preternatural - Word of the Day - 01/02/18

preternatural

adjective

Pronunciation

pree-ter-NATCH-uh-rul
 

Definition

1 : existing outside of nature

2 : exceeding what is natural or regular : extraordinary

3 : inexplicable by ordinary means; especially : psychic

Did You Know?

Preternatural derives from the Latin phrase praeter naturam, which means "beyond nature." Medieval Latin scholars rendered the term as praeternaturalis, and that form inspired the modern English version. Unusual things are sometimes considered positive and sometimes negative, and throughout its history preternatural has been used to refer to both exceptionally good things and unnaturally evil ones. In its earliest documented uses in the 1500s, it tended to emphasize the strange, ominous, or foreboding, but by the 1700s, people were using it more benignly to refer to fascinating supernatural (or even heavenly) phenomena. Nowadays, people regularly use it to describe the remarkable abilities of exceptional humans.

Examples

"[Steven] Spielberg has ridden his preternatural talent to a career that has brought in nearly $10 billion at the box office, around $3 billion more than his nearest competitor. He's the ideal of a Hollywood director." — Ryan Bort, Newsweek, 29 Sept. 2017

"He has an almost preternatural emotional intelligence; when we meet for the second time I give him a hug, and he calls me out on it: 'What's up with that hug? That didn't have any feeling! Where's my hug?'" — Allison Samuels, Wired, February 2017

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of preternatural: AHLNEUTYR.

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irrupt - Word of the Day - 31/01/18

irrupt

verb

Pronunciation

 ih-RUPT 

Definition

1 : to rush in forcibly or violently

2 : (of a natural population) to undergo a sudden upsurge in numbers especially when natural ecological balances and checks are disturbed

3 : to become active or violent especially suddenly : erupt

Did You Know?

Irrupt and erupt have existed side-by-side since the former entered the English language in the 1800s (erupt had been a part of the language for over two centuries at that point). Both are descendants of the Latin verb rumpere, which means "to break," but irrupt has affixed to it the prefix ir- (in the sense "into") while erupt begins with the prefix e- (meaning "out"). So "to irrupt" was originally to rush in, and "to erupt" was to burst out. But it's sometimes hard to distinguish the precise direction of a violent rush, and irrupt came to be used as a synonym of erupt in the senses "to become active or violent especially suddenly" and "to break forth."

Examples

"Montaigne was attuned to the kind of 'involuntary' memory that would one day fascinate Proust: those blasts from the past that irrupt unexpectedly into the present, perhaps in response to a long-forgotten taste or smell." — Sarah Bakewell, How to Live, 2010

"Purple finches and pine siskins both are expected to irrupt southward due to poor cone crops in the Northeast and Canada." — James McCarthy, Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 3 Oct. 2016

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete the name for the forcible entry of molten rock or magma into other rock formations: _ n _ ru _ _ on.

Merriam-Webster

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tincture - Word of the Day - 30/01/18

tincture

noun

Pronunciation

TINK-cher
 

Definition

1 : a solution of a medicinal substance in an alcoholic solvent

2   a : a characteristic quality : cast

b :  a slight admixture : trace

3 : color, tint

4 : a heraldic metal, color, or fur

Did You Know?

Tincture derives from the same root as tint and tinge—the Latin verb tingere, meaning "to moisten or dip." Tincture specifically derives via Middle English from the Latin tinctus, the past participle of tingere. When the word first appeared in English in the 14th century, tincture referred to a coloring matter or dye, but by the 17th century the word had acquired a number of additional meanings, including "a slight infusion or trace of something." Tinge and shade are two other words referring to color that can be used the same way. Tincture can also refer, among other things, to the colors used in a coat of arms or an herbal or medicinal solution.

Examples

"You can find turmeric in powder culinary spice form and in its whole root form, as well as in tincture, tablets, and capsules." — Aly Walansky, PopSugar, 21 Dec. 2017

"Yet, while there is nothing Roth despises more than the cheap turn of 'consolation'—the moments in a play or a book where everyone discovers love and feels better—the real arc of Roth's career, as he presents it here, has a tincture of hope." — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

What word refers to the color of light reflected by a painted or varnished surface and is also synonymous with connotation?

Merriam-Webster

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anthropomorphic - Word of the Day - 29/01/18

anthropomorphic

adjective

Pronunciation

 an-thruh-puh-MOR-fik

 Definition

1 : described or thought of as having a human form or human attributes

2 : ascribing human characteristics to nonhuman things

Did You Know?

Anthropomorphic comes from the Late Latin word anthropomorphus, which itself traces to a Greek term birthed from the roots anthrōp- (meaning "human being") and -morphos (-morphous). Those ancient Greek roots have given form and personality to many English words. Anthrōp- relatives include anthropic ("relating to human beings or the period of their existence on earth"), anthropocentric ("interpreting or regarding the world in terms of human values and experiences"), anthropoid ("an ape"), and anthropology ("the study of human beings and their ancestors"). Derivatives of -morphos often end in -morphism, as in polymorphism ("the quality or state of existing in or assuming different forms"), or -morphic, as in biomorphic ("resembling the forms of living organisms").

Word Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete a -morphic word that refers to a lean body build with slight muscular development: e _ _ o _ _ r _ _ ic.

Merriam-Webster

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popinjay - Word of the Day - 28/01/18

popinjay

noun

Pronunciation

PAH-pin-jay

Definition

: a strutting supercilious person

Did You Know?

Popinjays and parrots are birds of a feather. Popinjay, from the Middle French word papegai, is the original name for a parrot in English. The French word, in turn, came from the Arabic word for the bird, babghā’. Parrot, which English speakers adopted later, is probably a modification of the Middle French perroquet, which is also the source of the English parakeet. In the days of Middle English, parrots were rare and exotic, and it was quite a compliment to be called a popinjay after such a beautiful bird. But by the 1500s, parrots had become more commonplace, and their gaudy plumage and vulgar mimicry helped popinjay develop the pejorative sense we use today.

Examples

"Who does that guy think he is?" Amanda asked in regard to the popinjay who strolled into the restaurant demanding to be seated instantly.

"[Ryan] Gosling plays the motormouthed popinjay, a tough talker who's actually quite skittish about his bloody job." — Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune, 23 May 2016

Test Your Vocabulary

Unscramble the letters to create the name of a small parrot that is dedicated to its mate: IODVRELB.

Merriam-Webster

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nebulous - Word of the Day - 27/01/18

nebulous

adjective

Pronunciation

NEB-yuh-lus

Definition

1 : of, relating to, or resembling a nebula

2 : indistinct, vague

Did You Know?

Nebulous comes from the Latin word nebulosus, meaning "misty," which in turn comes from nebula, meaning "mist," "fog," or "cloud." In the 18th century, English speakers borrowed nebula and gave it a somewhat more specific meaning than the Latin version. In English, nebula refers to a cloud of gas or dust in deep space, or in less technical contexts, simply to a galaxy. Nebulous itself, when it doesn't have interstellar implications, usually means "cloudy" or "foggy" in a figurative sense. One's memory of a long-past event, for example, will often be nebulous; a teenager might give a nebulous recounting of an evening's events upon coming home; or a politician might make a campaign promise but give only a nebulous description of how he or she would fulfill it.

Examples

"There's nothing quite like a literary trilogy. As a reader, there's something wonderful about seeing a story unfold over the course of three books; you get more detailed narrative than in a single book without having to deal with the nebulous endpoint of an ongoing series." — Allen Adams, The Maine Edge, 6 Dec. 2017

"Americans love the circus because it has the rare ability to invoke the real memories of one's first childhood visit coupled with the nebulous cultural nostalgia of circus parades, mustachioed ringmasters and the assembled curiosities of a world made wide before one's eyes." — Tim Baker, Newsweek.com, 19 Dec. 2017

Word Quiz

What relative of nebulous refers to the light depicted around the head of a divinity, saint, or sovereign in a picture?

Merriam-Webster

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retrodict - Word of the Day - 26/01/18

retrodict

verb

Pronunciation

ret-ruh-DIKT 

Definition

: to utilize present information or ideas to infer or explain (a past event or state of affairs)

Did You Know?

We predict that you will guess the correct origins of retrodict, and chances are we will not contradict you. English speakers had started using predict by at least the late 16th century; it's a word formed by combining prae- (meaning "before") and dicere (meaning "to say"). Since the rough translation of predict is "to say before," it's no surprise that when people in the early 20th century wanted a word for "predicting" the past, they created it by combining the prefix for "backward" (retro-) with the -dict of predict. Other dicere descendants in English include contradict, benediction, dictate, diction, and dictionary.

Examples

Geologists have retrodicted the positions of the continents millions of years ago.

"PhD students in my lab are developing new ways to retrodict maize production through time, drawing on tree-ring data for climatic information…." — Tim Kohler, quoted in an article at Laboratoryequipment.com, 7 Aug. 2014

Word Quiz

What word related to Latin dicere refers to a pair of marks (") used underneath a word to save space and to show that the word is repeated where the marks are?

Merriam-Webster

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mansuetude - Word of the Day - 25/01/18

mansuetude

noun

Pronunciation

MAN-swih-tood

Definition

: the quality or state of being gentle : meekness, tameness

Did You Know?

Mansuetude was first used in English in the 14th century, and it derives from the Latin verb mansuescere, which means "to tame." Mansuescere itself comes from the noun manus (meaning "hand") and the verb suescere ("to accustom" or "to become accustomed"). Unlike manus, which has many English descendants (including manner, emancipate, and manicure), suescere has only a few English progeny. One of them is desuetude, which means "disuse" and comes to us by way of Latin desuescere ("to become unaccustomed"). Two others are custom and accustom, which derive via Anglo-French from Latin consuescere, meaning "to accustom."

Examples

"… he espied over the plateau … the old brown villa itself, rich in memories of one after another of the family of the Antonines. As he approached it, such reminiscences crowded upon him, above all of the life there of the aged Antoninus Pius, in its wonderful mansuetude and calm." — Walter Pater, Marius the Epicurian, 1885

"While Barbara was swimming to meet the dawn, Miltoun was bathing in those waters of mansuetude and truth which roll from wall to wall in the British House of Commons." — John Galsworthy, The Patrician, 1911

Word  Quiz

What word derived from Latin manus refers to something that is used as a restraint, such as handcuffs?

Merriam-Webster

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contrite - Word of the Day - 24/01/18

contrite

adjective

Pronunciation

KAHN-tryte
 

Definition

: feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming

Did You Know?

A person who is contrite may have rubbed someone the wrong way and caused bruised feelings—and there is a hint about the origins of the word in that thought. Contrite came to English by way of Anglo-French from the Latin verb conterere, meaning "to grind" or "to bruise." Conterere, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix com-, meaning "with" or "together," and terere, "to rub." If you've guessed that trite is a cousin of contrite (through terere), you are correct. Other terere descendants in English include detriment and very possibly the familiar verb try.

Examples

"… York did in fact say he was sorry and was contrite about making that mistake." — Mark Purdy, The San Jose Mercury News, 1 Jan. 2017

"… several lawmakers called for stronger rules that compel companies to meet minimum cybersecurity standards…. But, as in years past, these efforts have yet to produce any new laws. In the meantime, the average person can do little except monitor their credit reports and hope that contrite companies—shamed by security researchers—will learn from their mistakes." — Hayley Tsukayama, The Daily Herald (Everett, Washington), 23 Dec. 2017

Word  Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete a word derived from Latin terere that refers to a trying experience: t _ _ _ ul _ t _ o _.

Merriam-Webster

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synchronicity - Word of the Day - 23/01/18

synchronicity

noun

Pronunciation

sing-kruh-NISS-uh-tee

Definition

1 : the quality or fact of being synchronous

2 : the coincidental occurrence of events  but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality — used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung

Did You Know?

"It happens to everyone sooner or later: A certain number pops up wherever you go; an old friend you haven't seen in 20 years since high school appears the same day you're looking at her picture in a yearbook; you're singing a song and turn on the radio—and the same song is playing." Such coincidences, here described by Thomas Ropp in The Arizona Republic, March 29,1999, are examples of synchronicity. The concept is linked to the psychology of Carl Jung. Jung didn't coin the word (the "simultaneousness" sense of synchronicity was already in use), but he gave it special importance in his writings. Jung believed that such "meaningful coincidences" play an important role in our lives. Today, some people even look to synchronicities for spiritual guidance.

Examples

"Part of the beauty of this set lay in the way Paterson, Sample and Hall functioned as a single rhythmic organism, their long years of partnership evident in the imperturbable synchronicity of their work." — Howard Reich, The Chicago Tribune, 4 Dec. 2017

"Nolan always gets wonderful work from his casts and crews, but I'm not sure if I've ever seen this level of flawless synchronicity from start to finish in his films before Dunkirk." — Mark Hughes, Forbes, 21 July 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective that means "operating or occurring at the same time": c _ _ _ u _ r _ _ t.

Merriam-Webster

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leonine - Word of the Day - 22/01/18

leonine

adjective

Pronunciation

 LEE-uh-nyne 

Definition

: of, relating to, suggestive of, or resembling a lion

Did You Know?

Leonine derives from Latin leo, meaning "lion," which in turn comes from Greek leōn. Leōn gave us an interesting range of words: leopard (which derives from leōn combined with pardos, a Greek word for a panther-like animal); dandelion (which came by way of the Anglo-French phrase dent de lion—literally, "lion's tooth"); and chameleon (which combines leōn with the Greek chamai, meaning "on the ground"); as well as the names Leo, Leon, and Leonard. But the dancer's and gymnast's leotard is not named for its wearer's cat-like movements. Rather, it was simply named after its inventor, Jules Leotard, a 19th-century French aerial gymnast.

Examples

"Jamie has a leonine aspect, with a high clear brow and soft curls eddying over his ears and along his collar." — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Harper's, March 2009

"You're a kid; you want to escape. Maybe to Edwardian England, maybe to an island of dancing lemurs, maybe through the rear of a magical wardrobe into a land of snow and ice waiting for a leonine king to bring back the sun." — Lawrence Toppman, The Charlotte Observer, 9 Mar. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

The body of the mythical griffin is composed of parts from what two creatures?

Merriam-Webster

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extenuate - Word of the Day - 21/01/18

extenuate

verb

Pronunciation

ik-STEN-yuh-wayt 

Definition

1 : to lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of by making partial excuses : mitigate

2 : to lessen the strength or effect of

Did You Know?

You have probably encountered the phrase "extenuating circumstances," which is one of the more common ways that this word turns up in modern times. Extenuate was borrowed into English in the late Middle Ages from Latin extenuatus, the past participle of the verb extenuare, which was itself formed by combining ex- and the verb tenuare, meaning "to make thin." In addition to the surviving senses, extenuate once meant "to make light of" and "to make thin or emaciated"; although those senses are now obsolete, the connection to tenuare can be traced somewhat more clearly through them. Extenuate is today mostly at home in technical and legal contexts, but it occasionally appears in general writing with what may be a developing meaning: "to prolong, worsen, or exaggerate." This meaning, which is likely due to a conflation with extend or accentuate (or both), is not yet fully established.

Examples

Ryan's tardiness to work that morning was extenuated by the fact that his first meeting of the day was cancelled.

"If I did any wrong, as I may have done much, I did it in mistaken love, and in my want of wisdom. I write the exact truth. It would avail me nothing to extenuate it now." — Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of extenuate: LTPAAEIL.

Merriam-Webster

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bespoke - Word of the Day - 20/01/18

bespoke

adjective

Pronunciation

bih-SPOHK 

Definition

1 : custom-made

2 : dealing in or producing custom-made articles

Did You Know?

In the English language of yore, the verb bespeak had various meanings, including "to speak," "to accuse," and "to complain." In the 16th century, bespeak acquired another meaning—"to order or arrange in advance." It is from that sense that we get the adjective bespoke, referring to clothes and other things that are ordered before they are made. You are most likely to encounter this adjective in British contexts, such as the 2008 Reuters news story about a young pig in Northern England who was fitted with "bespoke miniature footwear" (custom-made Wellington boots) to help it overcome a phobia of mud.

Examples

"Matt, a lifelong collector of vintage and bespoke men's suiting, takes dressing for an occasion very seriously: black tie the first evening; blue jackets the second." — Pilar Guzman, Traveler, December 2017

"Customers stepped up for body scans inside the showroom and then worked with an employee to design their own bespoke pullovers." — Anna Wiener, Wired, December 2017

Name That Synonym

Unscramble the letters to create a synonym of bespoke: DAEILTRO.

Merriam-Webster

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/

trammel - Word of the Day - 19/01/17

trammel

Pronunciation

TRAM-ul

Definition

1 : something impeding activity, progress, or freedom : restraint — usually used in plural

2 : a net for catching birds or fish; especially : trammel net

3 : an adjustable pothook for a fireplace crane

4 : a shackle used for making a horse amble

5 a : ellipsograph

   b : beam compass

Did You Know?

A trammel net traditionally has three layers, with the middle one finer-meshed and slack so that fish passing through the first net carry some of the center net through the coarser third net and are trapped. Appropriately, trammel traces back through the Middle English tramayle and the Old French tramail to the Late Latin tremaculum, which comes from Latin tres, meaning "three," and macula, meaning "mesh." Today, the plural trammels is synonymous with restraints, and trammel is also used as a verb meaning "to confine" or "to enmesh." You may also run across the adjective untrammeled, meaning "not confined or limited."

Examples

In her memoir, the singer asserts that her musicianship was ultimately hampered by the trammels of fame.

"We learn a good deal about [Doc] Holliday: his grief at the passing of his mother when he was a teenager, his early career as an Ivy League-trained dentist, his quickness on the draw, his self-reinvention as an adventurer-wanderer, his yearning to shed the trammels of the conventional life." — Richard Bernstein, The New York Times, 22 Aug. 2001

Name That Synonym

What is a synonym of the noun snare that is also the name for a twig covered with a particular substance to catch birds?

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homiletic- Word of the Day - 18/01/18

homiletic

adjective

Pronunciation

hah-muh-LET-ik

Definition

1 : of, relating to, or resembling a homily

2 : of or relating to the art of preaching; also : preachy

Did You Know?

Homiletic came to us by way of Latin from Greek homilētikos, meaning "affable" or "social." Homilētikos came from homilein, meaning "to talk with," "to address," or "to make a speech," which in turn came from homilos, the Greek word for "crowd" or "assembly." Homilos and homilein also gave English, by way of Latin homilia and French omelie, the word homily, which is used for a short sermon, a lecture on a moral theme, and an inspirational catchphrase or platitude. Like homily, homiletic focuses on the morally instructive nature of a discourse. Homiletic can also be used derogatorily in the sense of "preachy."

Examples

"The first part is full of homiletic insight, the second replete with postmodern angst, the third quite beautiful in its claim to faith—even the somewhat attenuated faith of our present age." — Paul Lakeland, Commonweal, 23 Apr. 2010

"Holbein was wonderfully fresh, but the concept stemmed from a 1280 poem, Le Dit des trois morts et les trois vifs, by Baudoin de Condé. Condé’s concept of a homiletic interchange between feckless living and ghastly dead transmuted swiftly into other languages and pictorial art across Europe." — Derek Turner, The New York Times, 5 Dec. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete an archaic word for a sermon: p _ _ d _ c _ _ _ on.

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famish - Word of the Day - 17/01/17

famish

verb

Pronunciation

FAM-ish
 

Definition

1 : to cause to suffer severely from hunger

2 : to suffer for lack of something necessary

Did You Know?

Famish likely developed as an alteration of Middle English famen, meaning "to starve." The Middle English word was borrowed from the Anglo-French verb afamer, which etymologists believe came from Vulgar Latin affamare. We say "believe" because, while no written evidence has yet been found for the Vulgar Latin word affamare, it would be the expected source for the Anglo-French verb based on the combination of the Latin prefix ad- ("to" or "toward") and the root noun fames ("hunger"). In contemporary English, the verb famish is still used on occasion, but it is considerably less common than the related adjective famished, which usually means "hungry" or "starving" but can also mean "needy" or "being in want."

Examples

"At first Bartleby did an extraordinary quantity of writing. As if long famishing for something to copy, he seemed to gorge himself on my documents. There was no pause for digestion." — Herman Melville, "Bartleby the Scrivener," 1853

"Eating healthy regularly is more important than famishing to shed a few pounds." — Emily Long, The Daily Vidette: Illinois State University, 23 Aug. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a word for the practice of eating in small amounts and of chewing one's food thoroughly: F _ e _ c _ _ _ ism.

Merriam-Webster

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adapt - Word of the Day - 16/01/17

adapt

verb

Pronunciation

uh-DAPT

Definition

: to make or become fit (as for a new use) often by modification

Did You Know?

Rooted in the origins of adapt is the idea of becoming specifically fit for something. English speakers adapted adapt in the 15th century from the Middle French adapter, which was borrowed, in turn, from the Latin adaptāre,a combination of the Latin prefix ad- ("to, toward") and the verb aptāre, meaning "to put into position, bring to bear, make ready." Aptāre is a verbal derivative of aptus, meaning "fit" or "apt." Other descendants of aptus in English include aptitude, inept, and of course apt itself, as well as unapt and inapt.

Examples

It took Rachel a while to adapt to her new school, but she is settling in well now.

"Hydroponics and aeroponics require vigilant monitoring of nutrient solution. While this can be time consuming, Tiger Corner Farms has fully automated this process by adapting warehouse management software to adjust nutrient levels, pH and other environmental parameters." — Tony Bertauski, The Post & Courier (Charleston, South Carolina), 29 Nov. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of adapt: _ a _ h _ _ n.

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intrepid - Word of the Day - 15/01/17

intrepid

adjective

Pronunciation

in-TREP-id
 

Definition

: characterized by resolute fearlessness, fortitude, and endurance

Did You Know?

You need not be afraid to find out the origins of today's word, although its history does include fear. Intrepid derives from the Latin word intrepidus, itself formed by the combination of the prefix in- (meaning "not") and trepidus, meaning "alarmed." Other relatives of trepidus in English include trepidation and trepidatious, as well as trepid (which actually predates intrepid and means "fearful"). Synonyms for intrepid include courageous, valiant, fearless, valorous, and simply brave. Intrepid aptly describes anyone—from explorers to reporters—who ventures bravely into unknown territory, though often you'll see the word loaded with irony, as in "an intrepid volunteer sampled the entries at the pie bake-off."

Examples

"An intrepid engineer is on the edge of fulfilling his dream of conquering the world's toughest mountaineering challenge. Peter Sunnucks, 35, will be joined by his wife Elizabeth Wood when he heads to Antarctica in two weeks' time to try to scale the last of seven of the earth's highest peaks." — Russell Blackstock, The Sunday Post (Dundee, Scotland), 14 Nov. 2017

"A series of disappearances echoes events from 33 years before, and an intrepid teenager, Jonas (Louis Hofmann, steady at the center of the large cast), sets off into the caverns under the plant to solve the mystery." — Mike Hale, The New York Times, 5 Dec. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of intrepid: _ n _ _ u _ t _ d.

Merriam-Webster

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demiurge - Word of the Day - 14/01/17

demiurge

noun

Pronunciation

DEM-ee-erj

Definition

: one that is an autonomous creative force or decisive power

Did You Know?

In the Platonic school of philosophy, the Demiurge is a deity who fashions the physical world in the light of eternal ideas. In the Timaeus, Plato credits the Demiurge with taking preexisting materials of chaos and arranging them in accordance with the models of eternal forms. Nowadays, the word demiurge can refer to the individual or group chiefly responsible for a creative idea, as in "the demiurge behind the new hit TV show." Demiurge derives, via Late Latin, from Greek dēmiourgos, meaning "artisan," or "one with special skill." The demi- part of the word comes from the Greek noun dēmos, meaning "people"; the second part comes from the word for worker, ergon. Despite its appearance, it is unrelated to the word urge.

Examples

"But it is difficult to create a world, even a tiny one, and some authors are more successful than others at playing demiurge…." — Sergio Ruzzier, The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2016

"Gladstone, a formidable chancellor though an indifferent prime minister, was certainly an intellectual. Like Churchill, however, he was unclassifiable. Such demiurges transcend categories." — Bruce Anderson, The Daily Telegraph (London), 8 May 2014

Word  Quiz

Unscramble the letters to create a word based on Greek dēmos that refers to an outbreak of a disease over a wide geographic area: NECMAIPD.

Merriam-Webster

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stanch - Word of the Day 13/01/17

stanch

verb

Pronunciation

STAUNCH

Definition

1 : to check or stop the flowing of; also : to stop the flow of blood from (a wound)

2 a : to stop or check in its course

   b : to make watertight : stop up

Did You Know?

The verb stanch has a lot in common with the adjective staunch, meaning "steadfast." Not only do both words derive from the Anglo-French word estancher (which has the same meaning as stanch), but the spelling "s-t-a-n-c-h" is sometimes used for the adjective, and the spelling "s-t-a-u-n-c-h" is sometimes used for the verb. Although both spelling variants have been in reputable use for centuries and both are perfectly standard for either the verb or adjective, stanch is the form used most often for the verb and staunch is the most common variant for the adjective.

Examples

The company's CEO gave the keynote address at the convention, stanching rumors that he was not recovering well from his surgery.

"Firefighters watched the smoke and assessed wind patterns, raking dead leaves and branches away from the blaze in hopes of stanching its charge once again." — Alissa Greenberg, The Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of stanch meaning "to make watertight": c _ _ lk.

Merriam-Webster

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

reprehensible

adjective

Pronunciation

rep-rih-HEN-suh-bul
 

Definition

: worthy of or deserving reprehension, blame, or censure : culpable

Did You Know?

Reprehensible, blameworthy, blamable, guilty, and culpable mean deserving reproach or punishment. Reprehensible is a strong word describing behavior that should evoke severe criticism. Blameworthy and blamable apply to any kind of act, practice, or condition considered to be wrong in any degree ("conduct adjudged blameworthy"; "an accident for which no one is blamable"). Guilty implies responsibility for or consciousness of crime, sin, or, at the least, grave error or misdoing ("guilty of a breach of etiquette"). Culpable is weaker than guilty and is likely to connote malfeasance or errors of ignorance, omission, or negligence ("culpable neglect").

Examples

The newspaper's most recent editorial calls for the mayor's resignation, citing the recent accusations of bribery as both plausible and reprehensible.

"As a practical matter, successful hostile environment lawsuits involve two distinct components. Harassment is only the first. The second is the company's failure to respond effectively after learning about it, which is what turns reprehensible on-the-job behavior into job discrimination." — Joel Jacobsen, The Albuquerque Journal, 11 Dec. 2017

Name That Antonym

Fill in the blanks to complete an antonym of reprehensible: i _ _ _ p _ _ ac _ a _ _ e.

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placate - Word of the Day - 11/01/17

placate

verb

Pronunciation

 PLAY-kayt

Definition

: to soothe or mollify especially by concessions : appease

Did You Know?

The earliest documented uses of the verb placate in English date from the late 17th century. The word is derived from Latin placatus, the past participle of placare, and placate still carries the basic meaning of its Latin ancestor: "to soothe" or "to appease." Other placare descendants in English are implacable (meaning "not easily soothed or satisfied") and placation ("the act of soothing or appeasing"). Even please itself, derived from Latin placēre ("to please"), is a distant relative of placate.

Examples

"Laughlin can placate even the most skittish of horses, coaxing them into his trailer with sugar cubes…." — Lizzie Johnson, The San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Dec. 2017

"While reviews from riders have been generally positive, there have been complaints about boats running late and being so full that they leave people behind. City officials said they hope to placate riders by next summer with a bigger fleet." — Patrick McGeehan, The New York Times, 29 Nov. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of placate: _ _ c _ _ y.

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cohort - Word of the Day - 10/01/18

cohort

noun

Pronunciation

KOH-hort

 Definition

1 : companion, colleague

2: band, group

3 : a group of warriors or soldiers

Did You Know?

In ancient times, a cohort was a military unit, one of ten divisions in a Roman legion. The term passed into English in the 15th century, when it was used in translations and writings about Roman history. Once cohort became established in our language, its meaning was extended, first to refer to any body of troops, then to any group of individuals with something in common, and later to a single companion. Some usage commentators have objected to this last sense because it can be hard to tell whether the plural refers to different individuals or different groups. The "companion" sense is well established in standard use, however, and its meaning is clear enough in such sentences as "her cohorts came along with her to the game."

Examples

"A cohort of chambermaids would descend twice daily with mops, brooms, and fresh towels in tow." — Doone Beale, Gourmet, April 1989

"But among those aged 65 to 74 years old, more than three-quarters had registered and 70 percent voted—a proportion that dropped only slightly in older cohorts." — Paula Span, The New York Times, 28 Nov. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of cohort meaning "companion, colleague": c _ _ p _ _ r _ _ t.

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officinal - Word of the Day - 09/01/18

officinal  

adjective

Pronunciation

uh-FISS-uh-nul 

Definition

: tending or used to cure disease or relieve pain : medicinal
 

Did You Know?

Officinal is a word applied in medicine to plants and herbs that are used in medicinal preparations. For most of the 19th century, it was the standard word used by the United States Pharmacopeia to refer to the drugs, chemicals, and medicinal preparations that they recognized, but by the 1870s it was replaced by official in this context. Despite this supersession, you still can find a healthy dose of officinal in the pharmaceutical field, where it is used today as a word describing preparations that are regularly kept in stock at pharmacies. Officinal was derived from the Medieval Latin noun officina, a word for the storeroom of a monastery in which provisions and medicines were kept. In Latin, officina means "workshop."
 

Examples 

The plant turned out to have officinal properties and could be used to make an anti-itch ointment.

"Europe's mania for rhubarb in the second half of the eighteenth century energized the drive to find the plant in its native habitat. Was this plant … the very same one that for so long had provided the officinal root for European pharmacies?
— Clifford M. Foust, Rhubarb: The Wondrous Drug, 1992

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective that means "corrective": a _ _ n _ at _ _ y.

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mutatis mutandis - Word of the Day - 08/01/18

mutatis mutandis

adverb

Pronunciation

 myoo-TAH-tis-myoo-TAHN-dis

Definition

1 : with the necessary changes having been made

2 : with the respective differences having been considered

Did You Know?

Unlike most English terms with Latin parentage, mutatis mutandis (which translates literally as "things having been changed that have to be changed") maintains its Latinate aspect entirely. It doesn't look like an English phrase, which is perhaps why it remains rather uncommon despite having functioned in English since the 16th century. Although the phrase is used in the specialized fields of law, philosophy, and economics when analogous situations are discussed, it appears in other contexts, too, where analogy occurs, as this quote from Henry James' The American demonstrates:

"Roderick made an admirable bust of her at the beginning of the winter, and a dozen women came rushing to him to be done, mutatis mutandis, in the same style."

Examples

"I know nothing more contemptible in a writer than the character of a plagiary; which he here fixes at a venture, and this not for a passage but a whole discourse taken out from another book, only mutatis mutandis." — Jonathan Swift, The Tale of a Tub, 1704

"And Knausgaard's abandonment of literary conceit is itself a literary conceit…. A given sentence may or may not shine, but in its riverine accumulations, 'My Struggle' is as purposefully shaped, as beautifully patterned and, yes, as artfully compressed as any novel in recent memory. The same is true, mutatis mutandis, of 'Autumn.'" — Garth Risk Hallberg, The New York Times, 1 Oct. 2017

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a word that means "the quality or state of being changeable": v _ _ is _ it _ _ e.

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