penchant - Word of the Day - 08/06/17

penchant

noun

Pronunciation

PEN-chunt

Definition

: a strong and continued inclination; broadly : liking

Examples

"The irony is that acting young kept me out of trouble, giving me a sense of focus and purpose. I had a penchant for adventure." — Juliette Lewis, quoted in The Los Angeles Times, 15 Feb. 2015

"Among the many school-year rituals, none stands out in my mind more than picture day.… Ever eager to look my best, I had a penchant for trying something different with my hair—with less-than-stellar results." — Becky Kover, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, 4 Aug. 2014

Did You Know?

Like its synonyms leaning, propensity, and proclivity, penchant implies a strong instinct or liking for something. But these four words, while similar, are also distinguished by subtle differences. Leaning usually suggests a liking or attraction not strong enough to be decisive or uncontrollable ("a student with artistic leanings"), whereas propensity tends to imply a deeply ingrained and usually irresistible inclination ("a propensity to offer advice"). Proclivity frequently suggests a strong, natural proneness to something objectionable or evil ("a proclivity for violence"). Penchant, a descendant of Latin pendere (meaning "to weigh"), typically implies a strongly marked taste in the person ("a penchant for jazz music") or an irresistible attraction in the object ("a penchant for taking risks").

Word  Quiz

What word derived from Latin pendere refers to a fixed sum of money paid periodically for services?


Merriam-Webster

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

incoherent - Word of the Day - 07/06/17

incoherent

adjective

Pronunciation

in-koh-HEER-unt

Definition

: lacking coherence: such as
a : lacking cohesion : loose
b : lacking orderly continuity, arrangement, or relevance : inconsistent
c : lacking normal clarity or intelligibility in speech or thought

Examples

I found myself unable to follow the movie's rambling and incoherent plot.

"All it really says is that people are expressing profound unease, even if they have incoherent or contradictory senses of why…." — Nitsuh Abebe, The New York Times Magazine, 18 Apr. 2017

Did You Know?

Something that is coherent holds or sticks together firmly, with resistance to separation (that is, it coheres). Coherent, ultimately from the Latin co- ("together") and haerēre ("to stick or cling"), entered English in the 16th century and almost from the beginning was used both of physical things ("coherent stone") and of things which hold together in a much less palpable way ("coherent thoughts"). Its antonym, incoherent, entered the language some decades later. Like coherent, incoherent can be applied to both the tangible and the intangible. But, whether we are speaking of sand or logic, all things incoherent have one thing in common: they do not hold together, literally or figuratively, in a unified or intelligible whole.

Word  Quiz

What relative of haerēre means "to hold back in doubt or indecision"?

Merriam-Webster

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

catercorner - Word of the Day - 06/06/17

catercorner

adverb or adjective

Pronunciation

KAT-ee-kor-ner

Definition

: in a diagonal or oblique position : kitty-corner

Examples

The elaborate water fountain is catercorner to the building's entrance, so it's the first thing you see when you enter the foyer.

"A few doors down (near the sushi place in the same strip mall, catercorner from the spiral-cut ham shop) we stopped briefly at Euro Market." — Bruce Dorries, The News Leader (Staunton, VA), 4 Feb. 2017

Did You Know?

Catercorner also has the variants kitty-corner and catty-corner, but despite appearances, no cats were involved in the creation of this word. Cater derives from the Middle French noun quatre (or catre), which means "four." English speakers adopted the word to refer to the four-dotted side of a die—a side important in several winning combinations in dice games. Perhaps because the four spots on a die can suggest an X, cater eventually came to be used dialectically with the meaning "diagonal" or "diagonally." This cater was combined with corner to form catercorner.

Quiz

What is the meaning of quatrefoil?

Merriam-Webster

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

adumbrate- Word of the Day - 05/06/17

adumbrate

verb

Pronunciation

AD-um-brayt

Definition

1 : to foreshadow vaguely : intimate
2 : to suggest, disclose, or outline partially
3 : overshadow, obscure

Examples

"The opening scenes not only set forth the locale, the leading characters, and the first stage of the plot, but also adumbrate everything to come." — Richard Alleva, The Commonweal, 11 Sept. 2015

"His temper and tendency to violence, adumbrated in the first part of the book, lead not only to his decline as a journalist but also his inability to maintain relationships with the various women he encounters." — Gerald Early, The Washington Post, 10 Nov. 2015

Did You Know?

You aren't likely to find adumbrate in children's stories or on the sports pages. That's not because this shady word is somehow off-color, but rather because it tends to show up most often in academic or political writing. In fact, some usage commentators find it too hard for "ordinary" use (although they are hard-pressed to define "ordinary"). Art and literary critics have long found it useful, and it's a definite candidate for those oft-published "lists of words you should know" (especially for vocabulary tests). You might remember adumbrate better if you know that it developed from the Latin verb adumbrare, which in turn comes from umbra, the Latin word for "shadow." To adumbrate, then, is to offer a shadowy view of something.

Word Quiz

What offspring of Latin umbra is a synonym of offense?

Merriam-Webster

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

oracular - Word of the Day - 03/06/17

oracular

adjective

Pronunciation

 aw-RAK-yuh-ler

Definition

1 : resembling an oracle (as in solemnity of delivery)
2 : of, relating to, or being an oracle

Examples

"Wheeler had Bohr's rounded brow and soft features, as well as his way of speaking about physics in oracular undertones." — James Gleick, Genius: The Life & Science of Richard Feynman, 1992

"The New York Public Library's Live From the NYPL series continues with a conversation between Ms. Atwood—the prolific and oracular novelist whose latest book, 'Hag-Seed,' reimagines Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'—and Ms. Shaw, the actress and director." — Jack Williams and Joshua Barone, The New York Times, 14 Oct. 2016

Did You Know?

When the ancient Greeks had questions or problems, they would turn to the gods for answers by consulting an oracle. The word oracle has several meanings. It can refer to the god's answer, to the shrine that worshippers approached when seeking advice, or to the person through whom the god communicated, usually in the form of cryptic verse. The words oracular and oracle trace back to the Latin verb orare, which means "to speak." Today, oracle can simply mean an authoritative pronouncement or a person who makes such pronouncements—for example, "a designer who is an oracle of fashion." The related adjective oracular is used in similar contexts: "a designer who is the oracular voice of fashion."

Word  Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective derived from Latin orare that means "relentless": _ ne _ o _ a _ _ e.


Merriam-Webster

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

plagiary - Word of the Day - 02/06/17

plagiary

noun

Pronunciation

PLAY-jee-air-ee

Definition

1 : (archaic) one that plagiarizes
2 : plagiarism

Examples

"When Amy Heckerling updated and reworked Emma into her 1995 film Clueless, she was not plagiarising Jane Austen, she was creating an imaginary conversation with a classic novel. If I'd opened this piece by writing, 'To steal or not to steal, that is the question,' the only literary misconduct of which I would be guilty is cliché, not 'plagiary,' to use the word's older form." — Sarah Churchwell, The Guardian, 30 May 2013

"… he's a natural essayist, parodist, satirist, punster, commentator and memoirist—the one literary field he fails at is fiction. His initial story ideas are unintentional plagiaries of renowned novels—of Don Quixote, The Giver, The Shining." — Sherie Posesorski, The Vancouver Sun, 8 Nov. 2014

Did You Know?

Plagiarius, the Latin source of plagiary, literally means "kidnapper." Plagiarius has its roots in the noun plagium, meaning both "kidnapping" and "the netting of game," and ultimately in the noun plaga, meaning "net." The literal sense of plagiarius was adopted into English; in the 17th and early 18th century, a kidnapper might be referred to as a plagiary, and, in the legalese of the time, kidnapping as plagium. Plagiarius also referred to a literary thief—and that sense was lifted into the English language in the word plagiary, which can be used for one who commits literary theft (now usually referred to as a plagiarist) or the act or product of such theft (now, more commonly, plagiarism).

Name That Synonym

What 4-letter synonym of plagiarism can also refer to a manger for feeding animals or to something used for cheating in an exam?

Merriam-Webster


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

valedictory - Word of the Day - 01/06/17

valedictory

adjective

Pronunciation

val-uh-DIK-tuh-ree

Definition

: of or relating to an act of bidding farewell : expressing or containing a farewell

Examples

"During one of two valedictory addresses, Fredrick challenged her classmates to make a difference after graduation and took the time to thank all teachers." — Nathan Thompson, The Bartlesville (Oklahoma) Examiner-Enterprise, 14 May 2017

"When Julian Wachner arrived in Washington to head the Washington Chorus, he was seething with unfocused energy: a man with a lot to prove. On Sunday, nearly 10 years later, he led his valedictory performance as the chorus's music director." — Anne Midgette, The Washington Post, 16 May 2017

Did You Know?

Valedictory addresses delivered by earnest young valedictorians at high school and college graduations are as much a sign of spring in the United States as baseball games and cookouts. Though we don’t know where the first valedictory address was given, we do know that the word was an institution at some colleges in the U.S. by the mid-1700s. English speakers and writers have also used valedictory in non-academic settings since the mid-1600s. Since a valedictory speech is given at the end of an academic career, it is perfectly in keeping with the meaning of its Latin ancestor, valedicere, which means "to say farewell."


Merriam-Webster

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