portentous: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for August 8 is:

portentous \por-TEN-tuss\ adjective
1 : of, relating to, or constituting a portent
2 : eliciting amazement or wonder : prodigious
3 *a : being a grave or serious matter b : self-consciously solemn or important : pompous c : ponderously excessive

Example sentence:
Saving any species from extinction is a portentous matter, but the Save-the-Owl folks could garner more support with a lighter approach.

Did you know?
It's easy to see the "portent" in "portentous," which comes to us from the Latin adjective "portentosus," itself the offspring of the noun "portentum," meaning "portent" or "omen." And indeed, the first uses of "portentous" in the mid-1500s did refer to omens. The second sense of "portentous," describing that which is extremely impressive, also developed in the 1500s. Centuries later, an editor working on the second edition of _Webster's New International Dictionary_ in the 1930s added a third definition, "grave, solemn, significant," which has since been refined to include the suggestion of a pompous attitude. We are not sure just when the third sense arose, but our evidence goes back to the beginning of the century. And these days, it's the sense we most often use.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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