Coax

WORD OF THE DAY

coax / verb / KOHKS

Definition
1a: to influence or gently urge by caressing or flattering
1b: wheedle
2: to draw, gain, or persuade by means of gentle urging or flattery
3: to manipulate with great perseverance and usually with considerable effort toward a desired state or activity

Examples
"Toasting the pine nuts until they're properly golden brown to the center and not just on the surface is key in coaxing out maximum flavor."
— Molly Willett, Bon Appétit, December 2019/January 2020

"Recycling is still important, but it's not the whole answer to our problem with getting rid of 'stuff.' What we really need is to shut our eyes and ears to the advertising that coaxes us to buy more, and spend our money on only the things we really need."
— Dorothy Turcotte, The Grimsby Lincoln (Ontario) News, 6 Jan. 2020

Did You Know?
In the days of yore, if you made a "cokes" of someone, you made a fool of them. Cokes—a now-obsolete word for "fool"—is believed to be the source of the verb coax, which was first used in the 16th century (with the spelling cokes) to mean "to make a fool of." Soon, the verb also took on the kinder meaning of "to make a pet of." As might be expected, the act of "cokesing" was sometimes done for personal gain. By the 17th century, the word was being used in today's senses that refer to influencing or persuading people by kind acts or words. By the 19th century, the spelling cokes had fallen out of use, along with the meanings "to make a fool of" and "to make a pet of."

Trenchant

WORD OF THE DAY

trenchant / adjective / TREN-chunt

Definition
1: keen, sharp
2a: vigorously effective and articulate
2b: caustic
3a: sharply perceptive
3b: penetrating
3c: clear-cut, distinct

Examples
"Felix had a confident, gayly trenchant way of judging human actions which Mr. Wentworth grew little by little to envy; it seemed like criticism made easy."
— Henry James, The Europeans, 1878

"Whether you view it as a trenchant treatise on the contemporary effects of Marxism, or just a wonderfully odd glimpse into a fading star of the fashion industry, Celebration is at turns beguiling, fascinating, and true, which is what one should want and need out of a documentary."
— Josh Kupecki, The Austin Chronicle, 18 Oct. 2019

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").

Injunction

WORD OF THE DAY

injunction / noun / in-JUNK-shun

Definition
1a: the act or an instance of enjoining
1b: order, admonition
2: a court order requiring a party to do or refrain from doing a specified act

Examples
The family gathered in the room to hear the matriarch's dying injunctions.

"The Benton County district filed a lawsuit asking for the division of fees to be declared unconstitutional and seeking an injunction to have the disputed money held in escrow."
— Tom Sissom, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 22 Jan. 2020

Did You Know?
Injunction derives, via Anglo-French and Late Latin, from the Latin verb injungere, which in turn is based on jungere, meaning "to join."
Like our verb enjoin, injungere means "to direct or impose by authoritative order or with urgent admonition." (Not surprisingly, enjoin is also a descendant of injungere.)
Injunction has been around in English since at least the 15th century, when it began life as a word meaning "authoritative command."
In the 16th century, it developed a legal second sense applying to a court order. It has also been used as a synonym of conjunction, another jungere descendant meaning "union," but that sense is extremely rare.