Scrupulous

WORD OF THE DAY

scrupulous / SKROO-pyuh-lus / adjective

Definition

1a: having moral integrity 

1b: acting in strict regard for what is considered right or proper

2a: punctiliously exact 

2b: painstaking

Examples

"As a child, I somehow absorbed the idea that getting in the way of other people or wasting their time was a terrible offense. I have been scrupulous about standing to the right on escalators, not blocking aisles, not showing up late." 

— Rebecca Solnit, Harper's, July 2017

"Don't do business on the side with an elected official who can benefit your clients by lowering their property assessments. But if you do, be absolutely scrupulous about filling out every disclosure form. Or you'll look like you're trying to hide something—and maybe you are." 

— The Chicago Sun-Times, 27 July 2017

Did You Know?

Scrupulous and its close relative scruple ("an ethical consideration or principle") come from the Latin noun scrupulus, the diminutive of scrupus. Scrupus refers to a sharp stone, so scrupulus means "a small sharp stone." 

Scrupus retained its literal meaning but eventually also came to be used with the metaphorical meaning "a source of anxiety or uneasiness," the way a sharp pebble in one's shoe would be a source of pain. When the adjective scrupulous entered the language, it meant "principled," but now it also commonly means "painstaking" or "careful."

Accoutrement

WORD OF THE DAY

accoutrement / uh-KOO-truh-munt / noun

Definition

1a: equipment, trappings 

1b: a soldier's outfit usually not including clothes and weapons — usually used in plural

1c: an accessory item of clothing or equipment — usually used in plural

2: an identifying and often superficial characteristic or device — usually used in plural

Examples

The little closet was cluttered with belts and scarves and other accoutrements of use to a fashion-conscious teenager.

"Tour a contemporary American college campus and the guide will apologize for anything without the accoutrements of a yuppie condo. Stainless steel appliances and granite countertops became necessary to learning linear algebra while I wasn't looking." 

— Elizabeth Lewis Pardoe, Inside Higher Ed (insidehighered.com), 23 July 2017

Did You Know?

Accoutrement and its relative accoutre, a verb meaning "to provide with equipment or furnishings" or "to outfit," have been appearing in English texts since the 16th century. Today both words have variant spellings—accouterment and accouter. Their French ancestor, accoutrer, descends from an Old French word meaning "seam" and ultimately traces to the Latin word consuere, meaning "to sew together." 

You probably won't be too surprised to learn that consuere is also an ancestor of couture, a word referring to the business of making fashionable clothes, as well as to the clothes themselves.

Temporize

WORD OF THE DAY

temporize / TEM-puh-ryze / verb

Definition

1: to act to suit the time or occasion : to yield to current or dominant opinion

2: to draw out discussions or negotiations so as to gain time

Examples

"The pontiff's recent declaration to that effect brought headlines but no action….  Francis wouldn't be the first leader who temporized before doing something that had to be done. Think of Lincoln, who vexed abolitionists by waiting two years after his election before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation." 

— Rich Barlow, WBUR.org, 5 June 2014

"Ostensibly, 'Dan in Real Life' is about how Dan and Marie … figure out how to deal with their mutual attraction, even as she's supposed to be on the arm of Dan's genial but dim brother Mitch …. Of course, this particular problem isn't beyond the purview of mature adults: You smolder, you ponder, you temporize, it gets messy, you deal." 

— Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post, 26 Oct. 2007

Did You Know?

Temporize comes from the Medieval Latin verb temporizare ("to pass the time"), which itself comes from the Latin noun tempus, meaning "time." Tempus is also the root of such words as tempo, contemporary, and temporal. If you need to buy some time, you might resort to temporizing—but you probably won't win admiration for doing so. 

Temporize can have a somewhat negative connotation. For instance, a political leader faced with a difficult issue might temporize by talking vaguely about possible solutions without actually doing anything. The point of such temporizing is to avoid taking definite—and possibly unpopular—action, in hopes that the problem will somehow go away. But the effect is often just to make matters worse.