Word of the day!
Hierophant (Noun)
Definition 1 : a priest in ancient Greece; specifically : the chief priest of the Eleusinian mysteries 2 a : a person who explains : expositor b : one who defends or maintains a cause or proposal : advocate Examples "My choir knew their order and moved into it neatly. One expects that nowadays; then, one often saw choirs jostling about, even arguing aloud about where to stand. I bowed to the High Priestess—here was no Polykrates who'd expect to be noticed first—took in the other hierophants with a general reverence, and made the Archon my homage." — Mary Renault, The Praise Singer, 1978 "The art world is a balkanized anarchy, with lots of little insides, lots of little games, better and worse people, hierophants and hustlers." — Peter Schjeldahl, The Village Voice, 6 June 2019 Did you know? Hierophant, hieroglyphics, and hierarch have a common root: hieros, a Greek word meaning "sacred." Hieroglyphics joins hieros with a derivative of glyphein, the Greek verb for "to carve." Hierarch, a word that can refer to a religious leader in a position of authority, joins hieros with a derivative of archein, meaning "to rule." Hierophant itself joins the root with a derivative of phainein, which means "to show." The original hierophants were priests of the ancient Greek city of Eleusis who performed sacred rites. In the 17th century, when the word was first documented in English, it referred to these priests. By the 19th century, English speakers were using the term in a broader sense. A hierophant can now be a spokesperson, a commentator, an interpreter, or a leading advocate.
surfeit
Definition 1 : an overabundant supply : excess 2 : an intemperate or immoderate indulgence in something (such as food or drink) 3 : disgust caused by excess Examples "The fracking boom in the United States has led to a surfeit of natural gas worldwide." — Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 3 Dec. 2019 "So we're keeping an eye on the next big opening, Limalimo, a 14-room lodge slated to debut in the Simien Mountains National Park in January or February. The design looks set to establish new standards: slick, sustainable (built of rammed earth and thatch), and with surfeits of natural light." — Maria Shollenbarger, The Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Aug. 2015 Did you know? There is an abundance—you could almost say a surfeit—of English words that derive from the Latin facere, meaning "to do." The connection to facere is fairly obvious for words spelled with "fic," "fac," or "fec," such as sacrifice, benefaction, and infect. For words like stupefy (a modification of Latin stupefacere) and hacienda (originally, in Old Spanish and Latin, facienda) the facere factor is not so apparent. As for surfeit, the "c" was dropped along the path that led from Latin through Anglo-French, where facere became faire and sur- was added to make the verb surfaire, meaning "to overdo." It is the Anglo-French noun surfet ("excess"), however, that Middle English borrowed, eventually settling on the spelling surfeit.
belated
Definition 1 : delayed beyond the usual time 2 : existing or appearing past the normal or proper time Examples Olivia called her friend on his birthday to let him know that a belated gift from her was on its way. "Although it airs in Hebrew and Yiddish with English subtitles, Shtisel ... has become such an international favorite that its creators are contemplating a belated third season, while Friends and Grace and Frankie co-creator Marta Kauffman is working on an American version." — Joy Press, Vanity Fair, 29 Aug. 2019 Did you know? Long ago, there was a verb belate, which meant "to make late." From the beginning, belate tended to mostly turn up in the form of its past participle, belated. Eventually, belate itself fell out of use, leaving behind belated as an adjective that preserved the original notion of delay. As you may have guessed, belate and its descendant belated derive from the adjective late; belate was formed by simply combining the prefix be- ("to cause to be") with late. Belated was also once used in the sense "overtaken by night," as in "belated travelers seeking lodging for the night." This sense was in fact the first meaning of the adjective, but it has since fallen into disuse.
vicarious
Definition 1 : experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another 2 a : serving instead of someone or something else b : that has been delegated 3 : performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or to the benefit or advantage of another : substitutionary 4 : occurring in an unexpected or abnormal part of the body instead of the usual one Examples "'Gravity' is a brilliantly realized, completely riveting, dread-drenched science fiction thriller about two astronauts stranded in orbit around Earth. And it turns out to be one amazing vicarious experience, simultaneously dream and nightmare, with a set of cinematic illusions that simply—well, maybe not so simply—astounds." — Bill Wine, The Chestnut Hill Local (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 15 Nov. 2019 "What kind of a play might Shakespeare have written if Lady Macbeth, rather than her husband, had been given the leading role? This is the premise of Kally Lloyd-Jones's bold and haunting new work, in which she tries to imagine the full story of a woman so deprived of purpose, so hell-bent on vicarious power, that she will goad her husband to commit regicide." — The Guardian (London), 9 Aug. 2017 Did you know? If you act in someone's stead, you take his or her place, at least temporarily. The oldest meaning of vicarious, which dates to the first half of the 1600s, is "serving instead of someone or something else." The word vicarious derives from the Latin noun vicis, which means "change," "alternation," or "stead." Vicis is also the source of the English prefix vice- (as in "vice president"), meaning "one that takes the place of."
hirsute
Definition 1 : hairy 2 : covered with coarse stiff hairs Examples Turner wore a hirsute mask as part of his werewolf costume for the school play. "Berry is a stocky, hirsute fellow, with a big, rich voice that immediately calls to mind the word 'thespian' and gives everything he says a sheen of (over)dramatic irony...." — Robert Lloyd, The Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2019 Did you know? Hirsute has nearly the same spelling and exactly the same meaning as its Latin parent, hirsutus. The word isn't quite one of a kind, though—it has four close relatives: hirsutism and hirsuties, synonymous nouns naming a medical condition involving excessive hair growth; hirsutal, an adjective meaning "of or relating to hair"; and hirsutulous, a mostly botanical term meaning "slightly hairy" (as in "hirsutulous stems"). The Latin hirsutus is also an etymological cousin to horrēre, meaning "to bristle." Horrēre gave rise to Latin horrōr-, horror, which has the various meanings of "standing stiffly," "bristling," "shivering," "dread," "consternation," and is the source, via Anglo-French, of our word horror. The word horripilation—a fancy word for goose bumps—is also a hirsute relation; its Latin source, horripilāre, means "to shudder," and was formed from horrēre and pilus ("hair").
outlandish
Definition 1 : of or relating to another country : foreign 2 a : strikingly out of the ordinary : bizarre b : exceeding proper or reasonable limits or standards 3 : remote from civilization Examples "In a letter sent to his mother ... [T.S. Eliot] wrote, 'I really think that I have far more influence on English letters than any other American has ever had, unless it be Henry James.' It's an outlandish claim, even if one allows for the kind of hyperbole to be found in a letter meant to impress one's parents." — Kevin Dettmar, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2019 "Seana Benz and Jimmy Johansmeyer create a hilarious series of outlandish costumes for the Carnegie sequence, which Woodall showcases in rapid succession." — Gene Terruso, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 15 Dec. 2019 Did you know? In olden times, English speakers used the phrase "outlandish man" to refer to a foreigner—or, one who came from an outland, which originally meant "a foreign land." From here, outlandish broadened in usage from a word meaning "from another land" to one describing something unfamiliar or strange. Dress was a common early target for the adjective; English novelist Henry Fielding, in Tom Jones (1749), writes of a woman who was "drest in one of your outlandish Garments." Nowadays, the word can be applied to anything that strikes us as out of the ordinary, from bizarre conspiracy theories to exaggerated boasting.
agrarian
Definition 1 : of or relating to fields or lands or their tenure 2 a : of, relating to, or characteristic of farmers or their way of life b : organized or designed to promote agricultural interests Examples "Young children were encouraged to take part in adult activities as soon as they were able.... In agrarian societies they had always been expected to help out at home and in the fields from an early age." — The Economist, 5 Jan. 2019 "The Village of Dunchurch is no exception.... Even as the region diversifies from its agricultural base and develops with extravagant cottages dotting the lakes, the village's agrarian roots are proudly celebrated during the course of this annual festivity." — The Parry Sound North Star, 7 Aug. 2019 Did you know? Today, an acre is generally considered to be a unit of land measuring 43,560 square feet (4,047 square meters). Before that standard was set, it's believed that an acre represented a rougher measurement: the amount of land that could be plowed in one day with a yoke of oxen. Both acre and agrarian derive from the Latin noun ager and the Greek noun agrós, meaning "piece of land, field." (You can probably guess that agriculture is another descendant.) Agrarian, first used in English in the 16th century, describes things pertaining to the cultivation of fields, as well as the farmers who cultivate them.
permutation (Noun)
Definition 1 : often major or fundamental change (as in character or condition) based primarily on rearrangement of existent elements; also : a form or variety resulting from such change 2 a : the act or process of changing the lineal order of an ordered set of objects b : an ordered arrangement of a set of objects Examples "Scientists have performed many permutations of the original MHC study, but the results suggest that people choose mates that have MHC genes that are dissimilar to their own—although not too dissimilar." — Caitlin O'Connell, Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse, 2015 "Two weeks after Wilder and Ortiz meet in the ring, Joshua and Ruiz plan to fight again in Saudi Arabia, which could generate several permutations of follow-up bouts, depending on who wins." — John Eligon, The New York Times, 22 Nov. 2019 Did you know? Permutation has not changed all that much since it was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-French as permutacioun, meaning "exchange, transformation." Permutacioun traces back to the Latin verb permutare, meaning "to change thoroughly, exchange," and ultimately derives from the Latin mutare, "to change." Other descendants of mutare in English include commute, mutant, and mutual. Permutation also has a specific application in the field of mathematics relating to the ordering of a given set of objects. For example, permutations of items a, b, and c are abc, acb, bac, etc.
Glom
Definition 1 : take, steal 2 : seize, catch Examples "It would not surprise me if the sampling 'Fleabag' receives from glomming an Emmy sets it up as a series that makes viewers eagerly await new seasons." — Neal Zoren, The Delaware County (Pennsylvania) Daily Times, 30 Sept. 2019 "The Captain is the alter ego of the kids' school principal, a real grump named Krupp ... who can't stand laughter or those boys. A magic plastic hypno-ring glommed out of a cereal box puts him under the lads' spell and has him peeling down to his underpants and going forth to, well, mess things up." — Soren Andersen, The Seattle Times, 1 June 2017 Did you know? It's a classic case of glomming: Americans seized on glaum (a term from Scots dialect that basically means "to grab") and appropriated it as their own, changing it to glom in the process. Glom first meant "to steal" (as in the purse-snatching, robber kind of stealing), but over time that meaning got stretched, resulting in figurative uses. Today we might say, for example, that a busy professional gloms a weekend getaway. Glom also appears frequently in the phrase "glom on to," which can mean "to appropriate for one's own use" ("glom on to another's idea"); "to grab hold of" ("glom on to the last cookie"); or "to latch on to" ("glom on to an opinion" or "glom on to an influential friend").
gist
Definition 1 : the ground of a legal action 2 : the main point or part : essence Examples I didn't catch every word, but I heard enough to get the gist of the conversation. "Ironically, the debate largely occurred on Twitter, one of the most effective disruptors of work productivity ever invented. And the gist was this: To succeed professionally, many Silicon Valley types said, one must be prepared to work not just long, but indeed punishing hours—workers must be prepared to give up 'nights and weekends.'"— Ethan Epstein, The Washington Times, 29 Dec. 2019 Did you know? The word gist often appears in such contexts as "the gist of the conversation was that..." to let us know that what follows will be a statement or summary that in some way encapsulates the main point or overarching theme. The gist of a conversation, argument, story, or what-have-you is what we rely on when the actual words and details are only imperfectly recalled, inessential, or too voluminous to recount in their entirety. Gist was borrowed from the Anglo-French legal phrase laccion gist ("the action lies or is based [on]") in the 17th century, and it was originally used in law as a term referring to the foundation or grounds for a legal action without which the action would not be legally sustainable.
Foible (Noun)
Definition 1 : the part of a sword or foil blade between the middle and point 2 : a minor flaw or shortcoming in character or behavior : weakness Examples "From family foibles to practical jokes to heritage-based barbs, we embrace it all with laughter and shrugs. Everybody's got skeletons in their closet; we might as well laugh." — Paula Brewer, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News, 22 Nov. 2019 "Stand-up comedians, those unvarnished truth tellers and astute observers of human nature, are funniest when they mine their own human foibles for laughs, with bonus points for relatability." — The Las Vegas Weekly, 20 Nov. 2019 Did you know? In the 1600s, English speakers borrowed the French word foible to refer to the weakest part of the sword or foil, that part being the portion between the middle and the pointed tip. Despite the superficial resemblance, foible does not come from foil. The French foible was an adjective meaning "weak." (That French word, which is now obsolete, is derived from the same Old French term, feble, which gave us feeble.) The English foible soon came to be applied not only to weaknesses in blades but also to minor failings in character. It appeared in print with that use in the 17th century, and now the "character flaw" sense is considerably more popular than the original sword application.
allege
Definition 1 : to assert without proof or before proving 2 : to bring forward as a reason or excuse Examples The lawsuit alleges that the company knew about the faulty switches but sold the product anyway. "While the ACCC does not allege Mr Vassella was directly involved in formulating or carrying out the alleged price-fixing scheme, court documents filed by the regulator say he was briefed on the plans within a month of their launch, and given regular presentations on progress for at least the next six months." — Eric Johnston, The Australian, 27 Dec. 2019 Did you know? These days, someone alleges something before presenting the evidence to prove it (or perhaps without evidence at all), but the word actually derives from the Middle English verb alleggen, meaning "to submit (something) in evidence or as justification." Alleggen, in turn, traces back to Anglo-French and probably ultimately to Latin allegare, meaning "to send as a representative" or "to offer as proof in support of a plea." Indeed, allege once referred to the actions of someone who came forward to testify in court; this sense isn't used anymore, but it led to the development of the current "assert without proof" sense.
Intercalate
Definition 1 : to insert (something, such as a day) in a calendar 2 : to insert between or among existing elements or layers Examples "The fossiliferous deposits ... consist of pale pinkish-orange brown clays, brownish grey siltstones and shale, and greenish grey fine to medium grained sandstones intercalated with dark grey conglomerates...." — M. A. Khan, et al., The Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 31 Dec. 2011 "In order for a lunar calendar to keep up with the solar year and the seasons, it is necessary to intercalate a 13th lunar month every two or three years." — Sacha Stern, Calendars in Antiquity: Empires, States, and Societies, 2012 Did you know? Intercalate was formed from the Latin prefix inter-, meaning "between" or "among," and the Latin verb calāre, meaning "to proclaim" or "to announce." It was originally associated with proclaiming the addition of a day or month in a calendar. An instance of intercalation occurred in the earliest versions of the Roman calendar, which originally consisted of 304 days and 10 months and was determined by the lunar cycle (the remaining 61.25 days of winter were apparently ignored). According to some Roman legends, it was Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, who intercalated the months January and February. Eventually, the word's use broadened to include other instances of introducing new elements or layers into a preexisting system.
sublimate
Definition 1 : to pass or cause to pass directly from the solid to the vapor state 2 : to divert the expression of (an instinctual desire or impulse) from its unacceptable form to one that is considered more socially or culturally acceptable Examples "These ice crystals are temporary from day to day. They develop at night when the air is at its coldest but melt or sublimate away during the day in warmer air or sunlight." — Robert Dryja, The Los Alamos (New Mexico) Daily Post, 29 Nov. 2019 "She stalks. She hacks. She grimace-smiles.... She polishes silver with barely-contained fury.... She rides horseback in a manner that announces a ferocious, yet sublimated, desire." — Dave White, The Wrap, 20 Apr. 2017 Did you know? To sublimate is to change the form, but not the essence. Physically speaking, it means to transform solid to vapor; psychologically, it means changing the outlet, or means, of expression from something base and inappropriate to something more positive or acceptable. The word sublimate comes from the Latin verb sublimare, which means "to lift up" or "to raise" and which is also the ancestor of our sublime. Sublimate itself once meant "to elevate to a place of dignity or honor" or "to give a more elevated character to," but these meanings are now obsolete.
dragoon
Definition 1 : to subjugate or persecute by harsh use of troops 2 : to force into submission or compliance especially by violent measures Examples The ragtag force, composed mostly of young men dragooned from the surrounding villages, quickly surrendered to the more professional army of its foes. "Too often, when a performer interacts with an audience, it's a cringe-fest: at best awkward, at worst humiliating for the poor spectator dragooned into serving as a prop." — Don Aucoin, The Boston Globe, 25 Sept. 2019 Did you know? A dragoon was a mounted European infantryman of the 17th and 18th centuries armed with a firearm called by the same name. No arm-twisting should be needed to get you to believe that the firearm's name, which came to English from French, is derived from its semblance to a fire-breathing dragon when fired. History has recorded the dragonish nature of the dragoons who persecuted the French Protestants in the 17th century during the reign of Louis XIV. The persecution by means of the dragoons led to the use of the word dragoon as a verb.
nurture
Definition 1 : to supply with nourishment 2 : educate 3 : to further the development of : foster Examples The mayor pushed for tax credits for small businesses as a way to nurture economic growth. "Nurture your marriage. While it's important to keep the kids happy, it's also important to set aside time for you and your spouse." — K. Lori Hanson, The Miami Herald, 17 Dec. 2019 Did you know? It's no coincidence that nurture is a synonym of nourish—both are derived from the Latin verb nutrire, meaning "to suckle" or "to nourish." The noun nurture first appeared in English in the 14th century, but the verb didn't arrive until the 15th century. Originally, the verb nurture meant "to feed or nourish." The sense meaning "to further the development of" didn't come into being until the end of the 18th century. Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, is credited with first giving life to that sense in her Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792): "Public spirit must be nurtured by private virtue," she wrote. Other nutrire descendants in English include nutrient, nutritious, nutriment, nutrition, and, of course, nourishment.
elixir
Definition 1 a (1) : a substance held to be capable of changing base metals into gold (2) : a substance held to be capable of prolonging life indefinitely b (1) : cure-all (2) : a medicinal concoction 2 : a sweetened liquid usually containing alcohol that is used in medication either for its medicinal ingredients or as a flavoring 3 : the essential principle Examples While the new sports complex is hardly an elixir for all of the city's economic woes, it should spur some much-needed job growth. "Before turning in on a really cold night, a hot toddy really helps knock off the edge. My elixir of choice is a cup of hot apple cider mixed with a shot of 12 Point Bourbon." — Bryan Hendricks, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 14 Nov. 2019 Did you know? Elixir has roots in the practice of alchemy; it was used in the Middle Ages as the word for a substance believed to be capable of changing base metals into gold. Its later use for a drug purported to prolong one's life led to its use in the names of medicines of mostly questionable effectiveness. Today, it is often used generally for anything thought capable of remedying all ills or difficulties, be they physical or otherwise. The word came to us via Middle English and Medieval Latin from Arabic al-iksīr; it probably ultimately derives from Greek xērion, meaning "desiccative powder."
artifice
Definition 1 a : clever or artful skill : ingenuity b : an ingenious device or expedient 2 a : an artful stratagem : trick b : false or insincere behavior Examples "A generation that's grown up with Snapchat-filtered selfies and pop feminism seems to have an innate understanding that artifice doesn't negate authenticity, or that a penchant for towering wigs and acrylic nails doesn't prevent someone from being a songwriting genius." — Lindsay Zoladz, The New York Times, 21 Nov. 2019 "It could all be rather enervating, but the sheer polish and panache of the cast's fluttering antics brings a smile to the lips—and Wilson introduced a soupçon of reality to offset the artifice. Having pretended to have a boyfriend, wealthy heiress Polly Browne ... affects to be a humble secretary after she's instantly smitten with errant rich-kid Tony, who's slumming it as an errand boy." — Dominic Cavendish, The Daily Telegraph (London), 3 Dec. 2019 Did you know? Do great actors display artifice or art? Sometimes a bit of both. Artifice stresses creative skill or intelligence, but it also implies a sense of falseness and trickery. Art generally rises above such falseness, suggesting instead an unanalyzable creative force. Actors may rely on some of each, but the personae they display in their roles are usually artificial creations. Therein lies a lexical connection between art and artifice. Artifice derives from artificium, Latin for "artifice." That root also gave English artificial. Artificium, in turn, developed from ars, the Latin root underlying the word art (and related terms such as artist and artisan).
euphoria
Definition : a feeling of well-being or elation Examples "In February 2014, Xenia gave birth to their daughter, Ella. Ben still recalls the euphoria of watching the nurse place their newborn on Xenia's chest. He still can't quite believe the song that played on the operating room radio, the refrain resounding in that moment: God only knows what I'd be without you." — Caitlin Gibson, The Washington Post Magazine, 9 Dec. 2019 "The floor became a dance-off—in one corner, dozens of girls put all their bags and backpacks in one giant pile, so nobody had to worry where their stuff was, and then danced around the pile in a circle that was really moving to behold, an example of how a Harry Styles concert creates crucial moments of utopian unity and shared euphoria." — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 14 Dec. 2019 Did you know? Health and happiness are often linked, sometimes even in etymologies. Nowadays euphoria generally refers to happiness, but it derives from euphoros, a Greek word that means "healthy." Given that root, it's not surprising that in its original English uses euphoria was a medical term. Its entry in an early 18th-century dictionary explains it as "the well-bearing of the Operation of a Medicine; that is, when the Sick Person finds himself eas'd or reliev'd by it." Modern physicians still use the term, but they aren't likely to prescribe something that will cause it. In contemporary medicine and psychology, euphoria can describe abnormal or inappropriate feelings such as those caused by an illicit drug or an illness.
tontine
Definition : a joint financial arrangement whereby the participants usually contribute equally to a prize that is awarded entirely to the participant who survives all the others Examples "For denizens of the realm, tontines were a very popular twist on the annuity because they appealed to the gambling spirit. An annuity would pay you a steady trickle of money (boring). A tontine would pay you more and more as time went on because other people would be dying and you would be accumulating their shares." — Jeff Guo, The Washington Post, 28 Sept. 2015 "Lord Deverell wanted a loan from me based upon his contribution. Wanted out of the tontine entirely, rather, but without having to go to the trouble of dying." — Theresa Romain, Lady Notorious, 2019 Did you know? Tontines were named after their creator, a Neapolitan banker named Lorenzo Tonti. In 1653, Tonti convinced investors to buy shares in a fund he had created. Each year, the investors earned dividends, and when one of them died, their share of the profits was redistributed among the survivors. When the last investor died, the capital reverted to the state. Louis XIV of France used tontines to save his ailing treasury and to fund municipal projects, and private tontines (where the last surviving investor—and subsequently their heirs—got the cash instead of the state) became popular throughout Europe and the U.S. Eventually, though, tontines were banned; there was just too much temptation for unscrupulous investors to bump off their fellow subscribers.
Weal
Definition : a sound, healthy, or prosperous state : well-being Examples Before presenting the bill to the legislature, the senator spoke of devotion to the general weal. "All our life ... is but a mass of habits,—practical, emotional, and intellectual,—systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be." — William James, Talks to Teachers on Psychology, 1899 Did you know? Weal is most often used in contexts referring to the general good. One reads, for example, of the "public weal" or the "common weal." The latter of these led to the formation of the noun commonweal, a word that once referred to an organized political entity, such as a nation or state, but today usually means "the general welfare." The word commonwealth shares these meanings, but its situation is reversed; the "political entity" sense of commonwealth is still current whereas the "general welfare" sense has become archaic. At one time, weal and wealth were also synonyms; both meant "riches" ("all his worldly weal") and "well-being." Both words stem from wela, the Old English word for "well-being," and are closely related to the Old English word for "well."
diligent
Definition : characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort : painstaking Examples After many hours of diligent research, the students were ready to compile their results. "Being informed and diligent is a better investing strategy than no strategy at all. And it keeps us from 'acting ridiculously' at just the wrong time." — Nancy Tengler, USA Today, 16 Dec. 2019 Did you know? You're more likely to be diligent about something if you love doing it. The etymology of diligent reflects the fact that affection can lead to energetic effort. The word, which entered English in the 14th century by way of Anglo-French, descends from the Latin verb diligere, meaning "to value or esteem highly" or "to love." The Latin diligere was formed by adding the di- prefix (from dis-, "apart") to the verb legere, an ancestor of the English legend, meaning "to gather, select" or "to read." Of course, you don't need to care for the task at hand in order to be diligent, but it certainly does help!
Mendacious (Adjectice)
Definition : given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truth Examples Students in the class analyze political speeches and learn how to separate exaggerations and mendacious claims from verifiable facts. "The periodical's skeptical approach to advertisers and authority figures helped raise a less credulous and more critical generation in the 1960s and 1970s. Today's media environment differs considerably from the era in which Mad [Magazine] flourished. But it could be argued that consumers are dealing with many of the same issues, from devious advertising to mendacious propaganda." — Michael J. Socolow, The Washington Post, 16 May 2018 Did you know? Mendacious and lying have very similar meanings, but the two are not interchangeable. Mendacious is more formal and literary, suggesting a deception harmless enough to be considered somewhat bland. Lying is more blunt, accusatory, and often confrontational. You might yell, "You lying rat!" in an argument, but you would most likely stick to the more diplomatic, "Aren't you being somewhat mendacious?" in a business meeting. Mendacious can also imply habitual untruthfulness, whereas lying is more likely to be used to identify specific instances of dishonesty.
bonhomie
Definition : good-natured easy friendliness Examples "For older athletes, the bonhomie among teammates and rivals who have spent years sprinting or skating together, or boxing one another out under the rim, is often as important as the exercise. Many have become friends off the court, sharing meals and socializing after games." — Robert Weisman, The Boston Globe, 4 Dec. 2019 "Throughout its history, the hugely successful TV show 'Downton Abbey' warmly embraced the tradition of the Christmas episode, a seasonally themed special that continued the endless narrative but with a particularly romantic and sentimental nod to what audiences wanted on Christmas Day, a time of familial togetherness and bonhomie." — Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune, 19 Nov. 2019 Did you know? English speakers borrowed bonhomie from French, where the word was created from bonhomme, which means "good-natured man" and is itself a composite of two other French words: bon, meaning "good," and homme, meaning "man." That French compound traces to two Latin terms, bonus (meaning "good") and homo (meaning either "man" or "human being"). English speakers have warmly embraced bonhomie and its meaning, but we have also anglicized the pronunciation in a way that may make native French speakers cringe. (We hope they will be good-natured about it!)
dauntless
Definition : incapable of being intimidated or subdued : fearless, undaunted Examples With dauntless persistence, the ship's crew navigated the vessel through the unexpected storm, escaping with minimal damage and no casualties. "Dug, as dauntless as ever, travels to the stronghold of his foes. The entrance is shielded by one gate after another, each shunting into position with a mighty clang, and finally, in the movie's best gag, by a little sliding bolt, such as you might find on a garden shed." — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2018 Did you know? The history of the world is peopled with dauntless men and women who refused to be "subdued" or "tamed" by fear. The word dauntless can be traced back to Latin domare, meaning "to tame" or "to subdue." When our verb daunt (a domare descendant adopted by way of Anglo-French) was first used in the 14th century, it shared these meanings. The now-obsolete "tame" sense referred to the taming or breaking of wild animals, particularly horses: an undaunted horse was an unbroken horse. Not until the late 16th century did we use undaunted with the meaning "undiscouraged and courageously resolute" to describe people. By then, such lionhearted souls could also be described as "undauntable" as well as "dauntless."
lily-livered
Definition : lacking courage : cowardly Examples "The deus ex machina aspect of Mando's comrades popping up to save him and Baby Yoda from certain death once he proved he wasn't a lily-livered Empire flunky kind of irked me, but I often have that complaint with sci-fi and superhero stories, both of which are prone to ending battles with an out-of-nowhere assist." — Katie Rife, The A.V. Club, 22 Nov. 2019 "I did see more salads than should be allowed in a place like this—something the tentacle-bearded sea captain would surely dismiss as lily-livered landlubber food. And when you're deep inside the belly of Helmsman Ale House, marvelling at the ... original arched, wood-beam ceilings that make you feel as if you've been swallowed by the hull of an ancient schooner, salad seems a silly thing to eat, especially while you're chugging a pint." — Edwin Goei, OC Weekly (Costa Mesa, California), 25 Sept. 2019 Did you know? The basis of the word lily-livered lies in an old belief. Years ago, people thought that health and temperament were the products of a balance or imbalance of four bodily fluids, or humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. It was believed that a deficiency of yellow bile, or choler, the humor that governed anger, spirit, and courage, would leave a person's liver colorless or white. Someone with this deficiency, and so white-livered, would be spiritless and a coward. Lily-livered and white-livered have been used synonymously since the 17th century, but lily-livered is now the more common expression, probably because of its alliteration.
lackluster
Definition : lacking in sheen, brilliance, or vitality : dull, mediocre Examples In spite of its owner's hard work, the coffee shop was forced to close due to lackluster sales. "Say what you will about the Cardinals' record this season, but they've shown fight and played with effort all year other than a lackluster performance during a 34-7 blowout by the Rams." — Bob McManaman, The Arizona Republic, 18 Dec. 2019 Did you know? In its earliest uses, lackluster (also spelled lacklustre) usually described eyes that were dull or lacking in brightness, as in "a lackluster stare." Later, it came to describe other things whose sheen had been removed; Charles Dickens, in his 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit, writes of the faded image of the dragon on the sign outside a village alehouse: "many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of grey." In addition to "a glow or sheen," luster can refer to a superficial attractiveness or appearance of excellence; it follows then that lackluster is often used as a synonym for unspectacular.
parvenu
Definition : one that has recently or suddenly risen to an unaccustomed position of wealth or power and has not yet gained the prestige, dignity, or manner associated with it Examples "It's impossible to exaggerate the rapidity with which Lexus came to dominate the North American luxury market. At its introduction in 1989, its competitors denigrated it as mere parvenu.... By 1990, the LS had become the bestselling large luxury sedan in the land." — David Booth, The Calgary Herald, 19 July 2019 "Croatia ... does not have one of the strongest leagues in the world, one in which most clubs rely on selling young players, for a premium, to the aristocrats and parvenus of England and Spain. In an era in which financial might so often makes right, when the traditional European powerhouses hold the balance of power to a greater extent than at any time in history, ... Croatia's achievement in making it this far is breathtaking." — Rory Smith, The New York Times, 15 July 2018 Did you know? French has been generous in providing us with terms for obscure folks who suddenly strike it rich. In addition to parvenu, French has loaned us nouveau riche, arriviste, and roturier, all of which can describe a rich person of plebeian origins, especially one who is a bit snobby. Those colorful and slightly disparaging terms for the newly moneyed clearly show their French heritage, but it may be harder to see the French background of a term Massachusetts locals once used for coastal merchants made rich through the fishing trade: codfish aristocracy. Codfish comes from Middle English (beyond that its origin is a mystery), but aristocracy passed into English via Middle French (it is ultimately from Greek aristos, meaning "best").
convoke
Definition : to call together to a meeting Examples "The gloves were off now, and to mobilize every possible moral and military advantage, the pope convoked a general church Council in Rome for 1241." — Adrian House, Francis of Assisi, 2000 "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently convoked a committee charged with proposing new standards for particle pollution, and two experts recommended a more careful look at exposure to harvest dust." — Garth Stapley, The Modesto (California) Bee, 10 Sept. 2016 Did you know? The Latin noun vox ("voice") and verb vocare ("to call") have given rise to many English words, including convoke. Other English descendants of those roots are usually spelled with voc and have to do with speaking or calling. Thus, a vocation is a special calling to a type of work; an evocative sight or smell calls forth memories and feelings; and a vocal ensemble is a singing group. Provoke, irrevocable, equivocate, and vociferous are a few of the other descendants of vox and vocare. The related noun convocation refers to a group of people who have been called together.
Cosmeticize (Verb)
Definition : to make (something unpleasant or ugly) superficially attractive Examples The documentary takes a hard look at life in the camp, never once cosmeticizing the experience of its inhabitants. "This time around, [Florian Henckel] von Donnersmarck is striving to deliver an epic that's palatable to wider audiences. But in cosmeticizing the painter's life, making this more of a love story crossed with wartime intrigue, he has overshot his target. With a little more truth, Never Look Away could have been really beautiful." — Andrea Gronvall, The Chicago Reader, 15 Feb. 2019 Did you know? Cosmeticize first appeared in print in the early 19th century as a descendant of the noun cosmetic. Originally, its use was often literal, with the meaning "to apply a cosmetic to," but today it is more frequently used figuratively. Cosmeticize does occasionally draw criticism; usage commentators are sometimes irritated by verbs coined using -ize as they can sound like silly nonce words. Cosmeticize is fairly well established, however, in contrast with the two other rarer verbs that have been derived from cosmetic: cosmetize and the homograph cosmetic, which often turn up in literal senses ("cosmetize the face"; "a face cosmeticked with bright rouge").
Penultimate
Definition (Adjective) 1 : next to the last 2 : of or relating to the next to the last syllable of a word Examples The penultimate episode of the TV series features some shocking plot twists that set up what will surely be a thrilling series finale. "There aren't too many players in [Major League Baseball] history who come to the plate in a game with their statue overlooking them from the outfield concourse. But such was the case in Paul Konerko's final two MLB games. The White Sox unveiled his statue on the left field concourse on September 27, 2014 prior to his penultimate game." — Chris Kamka, NBC Sports Chicago, 18 Nov. 2019 Did you know? Penultimate isn't the last word in words for things that are next to last. There is a pair of noun synonyms that are used commonly enough to have gained entry into abridged dictionaries: penult and penultima. Although all three can refer to something that's next to last, penult and penultima are usually a bit more specific; they are used most often to identify the next to last syllable of a word. All three derive from paenultima, the feminine of paenultimus, a Latin root from paene ("almost") and ultimus ("last"). You may occasionally hear the word penultimate used as an intensified version of ultimate, as in "a race they've called 'the penultimate challenge.'" This use isn't typically found in edited prose, however, or in dictionaries. One of our editors discusses it in
Canard
Definition (Noun) 1 a : a false or unfounded report or story; especially : a fabricated report b : a groundless rumor or belief 2 : an airplane with horizontal stabilizing and control surfaces in front of supporting surfaces; also : a small airfoil in front of the wing of an aircraft that can increase the aircraft's performance Examples "Naysayers have been saying that theater is dying, of course, only since the moment it was born. And as a theater critic, I work to debunk that persistent canard." — Lily Janiak, The San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Dec. 2019 "NHL players can't play in the Olympics because—though contrary to every publicly available metric—the league continues to trot out the canard about how interrupting the season is injurious to teams' financial health. Yes, players can get hurt in midseason competition.... Players also get hurt in exhibition games, but the owners have never considered canceling those matches that in essence are meaningless." — Larry Brooks, The New York Post, 14 Dec. 2019 Did you know? In 16th-century France, vendre des canards à moitié was a colorful way of saying "to fool" or "to cheat." The French phrase means, literally, "to half-sell ducks." No one now knows just what was meant by "to half-sell"; the proverb was probably based on some story widely known at the time, but the details have not survived. At any rate, the expression led to the use of canard, the French word for "duck," with the meaning of "a hoax" or "a fabrication." English speakers adopted this canard in the mid-1800s. The aeronautical sense of canard, used from the early days of flying, comes from the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft.
Penultimate
Definition (adjective) 1 : next to the last 2 : of or relating to the next to the last syllable of a word Examples The penultimate episode of the TV series features some shocking plot twists that set up what will surely be a thrilling series finale. "There aren't too many players in [Major League Baseball] history who come to the plate in a game with their statue overlooking them from the outfield concourse. But such was the case in Paul Konerko's final two MLB games. The White Sox unveiled his statue on the left field concourse on September 27, 2014 prior to his penultimate game." — Chris Kamka, NBC Sports Chicago, 18 Nov. 2019 Did you know? Penultimate isn't the last word in words for things that are next to last. There is a pair of noun synonyms that are used commonly enough to have gained entry into abridged dictionaries: penult and penultima. Although all three can refer to something that's next to last, penult and penultima are usually a bit more specific; they are used most often to identify the next to last syllable of a word. All three derive from paenultima, the feminine of paenultimus, a Latin root from paene ("almost") and ultimus ("last"). You may occasionally hear the word penultimate used as an intensified version of ultimate, as in "a race they've called 'the penultimate challenge.'" This use isn't typically found in edited prose, however, or in dictionaries. One of our editors discusses it in
Debonair
Definition (adjective) 1 : suave, urbane 2 : lighthearted, nonchalant Examples "Bacs, 47, has sharp features, including a pointed nose; he carries permanent stubble and slicks back his silvered hair, in the style of a debonair, world-conquering James Bond villain." — Cam Wolf, GQ, May 13, 2019 "The fat kolaches and muffins go fast, but that still leaves treats to take home: piercingly sweet lemon bars, debonair key lime tarts, and petite, fairy-tale-perfect chocolate cakes peeking out from cascades of pink icing." — Patricia Sharpe, The Texas Monthly, April 2019 Did you know? In Anglo-French, someone who was genteel and well-brought-up was described as deboneire—literally "of good family or nature" (from the three-word phrase de bon aire). When the word was borrowed into English in the 13th century, it basically meant "courteous," a narrow sense now pretty much obsolete. Today's debonair incorporates charm, polish, and worldliness, often combined with a carefree attitude (think James Bond). And yes, we tend to use this sense mostly, though not exclusively, of men. The "carefree" characteristic of a debonair person influenced the modern "lighthearted, nonchalant" sense of the word, as illustrated by film critic Owen Gleiberman: "It wouldn't be wrong to call Ocean's Eleven a trifle, but it's a debonair trifle made with high-wire effrontery, the kind that can't be faked. This giddy and glancing charade is one of the most sheerly pleasurable movies to come out this year...."
Redux (adjective)
Definition (adjective) : brought back—used postpositively Examples Following a spell of unseasonably warm weather in late March, April felt like winter redux as temperatures plunged back below freezing. "With No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama facing off in the 'Game of the Century' redux, ticket prices are surging to levels rarely seen across college football." — Jeff Nowak, The New Orleans Advocate, 5 Nov. 2019 Did you know? In Latin, redux (from the verb reducere, meaning "to lead back") can mean "brought back" or "bringing back." The Romans used redux as an epithet for the goddess Fortuna with its "bringing back" meaning; Fortuna Redux was trusted to bring those far from home back safely. It was the "brought back" meaning that made its way into English. Redux belongs to a small class of English adjectives that are always used postpositively—that is, they always follow the words they modify. Redux has a history of showing up in titles of English works, such as John Dryden's Astraea Redux (a 17th-century poem on the happy restoration and return of the majestic Charles the Second), Anthony Trollope's 19th-century Phineas Redux, and John Updike's 20th-century Rabbit Redux.
Shindig
Definition (noun) 1 a : a social gathering with dancing b : a usually large or lavish party 2 : fracas, uproar Examples "In the program notes, director Isaac Lamb says he's aiming for the vibe of a ceilidh—an impromptu Irish shindig with instruments, singing, dancing and booze." — Lee Williams, The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 11 Oct. 2019 "Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin tied the knot for the second time, one year after legally getting married in a New York City courthouse. The star-studded shindig took place in South Carolina ... with a weekend of festivities culminating in a ceremony and reception for 150 guests." — Jordan Julian, The Daily Beast, 2 Oct. 2019 Did you know? At a glance, shindig appears to combine shin and dig, and thus might seem to suggest a painful kick to the leg—especially when you know that one of the first senses of shindig in English refers to a gathering at which people dance. It is more likely, however, that shindig is an alteration of shindy, which is itself the alteration of another word, shinny, used of a variation of hockey that is played with a curved stick and a ball or block of wood. It's not entirely clear how the game of shinny gave shindy its first meaning (the "social gathering with dancing" meaning that is also the original meaning of shindig) but shinny remains the most likely origin.
Infantilize
Definition (verb) 1 : to make or keep infantile 2 : to treat as if infantile Examples "Food manufacturers have been infantilizing us by selling calorie-dense, salty, sweet stuff in brightly colored packages with exciting punctuation for a very long time. And we're buying it." — Tamar Haspel, The Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2019 "In China, we like to believe we honor the elderly. We pamper them with gifts of fancy fruit baskets, imported foods and other indulgences. But this shallow perspective on aging infantilizes the elderly and neglects to preserve their dignity." — Frankie Huang, The New York Times, 7 Dec. 2019 Did you know? Infantilize is just a baby, relatively speaking. It first saw the light of day in the early 1900s, when social scientists started using the term to discuss the ways in which treating humans as helpless can prolong or encourage their dependency on others. The adjective infantile, which gave birth to infantilize, is far more mature: it dates to the 17th century. Infantile sometimes literally means "relating to infants"—that is, to children in the first year of life—but it also has a broader meaning. If you chide someone for their infantile behavior, you rebuke the person for acting immaturely or childishly.
Resile
Definition (verb) : recoil, retract; especially : to return to a prior position Examples "Sir Keir Starmer, who has also announced his candidacy, said his aim was also to restore 'trust' in Labour. The manifesto, he conceded, was 'overloaded,' yet he did not resile from its ambitions." — The Telegraph (London), 6 Jan. 2020 "Morrison is determined for the card trials to succeed, with community support, and won't resile from his view that the best form of welfare remains a job. Critics of the program misconceive what welfare is about, he says." — Max Koslowski, The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 Sept. 2019 Did you know? Resile is a resilient word: it's been in use in English since the early 1500s. It's also a cousin of resilient, and both words derive from the Latin verb resilire, which means "to jump back" or "recoil." (Resilire, in turn, comes from salire, meaning "to leap.") Resilient focuses on the ability of something to "bounce back" from damage, whereas resile generally applies to someone or something that withdraws from an agreement or "jumps back" from a stated position. Resile is a word that shows up only occasionally in U.S. sources; it is more common in British and especially Australian English.
