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

nescience

noun

Pronunciation

NESH-ee-unss

Definition

 - lack of knowledge or awareness : ignorance

Examples

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

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

Did You Know?

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

Name That Antonym

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

Merriam-Webster

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

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

welter 

verb

Pronunciation

WEL-ter

Definition

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

Examples

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

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

Did You Know?

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

Test Your Vocabulary

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

Merriam-Webster

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

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

lucid 

adjective

Pronunciation

LOO-sid

Definition

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

Examples

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

Did You Know?

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

Name That Antonym

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

Merriam-Webster

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

ablution 

noun

Pronunciation

uh-BLOO-shun

Definition

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

Examples

Francis awakened at dawn and performed his ablutions.

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

Did You Know?

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

Word Family Quiz

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

Merriam-Webster

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

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

jubilate

verb

Pronunciation

JOO-buh-layt

Definition

 - to rejoice

Examples

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

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

Did You Know?

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

Test Your Memory

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

Merriam-Webster

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

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

cadence

noun

Pronunciation

KAY-dunss

Definition

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

Examples

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

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

Did You Know?

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

Word  Quiz

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

Merriam-Webster

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

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

exemplary 

adjective

Pronunciation

ig-ZEM-pluh-ree

Definition

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

Examples

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

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

Did You Know?

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

Test Your Memory

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

Merriam-Webster

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