Lost Word Of The Day (57)

We are familiar with egregious which means outstandingly or shockingly bad, but is it not time to restore its antonym, eximious, to favour. Coming from the Latin eximius, which means set apart or select, it means select, distinguished, excellent.

It was first recorded in the English language between 1540 to 1545, one of a wave of words, such as gondola, horizon, mandate, telltale, and vacuum, that entered the language at the time. Unlike the others, though, it soon fell into obscurity.

Its return to use would be an eximious event, for sure.