# Word of the Day from dictionary.com



## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

There is nothing wrong with boosting ones' vocabulary. 

Word of the Day for Tuesday, August 21, 2012
velleity \vuh-LEE-i-tee\, noun:

1. Volition in its weakest form.
2. A mere wish, unaccompanied by an effort to obtain it.

Fortunately it did no more than stress, the better to mock if you like, an innate velleity.
-- Samuel Beckett, Molloy
My guess is that instead of being men of decision we are in reality men of velleity.
-- Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Have you come across the word velleity? A nice Thomistic ring to it. Volition at its lowest ebb. A small thing, a wish, a tendency. If you're low-willed, you see, you end up living in the shallowest turns and bends of your own preoccupations.
-- Don DeLillo, Underworld

Velleity stems from the Latin word velle which meant "to be willing." The suffix -ity is used for abstract nouns.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I enjoy the word of the day also, I have a widget for my Android phone that puts the current word onto my phone each day. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2


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## William Peter Grasso (May 1, 2011)

I've always loved the _Word of the Day_ at dictionary.com...

Now, if I only I could defeat the site's constant attempt to download a script that freezes my laptop until the warning pop-up that allows me to abort that download appears. It's for one of the sidebar video ads, I believe...

WPG


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Wednesday, August 22, 2012
hieratic \hahy-uh-RAT-ik\, adjective:

1. Highly restrained or severe in emotional import: Some of the more hieratic sculptures leave the viewer curiously unmoved.
2. Also, hi·er·at·i·cal. of or pertaining to priests or the priesthood; sacerdotal; priestly.
3. Noting or pertaining to a form of ancient Egyptian writing consisting of abridged forms of hieroglyphics, used by the priests in their records.
4. Noting or pertaining to certain styles in art in which the representations or methods are fixed by or as if by religious tradition. 

noun:
1. Ancient Egyptian hieratic writing.

She raised her hands from the side of the pen in a gesture hieratic and profound.
-- Flannery O'Connor, Everything That Rises Must Converge
At first, in a hieratic performance, as if in slow motion, the king submitted with mournful joy, bowing his meek head.
-- Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
The silence here is even more overpowering. Lina is there, hieratic and pale. They approach the bed stealthily, as if fearful of waking a wildcat or a snake.
-- Laurent Binet, HHhH

Related to the word hierarchy, hieratic comes from the Greek word hierātikós meaning "priestly."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Thursday, August 23, 2012
bole \bohl\, noun:

the stem or trunk of a tree.

...this time found that it was nought alive, but the bole of a tree sitting high out of the water.
-- William Morris, The Water of the Wondrous Isles
He moved toward the bole eagerly. The tree was shorter than it was wide, the branches enormous appendages that flung to the sides in a giant welcome.
-- K.M. Frontain, The Gryphon Taint

Bole stems directly from the Old Norse word bolr which meant "trunk."


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Thank you Sean - please continue this.
I love it.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Friday, August 24, 2012
concertina \kon-ser-TEE-nuh\, verb:

1. To fold, crush together, or collapse in the manner of a concertina: The car concertinaed when it hit the truck.
2. To cause to fold or collapse in the manner of a concertina. 

noun:
1. A musical instrument resembling an accordion but having buttonlike keys, hexagonal bellows and ends, and a more limited range.
2. Concertina wire.

Monk is so tall his knees seem to concertina against the dashboard.
-- Michael Robotham, Shatter
As Henderson looked down at his hands, the folds of skin on his face seemed to concertina into a soft place for his chin to rest.
-- Jacquelin Winspear, A Lesson in Secrets

A concertina was named by the inventor who made the instrument, Charles Wheatstone, in 1837. It was first used as a verb in the early 1900s.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Saturday, August 25, 2012
antic \an-tik\, adjective:

1. Ludicrous; funny.
2. Fantastic; odd; grotesque: an antic disposition. 

noun:
1. Usually, antics. A. A playful trick or prank; caper. B. A grotesque, fantastic, or ludicrous gesture, act, or posture.
2. Archaic. A. An actor in a grotesque or ridiculous presentation. B. A buffoon; clown.
3. Obsolete. A. A grotesque theatrical presentation; ridiculous interlude. B. A grotesque or fantastic sculptured figure, as a gargoyle.

From the subversive to the antic, the uproarious to the disturbing, the stories of Bruce Sterling are restless, energy-filled journeys through a world running on empty.
-- Bruce Sterling, A Good Old-Fashioned Future
Grey Magic is a work of great scope and stylistic virtuosity, combining antic humor with immense sophistication, an Anglo-American setting with an Anglo-European sensibility and a profound insight into contemporary issues of both personal and collective resonance.
-- Richard Leigh, Grey Magic

Antic comes from the Italian word antico which meant "ancient." Apparently, it was associated with the fantastic figures of the Roman ruins and came to mean "grotesque."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

*looks to the Writer's Cafe*

Word of the Day for Sunday, August 26, 2012
fabulist \FAB-yuh-list\, noun:

1. A liar.
2. A person who invents or relates fables.

But at the same time, for fear of disruption and uncertainty, we attempt to relegate the maker's role to that of fabulist, equating fiction with lies and opposing art to political reality...
-- Alberto Manguel, The Voice of Cassandra
Nothing is off limits to this free-range fabulist. He can fold a dusty Persian carpet into the contours of the world itself and wring delight from every lustrous thread.
-- Clive Barker, The Essential Clive Barker

Fabulist is derived from the Middle French word fabuliste which referred to someone who told fables.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Monday, August 27, 2012
compère \KOM-pair\, noun:

1. A host, master of ceremonies, or the like, especially of a stage revue or television program. 

verb:
1. To act as compère for: to compère the new game show.

Just then, the compère got up on the stage and picked up the microphone. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen…"
-- Kenneth Turpin, Nosy
Then a tall, sidling young man appeared and, after some confusion with the compère, unceremoniously proposed to drink a pint of brown ale without at any point using his hands…
-- Martin Amis, Heavy Water

Compère literally means "godfather" in French. It entered English in the 1730s.


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## KBoards Admin (Nov 27, 2007)

I'm enjoying these. Thanks, Sean!

Side note: I'm currently reading Cutting for Stone, and I've never used the Kindle dictionary so much in a book before. It's actually been enjoyable. I like learning new words.

One from Cutting for Stone was assonance. Hadn't come across that before... am anxiously waiting for an opportunity to use it in conversation.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

So, Fitchy is our compère for word-of-the-day.



Sean Sweeney said:


> Word of the Day for Monday, August 27, 2012
> compère \KOM-pair\, noun:
> 
> 1. A host, master of ceremonies, or the like, especially of a stage revue or television program.
> ...


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

I admit it, I'm a word nerd. This is pretty fun.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Love trying to improve my vocabulary... just can't use them in sportswriting, because no one in my area knows the meanings.


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## That Weird Guy.... (Apr 16, 2012)

Sean Sweeney said:


> Word of the Day for Monday, August 27, 2012
> compère \KOM-pair\, noun:
> 
> 1. A host, master of ceremonies, or the like, especially of a stage revue or television program.
> ...


And of course, with how my mind works, I automatically think of the lyrics to "Willkommen" from _Cabaret_.
Ich bin euer Confrecier; *je suis votre compere...*
I am your host!


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Tuesday, August 28, 2012
bathetic \buh-THET-ik\, adjective:

Displaying or characterized by insincere emotions: the bathetic emotionalism of soap operas.

The bathetic quality of "instant cliche" endings is to some extent counterbalanced by the kind of ending which combines plot-contortion with climactic enlightenment…
-- Heterocosms, Heterocosms
Attempts to capture the awe and pain of dying can often, alas, come out sounding either bathetic or satiric.
-- Nancy Kress, Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint

Based on the more common word pathetic, bathetic entered English in the 1830s. It comes from the Greek word bathos which meant "depth."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Wednesday, August 29, 2012
truncate \TRUHNG-keyt\, verb:

1. To shorten by cutting off a part; cut short: Truncate detailed explanations.
2. Mathematics, Computers. To shorten (a number) by dropping a digit or digits: The numbers 1.4142 and 1.4987 can both be truncated to 1.4. 

adjective:
1. Truncated.
2. Biology. A. Square or broad at the end, as if cut off transversely. B. Lacking the apex, as certain spiral shells.

He pointed out that it was relatively easy to pronounce, though there was the danger that Americans, obsessed with abbreviation, would truncate it to Nick.
-- Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
Tonight we had to truncate the chorus work and replace it with rehearsal of the larger scenes.
-- Chuck Zito, A Habit for Death

Truncate comes from the Latin word truncātus which meant "to lop." The mathematical and computer usage arose in the 1950s.


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

Thanks for posting these!


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Susan in VA said:


> Thanks for posting these!


You are most welcome.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Thursday, August 30, 2012
crucible \KROO-suh-buhl\, noun:

1. A severe, searching test or trial.
2. A container of metal or refractory material employed for heating substances to high temperatures.
3. Metallurgy. A hollow area at the bottom of a furnace in which the metal collects.

From the crucible of such inner turmoil come the various metals, soft or brittle, flawed or pure, precious or common, that determine the good runners, the great runners, and perhaps the former runners.
-- John L. Parker, Once a Runner
It was true that as one watched life in its curious crucible of pain and pleasure, one could not wear over one's face a mask of glass…
-- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray 

Crucible stems from the Old French word croisol which referred to a night lamp.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

The final days of Marine Bootcamp are called The Crucible. The Crucible is a test every recruit must go through to become a Marine. It tests every recruit physically, mentally and morally and is the defining moment in recruit training.

The Crucible takes place over 54-hours and includes food and sleep deprivation and over 45 miles of marching. The entire Crucible event pits teams of recruits against a barrage of day and night events requiring every recruit to work together to solve problems, overcome obstacles and help each other along the way.

The obstacles they face range from long marches, combat assault courses, the leadership reaction course, and the team-building warrior stations.

Each Warrior Station is named for a Marine hero whose actions epitomize the values the USMC wants recruits to adopt. 

"That Son" will have endured this test before I see him next.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Friday, August 31, 2012
gull \guhl\, verb:

1. To deceive, trick, or cheat. 

noun:
1. A person who is easily deceived or cheated; dupe.

What new commodities have you brought to gull us with?
-- Sir Walter Scott, The Waverly Novels
People always ended up trying to gull her. It happened sooner or later. Trent hadn't shown any likelihood of trying something like this. A pang of regret at her naivety lodged in her chest.
-- Lorelie Brown, Jazz Baby

Gull is of uncertain origin, but it may come from the now-obsolete word gull which meant "to guzzle."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 1, 2012
demulcent \dih-MUHL-suhnt\, adjective:

1. Soothing or mollifying, as a medicinal substance. 

noun:
1. A demulcent substance or agent, often mucilaginous, as for soothing or protecting an irritated mucous membrane.

It will do you no harm to keep close, drink nothing but demulcent barley-water and eat gruel, thin gruel—no beef or mutton, no wine or spirits.
-- Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander
She knew where sour grass grew, which you chew for dyspepsy, and mint, excellent for the nau-shy, and the slippery elm, whose fragrant inner bark was the favorite demulcent of a hundred years ago—the thing to use for raw throat and other sore tishas.
-- James Thurber, Writings and Drawings

Demulcent comes from the Latin word dēmulcere which meant "to soften."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 2, 2012
vigorish \VIG-er-ish\, noun:

1. Interest paid to a moneylender, especially a usurer.
2. A charge paid on a bet, as to a bookie.

But a washed and polished white bread car driven by a single white man in this neighborhood could mean a cop, or worse yet, a Wise Guy hit man looking for somebody who was behind in their vigorish.
-- Alan Souter, Enclave
We are speaking in a range of one thousand dollars a week vigorish.
-- Don DeLillo, Libra

Vigorish is an Americanism that arose in the 1910s. It is most likely an adaptation of the Yiddish slang výigrysh from the Russian word meaning "profit."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Monday, September 3, 2012
ataraxia \at-uh-RAK-see-uh\, noun:

A state of freedom from emotional disturbance and anxiety; tranquility.

The former breathes only peace and liberty; he desires only to live and be free from labor; even the ataraxia of the Stoic falls far short of his profound indifference to every other object.
-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and a Discourse on Political Economy
Thus, hedonism ends in ataraxia, which confirms the paradoxical relation between sadism and stoicism.
-- Marquis de Sade, 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings

Ataraxia stems from the Greek word of the same spelling that meant "impassiveness."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 4, 2012
ramose \REY-mohs\, adjective:

1. Having many branches.
2. Branching.

The exquisite naivete with which, in this passage, the Greek and Anglican Churches are represented as springing into vigorous ramose existence at the precise moment of abscission was too much even for my Protestant simplicity.
-- James Kent Stone, The Invitation Heeded
The ramose or branched root is more frequent than any other.
-- James Lawson Drummond, First Steps to Botany

Ramose is derived from the Latin word rāmōsus which meant "full of boughs."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 5, 2012
cacology \ka-KOL-uh-jee\, noun:

Defectively produced speech; socially unacceptable diction.

As to prose, I don't know Addison's from Johnson's; but I will try to mend my cacology.
-- Lord Byron, The Works and Letters of Lord Byron
Such cacology drives some people to distraction.
-- Linton Weeks, "R Grammar Gaffes Ruining the Language? Maybe Not", NPR

Cacology comes from the root caco- meaning "bad." This prefix occurs in loanwords from Greek. Similarly the suffix -logy is a combining form used in the names of sciences and bodies of knowledge.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 6, 2012
piceous \PIS-ee-uhs\, adjective:

1. Inflammable; combustible.
2. Of, pertaining to, or resembling pitch.
3. Zoology. Black or nearly black as pitch.

In the silent and piceous hour just before dawn, they advanced at a slow trot, fanning out through the slave quarters and into the yard that divided the gin house, the mill, and the buildings where Canning and I slept unaware.
-- Geraldine Brooks, March
Dark pink for the brick buildings, dark green for the doorjambs and the benches, dark iron for the hinges, dark stone for Nathaniel's Tomb; darkness in the piceous roots of trees that broke through the earth like bones through skin.
-- Roger Rosenblatt, Beet

Piceous stems from the Latin word piceus meaning "made of pitch."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Friday, September 7, 2012
rollick \ROL-ik\, verb:

To move or act in a carefree, frolicsome manner; behave in a free, hearty, gay, or jovial way.

Also in old, jolly fishwives, squatted under arches, obscene old women, how deeply they laugh and shake and rollick, when they walk, from side to side, hum, ha!
-- Virginia Woolf, "The String Quartet," Monday or Tuesday: Eight Stories
A deeper ripple of mirth this time and Bronzini was sad for the boy, skinny Alfonse, but did not rebuke them, kept talking, talked over the momentary rollick—skinny sorry Alfonse, grape-stained with tragic acne.
-- Don DeLillo, Underworld

Rollick is a portmanteau of "frolic" and "romp." It arose in the 1820s.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 8, 2012
manifold \MAN-uh-fohld\, adjective:

1. Of many kinds; numerous and varied: manifold duties.
2. Having numerous different parts, elements, features, forms, etc.: a manifold program for social reform. 

noun:
1. Something having many different parts or features.
2. A copy or facsimile, as of something written, such as is made by manifolding 

verb:
1. To make copies of, as with carbon paper.

The possible moves being not only manifold, but involute, the chances of such oversights are multiplied; and in nine cases out of ten, it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers.
-- Edgar Allen Poe, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Whatever his arrangements are, however, they are always a pattern of neatness; and every one of the manifold articles connected with his manifold occupations is to be found in its own particular place.
-- Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock

Manifold comes from the Old English word monigfald meaning "varied in appearance." The English suffix -fold originally meant "of so many parts."


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## carrot (Sep 6, 2012)

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!  My husband just ordered me the new kindle HD for christmas !!!!!            I love him!!!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

i am posting here so that this shows up every day when sean posts a new word so i don't have to go hunting.

and i have chocolate.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 9, 2012
spleenful \SPLEEN-fuhl\, adjective:

1. Ill-humored; irritable or peevish; spiteful; splenetic.
2. Full of or displaying spleen.

For a blink, Ratcliffe himself, who hated almost beyond telling this spleenful fellowman now well handcuffed and clamped at the ankles with cold stout bilboes, did believe in his intentions, and would have resigned all proceedings if he could; but once the doctor prescribes a purge, how can he countermand himself?
-- William T. Vollmann, Argall
Their attention was focused on Guy Fowler, a surly, spleenful man, but one of few old-salts of white blood.
-- Virginia Van Druten, Bound to Sea

The spleen was regarded as the seat of morose feelings and bad tempers in Medieval physiology. The adjective spleenful arose from this association in the late 1500s.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Monday, September 10, 2012
primrose \PRIM-rohz\, noun:

1. Pale yellow.
2. Any plant of the genus Primula, as P. vulgaris (English primrose), of Europe, having yellow flowers, or P. sinensis (Chinese primrose), of China, having flowers in a variety of colors. Compare primrose family.
3. Evening primrose.

The thoughts circling Sarah's head kept time with the rhythm of her spoon as she stirred the pale-primrose mixture of egg yolks and cream in the pan.
-- India Grey, Powerful Italian, Penniless Housekeeper
The room was high and white and primrose gold, flanked by Greek columns that caught the lickety amber light of a thousand candles.
-- Don DeLillo, Underworld

Primrose literally meant "first rose" in Old French. It was so called because the yellow rose is one of the earliest blooming roses in the Spring.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 11, 2012
cerise \suh-REES\, noun:

moderate to deep red.

That it did not strike her, Molly Notkin, as improbable that the special limited-edition turkey-shaped gift bottle of Wild Turkey Blended Whiskey-brand distilled sprits with the cerise velveteen gift-ribbon around its neck with the bow tucked under its wattles on the kitchen counter...
-- David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest
It was made of a purple satin sheath with layers of cerise tarleton underskirts.
-- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Cerise comes from the French word of the same spelling meaning "cherry." It entered English in the 1850s describing a shade of cherry red.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Thanks for posting these! Cerise is one of those color names where the wrong color always pops into my mind first. Maybe this time I will remember.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Annalog? do you mix up cerulean & cerise?


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

BTackitt said:


> Annalog? do you mix up cerulean & cerise?


Yes! EDIT: Actually, I don't reverse them but I think of deep blue for both. Hopefully I will now get cerise correct in my mind. Maybe it is because a few different blues are among my most favorite colors.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Fitch! Where's our new word of the day!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

BTackitt said:


> Fitch! Where's our new word of the day!


I don't know where sean is, so here's today's word. and they are still on colors...

celadon\ SEL-uh-don \ , noun; 
1. A pale gray-green. 
2. Any of several Chinese porcelains having a translucent, pale green glaze. 
3. Any porcelain imitating these.

adjective:

1. Having the color celadon.

Quotes: 
The detail was striking and the cream, salmon, and celadon of the offset colors realistic, if slightly dated. 
-- David Foster Wallace, The Pale King

Far out, the bay had a glaze like celadon. 
-- Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose

Origin: 
The word celadon stems from the name of a character in the 1610 book L'Astrée by Honoré d'Urfé. The character Céladon was a sentimental lover who wore bright green clothes.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Thanks, telracs! Maybe they will do cerulean tomorrow.


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## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon) (Jan 19, 2011)

I thought we give the favorite word as word of the day such as peace or harmony or whatever...?


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 13, 2012
heliotrope \HEE-lee-uh-trohp\, noun:

1. A light tint of purple; reddish lavender.
2. Any hairy plant belonging to the genus Heliotropium, of the borage family, as H. arborescens, cultivated for its small, fragrant purple flowers.
3. Any of various other plants, as the valerian or the winter heliotrope.
4. Any plant that turns toward the sun.
5. Surveying. An arrangement of mirrors for reflecting sunlight from a distant point to an observation station.
6. Bloodstone.

But the heliotrope envelope with the feminine handwriting and the strange odor immediately suggested queries along lines of investigation which had never before entered her thoughts.
-- George Gibbs, The Vagrant Duke
Blown by steady volumes of roaring wind, everyone's hair is riffled and tangled and leaping in antic wisps, and the heliotrope robes bulk like tumors but flip up in sudden swoops.
-- Edmund White, Forgetting Elena

Heliotrope literally meant "turn towards the sun" in Greek. Flowers that turned towards the sun became associated with this word.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

YAY Fitchy's back! and we have another color from dictionary.com. I wonder of whoever is picking the WOTD there has a kid in school who had to get one of those 96 color crayon boxes? and he's all wtf ARE these colors!


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> YAY Fitchy's back!


*bows* Thank ya. Now back to writing.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

and i thought helkotrope was yellow...


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

telracs said:


> and i thought helkotrope was yellow...


Like most sunflowers?


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Annalog said:


> Like most sunflowers?


exactly!


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Friday, September 14, 2012
ecru \EK-roo\, adjective:

1. Very light brown in color, as raw silk, unbleached linen, etc. 

noun:
1. An ecru color.

To complete the outfit, she selected an ecru cashmere sweater to drape over her shoulders and tie loosely around her neck.
-- Pamela Hackett Hobson, The Bronxville Book Club
She was wearing an ecru gown, giving the illusion of her fading into the grayness of the wall.
-- JoAnn Smith Ainsworth, Out of the Dark

Ecru stems from the French word of the same spelling which meant "raw, unbleached." It came from the Latin root crudus meaning "raw" and the prefix es- meaning "thoroughly."


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Aaah...ecru.  What most men call beige.  

Betsy


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

....and we women know is more like dirty white. beige is darker.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

BTackitt said:


> ....and we women know is more like dirty white. beige is darker.


Dirty white?  but yes, beige is darker. But it looks the same to my hubby, anyway. 

Betsy


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Sorry for the absence...

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 19, 2012
bollix \BOL-iks\, verb:

1. To do (something) badly; bungle (often followed by up): His interference bollixed up the whole deal. 

noun:
1. A confused bungle.

People always bollix up the things that are most important to them.
-- Eric Gabriel Lehman, Summer's House
It was a sort of cruel fun watching this guy bollix up his life, like watching a cat fight duct tape.
-- Sarah Smith, Chasing Shakespeares

Bollix arose in the 1930s. It's a variation on the slang word bollocks.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 20, 2012
hustings \HUHS-tingz\, noun:

1. The political campaign trail.
2. (Before 1872) the temporary platform on which candidates for the British Parliament stood when nominated and from which they addressed the electors.
3. Any place from which political campaign speeches are made.
4. Also called hustings court. A local court in certain parts of Virginia.

But he still had to go out to the hustings, a word whose meaning he'd never learned, and campaign for people, or at least give speeches.
-- Tom Clancy, Executive Orders
Now, do not let them lure you to the hustings, my dear Mr. Brooke.
-- George Eliot, Middlemarch

Hustings is derived from the Old Danish word hūs-thing which meant "house meeting."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Friday, September 21, 2012
strepitous \STREP-i-tuhs\, adjective:

boisterous; noisy.

But what strepitous sounds, what harmonious tumult diverts my attention to another part ?
-- José Francisco de Isla, The History of the Famous Preacher, Friar Gerund de Campazas
Here is no idyllic meditative retreat from the strepitous city but a scene of virile action—fields sounding with human labor, vibrating with human energy.
-- Beulah B. Amram, "Swinburne and Carducci," The Yale Review

Strepitous stems from the Latin word strepit which meant "noise."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 25, 2012
privity \PRIV-i-tee\, noun:

1. Participation in the knowledge of something private or secret, especially as implying concurrence or consent.
2. Private or secret knowledge.
3. Law. The relation between privies.
4. Obsolete. Privacy.

Kazbitch — at least I imagine so — thought that Azamat had robbed him of his horse, with his father's privity and consent.
-- Mikhail Y. Lermontov, A Hero of Our Own Times
But Judith had not meddled with the arrangement, and every necessary disposition was made without her privity or advice.
-- James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales

Privity stems from the Old French words prive meaning "private, close friend, private place."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 26, 2012
palter \PAWL-ter\, verb:

1. To talk or act insincerely or deceitfully; lie or use trickery.
2. To bargain with; haggle.
3. To act carelessly; trifle.

Since murder was that man's intention, why should he palter with small details?
-- Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad
Bathsheba would probably have terminated the conversation there and then by flatly forbidding the subject, had not her conscious weakness of position allured her to palter and argue in endeavors to better it.
-- Thomas Hardy, Far From the Maddening Crowd

Palter is of unknown origin. It first arose in the 1540s, and it may be a variation of the word falter.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 27, 2012
austral \AW-struhl\, adjective:

1. Southern.
2. (Initial capital letter) Australian.

That, at least, was not difficult to do; as they filtered through branches and thick treetops, the rays of the austral sun covered bodies and houses and all the objects of the inhabited area with undulating patterns of light and shadow that blended spectrally into random jungle forms.
-- Carlos Fuentes, Terra Nostra
The church, from the north, seems a precious stone, on its austral side it is blood-colored, to the west white as snow, and above it shine countless stars more splendid than those in our sky.
-- Umberto Eco, Baudolino

Austral is derived from the Latin word austrālis meaning "southern."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Friday, September 28, 2012
fiducial \fi-DOO-shuhl\, adjective:

1. Based on or having trust: fiducial dependence upon God.
2. Accepted as a fixed basis of reference or comparison: a fiducial point; a fiducial temperature.

Knowing the sincerity of her concern for my well-being as I did, I can say with fiducial confidence she was attached to the phone, where she'd no doubt made a beeline the very moment after I'd stormed out of the house, awaiting a call from me announcing I was alright.
-- William Cook, Love in the Time of Flowers
No, it was a par excellence speech, one that neither he nor anyone else was to give in front of an audience, one that wasn't going to be subjected to criticism, for how can you compare when you have no fiducial point?
-- Thomas Justin Kaze, The Year of the Green Snake

Fiducial comes from the Late Latin word fīdūciālis meaning "trust."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 29, 2012
catholicon \kuh-THOL-i-kuhn\, noun:

A universal remedy; panacea.

And then they sweep out again, leaving the fevered peasants their catholicon of faith, while, overhead, vultures ebonize the sky.
-- Thomas H. Cook, The Orchids
At any rate, this same humor has something, there is no telling what, of beneficence in it, it is such a catholicon and charm—nearly all men agreeing in relishing it, though they may agree in little else—and in its way it undeniably does such a deal of familiar good in the world, that no wonder it is almost a proverb, that a man of humor, a man capable of a good loud laugh—seem how he may in other things—can hardly be a heartless scamp.
-- Herman Melville, The Confidence-Man

Catholicon stems from the Greek word katholikós which meant "according to the whole, universal."


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Thanks for posting these Fitch. It's fun to see which I already know, and which are new to me.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 30, 2012
thetic \THET-ik\, adjective:

Positive; dogmatic.

Thetic constructions, on the other hand, are not subject to this sort of contextual requirements.
-- Andreas Dufter and Daniel Jacob, Focus and Background in Romance Languages
His genius was not thetic, but synthetic, not creative but constructive.
-- Andrew Martin Fairbairn, "The Primitive Polity of Islam," The Contemporary Review

Thetic is derived from the Greek word thetikós from the root thet meaning "placed, set."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Monday, October 1, 2012
utile \YOO-til\, adjective:

Useful.

They have been accredited variously to the respective signs of the Zodiac, but to the end that resultant opinions have failed to be utile value.
-- John Hazelrigg, Astrosophic Principles And Astrosophic Tractates
It was located in an industrial warehouse but he had tricked it out smartly. It was altogether utile but not precisely cozy.
-- Eve Howard, Shadow Lane Volume 8

Utile comes directly from the French word of the same spelling which also means "useful." It entered English in the late 1400s.


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## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon) (Jan 19, 2011)

I thought it will something like your favorite word. I have no clue what is going on...lol


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

as the title of the thread says, it's the Word of the day from Dictionary.com. Sean Sweeny(aka John Fitch V) is just posting them here for our edification.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

BTackitt said:


> as the title of the thread says, it's the Word of the day from Dictionary.com. Sean Sweeny(aka John Fitch V) is just posting them here for our edification.


I am no longer John Fitch V... that name is retired.

Word of the Day for Tuesday, October 2, 2012
hamartia \hah-mahr-TEE-uh\, noun:

Tragic flaw.

What is Oedipus' hamartia that leads to his self-fulfilling self-reversal?
-- Laszlo Versényi, Man's Measure
We called it by many different things, such as hubris or hamartia, but given the way you butcher Latin, let's stick with English.
-- Stephanie Draven, The Fever and the Fury

Hamartia stems from the Greek word hamartánein which meant "to err." However, it entered English in the late 1800s.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Wednesday, October 3, 2012
true \troo\, verb:

1. To make true; shape, adjust, place, etc., exactly or accurately: to true the wheels of a bicycle after striking a pothole.
2. (Especially in carpentry) to make even, symmetrical, level, etc. (often followed by up): to true up the sides of a door.

Have your shop replace the spoke and true the wheel, and make sure they check all spokes for signs of damage or wear.
-- Wes Hobson, Clark Campbell, Michael F. Vickers, Swim, Bike, Run
…fresh new magazines, in stacks lovingly squared and trued, waited on shelves cunningly sited just inside the front door.
-- Robert Sampson, Yesterday's Faces
But in its inner chamber, it's about the way the mind fetishizes the smallest acts—the gears that keep life trued—even as our bodies enter a final winter.
-- Paul Harding, Tinkers

True, in the common sense of "real and authentic," has been in the English language since at least the 1200s. The less-common verb form of the word was first used in the 1840s, particularly with reference to mechanics.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Sean Sweeney said:


> Word of the Day for Wednesday, October 3, 2012
> true \troo\, verb:
> 
> True, in the common sense of "real and authentic," has been in the English language since at least the 1200s. The less-common verb form of the word was first used in the 1840s, particularly with reference to mechanics.


BETSY!


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Thursday, October 4, 2012
agita \AJ-i-tuh\, noun:

1. Agitation; anxiety.
2. Heartburn; indigestion.

And my being named after the patron saint of love, St. Valentine, when I've had nothing but agita in romance just makes it more painfully ironic.
-- Rosanna Chiofalo, Bellla Fortuna
I'm eighty-two years old and I don't need this agita in my life!
-- Rita Lakin, Getting Old Is Murder

Agita was coined in America in the 1980s. It comes from the Italian word agitare meaning "to bother."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Monday, October 8, 2012
apophasis \uh-POF-uh-sis\, noun:

Denial of one's intention to speak of a subject that is at the same time named or insinuated, as “I shall not mention Caesar's avarice, nor his cunning, nor his morality.”

But I think that anything that is deep isn't love, it's deliberate calculation or schizophrenia. I myself wouldn't even attempt to say what love is - probably both love and God can only be defined by apophasis, through those things that they are not.
-- Viktor Pelevin, The Sacred Book of the Werewolf
"…Now, I have no desire to be a backseat driver—” Apophasis, Chris thought; saying you're not going to say something in order to say it. Nixon's favorite device, and Newt Gingrich's, and Karl Rove's—fine old Republican tradition.
-- John Barnes, Directive 51

Apophasis stems from the Greek word apópha meaning "to say no, deny." The suffix -sis appears in Greek loanwords, where it forms an abstract noun from a verb, as in thesis.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Tuesday, October 9, 2012
catachresis \kat-uh-KREE-sis\, noun:

Misuse or strained use of words, as in a mixed metaphor, occurring either in error or for rhetorical effect.

This monstrous metaphor should more aptly be called a catachresis, an extravagant, unexpected figure, and we might be tempted to dismiss it as abusive misstatement. But neither the catachresis nor the monster can simply be dismissed…
-- Richard L. Regosin, Montaigne's Unruly Brood
Analepsis, catachresis, no: the word she was after was “floundering." She could already write the review of her unwritten book: “lwlarina Thwaite flounders about in her subject. with little direction and still less progress.“
-- Claire Messud, The Emperor's Children

Catachresis is derived from the Greek root chrêsis which meant "to use." The prefix cata- means "down, back, against." The word katachrêsthai meant "to misuse" in Greek.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Wednesday, October 10, 2012
anacoluthon \an-uh-kuh-LOO-thon\, noun:

1. A construction involving a break in grammatical sequence, as It makes me so—I just get angry.
2. An instance of anacoluthia.

She employed, not from any refinement of style, but in order to correct her imprudences, abrupt breaches of syntax not unlike that figure which the grammarians call anacoluthon or some such name.
-- Marcel Proust, The Remembrance of Things Past
Sometimes there is no main verb at all, or the sentence is an anacoluthon, beginning in one way and ending in another.
-- Anthony Hope, The Prisoner of Zenda

Anacoluthon has a very literal meaning in Greek. The root kolouth- meant "march." However this root has two prefixes. First, the prefix a- means "together." The other prefix "an-" means "not following." In Greek anakólouthos meant "not following."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Thursday, October 11, 2012
litotes \LAHY-tuh-teez\, noun:

Understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, as in “not bad at all.”

Stevens does not allow himself much of the Sublime here, yet it creeps in by negation in the litotes or understatement of the stanza's close.
-- Harold Bloom, Wallace Stevens: The Poems of Our Climate
I know it's a textbook example of what lit-crit geeks like to call litotes, a figure of speech in which an affirmative is expressed through the negation of its opposite…
-- Mark Dery, I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts

Litotes comes from the Greek word lītótēs which meant "plainness, simplicity."


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

Word of the Day for Friday, October 12, 2012
zeugma \ZOOG-muh\, noun:

The use of a word to modify or govern two or more words when it is appropriate to only one of them or is appropriate to each but in a different way, as in to wage war and peace or On his fishing trip, he caught three trout and a cold.

Of course, the zeugma is not an eighteenth-century invention, but it was not handled before then with such neatness and consciousness, and had not the same air of being the normal process of thought.
-- William Empson, Seven Types of Ambiguity
If we take "We will be proud of course the air will be" as a strong syntactical unit, a complete sentence, the parallelism of "we will be" and "the air will be" draws both these auxiliary phrases toward the yoke (or zeugma, in rhetorical parlance) of the main verb phrase.
-- Cary Nelson, Ed Folsom, W. S. Merwin: Essays on the Poetry

Zeugma stems from the Greek word of the same spelling which meant "a yoking."


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