What's Your Word for the Day? Showing 2,851-2,900 of 3,049

[Ruth]

Joanne wrote: "My word today is "severely." I am severely liberal."

Me too, Joanne. Me too.

Or should that be, "I am, too?"

[Joanne]

I'm glad you is.

[Ken, Moderator]

moiety (n.) (MOY-ih-tee) -- A part, portion, or share; half.

Can we divide this pie into equal moieties?

[Ruth]

Newengland wrote: "moiety (n.) (MOY-ih-tee) -- A part, portion, or share; half.

Can we divide this pie into equal moieties?"

Only if you say please.

[Aryn]

Stephen wrote: "I WAS just kidding.

But the old school grammarian complaining about the cigarette ad wording was saying that when used as a conjunction between two clauses "as" should be used. "Like" should be..."
Thanks, you all, for making my day with this exchange!

[Ken, Moderator]

Hi, Aryn. Didn't know you were lodging in this folder!


sciolism (n.) (SIGH-uh-liz-im) -- Superficial knowledge; shallow learning; charlatanism.

At the Republican presidential debate, there was a lot of sciolism on display.

[Joanne]

Thanks, Newengland, it sounds classier than BS.

[Ken, Moderator]

Sure thing, J!

sanative (SAN-uh-tive) (adj.) -- Having the power to cure or heal.

I think that naps have a sanative effect, don't you?

[Ken, Moderator]

My naps are brief (alas).

brummagem (BRUHM-uh-juhm) n. -- Describes something that looks great but performs poorly.


Seems most every car I buy is a brummagem.

[Stephen]

I'd never heard this one before. I looked it up on Dictionary.com It's interesting that the roots are derived from Birmingham. Guess their manufacturing there wasn't quite "Bristol fashion"I wonder if this was also the derivation of the Aussie word for a mustang (brumby)

[Ruth]

bru•mal (br m l) adj. Of, relating to, or occurring in winter.

Our latest prompt in the Poem-a-Day workshop

[Ken, Moderator]

boreal (adj.) -- pertaining to, related, or having to do with the north or northern climes and thus winter.

A word I much prefer, as "brumal" sounds too much like "vernal."

[Carol]

Aurora Borealis pertaining to winter lights. Boreal sounds exotic to me, because of the Auroras-

[Ken, Moderator]

traduce (truh-DOOSS) (v.) -- to speak maliciously of; slander.

The wise man keeps a best friend who would never traduce him. Reason? Said BF's a dog.

[Ken, Moderator]

scintilla (sin-TILL-ah) n. -- a spark; a tiny trace amount.


"The air twittered with bright SCINTILLAS of fading light." -- Harlan Ellison

[Ken, Moderator]

And Casey survived just fine, right?

besotted (bih-SOTT-ed) adj. -- Made foolish, stupid, or dull due to infatuation.

Lulu is besotted not so much with Mortimer as with Mort's inheritance.

[Carol]

Here is a nice little word for the day.

aperçu
\ a-per-SY \ , noun;
1.
A hasty glance; a glimpse.
2.
An immediate estimate or judgment; understanding; insight.
3.
An outline or summary.

The teacher asked for an apercu of the book.

[Ken, Moderator]

It's one of those words that's clunky in the mouth when you attempt to speak it. LOOKS nice and all, but clunky in the mouth.

Is there a word for words that clunk in the mouth?

[Ken, Moderator]

Precisely.

[Carol]

This is silly ,but a favorite word of mine is Montego I love the way it rolls around in my mouth. , and then it spits out. The Bay is a nice addition.

Montego Bay ,Jamaica

[Ken, Moderator]

Wasn't it a car once upon a time?

[Carol]

Yes ,a Mercury.

[Ken, Moderator]

Ah, the same poison in our teeth fillings. Nice....

[Barry]

Hecatomb -- the sacrifice or slaughter of many victims.

Just ran across this one in an article and had to look it up.

[Ken, Moderator]

Sounds like a shape you'd expect to find in geometry texts.

[Barry]

Well, you could have a hecatomb in a hexagon--that might be cool.

[Ken, Moderator]

Accent on might!

[Ken, Moderator]

poniard (n.) -- a small, slender dagger.

(Catching up on my medieval weaponry as I read Don Quixote again for the first time.)

[Stephen]

I'm always curious about the roots and origins of words and it occurred to me that I had no clue about the roots of poniard.

Turns out that it comes from the Latin root, pugnus for fist as this small dagger is held in the fist.

Makes me wonder about the word repugnant... Guess "them's fighting words"

[Ken, Moderator]

Sounds reasonable to me (and the local pugilists)!

[Kate]

vox populi: expression of the prevailing mood, concerns, and opinions in a country . . . a fave from my word-a-day . . .

[Ken, Moderator]

In that vein, I just used lingua franca yesterday -- though how bastardized French became the coin of the tongue's realm, I know not.

[Kate]

je ne sais quoi . . .

[Stephen]

Newengland wrote: "In that vein, I just used lingua franca yesterday -- though how bastardized French became the coin of the tongue's realm, I know not." I find it ironic that English is now pretty much the de facto lingua franca in every country but France...

[Ruth]

Stephen wrote: " I find it ironic that English is now pretty much the de facto lingua franca in every country but France..."

I've thought that, too.

[Ken, Moderator]

Just saw this in an advice column yesterday where a woman wondered whether she could replace her husband (who had to stay home from a distant wedding to watch their uninvited kids) with another guest:

fungible - (especially of goods) being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind.

P.S. The columnist's answer: Sorry, but no.

[Wendy]

Stephen wrote: "I'm always curious about the roots and origins of words and it occurred to me that I had no clue about the roots of poniard.

I have a book on how, where, and why certain idioms originated. Some entries are hysterical!

[Ken, Moderator]

For example...?

[Cathy]

By Jupiter! I just found out the adjectival form is "Jovian" as in "the Jovian moon Europa". Never knew that.

[Ken, Moderator]

Rolls off the tongue nicely, doesn't it? Unlike "Jupiterian," I mean.

[Cathy]

Wendy wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I'm always curious about the roots and origins of words and it occurred to me that I had no clue about the roots of poniard.

I have a book on how, where, and why certain idioms or..."

I subscribe to Idiomizer.com - very interesting reading about the equivalents in other languages.

[Cathy]

Newengland wrote: "Rolls off the tongue nicely, doesn't it? Unlike "Jupiterian," I mean."

Yep, love it!

[Joanne]

Just had the patch taken off after cataract surgery. My word is "luminous."

[Ruth]

Joanne wrote: "Just had the patch taken off after cataract surgery. My word is "luminous.""

I take it it was succesful!

[Joanne]

Yes it was. I'm birdwatching, and can tell a hawk from a dove.

[Ken, Moderator]

perspicacity -- keenness of vision

[Maryam]

Synovial(adj): Synovial fluid
a transparent viscid lubricating fluid secreted by a membrane of an articulation, bursa, or tendon sheath

[Ken, Moderator]

That one's a new one on me (and apparently IN me)!

[Stephen]

My suggested word for the day is

Twee

/twē/
Adjective
Excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental.

Any day that I can learn a new four letter word is a good day. (It'll probably help in Scrabble too!)

[Ken, Moderator]

Reminds me of ee cummings. Let's see. Does he use that word in the poem "In Just" or is it a similar word? Google break....