria Sciullo, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 17 Sept. 2017

Did You Know?

Adversity, mishap, misfortune, and mischance all suggest difficulty of one sort or another. Adversity particularly applies to a state of grave or persistent misfortune (as in "a childhood marked by great adversity"). Mishap suggests an often trivial instance of bad luck (as in "the usual mishaps of a family vacation"). Misfortune is the most common and the most general of the terms, often functioning as a simple synonym of "bad luck" (as in "having the misfortune to get a flat tire on the way to their wedding"). Mischance applies especially to a situation involving no more than slight inconvenience or minor annoyance (as in "a small mischance that befell us").

Test Your Vocabulary

Unscramble the letters to create a word for the strength of mind that enables a person to bear adversity with courage: OTDTIEFRU.

Merriam-Webster

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

knee-jerk - Word of the Day - 20/10/17

knee-jerk

adjective

Pronunciation

NEE-jerk
 

Definition

: readily predictable : automatic; also : reacting in a readily predictable way

Examples

The letter to the editor asserted that the proposed institution of a curfew was a knee-jerk reaction to the problem of an uptick of nighttime crime in the city.

"The habitual or knee-jerk apologist runs a great risk of losing herself through all her apologies. She sees so many of the things she does as offenses or wrongs and takes responsibility for things that are not properly hers." — Peg O'Connor, Psychology Today, 23 June 2017

Did You Know?

Around 1876, the sudden involuntary extension of the leg in response to a light blow just below the knee, which is also known as the patellar reflex, was given the refreshingly simple designation knee jerk. In the 1950s, knee-jerk became an adjective with a figurative sense that doesn't require any actual twitching. "As a salesman, I'm getting a bit weary of the knee-jerk association of a con artist with my professional calling," a correspondent once wrote to The New York Times Magazine. Knee-jerk often has a negative connotation. It usually denotes a too-hasty, impulsive, perhaps even irrational response that is often based on preconceived notions.

Test Your Memory

What is the meaning of legerity, our September 24th Word of the Day?

Merriam-Webster

http://writinghaikup.blogspot.com.au/

hew - Word of the Day - 19/10/17

hew

verb

Pronunciation

HYOO

 Definition

1 : to cut or fell with blows (as of an ax)
2 : to give form or shape to with or as if with an ax
3 : conform, adhere

Examples

"He is best known stateside for the … productions of 'Twelfth Night' and 'Richard III' that he brought to Broadway in 2013, which hewed as closely as possible to the staging choices made at the turn of the 17th century." — Eric Grode, The New York Times, 5 Sept. 2017

"Although the novel hews to the broad outlines of the Drumgold investigation, Lehr takes major liberties with the story, inventing plot twists, scenes, and characters…." — Malcolm Gay, The Boston Globe, 7 Sept. 2017

Did You Know?

Hew is a strong, simple word of Anglo-Saxon descent. It can suggest actual ax-wielding, or it can be figurative: "If … our ambition hews and shapes [our] new relations, their virtue escapes, as strawberries lose their flavor in garden-beds" (Ralph Waldo Emerson). It's easy to see how the figurative "shape" sense of hew developed from the literal "hacking" sense, but what does chopping have to do with adhering and conforming? That sense first appeared in the late 1800s in the phrase "hew to the line." The "hew line" is a line marked along the length of a log indicating where to chop in order to shape a beam. "Hewing to the line," literally, is cutting along the mark—adhering to it—until the side of the log is squared.

Test Your Vocabulary

What 4-letter verb can mean "to hew roughly or jaggedly" or "to catch and tear on something sharp"?

Merriam-Webster

http://writingforchildrenstage.blogspot.com.au/