Refluent

Word of the Day

 

 

refluent \ REH-floo-unt \ adjective

 

Definition

 

: flowing back

 

Examples

"And in haste the refluent ocean 
 Fled away from the shore and left the line of the sand-beach 

 Covered with waifs of the tide…."

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, 1847

"… and I could imagine that the clean water broke away from her sides in refluent wavelets as though in recoil from a thing unclean."
— Frank Norris, A Deal in Wheat and Other Stories of the New and Old West, 1903

 

Did You Know?

Refluent was first documented in English during the 15th century, and it can be traced back to the Latin verb refluere, meaning "to flow back."

Refluere, in turn, was formed from the prefix re- and the verb fluere ("to flow"). Other fluere descendants in English include confluent ("flowing together"), fluent and fluid (both of which share the earliest sense of "flowing easily"), circumfluent ("flowing around"), and even affluent (which first meant "flowing abundantly").

Refluent even has an antonym derived from fluere—effluent, meaning "flowing out."

Amphibology

Word of the Day

 

amphibology \ am-fuh-BAH-luh-jee \ noun

 

Definition

: a sentence or phrase that can be interpreted in more than one way

Examples

Still feeling some of the effects of her recent cold, Tara was bemused by the amphibology on the café's menu: "Try our soup—you won't get better."

"I have started an amphibology collection: my favourite to date is the garage that advertises its services with the words: 'Why go anywhere else to be robbed?'"
— Jonathan Ford, Financial Times, July 27, 2012

 

Did You Know?

A venerable old word in English, amphibology is from Greek amphibolos (via Late Latin and Latin). Amphibolos, from amphi- ("both") and ballein ("to throw"), literally means "encompassing" or "hitting at both ends"; figuratively it means "ambiguous."
Amphibology is an equivocator's friend. An editor who has been sent an unsolicited manuscript to critique, for example, might reply, "I shall lose no time in reading your book." Or a dinner guest who feels the onset of heartburn might say something like, "Ah, that was a meal I shall not soon forget!" But amphibology’s ambiguity can be unintended and undesirable as well, as in "When Mom talked to Judy, she said she might call her back the next day." (Who said who might call whom back?)

Verdigris

Word of the Day

 

verdigris \ VER-duh-greess \ noun

Definition

: a green or bluish deposit formed on copper, brass, or bronze surfaces

 

Examples

"Metals gain a rich … verdigris over time, looking better with age and weathering."
— Maureen Gilmer, Biloxi (Mississippi) Sun Herald, January 16, 2015

"They are covering up not only the verdigris that developed on the copper roof, but also years of wear and tear that caused the roof to leak."
— Kyle Stokes, Indiana Public Media, September 16, 2013

Did You Know?

"Green of Greece"—that is the literal translation of vert de Grece, the Anglo-French phrase from which the modern word verdigris descends. A coating of verdigris forms naturally on copper and copper alloys, such as brass and bronze, when those metals are exposed to air. (It can also be produced artificially.)
The word verdigris has been associated with statuary and architecture, ancient and modern, since it was first used in the 14th century. Some American English speakers may find that they know it best from the greenish blue coating that covers the copper of the Statue of Liberty.

Ulterior

Word of the Day

ulterior \ ul-TEER-ee-er \ adjective

Definition

1a : lying farther away : more remote
1b : situated on the farther side

 

2: going beyond what is openly said or shown

 

Examples

"While their campaign does shed light on an important issue, their good intentions are undercut by their ulterior motive, which is to make a profit."
— Robert Lees, The Highlander (University of California-Riverside), February 10, 2015

"Dreyer describes Seuss's personal collection of paintings and sculptures as 'secret art.' Geisel literally kept them in the closet … and his widow, Audrey Geisel, has never sold an original Seuss. She authorized high-quality lithograph prints so the public can see the ulterior side of her late husband."
— Alexandria (Virginia) Times, December 6, 2011

 

Did You Know?

Although now usually hitched to the front of the noun motive to refer to a hidden need or desire that inspires action, ulterior began its career as an adjective in the mid-17th century describing something occurring at a subsequent time.
By the early 18th century it was being used to mean both "more distant" (literally and figuratively) and "situated on the farther side."
The "hidden" sense with which we’re most familiar today followed quickly after those, with the word modifying nouns like purpose, design, and consequence.

Ulterior comes directly from the Latin word for "farther" or "further," itself assumed to be the comparative form of ulter, meaning "situated beyond."

Jackanapes

Word of the Day

jackanapes \ JAK-uh-nayps \ noun

Definition

1: monkey, ape

2a : an impudent or conceited fellow
2b: a saucy or mischievous child

 

Examples

Mrs. Hobson had her neighbor's son pegged as a disrespectful jackanapes and was therefore reluctant to hire him to shovel the driveway.

"If I were still the rambunctious little jackanapes I once was, I would have stayed in the room and played astronaut all day."
— Christopher Muther, Boston Globe, August 16, 2014

 

Did You Know?

William de la Pole, the Duke of Suffolk, was a well-regarded soldier and commander during the Hundred Years' War. It was during his dukedom (1448–1450), however, that England lost its possessions in northern France, and his popularity consequently suffered. The coat of arms for de la Pole's family sported an image of a collar and chain that, at the time, was commonly used for leashing pet monkeys, then known as jackanapes (a word whose precise origin is uncertain). By association, people gave the Duke the nickname "Jack Napis," and soon jackanapes took on a life of its own as a word for an impudent person and, later, a misbehaving child.

Obstinate

Word of the Day

obstinate \ AHB-stuh-nut \ adjective

Definition

1: perversely adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion

2: not easily overcome or removed

Examples

As usual, Jasper remained obstinate in his opinion even though the facts were clearly stacked against him.

"The obstinate 55-year-old tenant who refused to vacate her crumbling East Harlem apartment building so that it could be renovated was evicted last month."
— Jan Ransom, Daily News (New York), October 29, 2014

Did You Know?

If you're obstinate, you're just plain stubborn. Obstinate, dogged, stubborn, and mulish all mean that someone is unwilling to change course or give up a belief or plan.
Obstinate suggests an unreasonable persistence; it's often a negative word.
Dogged implies that someone goes after something without ever tiring or quitting; it can be more positive.
Stubborn indicates a resistance to change, which may or may not be admirable. Someone who displays a really unreasonable degree of stubbornness could accurately be described as mulish.

Zephyr

Word of the Day

zephyr \ ZEFF-er \ noun

Definition

1a : a breeze from the west
1b : a gentle breeze

2: any of various lightweight fabrics and articles of clothing

Examples

"There was not even a zephyr stirring; the dead noonday heat had even stilled the songs of the birds."
— Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, 1876

"Strangely enough, by the end of a Maine winter, a 32-degree breeze feels like a palm-scented zephyr from Bali."
— Brett Willis, Portland (Maine) Press Herald, January 8, 2015

Did You Know?

For centuries, poets have eulogized Zephyrus, the Greek god of the west wind, and his "swete breeth" (in the words of Geoffrey Chaucer). Zephyrus, the personified west wind, eventually evolved into zephyr, a word for a breeze that is westerly or gentle, or both. Breezy zephyr may have blown into English with the help of William Shakespeare, who used the word in his 1611 play Cymbeline: "Thou divine Nature, thou thyself thou blazon'st / In these two princely boys! They are as gentle / As zephyrs blowing below the violet."
Today, zephyr is also the sobriquet of a lightweight fabric and the clothing that is made from it.

Sprachgefühl

Word of the Day

sprachgefühl \ SHPRAHKH-guh-fuel \ noun

Definition

1: the character of a language

 

2: an intuitive sense of what is linguistically appropriate

 

Examples

One review of the book praised the author's sprachgefühl and her graceful, literary style.

"Robert Dankoff patiently taught me Ottoman Turkish, attempting to instill in me Sprachgefühl, and carefully corrected every inaccurate transliteration and translation that I insisted he read."
— Marc David Baer, Honored by the Glory of Islam, 2008

 

 

Did You Know?

Sprachgefühl was borrowed into English from German at the end of the 19th century and combines two German nouns, Sprache, meaning "language, speech," and Gefühl, meaning "feeling." (Nouns are capitalized in German, and you'll occasionally see sprachgefühl capitalized in English too, as in our second example.) We're quite certain that the quality of sprachgefühl is common among our readers, but the word itself is rare, making only occasional appearances in our language.

Controvertible

Word of the Day

 

controvertible \ KAHN-truh-ver-tuh-bul\ adjective

 

Definition

: capable of being disputed or opposed by reason

 

Examples

"A key piece of evidence was found at last: a copy of John of Balliol's words of homage and of feudal recognition to Edward I. Because these words had been formally drawn up by a notary public, they constituted firm and not-readily controvertible evidence."

— Hunt Janin, Medieval Justice: Cases and Laws in France, England and Germany, 500-1500, 2004

"There are two sisters…. Each possesses a ferociously 'true' version of a shared childhood scene. All these decades later, the sisters still can't agree, still won't agree…. One sister has to be right, and one sister has to be wrong—the proof is controvertible.… How would you know who is telling the truth?"

— Beth Kephart, Chicago Tribune, November 21, 2013

 

Did You Know?

If you're familiar with incontrovertible, you may have wondered about the existence of controvertible. Both words are direct descendants of controvert ("to dispute or oppose by reasoning"), which dates back to 1584 in English and itself derives from controversy.

 

Controvertible was documented in print as early as 1610, and incontrovertible turned up around thirty years later. Controversy comes to us (through Anglo-French) from the Latin controversus, meaning "disputable," and can ultimately be traced back to the Latin contro- ("against") and versus, the past participle of vertere ("to turn").

Inveigle

Word of the Day

inveigle \ in-VAY-gul \ verb

Definition

1a: to win over by wiles
1b: entice

2a: to acquire by ingenuity or flattery
2b: wangle

Examples

I was relieved when I finally managed to inveigle her assistant into fitting me into her schedule.

"… but now the industry is headed down a path where more loathsome strategies are being put in place to inveigle consumers to throw down their dough before learning whether or not the game is actually worth buying."
— Paul Tamburro, Craveonline.com, January 21, 2015

 

Did You Know?

Inveigle, a word that dates from the 16th century, refers to the act of using clever talk, trickery, or flattery either to persuade somebody to do something or to obtain something. What could such a word possibly have to do with blindness?
Inveigle came to English from the Anglo-French verb enveegler, which means "to blind or hoodwink someone," from the adjective enveugle, meaning "blind."
Enveugle derives from the Medieval Latin ab oculis, a phrase which literally translates to "lacking eyes." You might say that a person who is inveigled to do or give up something is too "blinded" by someone's words to know that he or she is being tricked.

Rhadamanthine

Word of the Day

 

rhadamanthine \ rad-uh-MAN-thun \ adjective

Definition

: (often capitalized) rigorously strict or just

 

Examples

The judge took the maliciousness of the crime into account and decided upon a rhadamanthine punishment.

"Sometimes, she writes with incandescent hope; often, she manifests a disagreeable proclivity for passing Rhadamanthine judgment on us all."
— Andrew Solomon, New York Times, December 12, 2014

 

Did You Know?

In Greek mythology, there were three judges of the underworld: Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus.

Minos, a son of Zeus and Europa, had been the king of Crete before becoming supreme judge in the underworld after his death.

Aeacus, another son of Zeus, was king of Aegina before joining the underworld triumvirate.

Rhadamanthus, brother of Minos and king of the Cyclades Islands, was especially known for being inflexible when administering his judgment—hence, the meaning of rhadamanthine as "rigorously strict or just."

Ides

Word of the day

 

ides \ ˈīdz \ noun (plural but singular or plural in construction)

 

: the 15th day of March, May, July, or October or the 13th day of any other month in the ancient Roman calendar

 

broadly :  this day and the seven days preceding it

 

Example:

Caesar:
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.Caesar: What man is that?Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.

Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 15–19

Did you know?

The soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," has forever imbued that date with a sense of foreboding. But in Roman times the expression "Ides of March" did not necessarily evoke a dark mood—it was simply the standard way of saying "March 15." Surely such a fanciful expression must signify something more than merely another day of the year? Not so. Even in Shakespeare's time, sixteen centuries later, audiences attending his play Julius Caesar wouldn't have blinked twice upon hearing the date called the Ides.

The term Ides comes from the earliest Roman calendar, which is said to have been devised by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Whether it was Romulus or not, the inventor of this calendar had a penchant for complexity. The Roman calendar organized its months around three days, each of which served as a reference point for counting the other days:

• Kalends (1st day of the month)
• Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months)
• Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months)

The remaining, unnamed days of the month were identified by counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides. For example, March 3 would be V Nones—5 days before the Nones (the Roman method of counting days was inclusive; in other words, the Nones would be counted as one of the 5 days).

Days in MarchMarch 1: Kalends;
March 2: VI Nones;
March 3: V Nones;
March 4: IV Nones;
March 5: III Nones;
March 6: Pridie Nones (Latin for "on the day before");
March 7: Nones;
March 15: Ides

Used in the first Roman calendar as well as in the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C.E.) the confusing system of Kalends, Nones, and Ides continued to be used to varying degrees throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.
So, the Ides of March is just one of a dozen Ides that occur every month of the year. Kalends, the word from which calendar is derived, is another exotic-sounding term with a mundane meaning. Kalendrium means account book in Latin: Kalend, the first of the month, was in Roman times as it is now, the date on which bills are due.


Read more: Ides of March http://www.infoplease.com/spot/ides1.html#ixzz3UFvpTHZA

Mythomania

Word of the Day

 

mythomania \ mith-uh-MAY-nee-uh \ noun

Definition

: an excessive or abnormal propensity for lying and exaggerating

 

Examples

The idea of trust is an important theme in the book; the reader is never sure of the extent of the protagonist's mythomania.

"The pathological liar … cannot help lying, even when the lie causes harm. It is this aspect of mythomania that distinguishes it as an illness rather than a habit."

— Gloria Wall, Journal Review (Crawfordsville, Indiana), April 27, 2012

 

Did You Know?

We wouldn't lie to you about the history of mythomania. It comes from two ancient roots, the Greek mythos (meaning "myth") and the Late Latin mania (meaning "insanity marked by uncontrolled emotion or excitement"). One myth about mythomania is that it's a very old word; actually, the earliest known uses of the term date only from the beginning of the 20th century. It was predated by a related word, mythomaniac, which appeared around the middle of the 19th century. Mythomaniac initially referred to someone who was obsessed with or passionate about myths, but it was eventually used for individuals affected with or exhibiting mythomania. 

Lucrative

Word of the Day

lucrative \ LOO-kruh-tiv \ adjective

Definition

: producing wealth
: profitable

 

Examples

The company announced plans to expand its manufacturing operations soon after it won a lucrative contract with the government.

"Many mistakenly believe they need to spend years in school … before they can start earning a decent salary; this is simply a misconception. In fact, there are a number of lucrative jobs out there that don't require a college degree."
— Laura Woods, Dallas Morning News, January 23, 2015

Did You Know?

Paying, gainful, remunerative, and lucrative share the meaning of bringing in a return of money, but each term casts a different light on how much green you take in. Paying is the word for jobs that yield the smallest potatoes—your first paying job probably provided satisfactory compensation, but you weren't going to get rich by it. Gainful employment might offer a bit more cash, and gainful certainly suggests that an individual is motivated by a desire for gain. Remunerative implies that a job provides more than the usual rewards, but a lucrative position is the one you want—those are the kind that go well beyond your initial hopes or expectations.

Fatidic

Word of the Day

 

fatidic \ fay-TID-ik \ adjective

Definition

: of or relating to prophecy

 

Examples

I hope the dream I had last night about losing my wedding ring doesn't prove fatidic.

"Shakespeare strews his plays with portents; Pushkin probes his life for fatidic dates; but no writer can have been more fascinated by patterns in time than Nabokov."
— Brian Boyd, Stalking Nabokov: Selected Essays, 2011

 

Did You Know?

As you might guess, fatidic is a relative of the word fate. The Latin word for fate is fatum, which literally means "what has been spoken." Fatum, in turn, comes from fari, meaning "to speak." In the eyes of the ancients, your fate was out of your hands—what happened was up to gods and demigods. Predicting your fate was a job for oracles and prophets. Fatidic is fatum combined with dicere, meaning "to say." That makes fatidic a relative of the word predict as well; the -dict of predict also comes from Latin dicere.

Panjandrum

Word of the Day

 

panjandrum \ pan-JAN-drum \ noun

Definition

: a powerful personage or pretentious official

 

Examples

Little gets done in this town without the approval of the local panjandrums on the board of selectmen.

"Unexpectedly, this private sector panjandrum launched into a paean of praise for the public service ethos."
— David Walker, The Guardian, January 30, 2015

 

 

Did You Know?

Panjandrum looks like it might be a combination of Latin and Greek roots, but in fact it is a nonsense word coined by British actor and playwright Samuel Foote around 1755. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Foote made up a line of gibberish to "test the memory of his fellow actor Charles Macklin, who had asserted that he could repeat anything after hearing it once." Foote's made-up line was, "And there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at the top." Some 75 years after this, Foote's passage appeared in a book of stories for children by the Anglo-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth. It took another quarter century before English speakers actually incorporated panjandrum into their general vocabulary.

Eolian

Word of the Day

eolian \ ee-OH-lee-un \ adjective

Definition

: borne, deposited, produced, or eroded by the wind

Examples

The park is known for its eolian caves—chambers formed in sandstone cliffs by powerful winds.

"Basaltic minerals in the mudstone are similar to those in nearby eolian deposits."
— D. T. Vaniman et al., Science, December 9, 2013

Did You Know?

When Aeolus blew into town, things really got moving. He was the Greek god of the winds and the king of the floating island of Aeolia. In The Odyssey, Homer claims Aeolus helped Odysseus by giving him a favorable wind. Aeolus also gave English speakers a few terms based on his name, including today's adjective eolian (also spelled aeolian), which is often used for wind-sculpted geological features such as caves and dunes, and aeolian harp, an instrument that makes music when the wind blows across its strings.

Ilk

Word of the Day

 

ilk \ ILK \ noun

Definition

: sort, kind

 

Examples

The hole beneath the stairs of the cabin's porch allows in squirrels, woodchucks, and other creatures of that ilk.

"In many parts of the world, anyone who will ever buy a smartphone probably has done so, and now we're on to the steady business of buying a new one only when we break, lose, or need to replace our old phones. When analysts discuss growth predictions for cell phones and their ilk, they signal nothing but caution."

— Lindsey Turrentine, CNET, February 6, 2015

 

Did You Know?

The Old English pronoun ilca is the predecessor of the modern noun ilk, but by way of a pronoun ilk that does not exist in most dialects of modern English. That ilk is synonymous with same, and persists in Scots where it's used in the phrase "of that ilk," meaning "of the same place, territorial designation, or name." It is used chiefly in reference to the names of land-owning families and their eponymous estates, as in "the Guthries of that ilk," which means "the Guthries of Guthrie." Centuries ago a misunderstanding arose concerning the Scots phrase: it was interpreted as meaning "of that kind or sort," a usage that found its way into modern English. Ilk has been established in English with its current meaning and part of speech since the late 18th century.

Sprightly

Word of the Day

 

sprightly \ SPRYTE-lee \ adjective

Definition

1: marked by a cheerful lightness and vivacity (as of movement or manner) : spirited

 

2: having a distinctively piquant taste

 

Examples

Uncle Jack, a sprightly man nearing 90, was an avid storyteller, and we all listened with rapt attention as he regaled us with his newest tale.

"The somber, pensive orchestral prelude to Act III was magnificent…. And Mr. Levine actually seemed to gain energy during the long final scene in the meadow, with the sprightly country dances and celebratory marches." — Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, December 3, 2014

 

Did You Know?

Sprightly comes from spright, an archaic version of the word we now use for an elf or fairy: sprite. Ariel from Shakespeare's The Tempest and the leprechaun of Irish mythology are often referred to as sprites, and it's no coincidence that both are characterized by their light, flitting movements and mannerisms. Sprite derives via Middle English and Old French from the Latin spiritus, which of course gives us spirit as well. A similar-looking adjective that can describe someone who is nimble and energetic is spry, but that word is believed to be of Scandinavian origin.

Thanatology

Word of the Day

 

thanatology \ than-uh-TAH-luh-jee \ noun

Definition

: the description or study of the phenomena of death and of psychological mechanisms for coping with them

 

Examples

One of the seminal texts on thanatology is Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's On Death and Dying, which outlines the five stages of grief.

"In her eight-week yoga for grief course, Stang … uses her background in thanatology—the scientific study of death, dying and bereavement—to educate participants about death and normalize their experiences."
— Anna Medaris Miller, U.S. News & World Report, January 7, 2015

 

Did You Know?

In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the personification of death and the twin brother of Hypnos (Sleep). The ancient Greeks eventually came to use thanatos as a generic word for "death."
Thanatology is a direct linguistic heir of the Greek term and was first documented in English in the mid-1800s. As a science, thanatology examines attitudes toward death, the meaning and behaviors of bereavement and grief, and other matters. In 1935, the word thanatos itself made its debut in English, ushered in with psychoanalytic theory to describe an unconscious tendency toward self-destruction.

Pontificate

Word of the Day

pontificate \ pahn-TIF-uh-kayt \ verb

Definition

1a : to officiate as a pontiff
1b : to celebrate pontifical mass

 

2: to speak or express opinions in a pompous or dogmatic way

 

Examples

Stan loves to hear himself talk and will often pontificate on even the most trivial issues.

"Though the game was another dud—a Patriots' blowout of the hapless Colts—sports columnists worldwide were given a unique chance to pontificate on, of all things, the air pressure of footballs."

— Shelly Griffith, Daily Post-Athenian (Athens, Tennessee), January 30, 2015

 

Did You Know?

In ancient Rome, the pontifices were powerful priests who administered the part of civil law that regulated relationships with the deities recognized by the state. Their name, pontifex, derives from the Latin words pons, meaning "bridge," and facere, meaning "to make," and some think it may have developed because the group was associated with a sacred bridge over the river Tiber (although there is no proof of that). With the rise of Catholicism, the title pontifex was transferred to the Pope and to Catholic bishops. Pontificate derives from pontifex, and in its earliest English uses it referred to things associated with such prelates. By the late 1800s, pontificate was also being used derisively for individuals who spoke as if they had the authority of an ecclesiastic.