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Post by petpeeve on Jun 9, 2009 6:29:12 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 09, 2009 is: appreciable • \uh-PREE-shuh-bul\ • adjective : capable of being perceived or measured Example Sentence: "The banker's speech was fluent, but it was also copious, and he used up an appreciable amount of time in brief meditative pauses." (George Eliot, Middlemarch) Did you know? "Appreciable," like the verb "appreciate," comes from the Late Latin verb "appretiare" ("to appraise" or "to put a price on"). It is one of several English adjectives that can be applied to something that can be detected, felt, or measured. Specifically, "appreciable" applies to what is highly noticeable or definitely measurable, whereas "perceptible," which is often paired with "barely" or "scarcely," applies to what can be discerned to a minimal extent. "Sensible" refers to something that is clearly perceived; a sensible difference in someone's expression is easily detected. "Palpable" applies to something that, if it doesn't have actual physical substance, is nevertheless quite noticeable via the senses ("a palpable chill in the air"). "Tangible" is used for something capable of being handled or grasped, either physically or mentally ("tangible evidence").
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 10, 2009 6:18:08 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 10, 2009 is: flamboyant • \flam-BOY-ant\ • adjective 1 : characterized by waving curves suggesting flames *2 : marked by or given to strikingly elaborate or colorful display or behavior Example Sentence: The circus performers were easily identifiable by their flamboyant costumes and stage makeup. Did you know? If you've ever heard of a dessert served flambé, you already have some insight into the origins of today's word. "Flamboyant," which was borrowed into English from French in the 19th century, can be traced back to Old French "flambe," meaning "flame." In its earliest uses "flamboyant" referred to a style of architecture, often in the florid French Gothic style, which featured waving curves that suggested flames. Eventually, the word developed a more general second sense for anything eye-catching or showy. As you have no doubt guessed, Old French "flambe" is also the origin of the English adjective "flambé."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 11, 2009 6:50:24 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 11, 2009 is: effrontery • \ih-FRUN-tuh-ree\ • noun : shameless boldness : insolence Example Sentence: The other guests at the party were astonished by the effrontery of Patrick’s insulting behavior toward the host. Did you know? To the Romans, the shameless were "without forehead," at least figuratively. "Effrontery" derives from Latin "effrons," a word that combines the prefix "ex-" (meaning "out" or "without") and "frons" (meaning "forehead" or "brow"). The Romans never used "effrons" literally to mean "without forehead," and theorists aren't in full agreement about the connection between the modern meaning of "effrontery" and the literal senses of its roots. Some explain that "frons" can also refer to the capacity for blushing, so a person without "frons" would be "unblushing" or "shameless." Others theorize that since the Romans believed that the brow was the seat of a person's modesty, being without a brow meant being "immodest," or again, "shameless."
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 12, 2009 8:41:12 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 12, 2009 is: links • \LINKS\ • noun plural 1 Scottish : sand hills especially along the seashore *2 : golf course Example Sentence: Numerous celebrity golfers took to the links this weekend to raise money for charity. Did you know? The game of golf originated on the sandy hills of Scotland, on a type of terrain known as "links" or "linksland." Eventually, the game's layout came to be called by the same name as the land, and "links" developed the meaning of "a golf course built on the coastline," which eventually broadened to include any golf course. "Links" is ultimately derived from the Old English word "hlincas" (the plural of "hlinc," meaning "ridge"). Recorded evidence of "hlinces" (a variant of "hlincas") goes back as far as 931, but "links" began appearing in English only in the 15th century. Britain has a number of old-fashioned links courses (built to resemble the Scottish landscape and located on the coastline), and there are a few in the United States as well.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 13, 2009 9:09:41 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 13, 2009 is: potboiler • \PAHT-boy-ler\ • noun : a usually inferior work (as of art or literature) produced chiefly for profit Example Sentence: After gazing at the lake's serene beauty, Susie sat down in a nearby Adirondack chair and opened up a potboiler for some mindless entertainment. Did you know? "Potboiler" draws its meaning from what was once the heartbeat of the home, the hearth and its boiling pot. In the days before modern conveniences, it was essential to maintain a fire within a home's hearth for warmth and domestic activities. In order "to make the pot boil" or "to keep the pot boiling" for cooking, one needed fuel, and to acquire fuel one typically needed an income. When artistic and literary works, especially inferior ones, became the means of keeping the pot boiling in some homes during the 19th century, it didn't take long for the literati to criticize such works as insignificant potboilers.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 14, 2009 6:25:14 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 14, 2009 is: flout • \FLOUT\ • verb *1 : to treat with contemptuous disregard : scorn 2 : to indulge in scornful behavior Example Sentence: Shawn gets annoyed by pedestrians who flout traffic laws by crossing the street outside of the crosswalk. Did you know? Watch out when using "flaunt" and "flout." Critics have been complaining about the confusion of these two words since the early 1900s. "Flaunt" means "to display ostentatiously," and most usage commentators consider it an error to use "flaunt" with the meaning "to treat with contemptuous disregard" (even though some admit to doing it themselves). Many educated writers have used "flaunt" in the "flout" sense for years, but the notoriety of the controversy is so great, and the belief that it's wrong to use "flaunt" for "flout" is so deep-seated, that we think you would do best to keep the two words distinct.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 15, 2009 6:31:28 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 15, 2009 is: complaisant • \kum-PLAY-sunt\ • adjective *1 : marked by an inclination to please or oblige 2 : tending to consent to others' wishes Example Sentence: Derek was a complaisant boy, always happy to oblige whenever his mother or father asked him to go on an errand. Did you know? The homophones "complaisant" and "complacent" are often confused -- and no wonder. Not only do they look and sound alike, but they also both derive ultimately from Latin "complacçre," meaning "to please greatly." "Complacent" usually means "self-satisfied" or "unconcerned," but it also shares with "complaisant" the sense of "marked by an inclination to please or oblige." This sense of "complacent" is an old one, but that hasn't kept language critics from labeling it as an error -- and on the whole, modern writers do prefer "complaisant" for this meaning. Conversely, "complaisant" is sometimes mistakenly used in contexts such as "complaisant about injustices," where "complacent," with its sense of "marked by self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies," should go. One aid is to remember that with the preposition "about," you probably want "complacent."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 16, 2009 5:46:22 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 16, 2009 is: occiput • \AHK-sih-put\ • noun : the back part of the head or skull Example Sentence: "So let me suggest that everyone put away their pitchforks and firebrands and stop trying to 'bury the hatchet' by planting it in the other fellow's occiput." (Allan Falk, Michigan Lawyers Weekly, May 7, 2007) Did you know? "Occiput" came to English from Latin, where it was created from "ob-," meaning "against," and "capit-" or "caput," meaning "head." Its adjectival form, "occipital," meaning "of, relating to, or located within or near the occiput or the occipital bone," abounds in medical texts but is found in literary ones too, as in George Eliot's description of the coiffure of the "young ladies who frizzed their hair, and gathered it all into large barricades in front of their heads, leaving their occipital region exposed without ornament, as if that, being a back view, was of no consequence…" in Scenes of Clerical Life. Another "caput" derivation is "sinciput," a word used to refer to either the forehead or the upper half of the skull.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 17, 2009 6:32:49 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 17, 2009 is: preeminent • \pre-EM-uh-nunt\ • adjective : having paramount rank, dignity, or importance : outstanding, supreme Example Sentence: Carrie considered herself lucky to have one of the country’s preeminent novelists as her writing professor. Did you know? What is noteworthy about the following sentence? "Mount McKinley is a prominent eminence in the Alaskan landscape." You very likely recognized two words that are closely related to "preeminent" -- "prominent" and "eminence." All three words are rooted in the Latin verb stem "-minçre," meaning "to stand out." But did you note as well the related word "mount"? Not too surprisingly, "-minçre" is related to "mons," the Latin word for "mountain." That relationship leads us in turn to "paramount," a word closely related in meaning to "preeminent." What's this? Play today's podcast
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 18, 2009 6:04:42 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 18, 2009 is: short shrift • \SHORT-SHRIFT\ • noun 1 : barely adequate time for confession before execution 2 *a : little or no attention or consideration b : quick work Example Sentence: Parents are complaining that, due to recent budget cuts, physical education and arts programs have been given short shrift in the local schools. Did you know? The word "shrift" is an archaic noun referring to the confession or absolution of sins. These days, "shrift" is rarely encountered on its own, but it does keep frequent company with "short" in the phrase "short shrift." The earliest known use of the phrase comes from William Shakespeare's play Richard III, in which Lord Hastings, who has been condemned by King Richard to be beheaded, is told by Sir Richard Ratcliffe to "Make a short shrift" as the king "longs to see your head." Shakespeare uses this phrase quite literally ("keep your confession short"), but since at least the 19th century the phrase has been used figuratively to refer to a small or inadequate amount of time or attention given to something.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 19, 2009 9:33:55 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 19, 2009 is: gravitate • \GRAV-uh-tayt\ • verb 1 : to move under the influence of gravitation 2 a : to move toward something * b : to be drawn or attracted especially by natural inclination Example Sentence: Left to their own devices in a department store, children will naturally gravitate toward the toy aisle. Did you know? English has several weighty words descended from the Latin "gravitas," meaning "weight." The first to arrive on the scene was "gravity," which appeared in the early 16th century. (Originally meaning "dignity or sobriety of bearing," it quickly came to mean "weight" as well.) Next came "gravitation" (used to describe the force of gravity) and "gravitate" -- both mid-17th century arrivals. "Gravitate" once meant "to apply weight or pressure," but that use is now obsolete. In the late 17th century, it was recorded in the sense "to move under the effect of gravitation." It then acquired a more general sense of "to move toward something" (as toward a specific location), and finally a metaphorical third sense of "to be attracted" (as toward a person or a vocation).
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 20, 2009 6:00:58 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 20, 2009 is: staccato • \stuh-KAH-toh\ • adjective 1 a : cut short or apart in performing : disconnected b : marked by short clear-cut playing or singing of tones or chords *2 : abrupt, disjointed Example Sentence: "I could see the bass clearing the water and spread my legs to steady myself in the staccato swells of the rip." (Peter Kaminsky, The New York Times, December 25, 1994) Did you know? English has borrowed a number of words from Italian that instruct on how a piece of music should be played. Examples include "allegro" ("at a brisk lively tempo"), "adagio" ("at a slow tempo"), and "fortissimo" ("very loud"). The instruction "staccato" describes music composed of tones that are short and noncontinuous rather than smoothly flowing together (a style noted by the instruction "legato"). "Staccato" derives from the past participle of the Italian verb "staccare," meaning "to detach," and can now describe anything -- not just sounds – made, done, or happening in an abrupt or disjointed way.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 21, 2009 5:56:13 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 21, 2009 is: improvident • \im-PRAH-vuh-dunt\ • adjective : not provident : not foreseeing and providing for the future Example Sentence: Judy’s bankruptcy is the result of several years of improvident borrowing with little thought as to how she would ever manage to repay her debts. Did you know? "Improvident" descends from Latin "providçre" plus the negative prefix "im-." "Providçre," which literally means "to see ahead," comes from "pro-," meaning "forward," and "vidçre," meaning "to see." Six of the seven words below are also descendants of "providçre." Can you guess which one is the exception? provide improvise providence improvement provision prudent purvey "Provide," "improvise," "providence," "provision," "prudent," and "purvey" all trace back to "providçre." That means "improvement" is the right answer to our quiz. "Improvement" traces back instead to the Latin verb "prodesse," which means "to be beneficial." What's this? Play today's podcast
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 22, 2009 7:24:46 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 22, 2009 is: plethora • \PLETH-uh-ruh\ • noun : an excessive quantity or fullness; also : profusion Example Sentence: A plethora of books on the American Civil War stood out among the many titles stacked here and there in the professor's office. Did you know? "Plethora" comes from a similar Greek word meaning "fullness." It was first used in English in the 16th century to describe a supposed medical condition marked by an excess volume of blood causing swelling and a reddish complexion. Later, the medical use of "plethora" was extended to indicate related medical conditions (such as an excess volume of bodily fluid or the red-skinned appearance of some newborns). These days, however, "plethora" is more often used in a general, non-medical sense, with the meaning "excess" or "abundance."
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Post by petpeeve on Jun 23, 2009 6:32:26 GMT -7
The Word of the Day for June 23, 2009 is: corvine • \KOR-vyne\ • adjective : of or relating to the crows : resembling a crow Example Sentence: "Many residents of cities along the Pomona and San Bernardino freeways say, yes, indeed, they've noticed an increase in their corvine neighbors." (Edmund Newton, Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1989) Did you know? Few people crow about "corvine" -- it's not often you'll come across the word -- but it has been part of the English language since the mid-17th century. Like most taxonomic terms, "corvine" has a purely Latin pedigree. "Corvine" is from Latin "corvinus," which in turn is from Latin "corvus," meaning "raven." (The word "raven" itself is from the Old English term "hræfn," which is akin to "hraban," the Old High German word for "raven," and also to "corvus.") Another word from "corvus" is "cormorant," which refers to a dark-colored seabird and comes from Old French words meaning "raven" and "of the sea."
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