consummate: M-W's Word of the Day

****************************************************************
Happy New Edition! Ring in 4,000 new entries with
The Official SCRABBLE(R) Players Dictionary, Fourth Edition!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?scrabdic.htm&3
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for January 22 is:

consummate \KAHN-suh-mut\ adjective
1 : complete in every detail : perfect
2 : extremely skilled and accomplished
*3 : of the highest degree

Example sentence:
It was only due to Blanford's consummate negotiating skills that a major crisis was avoided.

Did you know?
"Consummate," which derives from the Latin verb "consummare" (meaning "to sum up, finish"), has been used as an adjective in English since at least 1527. Some usage commentators feel the word is overused and others think it should be limited to the "perfect" sense (as in "a consummate little model of a clipper ship"), but neither of those positions is more than an opinion. All of the senses of the word are well-established and have served careful writers well for many, many years.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

You Are Subscribed As: WORDFORTHEDAY.DROP@blogger.com
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 012206 WORDFORTHEDAY.DROP@blogger.com mf*