WORD OF THE DAY
adumbrate \ AD-um-brayt \ verb
Definition
1a: to foreshadow vaguely
1b: intimate
2: to suggest, disclose, or outline partially
3: overshadow, obscure
Examples
"The opening scenes not only set forth the locale, the leading characters, and the first stage of the plot, but also adumbrate everything to come."
— Richard Alleva, The Commonweal, 11 Sept. 2015
"His temper and tendency to violence, adumbrated in the first part of the book, lead not only to his decline as a journalist but also his inability to maintain relationships with the various women he encounters."
— Gerald Early, The Washington Post, 10 Nov. 2015
Did You Know?
You aren't likely to find adumbrate in children's stories or on the sports pages. That's not because this shady word is somehow off-color, but rather because it tends to show up most often in academic or political writing. In fact, some usage commentators find it too hard for "ordinary" use (although they are hard-pressed to define "ordinary").
Art and literary critics have long found it useful, and it's a definite candidate for those oft-published "lists of words you should know" (especially for vocabulary tests). You might remember adumbrate better if you know that it developed from the Latin verb adumbrare, which in turn comes from umbra, the Latin word for "shadow." To adumbrate, then, is to offer a shadowy view of something.
Monday, June 5, 2017
Friday, June 2, 2017
Plagieary
WORD OF THE DAY
Plagieary \ PLAY-jee-air-ee \ noun
Definition
1 : (archaic) one that plagiarizes
2 : plagiarism
Examples
"When Amy Heckerling updated and reworked Emma into her 1995 film Clueless, she was not plagiarising Jane Austen, she was creating an imaginary conversation with a classic novel. If I'd opened this piece by writing, 'To steal or not to steal, that is the question,' the only literary misconduct of which I would be guilty is cliche, not 'plagiary,' to use the word's older form."
— Sarah Churchwell, The Guardian, 30 May 2013
"… he's a natural essayist, parodist, satirist, punster, commentator and memoirist—the one literary field he fails at is fiction. His initial story ideas are unintentional plagiaries of renowned novels—of Don Quixote, The Giver, The Shining."
— Sherie Posesorski, The Vancouver Sun, 8 Nov. 2014
Did You Know?
Plagiarius, the Latin source of plagiary, literally means "kidnapper." Plagiarius has its roots in the noun plagium, meaning both "kidnapping" and "the netting of game," and ultimately in the noun plaga, meaning "net." The literal sense of plagiarius was adopted into English; in the 17th and early 18th century, a kidnapper might be referred to as a plagiary, and, in the legalese of the time, kidnapping as plagium.
Plagiarius also referred to a literary thief—and that sense was lifted into the English language in the word plagiary, which can be used for one who commits literary theft (now usually referred to as a plagiarist) or the act or product of such theft (now, more commonly, plagiarism).
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Valedictory
WORD OF THE DAY
valedictory \ val-uh-DIK-tuh-ree \ adjective
Definition
1: of or relating to an act of bidding farewell
2: expressing or containing a farewell
Examples
"During one of two valedictory addresses, Fredrick challenged her classmates to make a difference after graduation and took the time to thank all teachers."
— Nathan Thompson, The Bartlesville (Oklahoma) Examiner-Enterprise, 14 May
2017
"When Julian Wachner arrived in Washington to head the Washington Chorus, he was seething with unfocused energy: a man with a lot to prove. On Sunday, nearly 10 years later, he led his valedictory performance as the chorus's music director."
— Anne Midgette, The Washington Post, 16 May 2017
Did You Know?
Valedictory addresses delivered by earnest young valedictorians at high school and college graduations are as much a sign of spring in the United States as baseball games and cookouts. Though we don’t know where the first valedictory address was given, we do know that the word was an institution at some colleges in the U.S. by the mid-1700s.
English speakers and writers have also used valedictory in non-academic settings since the mid-1600s. Since a valedictory speech is given at the end of an academic career, it is perfectly in keeping with the meaning of its Latin ancestor, valedicere, which means "to say farewell."
valedictory \ val-uh-DIK-tuh-ree \ adjective
Definition
1: of or relating to an act of bidding farewell
2: expressing or containing a farewell
Examples
"During one of two valedictory addresses, Fredrick challenged her classmates to make a difference after graduation and took the time to thank all teachers."
— Nathan Thompson, The Bartlesville (Oklahoma) Examiner-Enterprise, 14 May
2017
"When Julian Wachner arrived in Washington to head the Washington Chorus, he was seething with unfocused energy: a man with a lot to prove. On Sunday, nearly 10 years later, he led his valedictory performance as the chorus's music director."
— Anne Midgette, The Washington Post, 16 May 2017
Did You Know?
Valedictory addresses delivered by earnest young valedictorians at high school and college graduations are as much a sign of spring in the United States as baseball games and cookouts. Though we don’t know where the first valedictory address was given, we do know that the word was an institution at some colleges in the U.S. by the mid-1700s.
English speakers and writers have also used valedictory in non-academic settings since the mid-1600s. Since a valedictory speech is given at the end of an academic career, it is perfectly in keeping with the meaning of its Latin ancestor, valedicere, which means "to say farewell."
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