Trenchant

Word of the Day

trenchant \ TREN-chunt \ adjective

1:keen, sharp

 

2: vigorously effective and articulate; also : caustic

 

3a: sharply perceptive : penetrating

3b : clear-cut, distinct

EXAMPLES

The daily news satire show not only offers a healthy dose of laughs but also trenchant commentary on the current events of the day.

"Nowhere was hayseed dialect better used to deliver trenchant truths than in 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' Through the voice of an uneducated river-town boy, Mark Twain skewered pretense, pride, and the shameful inhumanity of slavery and racism."

— John Yemma, Christian Science Monitor, October 5, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

The word trenchant comes from the Anglo-French verb trencher, meaning "to cut," and may ultimately derive from the Vulgar Latin trinicare, meaning "to cut in three." Hence, a trenchant sword is one with a keen edge; a trenchant remark is one that cuts deep; and a trenchant observation is one that cuts to the heart of the matter. Relatives of trenchant in English include the noun trench ("a long ditch cut into the ground") and the verb retrench ("to cut down or pare away" or "to cut down expenses").

Demagogue

Word of the Day

demagogue \ DEM-uh-gahg \ noun

: a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power

EXAMPLES

The nation's voters ousted their incumbent president for a demagogue who persuasively capitalized on fears of another recession.

"Messrs. Cameron, Miliband and Clegg were personally far less popular in Scotland than the fluent demagogue Mr. Salmond. Did this older, gnarlier Scot ignite feelings of envy and inadequacy in the English trio's patrician breasts?"

— Quentin Letts, Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

When the ancient Greeks used dēmagōgos (from dēmos, meaning "people," and agein, "to lead") they meant someone good—a leader who used outstanding oratorical skills to further the interests of the common people. Mid-17th-century writers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Dryden—and, later, Jonathan Swift—employed the English word that way. But, at the same time, the word took a negative turn, coming to suggest one who uses powers of persuasion to sway and mislead. "A plausible, insignificant word, in the mouth of an expert demagogue, is a dangerous and a dreadful weapon," declared Robert South, known for his sermons, in 1716.

Fusty

Word of the Day

fusty \ FUSS-tee \ adjective

1a: saturated with dust and stale odors
1b: musty

 

2: rigidly old-fashioned or reactionary

EXAMPLES

We opened the windows to air out the fusty room.

"Unlike so many fusty historical monuments, her statue appears alive, with the writer’s cloak blowing in the wind, a huge raven flying in his path and a trail of pages … spilling from his briefcase."

— James Sullivan, Boston Globe, September 30, 2014

DID YOU KNOW?

Fusty probably derives from the Middle English word foist, meaning "wine cask," which in turn traces to the Medieval Latin word fustis, meaning "tree trunk" or "wood." So how did fusty end up meaning "old-fashioned"?

Originally, it described wine that had gotten stale from sitting in the cask for too long; fusty literally meant that the wine had the "taste of the cask." Eventually any stale food, especially damp or moldy food, was called "fusty." Those damp and moldy connotations were later applied to musty places, and later still to anything that had lost its freshness and interest—that is, to anything old-fashioned.