Word of the day

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Richard Frost
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Re: Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Sun May 10 2020 9:40am

Word of the day · From Bing
perspicuous
[pərˈspikyo͞oəs]
ADJECTIVE
formal
(of an account or representation) clearly expressed and easily understood; lucid.
"it provides simpler and more perspicuous explanations than its rivals"
synonyms:
clear · transparent · glassy · glasslike · crystal clear · crystalline · see-through · translucent · pellucid · unclouded · uncloudy
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Re: Word of the day

Post by BeautifulSunshine » Sun May 10 2020 6:00pm

Richard Frost wrote:
Sun May 10 2020 9:40am
Word of the day · From Bing
perspicuous
[pərˈspikyo͞oəs]
ADJECTIVE
formal
(of an account or representation) clearly expressed and easily understood; lucid.
"it provides simpler and more perspicuous explanations than its rivals"
synonyms:
clear · transparent · glassy · glasslike · crystal clear · crystalline · see-through · translucent · pellucid · unclouded · uncloudy
When it fails to rise I bet you say "perspicuous" to all the Ladies.
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Richard Frost
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Re: Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Mon May 11 2020 11:12am

MONDAY, MAY 11, 2020 - Dictionary.com
crepuscular
[ kri-puhs-kyuh-ler ]
adjective

of, relating to, or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct.

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF CREPUSCULAR?
The euphonious adjective crepuscular, “relating to twilight, dim,” is a derivative of the Latin noun crepusculum “(evening) twilight, dusk” (its opposite, “morning twilight, dawn,” is diliculum, very rare but euphonious in its own right). Crepusculum is most likely a derivative of the adjective creper “obscure, doubtful, uncertain,” of obscure, doubtful, uncertain etymology. Crepuscular entered English in the mid-18th century.
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Re: Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Tue May 12 2020 11:35am

Todays word is FLOTSAM - https://www.merriam-webster.com/

Definition
1 : floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo; broadly : floating debris

2 a : a floating population (as of emigrants or castaways)

b : miscellaneous or unimportant material

c : debris, remains

Did You Know?
English speakers started using flotsam, jetsam, and lagan as legal terms in the 16th and 17th centuries (the earliest evidence of flotsam dates from around the early 1600s). The three words were used to establish claims of ownership to the three types of seaborne, vessel-originated goods they named. Flotsam was anything from a shipwreck (the word comes from Old French floter, meaning "to float"). Jetsam and lagan were items thrown overboard to lighten a ship. Lagan was distinguished from jetsam by having a buoy attached so the goods could be found if they sank. In the 19th century, when flotsam and jetsam took on extended meanings, they became synonyms, but they are still very often paired.

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Re: Word of the day

Post by Chadwick » Tue May 12 2020 12:28pm

Richard Frost wrote:
Sun May 10 2020 9:40am
Word of the day · From Bing
perspicuous
[pərˈspikyo͞oəs]
ADJECTIVE
formal
(of an account or representation) clearly expressed and easily understood; lucid.
"it provides simpler and more perspicuous explanations than its rivals"
synonyms:
clear · transparent · glassy · glasslike · crystal clear · crystalline · see-through · translucent · pellucid · unclouded · uncloudy
Someone at Bing is getting either promotion or sacking.
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Richard Frost
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Re: Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Wed May 13 2020 11:29am

pelagic - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pelagic

adjective puh-LAJ-ik

Definition
: of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea : oceanic

Did You Know?
Pelagic comes to us from Greek, via Latin. The Greek word pelagikos became pelagicus in Latin and then pelagic in English. (Pelagikos is derived from pelagos, the Greek word for the sea—it is also a source of archipelago—plus the adjectival suffix -ikos.) Pelagic first showed up in dictionaries in 1656; a definition from that time says that Pelagick (as it was then spelled) meant "of the Sea, or that liveth in the Sea." Centuries later, writers are still using pelagic with the same meaning, albeit less frequently than its more familiar synonym oceanic.

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Examples
"Smith counted 10 rock pigeons and another red-breasted merganser, along with a thin-billed pelagic cormorant and three Brandt's cormorant." — Paul Rowley, The Vashon-Maury Island (Washington) Beachcomber, 14 Jan. 2020

"Bait fish schools usually long gone at this juncture are still fairly thick in Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor and out in the Gulf as well. Most of the pelagic species that migrate by our coast in the fall are still being caught with some regularity offshore." — Zach Zacharias, The Herald Tribune (Sarasota, Florida), 15 Jan. 2020
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Re: Word of the day

Post by BeautifulSunshine » Thu May 14 2020 10:32am

Imagine what could be achieved if I mated pelagic with magic...
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Re: Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Thu May 14 2020 10:34am

Word of the day · Today from Bing
platitude
[ˈpladəˌt(y)o͞od]
NOUN
a remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful.
"she began uttering liberal platitudes"
synonyms:
cliché · truism · commonplace · hackneyed/trite/banal/overworked saying · banality · old chestnut · bromide · inanity · tag
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Re: Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Fri May 15 2020 11:38am

FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2020
melee - Dictionary.com
[ mey-ley, mey-ley, mel-ey ]
noun

confusion; turmoil; jumble.

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF MELEE?
Melee, also spelled mêlée, has been in English since the mid-17th century; yet its spellings and several pronunciations show that it is still not naturalized. Melee comes from Old French melee, meslee, medlee “mixture, argument, confused hand-to-hand fighting,” from Old French mesler, medler, mesdler, from Vulgar Latin misculāre, Latin miscere “to mix.” Medler is also the source of English medley; mesler is the source of the second half of pell-mell (from Middle French pelemele, Old French pesle mesle).

HOW IS MELEE USED?
The fifteen dogs were off leash, creating a melee of barking, squeaking squeaky toys, and the voices of puppy raisers shouting “Leave it!,” “Bring it!,” and “Good puppy!”

LIZZIE WIDDICOMBE, "PUPPIES BEHIND BARS, WITH GLENN CLOSE," THE NEW YORKER, NOVEMBER 20, 2017
A recent tussle between Maduro loyalists and the U.S.-backed opposition for control of Venezuela’s National Assembly descended into a melee of competing claims that left neither side with clear authority over the assembly.

KEJAL VYAS, "BEHIND MADURO'S LATEST POWER PLAY: REVIVING VENEZUELA'S COLLAPSED OIL INDUSTRY," WALL STREET JOURNAL, JANUARY 12, 2020
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Re: Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Sun May 17 2020 4:07pm

Word of the Day : May 17, 2020 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

malapropism
noun MAL-uh-prah-piz-um
Definition
: the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; especially : the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in the context

Did You Know?
Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals, was known for her verbal blunders. "He is the very pine-apple of politeness," she exclaimed, complimenting a courteous young man. Thinking of the geography of contiguous countries, she spoke of the "geometry" of "contagious countries," and she hoped that her daughter might "reprehend" the true meaning of what she was saying. She regretted that her "affluence" over her niece was small. The word malapropism derives from this blundering character's name, which Sheridan took from the French term mal à propos, meaning "inappropriate."

Examples
"A malapropism is using the wrong word, but one that sounds similar to the right word—like saying that medieval cathedrals are supported by flying buttocks. A good malapropism can throw you off, so that you scrape your head trying to figure out the error, and then having to think what the word should have been. (It's flying buttresses, by the way)." — Britt Hanson, The Tuscon (Arizona) Weekly, 3 July 2014

"[Gilda Radner] brought a lot of charm and energy as a player [on Saturday Night Live]; from her impressions of Lucille Ball … to her unforgettable characters like … the malapropism-prone Emily Litella, the geeky Lisa Loopner and the letter-reading Roseanne Roseannadanna." — Paolo Alfar, Screen Rant, 10 Mar. 2020
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