decimate - Word of the Day - 07/05/18

decimate

verb

Pronunciation

DESS-uh-mayt
 

Definition

1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth person of

2 : to exact a tax of 10 percent from

3 a : to reduce drastically especially in number

   b : to cause great destruction or harm to

Did You Know?

The connection between decimate and the number ten harks back to a brutal practice of the army of ancient Rome. A unit that was guilty of a severe crime (such as mutiny) was punished by the selection and execution of one-tenth of its soldiers, thereby scaring the remaining nine-tenths into obedience. It's no surprise that the word for this practice came from Latin decem, meaning "ten." From this root we also get our words decimal and decade, as well as December, so named because it was originally the tenth month of the calendar before the addition of January and February. In its extended uses, decimate strayed from its "tenth" meaning and nowadays refers to the act of destroying or damaging a great quantity or large part of something.

Examples

Budget cuts have decimated public services in many towns and cities throughout the state.

"We must do everything we can to eliminate the diseases that have potential to decimate our population if we do not take action." — Kacie L. Pauls, The Kansas City (Missouri) Star, 22 Mar. 2018

Word Quiz

Fill in the blanks to complete a verb derived from Latin decem ("ten") that means "to intersect or cross": d _ _ u _ s _ te.

Merriam-Webster

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remuneration - Word of the Day - 06/05/18

remuneration

noun

Pronunciation

rih-myoo-nuh-RAY-shun

Definition

: the act or fact of paying an equivalent to for a service, loss, or expense : recompense, pay

Did You Know?

Our evidence shows remuneration to be most at home in writing that concerns financial matters, especially when large amounts of money—or other forms of compensation—are involved. Whether it's because money is often expressed in numerals, or simply because the "n" and "m" are adjacent to each other on our keyboards, "reMUNeration" often appears misspelled as "reNUMeration."  (Renumeration, a very rare word, means "to enumerate [to count or list] again.") It pays to know that the -mun- in remuneration is from Latin munus, meaning "gift," a root it shares with munificent, an adjective which means "very liberal in giving."

Examples

The actor was offered a modest speaking fee by the host as remuneration for giving her speech at the awards ceremony.

"Travelers who are bumped from an overbooked flight can seek remuneration—as can people who were delayed more than three hours by a 'technical difficulty.'" — Melanie Lieberman, Travel + Leisure, 6 Mar. 2018

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of remuneration: _ u _ t _ an _ e.

Merriam-Webster

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agonistic - Word of the Day - 05/05/18

agonistic

adjective

Pronunciation

ag-uh-NISS-tik
 

Definition

1 : of or relating to the athletic contests of ancient Greece

2 : argumentative

3 : striving for effect : strained

4 : of, relating to, or being aggressive or defensive social interaction (such as fighting, fleeing, or submitting) between individuals usually of the same species

Did You Know?

Agonistic has its roots in ancient Greece—specifically in the agonistic (to use the oldest sense of the word) athletic contests called agons featured at public festivals. From physical conflict to verbal jousting, agonistic came to be used as a synonym for argumentative and later to mean "striving for effect" or "strained." Common current use, however, is biological, relating to confrontational interaction among animals of the same species and the responsive behaviors—such as aggression, flight, or submission—they exhibit. Agonistic is also sometimes used to describe an agonist muscle, a muscle that on contracting is automatically checked and controlled by an opposing muscle, that other muscle being an antagonist. For example, during a bicep curl in weight lifting, the (contracted) bicep is the agonistic muscle and the (relaxed) triceps muscle is the antagonist.

Examples

Artie Kopelman … has also noticed non-hunting uses of bubbles in his humpback-whale encounters. In one instance last summer, he and a small group were drifting in a boat when suddenly a ring of bubbles surrounded them. 'This might have been an agonistic display, or an attempt to build a wall around us,' says Kopelman…." — Erica Cirino, The Atlantic, 28 June 2017

"In agonistic discourse, a political rival is seen and talked about as an adversary—an adversary to be beaten, for sure—but still an adversary, with the same right to be in the political arena as one's self." — Eddie Glenn, The Tulsa (Oklahoma) World, 19 Oct. 2016

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete the name for a systematic argumentative discourse in defense of a doctrine: a _ _ l _ ge _ i _ s.

Merriam-Webster

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flocculate - Word of the Day - 04/05/18

flocculate

verb

Pronunciation

FLAH-kyuh-layt
 

Definition

: to aggregate or coalesce into small lumps or loose clusters

Did You Know?

In the late 16th century, scientists noticed that the loose masses separated from a solution or suspension through precipitation often resembled tufts of wool, and they began to refer to them as flocks, using a word for "tufts" that comes ultimately from the synonymous Latin word floccus. (This flock is not related to the flock that refers to a group of animals, which comes from Old English flocc, meaning "crowd" or "band.") About two centuries later, the Late Latin term flocculus found its way into English and was also used with the meaning "a small loosely aggregated mass." By the end of the 19th century, a whole word family had been formed, including the adjective flocculent, the noun floccule, and the verb flocculate.

Examples

During fermentation, yeast cells flocculate and either rise to the top or sink to the bottom of the vat.

"The polymer causes organics and dirt in the water to flocculate or collect together out of suspension." — Jill Pickett, The News-Enterprise (Elizabethtown, Kentucky), 2 May 2013

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a verb that means "to gather together or form into a mass or group": c _ _ g _ l _ _ e.

Merriam-Webster

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beaucoup - Word of the Day - 03/05/18

beaucoup

adjective

Pronunciation

BOH-koo PrevNext
 

Definition

slang : great in quantity or amount : many, much

Did You Know?

In French, as you may know, beaucoup is an adverb meaning "a lot" or "much" (as in merci beaucoup, meaning "thanks a lot"). Beaucoup isn't used on its own as an adjective in French; if you want to say "many" in French, you use the phrase beaucoup de. In other words, you would say beaucoup de livres ("a lot of books"), not beaucoup livres. But French grammar was thrown to the wind when English speakers borrowed this word. Beaucoup has been used as a playful slang adjective in English since at least the 19th century.

Examples

"Atlanta has beaucoup amenities for visitors, from one of the world's largest aquariums, to headier destinations such as the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library." — Michael Kahn, Curbed Atlanta, 12 July 2017

"Two estranged sisters with beaucoup unresolved issues meet for a European holiday in Swedish writer-director Lisa Langseth's inauspicious English-language feature 'Euphoria.'" — Alissa Simon, Variety, 8 Sept. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of beaucoup: _ u _ t _ f _ l _.

Merriam-Webster

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palindrome - Word of the Day - 02/05/18

palindrome

noun

Pronunciation

PAL-un-drohm
 

Definition

: a word, verse, or sentence (such as "Able was I ere I saw Elba") or a number (such as 1881) that reads the same backward or forward

Did You Know?

Palindromic wordplay is nothing new. Palindromes have been around since at least the days of ancient Greece, and our name for them comes from two Greek words, palin, meaning "back" or "again," and dramein, meaning "to run." Nowadays, we can all appreciate a clever palindrome (such as "Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard" or "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama"), or even a simple one like "race car," but in the past palindromes were more than just smart wordplay. Until well into the 19th century some folks thought palindromes were actually magical, and they carved them on walls or amulets to protect people or property from harm.

Examples

The teacher asked the class if anyone could think of a single word palindrome with 7 letters. After a couple minutes, Mia raised her hand and said "repaper."

"He went on to create Noxon Tools, named for a small Montana town.… Noxon is a palindrome—spelled the same way forward or backward." — Cindy Hval, The Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington), 13 Mar. 2018

Word Quiz

What word is distantly related to Greek dramein ("to run") and is the name for a camel?

Merriam-Webster

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eventuate - Word of the Day - 01/05/18

eventuate

verb

Pronunciation

ih-VEN-chuh-wayt PrevNext
 

Definition

: to come out finally : result, come about

Did You Know?

Eventuate started life as an Americanism in the late 18th century, and was stigmatized in the 19th century. One British commentator called it "another horrible word, which is fast getting into our language through the provincial press." Other British grammarians, and even some Americans, agreed that it was horrible. Eventuate is less controversial these days, though its use is still regarded by the occasional critic as pompous, ponderous, and unnecessary. In any case, eventuate has a perfectly respectable history. It is derived from the Latin noun eventus ("event"), which in turn traces to the verb evenire, meaning "to happen."

Examples

The accident eventuated from a cascade of mistakes that could easily have been prevented with better operator training.

"Charles Dickens is at his best when he compares events in London and Paris during a period of revolution. While the historian may help us to understand the social context that eventuates in a revolution, it is a novel that shows the personal tragedies that come from the breakdown of social order." — Allan Powell, The Herald-Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland), 7 Apr. 2016

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a verb meaning "to appear suddenly": m _ _ _ r _ al _ _ e.

Merriam-Webster

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