Foist

WORD OF THE DAY

foist / verb / FOIST

Definition

1a: to introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant

1b: to force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit

2: to pass off as genuine or worthy

Examples

"I probably should have apologized for bringing her into this house and foisting my family upon her, burdening her with her own role in our domestic drama." 

— Ani Katz, A Good Man, 2020

"Then I went off to college and I had to read more novels. It would seem that 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was foisted on me, but upon reflection, I am glad it was." 

— Michael Zabrodsky, The Post-Journal (Jamestown, New York), 28 Jan. 2021

Did You Know?

An early sense of the word foist, now obsolete, referred to palming a phony die and secretly introducing it into a game at an opportune time. 

The action involved in this cheating tactic reflects the etymology of foist. 

The word is believed to derive from the obsolete Dutch verb vuisten, meaning "to take into one's hand." 

Vuisten in turn comes from vuyst, the Middle Dutch word for "fist," which itself is distantly related to the Old English ancestor of fist. 

By the late 16th century, foist was being used in English to mean "to insert surreptitiously," and it quickly acquired the meaning "to force another to accept by stealth or deceit."

        

Alacrity

WORD OF THE DAY

alacrity / noun / uh-LAK-ruh-tee

Definition
1: promptness in response
2: cheerful readiness

Examples
"Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart. And while the late steamer Big Missouri worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple...."
— Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876

"The Barred Owl will quietly sit on a branch until some unsuspecting victim passes by, and then silently and with alacrity, this owl will swoop down for the coup de grâce."
— Ginna Parsons, The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, Mississippi), 14 Feb. 2021

Did You Know?
"I have not that alacrity of spirit / Nor cheer of mind that I was wont to have," says William Shakespeare's King Richard III in the play that bears his name.
Alacrity derives from the Latin word alacer, meaning "lively" or "eager." It denotes physical quickness coupled with eagerness or enthusiasm.
Are there any other words in English from Latin alacer? Yes—allegro, which is used as a direction in music with the meaning "at a brisk lively tempo.”
It came to English via Italian (where it can mean "merry") and is assumed to be ultimately from alacer.

 

Diffident

 WORD OF THE DAY

diffident / adjective / DIF-uh-dunt

Definition
1: hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence
2: reserved, unassertive
3 (archaic): distrustful

Examples
Always diffident and soft-spoken, Tony did not raise any objection when the cashier overcharged him for his purchase.

"His small but indelible role in this melancholy farce didn't even make the trailer, but he's hilarious as the kind but diffident manager of a discount outlet store, especially in a scene where he has to announce the death of a beloved colleague whose name he can't remember."
— Chris Hewitt, The Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 20 Jan. 2021

Did You Know?
Diffident and confident are etymologically related antonyms, perched at opposite ends of a scale of self-assurance. Both words trace back to the Latin verb fīdere, which means "to trust."
Diffident arose from a combination of fīdere and the prefix dis-, meaning "the absence of"; it has been used to refer to individuals lacking in self-trust since the 15th century.
Confident arose from confīdere, a term created by combining fīdere with the intensifying prefix con-. That term has been used for self-trusting folks since at least the late 16th century. 

Fīdere puts the trust in several other English words too, including fidelity and fiduciary.

Sesquipedalian

 WORD OF THE DAY

sesquipedalian / adjective / sess-kwuh-puh-DAIL-yun

Definition
1a: having many syllables
1b: long
2: using long words

Examples
Jacob's editor advised him to pare away the sesquipedalian prose he favored and opt for simpler language that would reach more readers.

"For generations, college-bound kids have memorized sesquipedalian word lists and spent hours or days, if not months, mastering the theory of guessing among other test-taking tricks and gimmicks to propel them to a high score on the pivotal SAT exam."
— Jill Tucker, The San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Feb. 2016

Did You Know?
Horace, the ancient Roman poet known for his satire, was merely being gently ironic when he cautioned young poets against using sesquipedalia verba—"words a foot and a half long"—in his book Ars poetica, a collection of maxims about writing.
But in the 17th century, English literary critics decided the word sesquipedalian could be very useful for lambasting writers using unnecessarily long words.
Robert Southey used it to make two jibes at once when he wrote "the verses of [16th-century English poet] Stephen Hawes are as full of barbarous sesquipedalian Latinisms, as the prose of [the 18th-century periodical] the Rambler."
The Latin prefix sesqui- is used in modern English to mean "one and a half times," as in sesquicentennial (a 150th anniversary).

Equinox

WORD OF THE DAY

equinox / noun / EE-kwuh-nahks

Definition
1: either of the two points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic
2: either of the two times each year (as about March 21 and September 23) when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are everywhere on earth of approximately equal length

Examples
"The first recorded New Year’s celebration traces back to Mesopotamia, where 4,000 years ago the ancient Babylonians kicked off an 11-day festival called Akitu on the vernal equinox."
— Cody Cottier, Discover (discovermagazine.com), 30 Dec. 2020

"Groundhog Day's origins lie in the ancient European celebration of Candlemas, which is a point midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox—the exact midpoint of astronomical winter."
— Doyle Rice, USA Today, 2 Feb. 2021

Did You Know?
Equinox descends from aequus, the Latin word for "equal" or "even," and nox, the Latin word for "night"—a fitting history for a word that describes days of the year when the daytime and nighttime are equal in length.
In the northern hemisphere, the vernal equinox marks the first day of spring and occurs when the sun moves north across the equator. (Vernal comes from the Latin word ver, meaning "spring.")
The autumnal equinox marks the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere and occurs when the sun crosses the equator going south. In contrast, a solstice is either of the two moments in the year when the sun's apparent path is farthest north or south from the equator.

Quash

 WORD OF THE DAY

quash / verb / KWAHSH

Definition
1: to nullify especially by judicial action

Examples
"His appeal [of a zoning decision allowing the school to be built], which attorneys for the district and developer said threatened the entire project, was quashed by a judge in February for being late."
—  Jack Tomczuk, Northeast Times (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 11 Mar. 2020

"In Chesterfield County, a tenant had to request an emergency hearing when the landlord refused to call off a scheduled eviction after receiving a signed declaration. A judge quashed the eviction….. "
— Mark Robinson, The Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, 27 Sept. 2020

Did You Know?
There are two quash verbs in the English language, and although their meanings are similar, they have entirely different origins.
Both essentially mean to get rid of something—you can quash a rumor, for example, or you can quash a judicial order.
The legal term quash (meaning "to nullify") comes from the Anglo-French words casser or quasser, meaning "to annul," and is ultimately from Latin cassus, "to void."
The other quash means "to suppress or extinguish summarily and completely." It derives from the Middle English word quashen, meaning "to smash," and is ultimately from a form of the Latin verb quatere, meaning "to shake."

Jurisprudence

 WORD OF THE DAY

jurisprudence / noun / joor-us-PROO-dunss

Definition

1: the science or philosophy of law

2a: a system or body of law

2b: the course of court decisions as distinguished from legislation and doctrine

3: a department of law

Examples

A basic premise of American jurisprudence is that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

"There is a long-standing tradition in First Amendment jurisprudence that courts should not impose 'prior restraints' on speech." 

— Jack Greiner, The Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, 24 Nov. 2020

Did You Know?

"For a farewell to our jurisprudent, I wish unto him the gladsome light of jurisprudence…." 

With this valedictory to English jurist Sir Thomas Littleton, another jurist, Sir Edward Coke, welcomed two new words into English. 

In 1628, his jurisprudence meant "knowledge of or skill in law," a now archaic sense that reflects the meaning of the word's root. 

Jurisprudence goes back to Latin prudentia juris (literally "skill in law"), from which was derived the Late Latin formation jurisprudentia, and subsequently the English word. The noun jurisprudent means "one skilled in law"—in other words, a jurist. 

There's also jurisprude, a somewhat rare 20th-century back-formation created from jurisprudence with influence from prude. It means "one who makes ostentatious show of jurisprudential learning."

Inimitable

 WORD OF THE DAY

inimitable / adjective / in-IM-it-uh-bul

Definition
1: not capable of being imitated
2: matchless

Examples
"Both writers were inimitable even as they were widely imitated.… Barthelme's particular brilliance was so original, so sui generis, despite its tutelage at the feet of pages by Joyce, Beckett, and Stein, that even his own brothers Frederick and Steven, also fiction writers of intelligence and style, wrote more like Carver."
— Lorrie Moore, The New York Review of Books, 26 Mar. 2009

"There aren't that many beauty and fashion icons who can captivate fans for a span of decades, but Miss Piggy is surely one of them. To celebrate her inimitable look, she now has her very own makeup collection, a collaboration between Disney and Ciaté London."
— Celia Shatzman, Variety, 2 Nov. 2020

Did You Know?
Something that is inimitable is, literally, not able to be imitated.
In actual usage the word describes things so uniquely extraordinary as to not be copied or equaled, which is why you often hear it used to praise outstanding talents or performances. (The antonym imitable describes things that are common or ordinary and could easily be replicated or surpassed.)
Inimitable derives via Middle English from Latin inimitabilis.
Be careful not to confuse it with inimical or inimicable, two adjectives meaning "hostile" or "harmful"; those words derive from the same Latin root that gave English enemy—inimīcus.

Prevaricate

 WORD OF THE DAY

prevaricate / verb / prih-VAIR-uh-kayt

Definition
1: to deviate from the truth
2: equivocate

Examples
"It amused him to hear the ethical and emotional platitudes of lawyers, to see how readily they would lie, steal, prevaricate, misrepresent in almost any cause and for any purpose."
— Theodore Dreiser, The Financier, 1912

"One official reflected to me that leaders are frequently moved to action only when they meet one another in person. Phone calls are simply not the same. It’s too easy to hang up, prevaricate, and turn back to the domestic problems."
— Thomas Wright, The Atlantic, 4 Mar. 2020

Did You Know?
Prevaricate and its synonyms lie and equivocate all refer to playing fast and loose with the truth. Lie is the bluntest of the three.
When you accuse someone of lying, you are saying that person was intentionally dishonest, no bones about it.
Prevaricate is less accusatory and softens the bluntness of lie, usually implying that someone is evading the truth rather than purposely making false statements.
Equivocate is similar to prevaricate, but it generally implies that someone is deliberately using words that have more than one meaning as a way to conceal the truth.

Fiscal

 WORD OF THE DAY

fiscal / adjective / FISS-kul

Definition
1: of or relating to taxation, public revenues, or public debt
2: of or relating to financial matters

Examples
"Last year proved enormously successful for many of the largest names in US finance, as volatility and then unprecedented fiscal and monetary support in the engine room of global finance kept bankers and traders busier than at any time since the financial crisis."
— Alex Newman, Investors' Chronicle, 8 Feb. 2021

"Stocks head into the week ahead with a tailwind, as investors focus on a hefty fiscal stimulus package and the solid earnings season against a backdrop of rising interest rates."
— Patti Domm, CNBC, 5 Feb. 2021

Did You Know?
Fiscal derives from the Latin noun fiscus, meaning "basket" or "treasury."
In ancient Rome, fiscus was the term for the treasury controlled by the emperor, where the money was literally stored in baskets and was collected primarily in the form of revenue from the provinces.
Fiscus also gave English confiscate, which is most familiar as a verb meaning "to seize by or as if by authority," but it can additionally refer to the forfeiting of private property to public use.
Today, we often encounter fiscal in "fiscal year," a 12-month accounting period not necessarily coinciding with the calendar year.

Blarney

 WORD OF THE DAY

blarney / noun / BLAR-nee

Definition
1a: skillful flattery
1b: blandishment
2: nonsense, humbug

Examples
The bartender laughingly asked her gregarious patron if anyone ever believed his blarney.

"There's plenty of blarney around the history of cocktails in general, and the Irish coffee is no exception. The most well-known origin story is that it was born in the 1940s, when a bartender at the Foynes airport in County Limerick served it to passengers who had disembarked half-frozen from a seaplane that had turned back due to bad weather. One of the passengers asked whether the delicious libation was Brazilian coffee, and the bartender replied, 'No, that's Irish coffee.'"
— M. Carrie Allan, The Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2017

Did You Know?

The village of Blarney in County Cork, Ireland, is home to Blarney Castle, and in the southern wall of that edifice lies the famous Blarney Stone.
Legend has it that anyone who kisses the Blarney Stone will gain the gift of skillful flattery, but that gift must be attained at the price of some limber maneuvering—you have to lie down and hang your head over a precipice to reach and kiss the stone.
One story claims the word blarney gained popularity as a word for "flattery" after Queen Elizabeth I of England used it to describe the flowery (but apparently less than honest) cajolery of McCarthy Mor, who was then the lord of Blarney Castle.

Replete

 WORD OF THE DAY

replete / adjective / rih-PLEET

Definition
1: fully or abundantly provided or filled
2a: abundantly fed
2b: fat, stout
3: complete

Examples
"Early pictures of the garden show a space painfully empty of the layering and vitality of a replete garden."
— Adrian Higgins, The Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2020

"History is replete with examples of how presidents have kept the American public in the dark about their ailments and medical conditions. Grover Cleveland, fearing poor health would be a political weakness, underwent secret oral surgery late at night in a private yacht in Long Island Sound."
— Deb Riechmann, The Associated Press, 3 Oct. 2020

Did You Know?
Given that one of the roots of replete is the Latin verb plēre, meaning "to fill," it isn't surprising that the word has synonyms such as full and complete.
Replete, full, and complete all indicate that something contains all that is wanted or needed or possible, but there are also subtle differences between the words.
Full implies the presence or inclusion of everything that can be held, contained, or attained ("a full schedule"), while complete applies when all that is needed is present ("a complete picture of the situation").
Replete is the synonym of choice when fullness is accompanied by a sense of satiety.

Circumlocution

 WORD OF THE DAY

circumlocution / noun / ser-kum-loh-KYOO-shun

Definition
1: the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea
2: evasion in speech

Examples
"Yorgos Lanthimos' The Favourite is set in the early 18th century at the court of England's Queen Anne but don't expect any elaborate euphemisms and elegant circumlocutions.… [The] dialogue … cuts straight to the heart of things while frequently cutting to the quick, as well."
— Sandra Hall, The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, 21 Dec. 2018

"Every journalist has it drummed into them at an early age that you cannot end an article with the phrase 'time will tell,' which is why you often see circumlocutions in the concluding paragraph of features or opinion columns such as 'it remains to be seen' or 'the real test is yet to come.'"
— John Rentoul, The Independent (London), 1 Aug. 2020

Did You Know?
In The King's English, grammarian H. W. Fowler advised, "Prefer the single word to the circumlocution."
Alas, that good advice was not followed by the framers of circumlocution. They actually used two terms in forming that word for unnecessarily verbose prose or speech.
But their choices were apt; circumlocution derives from the Latin circum-, meaning "around," and locutio, meaning "speech"—so it literally means "roundabout speech."
Since at least the early 16th century, English writers have used circumlocution with disdain, naming a thing to stop, or better yet, to avoid altogether.
Charles Dickens even used it to satirize political runarounds in the 1857 novel Little Dorrit with the creation of the fictional Circumlocution Office, a government department that delayed the dissemination of information and just about everything else.

Meticulous

 WORD OF THE DAY

meticulous / adjective / muh-TIK-yuh-lus

Definition
: marked by extreme or excessive care in the consideration or treatment of details

Examples
"He wasn't much for drafting legislation, but Eliot was meticulous about royal etiquette, which included getting all the Fillorian hunting protocol exactly right."
— Lev Grossman, The Magician King, 2011

"In a press release, the company touts its meticulous approach to the sandwich's creation—testing pickles with eight variations of thickness and more than 10 bun recipes with six different bakeries."
— Alicia Kelso, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2021

Did You Know?
It may surprise you to learn that meticulous is derived from the Latin word for "fearful"—meticulosus—and ultimately comes from the Latin noun metus, meaning "fear."
Although meticulous currently has no "fearful" meanings, it was originally used as a synonym of "frightened" and "timid."
This sense had fallen into disuse by 1700, and in the 19th century meticulous acquired a new sense of "overly and timidly careful" (probably influenced by the French word méticuleux).
This in turn led to the current meaning of "painstakingly careful," with no connotations of fear at all. The newest use was controversial among some usage commentators at first, but it has since become by far the most common meaning and is no longer considered an error.

Tutelary

 WORD OF THE DAY

tutelary / adjective / TOO-tuh-lair-ee

Definition
1: having the guardianship of a person or a thing
2: of or relating to a guardian

Examples
The ancient Romans revered certain gods and goddesses as tutelary deities.

"There are comedy bits, fabulous costumes (by Toni-Leslie James) and musical interludes, some involving Marilyn Monroe (Sawyer Smith) as a tutelary spirit."
— Jesse Green, The New York Times, 4 Jun. 2019

Did You Know?
Tutelary derives from the Latin noun tutelarius, meaning "guardian."
Tutelarius, in turn, was formed by combining the word tutela ("protection" or "guardian") and -arius, a suffix that implies belonging and connection.
A more familiar descendant of tutela in English might be tutelage, which initially referred to guardianship or protection, but came to be used to refer to teaching or influence.
If you suspect that tutor is also related, you are correct.
Tutelary can also be a noun referring to a power (such as a deity) who acts as a guardian.

Felicitate

 WORD OF THE DAY

felicitate / verb / fih-LISS-uh-tayt

Definition

1 (archaic): to make happy

2a: to consider happy or fortunate

2b: to offer congratulations to

Examples

"Recently, the United Nations recognised Sasmita’s [Sasmita Lenka, a divisional forest officer] efforts and felicitated her with the Asia Environment Enforcement Awards 2020 under the 'gender leadership' and 'impact' category." 

— Himanshu Nitnaware, The Better India (Bangalore, India), 3 Feb. 2021

"Jenny had, by her learning, increased her own pride … and now, instead of respect and adoration, she gained nothing but hatred and abuse by her finery. The whole parish declared she could not come honestly by such things; and parents, instead of wishing their daughters the same, felicitated themselves that their children had them not." 

— Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, 1749

Did You Know?

Felix, a Latin adjective meaning "happy" or "fruitful," is the root of the English words felicity and felicitate. 

The former, which is by far the more common of the pair, refers to the state of being happy or to something that makes people happy; like felix itself, it's also used as a name. 

Felicitate has always played second fiddle to its cousin, but enjoyed more use in centuries past than it does today. 

At one time it functioned as an adjective meaning "made happy" (William Shakespeare used it this way in King Lear), but the adjective fell out of favor and is no longer in use. 

Felicitate today is most commonly used as a verb especially in the English of South Asia where its "to offer congratulations" meaning is often extended beyond simple congratulations to the honoring of someone with an award or prize.

Luminary

 WORD OF THE DAY

luminary / noun / LOO-muh-nair-ee

Definition
1: a person of prominence or brilliant achievement
2a: a body that gives light
2b: one of the celestial bodies

Examples
"[Lloyd] Richards, a luminary who, with the original production of A Raisin in the Sun, became the first Black director to stage a Broadway play, emphasized dramaturgy."
— Abigail Aguirre, Vogue, January 2021

"As we walked homeward across the fields, the sun dropped and lay like a great golden globe in the low west. While it hung there, the moon rose in the east, as big as a cart-wheel, pale silver and streaked with rose colour, thin as a bubble or a ghost-moon. For five, perhaps ten minutes, the two luminaries confronted each other across the level land, resting on opposite edges of the world."
— Willa Cather, My Antonia, 1918

Did You Know?
Allow us to shed some light on luminary. It came to English by way of Anglo-French and Late Latin, and it traces back to the Latin word lumen, meaning "light."
Other lumen descendants in English include illuminate ("to light up"), luminous ("emitting light") and phillumenist ("one who collects matchbooks or matchbox labels").
Luminary has been shining its light in English since the 15th century.

Pivot

 WORD OF THE DAY

pivot / noun / PIV-ut

Definition
1: a shaft or pin on which something turns
2a: a person, thing, or factor having a major or central role, function, or effect
2b: a key player or position; specifically : an offensive position of a basketball player standing usually with back to the basket to relay passes, shoot, or provide a screen for teammates
3a: the action of pivoting
3b: the action in basketball of stepping with one foot while keeping the other foot at its point of contact with the floor

Examples
"In my first product business, I didn't know when to pivot and lost everything as a result. When your output (money) exceeds your input, or you can't afford to pay yourself, it's time to pivot.... The pivot should be a part of your strategic plan."
— India Gary-Martin, quoted in Forbes, 24 Feb. 2021

"Prior to the pandemic large in-person open houses, property tours with the whole family and quite literally holding a client's hand through the process of buying and selling a home was the norm. Throughout 2020 Realtors saw these practices become less and less possible. A pivot was required: a pivot to digital. The large open houses with (hopefully) many dozens of visitors became a virtual experience, now reaching as many people as the internet has to offer."
— Brendan Bailey, Masslive.com, 15 Feb. 2021

Did You Know?
Pivot is a French borrowing that slowly evolved grammatically in the English language. It began as a noun in the 14th century designating a shaft or pin on which something turns ("The chair turns on a pivot").
Later it was applied to any central person or thing around which action revolves. The noun then came to denote the action of turning about, oscillating, or balancing on or as if on a point ("the pivot of the golfer's body"; "a pivot in advertising strategy").
Adjectival use followed, always functioning as a synonym of the derivative pivotal describing things that are the pivot, that are vitally important or critical ("a pivot decision").
The word evolved yet again in the 19th century to become a verb indicating the act of turning, literally and figuratively, about a point ("The player pivoted and passed the ball"; "The plot pivots on revenge"). In wider extended use, it can imply a change of direction ("The company pivoted towards marketing remote learning tools and resources").

Abhor

 WORD OF THE DAY

abhor / verb / ub-HOR

Definition
1: to regard with extreme repugnance
2: to feel hatred or loathing for
3: loathe

Examples
Mariah is an animal rights activist who abhors any mistreatment of animals.

"The ultimate film geek, he worships the medium and abhors banality even as he reworks motifs from previous movies in his creative choices."
— Sally Kline, The Washington Examiner (Washington, D.C.), 20 Aug. 2009

Did You Know?
Abhor implies strong feelings of repugnance, disgust, and aversion.
This degree of distaste is seen in the word's history.
In earlier use, abhor sometimes implied an actual shrinking away from something in horror or repugnance.
Appropriately, the word's Latin source, the verb abhorrēre, comes from the prefix ab- ("from, away") and the verb horrēre ("to bristle, shiver, or shudder").
As you may have guessed, the Latin horrēre is also the source of the English words horror, horrify, and horrible.

Deference

 WORD OF THE DAY

deference / noun / DEF-uh-runss

Definition
1: respect and esteem due a superior or an elder
2: affected or ingratiating regard for another's wishes

Examples
"The 41-page filing answered government arguments that appeals rules give trial judges a lot of deference to make findings about facts, such as whether a juror is following court rules."
— Steve Patterson, The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), 19 Jan. 2021

"'Where once he was a youthful firebrand,' Mr. Peterson said, Mr. Museveni 'now speaks as an elder, reminding his people about the virtues of the old culture, demanding deference, excoriating the decadence of the young.'"
— Abdi Latif Dahir, The New York Times, 16 Jan. 2021

Did You Know?
We need to be specific when we tell you that deference and defer both derive from the Medieval Latin dēferre, which means "to convey, show respect, submit to a decision," because there are two defers in the English language.
The defer related to deference is typically used with to in contexts having to do either with allowing someone else to decide or choose something, as in "I'll defer to the experts," or with agreeing to follow someone else's decision, wish, etc., as when a court defers to precedent.
The other defer traces to the Latin differre, meaning "to carry away in varying directions, spread abroad, postpone, delay, be unlike or distinct."
That defer is typically used in contexts having to do with delaying or postponing something, as in "a willingness to defer the decision until next month."

Contaminate

 WORD OF THE DAY

contaminate / verb / kun-TAM-uh-nayt

Definition

1a : to soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association

1b: to make inferior or impure by admixture 

2: to make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements

Examples

"Marin Audubon Society president Barbara Salzman said she plans to review the city's environmental report, but expressed concern about the potential for tank leakage to contaminate groundwater." 

— Will Houston, The Marin Independent Journal (Marin County, California), 28 Jan. 2021

"As to any recreation with other children of my age, I had very little of that; for the gloomy theology of the Murdstones made all children out to be a swarm of little vipers …, and held that they contaminated one another." 

— Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1849-1850

Did You Know?

Contaminate, taint, pollute, and defile mean to make impure or unclean. 

Contaminate implies intrusion of or contact with dirt or foulness from an outside source (logically enough, it derives from the Latin word tangere, meaning "to touch"). 

Taint stresses a loss of purity or cleanliness that follows contact ("tainted meat"). 

Pollute, sometimes interchangeable with contaminate, may imply that the process which begins with contamination is complete and that what was pure or clean has been made foul, poisoned, or filthy ("the polluted waters of the river"). 

Defile implies befouling of what could or should have been kept clean and pure or held sacred, and commonly suggests violation or desecration ("vandals defiled the mausoleum").

Organoleptic

 WORD OF THE DAY

organoleptic / adjective / or-guh-noh-LEP-tik

Definition
1: being, affecting, or relating to qualities (such as taste, color, odor, and feel) of a substance (such as a food or drug) that stimulate the sense organs
2: involving use of the sense organs

Examples
"The goal of beverage distillers is generally a beverage, often very traditional in nature, with very specific organoleptic properties…."
— Paul Schwarz and Yin Li, in Barley: Production, Improvement, and Uses, 2011

"After these deep inhales we sipped the oil and worked it around our mouths…. Finally, we slurped. Not a delicate or elegant sound, but an indispensable one for probing the subtler, organoleptic qualities of the oil."
— Ari LeVaux, The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, 25 Sep. 2018

Did You Know?
English speakers got an early taste of organoleptic in an 1852 translation of a French chemistry textbook.
Its spelling is an Anglicization of the French word organoleptique, which derives from organ (same meaning as in English) and Greek lēptikos, meaning "disposed to take or accept."
Lēptikos is also an ingredient in neuroleptic (a type of powerful tranquilizer).
The parent of lēptikos—the verb lambanein, meaning "to take or seize"—contributed to the formation of several English words, including epilepsy and syllable.

Turbid

 WORD OF THE DAY

turbid / adjective / TER-bid

Definition
1a: thick or opaque with or as with roiled sediment
1b: heavy with smoke or mist
2a: deficient in clarity or purity
2b: foul, muddy
2c: characterized by or producing obscurity (as of mind or emotions)

Examples
The speed of the water flowing over the dam becomes obvious only when one observes the turbid water roiling below.

"Muddy, nutrient-rich lake water can harm the river, making it turbid and feeding algae blooms. Plus, it just looks nasty."
— Amy Bennett Williams, The Naples (Florida) Daily News, 21 Oct. 2020

Did You Know?
Turbid and turgid (which means "swollen or distended" or "overblown, pompous, or bombastic") are frequently mistaken for one another, and it's no wonder.
Not only do the two words differ by only a letter, they are often used in contexts where either word could fit. For example, a flooded stream can be simultaneously cloudy and swollen, and badly written prose might be both unclear and grandiloquent.
Nevertheless, the distinction between these two words, however fine, is an important one for conveying exact shades of meaning, so it's a good idea to keep them straight.
Turbid, like its relative turbulent, comes ultimately from the Latin noun turba, meaning "confusion" or "crowd."