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Word of the Day
conn
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Tue, 07/20/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 20, 2010 is:
conn • \KAHN\ • verb
: to conduct or direct the steering of (as a ship)
Example sentence:
The captain successfully conned his ship through the ice-packed waters.
Did you know?
In the 19th century, warships (and, later, submarines) began to be built with structures known as "conning towers." These structures were so called because it was from them that an officer could "conn" the vessel. The verb "conn" (also spelled "con") is first known to have appeared in English in the 1600s. It is an alteration of "cond," which is probably an alteration of Middle English "condien" or "conduen," meaning "to conduct." Since the 19th century, "conn" has also been used as a noun ("the control exercised by one who conducts or directs the steering of a ship"). This noun, though seldom encountered in general English, is likely familiar to fans of the various Star Trek series in which the directive "You have the conn" is sometimes given from the starship captain to another officer on the bridge.
Barmecidal
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Mon, 07/19/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 19, 2010 is:
Barmecidal • \bahr-muh-SYE-dul\ • adjective
: providing only the illusion of abundance
Example sentence:
The tax rebate is a Barmecidal windfall, coming as it does in the wake of new hidden taxes on consumer goods and services.
Did you know?
"Barmecide" is the name of a family of princes in a tale from The Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment). One prince in the family torments a beggar by inviting him to a fabulous feast, at which all the dishes are imaginary. The poor man plays along with his malicious host, pretending to get drunk on the imaginary wine; he then gets even by knocking down the patronizing royal.
agita
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sun, 07/18/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 18, 2010 is:
agita • \AJ-uh-tuh\ • noun
: a feeling of agitation or anxiety
Example sentence:
"Bank nationalization would drive the stock market down and increase the agita of people with 401(k) plans." (Nicholas Lemann, New Yorker, April 6, 2009)
Did you know?
Judging by its spelling and meaning, you might think that "agita" is simply a shortened version of "agitation," but that's not the case. Both "agitation" and the verb "agitate" derive from Latin "agere" ("to drive"). "Agita," which first appeared in American English in the early 1980s, comes from a dialectical pronunciation of the Italian word "acido," meaning "heartburn" or "acid," from Latin "acidus." ("Agita" is also occasionally used in English with the meaning "heartburn.") For a while the word's usage was limited to New York City and surrounding regions, but the word became more widespread in the mid-90s.
burgle
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sat, 07/17/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 17, 2010 is:
burgle • \BER-gul\ • verb
*1 : to break into and steal from 2 : to commit burglary against
Example sentence:
Mike was aghast upon returning home to discover that someone had burgled his house while he was away.
Did you know?
"Burglary," which means "forcible entry into a building especially at night with the intent to commit a crime (as theft)," and "burglar" ("one who commits burglary") have been with us since the 16th century. "Burgle" and its synonym "burglarize" didn't break into the language until the 19th century, however, arriving almost simultaneously around 1870. "Burgle" is a back-formation (that is, a word formed by removing a suffix or prefix) from "burglar." "Burglarize" comes from "burglar" as well, with the addition of the familiar "-ize" ending. Both verbs were once disparaged by grammarians ("burgle" was considered to be "facetious" and "burglarize" was labeled "colloquial"), but they are now generally accepted. "Burglarize" is slightly more common in American English, whereas "burgle" seems to be preferred in British English.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
bandbox
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Fri, 07/16/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 16, 2010 is:
bandbox • \BAND-bahks\ • noun
1 : a usually cylindrical box of cardboard or thin wood for holding light articles of attire *2 : a structure (as a baseball park) having relatively small interior dimensions
Example sentence:
"Baseballs flew out of there at a record pace for a while, and everyone had theories about why this stadium was behaving like a bandbox, despite similar dimensions to the old place." (Filip Bondy, Daily News [New York], November 8, 2009)
Did you know?
In the 17th century, the word "band" was sometimes used for ruffs, the large round collars of pleated muslin or linen worn by men and women of the time period, and the bandbox was invented for holding such bands. The flimsy cardboard structure of the box inspired people to start using its name for any flimsy object, especially a small and insubstantial one. But people also contemplated the neat, sharp appearance of ruffs just taken from a bandbox and began using the word in a complimentary way in phrases such as "she looked as if she came out of a bandbox." Today, "bandbox" can also be used as an adjective meaning "exquisitely neat, clean, or ordered," as in "bandbox military officers."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
ab initio
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Thu, 07/15/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 15, 2010 is:
ab initio • \ab-ih-NISH-ee-oh\ • adverb
: from the beginning
Example sentence:
"What does not exist ab initio is wealth; wealth must be created by sustained human effort." (Richmond Times Dispatch [Virginia], December 14, 2008)
Did you know?
We’ll tell you right from the beginning where "ab initio" comes from. This adverb was adopted at the end of the 16th century directly from Latin, and it translates, unsurprisingly, as "from the beginning." ("Initio" is a form of the noun "initium," meaning "beginning," which gave rise to such English words as "initial," "initiate," and "initiative.") "Ab initio" most frequently appears in legal contexts, but our example sentence is not out of the norm. Recently, people have also begun using "ab initio" as an adjective meaning "starting from or based on first principles" (as in "predicted from ab initio calculations").
prolegomenon
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Wed, 07/14/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 14, 2010 is:
prolegomenon • \proh-lih-GAH-muh-nahn\ • noun
: prefatory remarks; specifically : a formal essay or critical discussion serving to introduce and interpret an extended work
Example sentence:
The book is introduced by a lengthy prolegomenon, which is followed by 17 chapters of analysis.
Did you know?
"Prolegomenon" is the singular and "prolegomena" is the plural of this scholarly word, though people sometimes mistakenly interpret "prolegomena" as the singular. The word, which comes from the Greek verb "prolegein" ("to say beforehand"), first appeared in print around 1652. It has appeared in the titles of noteworthy scholarly and philosophical works, but it has never been as common in general use as its older cousin "prologue." "Prologue" usually refers to an introduction to a literary work or to a speech addressed to the audience at the beginning of a play. "Prolegomenon" is most often used of the introduction to a work of scholarly analysis. Both words can also be used in a broader sense to refer generally to something that serves as an introduction.
autochthonous
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Tue, 07/13/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 13, 2010 is:
autochthonous • \aw-TAHK-thuh-nus\ • adjective
1 : indigenous, native *2 : formed or originating in the place where found
Example sentence:
"People tend to admire cultural forms that seem autochthonous, sprung from their native soil." (Stephen Greenblatt, Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2005)
Did you know?
Ancient Athenians considered their ancestors the primordial inhabitants of their land, as if sprung from the very soil of the region they inhabited. Their word for any true-born Athenian, "autochthōn," itself springs from "auto-," meaning "self," and "chthōn," meaning "earth." Nowadays, the English adjective "autochthonous" is often used in somewhat meaty scientific or anthropological writing (as in "several autochthonous cases of fever broke out in the region"), but it was a "bready" context in which it made its debut. Observed English literary critic William Taylor in 1805: "The English have this great predilection for autochthonous bread and butter" (rather than French bread, one might safely presume).
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
stand pat
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Mon, 07/12/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 12, 2010 is:
stand pat • \STAND-PAT\ • verb
1 : to play one's hand as dealt in draw poker without drawing *2 : to oppose or resist change
Example sentence:
"We cannot afford to stand pat while the world races by." (President Barack Obama, remarks at Carnegie-Mellon University, June 2, 2010)
Did you know?
If you stand pat in draw poker you're betting on the cards in your hand being better than any you're likely to draw. It didn't take long for "stand pat" to move from the poker table, where it first appeared in the late 1800s, to the realm of politics; by the early 20th century, to stand pat was to oppose any change in U.S. tariff policy. The term continues to be used mainly in U.S. English, where it's applied to everything from a coach's decision not to change out players during a game to a homeowner's decision not to refinance. The nouns "standpatter" ("one who resists or opposes change") and "standpattism" ("resistance to change" or "reluctance to take positive action") are also used, although generally only in political contexts.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
perfidious
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sun, 07/11/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 11, 2010 is:
perfidious • \per-FID-ee-us\ • adjective
: of, relating to, or characterized by faithlessness or disloyalty : treacherous
Example sentence:
"Businessmen are constantly scheming to get the government to beat up on their competitors, and the best excuse of all is that the competitor is a perfidious foreigner." (The Wall Street Journal, October 27, 1992)
Did you know?
We wouldn't lie to you about the history of "perfidious" -- even though the word itself suggests deceitfulness. The modern English meaning of "perfidious" remains faithful to that of its Latin ancestor, "perfidus," which means "faithless." English speakers have used "perfidious" to mean "treacherous" since at least 1572. One of the earliest known uses of the term can be found in Act V, scene iii of Shakespeare’s All's Well That Ends Well: the "perfidious slave" Parolles is thought to be an unreliable witness; he’ll say whatever suits his purpose, whether true or not. In contemporary usage, "perfidious" not only implies treacherousness, but an inability to be reliable or honorable.
sinew
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sat, 07/10/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 10, 2010 is:
sinew • \SIN-yoo\ • noun
1 : tendon; especially : one dressed for use as a cord or thread 2 a : solid resilient strength : power* b : the chief supporting force : mainstay -- usually used in plural
Example sentence:
"For at Trout-hall … there is usually an Angler that proves good company. And let me tell you, good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue." (Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler, 1653)
Did you know?
Many parts of the body have come to have figurative meanings in English. One can have an eye for interior design, for example, or the stomach for a fight. "Muscle," of course, can mean "strength," and so can "sinew," a word for the tissue that ties muscle to bone -- more commonly known as a tendon. (For a while, "sinew" also meant "nerve," but that usage is obsolete.) The use of "sinew" to mean "the chief supporting force" ties into its anatomical function as a stabilizing unit. "Sinew" derives via Middle English from Old English "seono"; it is also related to Old High German "senawa" ("sinew") and Sanskrit "syati" ("he binds").
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
struthious
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Fri, 07/09/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 09, 2010 is:
struthious • \STROO-thee-us\ • adjective
: of or relating to the ostriches and related birds
Example sentence:
"The law is not so struthious as to compel a judge … to divorce himself or herself from common sense or to ignore what is perfectly obvious." (Hon. Bruce M. Selya, U.S. v. Sklar, U.S. Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit, 1990)
Did you know?
"Struthious" can be scientific and literal, or it can be figurative with the meaning "ostrich-like," as in our example sentence. The extended use suggests a tendency to bury one’s head in the sand like an ostrich. But do ostriches really do this? No -- the bird’s habit of lying down and flattening its neck and head against the ground to escape detection gave rise to the misconception. The word "struthious" has been fully visible in English since the 18th century. "Ostrich" is much older. Anglo-French speakers created "ostriz" from Vulgar Latin "avis struthio" ("ostrich bird"); Middle English speakers made it "ostrich" in the 13th century. Scientists seeking a genus word for ostriches turned back to Latin, choosing "struthio."
congeries
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Thu, 07/08/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 08, 2010 is:
congeries • \KAHN-juh-reez\ • noun
: aggregation, collection
Example sentence:
As we walked past the food stalls our nostrils were assailed by a congeries of exotic, unfamiliar smells.
Did you know?
What do "epitome," "circus," "tribunal," and "congeries" have in common? All are part of a relatively small collection of English nouns that made the transition from Latin to English unaltered in both spelling and meaning. "Congeries" joined this group in our language in the early 1600s. Latin "congeries" comes from the Latin verb "congerere," which means "to carry or bring together" and which is also the source of our word "congest." In English, "congeries" stands out because it is a singular word with a plural appearance -- and its plural is also spelled "congeries."
infra dig
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Wed, 07/07/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 07, 2010 is:
infra dig • \IN-fruh-DIG\ • adjective
: being beneath one's dignity : undignified
Example sentence:
"Among artists lithography was infra dig by the 1870's -- because commercial illustrators had discovered it was a perfect printing medium for glaring posters." (D. J. R. Bruckner, The New York Times, December 20, 1998)
Did you know?
In her autobiography, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." In other (less eloquent) words, don't put up with any treatment or situation that is unendurably infra dig. The word "infra dig" is used in relatively casual, sometimes sarcastic contexts (e.g., "Apparently, drugstore-purchased shampoo is too infra dig for my glamorous sister -- only the most expensive salon shampoos will do!"). "Infra dig" is a shortened version of the Latin phrase "infra dignitatem," meaning "beneath dignity."
peloton
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Tue, 07/06/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 06, 2010 is:
peloton • \pel-uh-TAHN\ • noun
: the main body of riders in a bicycle race
Example sentence:
"The first major splits occur in the peloton at about the 110-mile mark, where many riders find they can no longer keep up." (Michael Barry, The New York Times, September 26, 2008)
Did you know?
If you've ever watched the Tour de France on television, you've seen the peloton, the brightly colored pack of riders making up the central group. You may have also gained some inadvertent insight into the word itself, which as you may have guessed is French in origin. In French, "peloton" literally means "ball," but it is most often used with the meaning "group." It's frequently used in the bicycling context, just as in English, but it can also refer to a group in a marathon or other sporting event. French "peloton" can also mean "squad" or "platoon," and since we’ve told you that you probably won’t be too surprised to learn that it is also the source of our word "platoon."
ponderous
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Mon, 07/05/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 05, 2010 is:
ponderous • \PAHN-duh-rus\ • adjective
1 : of very great weight *2 : unwieldy or clumsy because of weight and size 3 : oppressively or unpleasantly dull : lifeless
Example sentence:
"Electronic texts can be updated at the speed of a download rather than waiting for the next edition of a ponderous textbook." (St. Petersburg Times [Florida], June 6, 2010)
Did you know?
"Ponderous" is ultimately from the Latin word for "weight," namely, "pondus" (which also gave us "ponder" and "preponderance" and is related to "pound"). We adopted "ponderous" with the literal sense "heavy" from Anglo-French "ponderus" in the 15th century, and early on we appended a figurative sense of "weighty," that is, "serious" or "important." But we stopped using the "serious" sense of "ponderous" around 200 years ago -- perhaps because in the meantime we'd imposed on it a different figurative sense of "dull and lifeless," which we still use today.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
cadence
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sun, 07/04/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 04, 2010 is:
cadence • \KAY-dunss\ • noun
*1 : a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds (as in language) 2 : a musical chord sequence moving to a harmonic close or point of rest 3 : the modulated and rhythmic recurrence of a sound especially in nature
Example sentence:
"She sang, and her voice flowed in a rich cadence, swelling or dying away, like a nightingale of the woods." (Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818)
Did you know?
Falling into the hands of English speakers in the 14th century, "cadence" derives via Middle English and Old Italian from the Latin verb "cadere," meaning "to fall." ("Cadere" can be found in the history of many common English words, including "decay," "coincide," and "accident"). We most often hear "cadence" used in contexts pertaining to voice or music -- it might refer to the familiar way in which someone speaks, or the rhythms employed by a rap artist, or the rising and falling notes of a bird’s call. "Cadenza," the Old Italian word that factors into the history of "cadence," has its own place in English as well, usually referring to a brilliant musical flourish played before closing out an aria.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Antaean
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sat, 07/03/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 03, 2010 is:
Antaean • \an-TEE-un\ • adjective
1 : mammoth *2 : having superhuman strength
Example sentence:
The movie's climax is a suspenseful fight sequence between the Antaean heroine and her grotesque alien nemesis.
Did you know?
In Greek mythology, Antaeus was the gigantic and powerful son of Gaea the Earth goddess and Poseidon the sea god. Antaeus was a wrestler and whenever he touched his mother (the Earth), his strength was renewed, so he always won his battles even if his opponents threw him to the ground. He proved invincible until he challenged Hercules to wrestle. Hercules discovered the source of the giant's strength, lifted him off the ground, and crushed him to death. In 18th century England, the poet William Mason discovered the power of "Antaean" as a descriptive English adjective, when he used it in his Ode to the Hon. William Pitt: "If foil'd at first, resume thy course / Rise strengthen'd with Antaean force."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
nescience
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Fri, 07/02/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 02, 2010 is:
nescience • \NESH-ee-unss\ • noun
: lack of knowledge or awareness : ignorance
Example sentence:
"[Samuel] Johnson was so vexed by a young clergyman's nescience that he complained, 'His ignorance is so great, I am afraid to show him the bottom of it.'" (Barry Baldwin, Verbatim, June 22, 2003)
Did you know?
Eighteenth-century British poet, essayist, and lexicographer Samuel Johnson once said, "There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable that I would not rather know it than not know it." He probably knew a thing or two about the history of the word "nescience," which evolved from a combination of the Latin prefix "ne-," meaning "not," and "scire," a verb meaning "to know." And he may also have known that "scire" is an ancestor of "science," a word whose original meaning in English was "knowledge."
advert
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Thu, 07/01/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 01, 2010 is:
advert • \ad-VERT\ • verb
1 : to turn the mind or attention *2 : to call attention in the course of speaking or writing : make reference
Example sentence:
"Adverted to in the very first 'Star Wars' film, the Clone Wars take place in the narrative gap between 'Attack of the Clones' and 'Revenge of the Sith,' when Anakin Skywalker is still on the not-dark side of the force." (Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, October 3, 2008)
Did you know?
You may be familiar with the noun "advert," which is used, especially in British sources, as a shortened form of "advertising." That's one way to use "advert," but it has also been used as a verb in English since the 15th century. There's a hint about the origin of the verb in the idea of "turning" the mind or attention to something; the word derives via Anglo-French from the Latin verb "advertere," which in turn comes from Latin "vertere," meaning "to turn." "Vertere" is the ancestor of a number of words in English, including "controversy," "divert," "invert," "revert," and even "versatile." In addition, we'd like to turn your attention to one particular ''vertere" descendant: "avert," meaning "to avoid." Be careful to avoid mixing this one up with "advert."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
