Word of the day strikes back

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Richard Frost
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Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Sun May 09 2021 9:18am

Word of the Day : May 9, 2021 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

paean
noun PEE-un

Definition
1 : a joyous song or hymn of praise, tribute, thanksgiving, or triumph

2 : a work that praises or honors its subject : encomium, tribute

Did You Know?
According to the poet Homer, the Greek god Apollo sometimes took the guise of Paean, physician to the gods. The earliest musical paeans were hymns of thanksgiving and praise that were dedicated to Apollo. They were sung at events ranging from boisterous festivals to public funerals, and they were the traditional marching songs of armies heading into battle. Over time, the word became generalized, and it is now used for any kind of tribute.

Examples
"But Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town,' set amid the mountains there, is no folksy paean to simplicity. It's a boldly experimental play about the beauty of the everyday, and human beings' tragic propensity to look right past that." — Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times, 6 Jan. 2021

"Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at Wharton, has a smart new book out advising us to 'Think Again,' in the words of his title. He explores in part what goes wrong when smart people are too righteous, and he offers a paean to intellectual humility." — Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times, 3 Mar. 2021
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Richard Frost
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Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Mon May 10 2021 8:48am

Word of the Day : May 10, 2021 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

shrive

verb SHRYVE

Definition
1 : to administer the sacrament of reconciliation to

2 : to free from guilt

Did You Know?
We wouldn't want to give the history of shrive short shrift, so here's the whole story. It began when the Latin verb scribere (meaning "to write") found its way onto the tongues of certain Germanic peoples who brought it to Britain in the early Middle Ages. Because it was often used for laying down directions or rules in writing, Old English speakers used their form of the term, scrīfan, to mean "to prescribe or impose." The Church adopted scrīfan to refer to the act of assigning penance to sinners and, later, to hearing confession and administering absolution. Today shrift, the noun form of shrive, makes up half of "short shrift," a phrase meaning "little or no attention or consideration." Originally, "short shrift" was the barely adequate time for confession before an execution.

Examples
"Once every three months, Pancho took his savings and drove into Monterey to confess his sins, to do his penance, and be shriven and to get drunk, in the order named." — John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven, 1932

"Each Saturday he confessed humbly at St Francis' Church, then shrived penitents for long hours at the cathedral, never stinting his homilies." — James Griffin, The Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1986
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Richard Frost
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Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Tue May 11 2021 9:21am

Word of the Day : May 11, 2021 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

importunate

adjective im-POR-chuh-nut

Definition
1 : troublesomely urgent : overly persistent in request or demand

2 : troublesome

Did You Know?
Importunate has been part of the English language since the 16th century, and the synonymous importune arrived even earlier, in the 15th century. The seemingly superfluous inclusion of the suffix -ate in importunate is a bit mysterious; one theory is that English speakers modeled the adjective after words like obstinate. Importune and importunate come from Latin importunus. The prefix im- means "not," and importunus can be contrasted with Latin opportunus, which shares its meaning with and is the ancestor of our opportune, meaning "suitable or timely." The connection is obscure now, but opportunus itself harks back to the Latin phrase ob portum, meaning "[coming] to harbor." Importune, and later importunate, once meant "inopportune, untimely," but that sense is now obsolete.

Examples
"It seems apt that in the play's first scene, set at 6 a.m. in Lagos, Nigeria, an importunate young customer asks the barber he's so rudely awakened to give him an 'aerodynamic' cut." — Ben Brantley, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2019

"But when I spoke to Nadella he allowed that when you see people in their homes, with their noisy children and importunate pets, struggling to stay focussed and upbeat, 'you have a different kind of empathy for your co-workers.'" — John Seabrook, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2021
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Richard Frost
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Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Wed May 12 2021 10:48am

Word of the Day : May 12, 2021 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

veracity


noun vuh-RASS-uh-tee

Definition
1 : conformity with truth or fact : accuracy

2 : devotion to the truth : truthfulness

3 : power of conveying or perceiving truth

4 : something true

Did You Know?
Veracity has been a part of English since the early 17th century, and we can honestly tell you that it derives from the Latin adjective vērāx ("truthful"), which in turn comes from the earlier vērus ("true"). Vērus also gives us verity ("the quality of being true"), verify ("to establish the truth of"), and verisimilitude ("the appearance of truth"), among other words. In addition, vērāx is the root of the word veraciousness, a somewhat rarer synonym and cousin of veracity.

Examples
English poet Thomas Gray wrote, "Any fool may write a most valuable book by chance, if he will only tell us what he heard and saw with veracity."

"Few observers have bothered to point out that the same online magic that allows viewers to stream 'The Crown' on demand also allows them to check within milliseconds on its veracity, if they so desire. " — Christina Boyle, The Los Angeles Times, 4 Dec. 2020
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Sarah
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Re: Word of the day strikes back

Post by Sarah » Wed May 12 2021 11:51am

Some natty gap-fillers from Susie Dent:
Gap-fillers of the day:
phloem: the stringy bits on a banana.
ferrule: the tip of an umbrella.
zarf: the cardboard sleeve on a takeaway coffee.
tittle: the dot above an i or j.
philtrum: the groove above the upper lip.
lunule: the white crescent at the base of a fingernail.
https://twitter.com/susie_dent/status/1 ... 94816?s=20
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Richard Frost
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Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Thu May 13 2021 10:36am

Word of the Day : May 13, 2021 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

exhilarate

verb ig-ZIL-uh-rayt

Definition
: to make (someone) very happy and excited or elated

Did You Know?
Many people find exhilarate a difficult word to spell. It's easy to forget that silent "h" in there, and is it an "er" or "ar" after the "l"? It may be easier to remember the spelling if you know that exhilarate ultimately derives from the Latin adjective hilarus, meaning "cheerful." (This also explains why the earliest meaning of exhilarate is "to make cheerful.") Exhilarate comes from exhilaratus, the past participle of exhilarare, which is formed by combining ex- and hilarare, a verb that derives from hilarus and means "to cheer or gladden." If hilarus looks familiar, that may be because it's also the source of hilarious and hilarity (as well as hilariously and hilariousness, of course).

Examples
"To be working, to be making a film for the cinema, at a time when so many people were wondering if that would ever be possible again, was exhilarating. We proved to ourselves the heady fact that we can still work, even under this pandemic, it does not need to rob us of everything we cherish." — Tilda Swinton, quoted in The Asbury Park (New Jersey) Press, 10 Mar. 2021

"Maxey's flashes have exhilarated, but his small stature, inefficient shooting, and defensive shortcomings loom large. If the Sixers truly want to compete, he's the kind of long-term project you might exchange for a win-now piece." — Christopher Kline, The Sixer Sense (thesixersense.com), 20 Mar. 2021
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Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Fri May 14 2021 9:09am

Word of the Day : May 14, 2021 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

blithesome

adjective BLIGHTH-sum

Definition
: with lightheartedness or unconcern : gay, merry

Did You Know?
Blithe had been bounding about in the language for six centuries before English speakers attached a -some to its tail to make blithesome. Poet Robert Greene appears to have been among the first to employ the extension. In his 1594 poem "A Looking Glasse for London and England" he wrote "these [large leather bottles] of the richest wine, / Make me think how blithesome we will be." The suffix -some has over the centuries produced a great number of adjectives (many less popular than they once were) but it typically does so by binding itself to a noun or a verb, as we see in irksome, awesome, fearsome, and bothersome. But blithesome came from blithe—also an adjective—and is in fact a synonym of that word. A few other -some words, such as gladsome and lonesome, were formed likewise.

Examples
"The stranger had given a blithesome promise, and anchored it with oaths; but oaths and anchors equally will drag; naught else abides on fickle earth but unkept promises of joy." — Herman Melville, The Piazza Tales, 1856

"Writing and producing comedy is no laughing matter. A subtle alchemy is required if it is to work—a strange magic involving both the playwright, the director and the cast. One slip and the most blithesome of comedies becomes either ponderous sludge or hopelessly contrived and blunt-ended." — Chris Moore, The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand), 9 Sept. 2019
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Re: Word of the day strikes back

Post by Sarah » Fri May 14 2021 12:51pm

Posted by Susie Dent today:
A gentle reminder that ‘latibulating’ (17th century) means hiding in a corner until conditions improve.
https://twitter.com/susie_dent/status/1 ... 11686?s=20
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Richard Frost
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Word of the day

Post by Richard Frost » Sat May 15 2021 10:57am

Word of the Day : May 15, 2021 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

heinous

adjective HAY-nus

Definition
: hatefully or shockingly evil : abominable

Did You Know?
Humans have contrasted love with hate and good with evil for eons, putting love and good on one side and hate and evil on the other. The etymology of heinous reflects the association of hate with that which is evil or horrible. During the 14th century, English borrowed heinous from the Anglo-French haine (meaning "hate"), a noun derived from hair ("to hate"), a verb of Germanic origin that is related, like the English word hate, to the Old High German haz ("hate"). Over time English speakers came to use the word to reflect the sense of horror evoked by intense hatred.

Examples
The former dictator will stand trial for the role he played in his government's heinous treatment of political dissidents.

"As with garden-variety bullies and toughs, the unearned self-regard of tyrants is eternally vulnerable to being popped, so any opposition to their rule is treated not as a criticism but as a heinous crime." — Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature,2011
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Re: Word of the day strikes back

Post by Richard Frost » Sun May 16 2021 9:16am

Word of the Day : May 16, 2021 - https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

magnum opus

noun MAG-num-OH-pus

Definition
: a great work; especially : the greatest achievement of an artist or writer

Did You Know?
You may recognize magnum (meaning "great") as a Latin word that shows up in altered forms in several English words, and perhaps you can also come up with a few words that are related to opus ("work"). Magnitude, magnanimous, opulent, and operate are some obvious relations of the two. Magnum opus, which entered English in the 18th century, retains the original Latin spelling and the literal meaning "great work." Although the term most often refers to literary, musical, or artistic productions, it has been used to describe many kinds of great works, including games, construction projects, and even surgical techniques.

Examples
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a number of popular novels and stories during his lifetime, but his magnum opus is The Great Gatsby, the story of an eccentric millionaire.

"Natalie Johns's documentary 'Max Richter's Sleep' (2019) showcases the magnum opus of the title, an eight-and-a-half hour, 204 movement Neo-Classical piece performed by soprano, synthesizers, and string ensemble. It is performed for supine audiences who are encouraged to doze off during the proceedings." — Peter Keough, The Boston Globe, 24 Mar. 2021
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