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Tuesday, January 09, 2007

oxymoron: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 9 is:

oxymoron \ahk-sih-MOR-ahn\ noun
: a combination of contradictory or incongruous words

Example sentence:
"That's an oxymoron!" said Joanne, when she heard the DJ describe the song as an "instant classic."

Did you know?
The Greeks exhaustively classified the elements of rhetoric, or effective speech and writing, and gave the name "oxymoron," literally "pointed foolishness," to the deliberate juxtaposing of seemingly contradictory words. The roots of "oxymoron" -- "oxys," meaning "sharp" or "keen," and "moros," meaning "foolish" -- are nearly antonyms themselves, making "oxymoron" nicely self-descriptive. "Oxymoron" originally applied to a meaningful paradox condensed into a couple of words, as in "precious bane," "lonely crowd," or "sweet sorrow." Today, however, "oxymoron" can also refer to unintentional contradictions, like "a plastic glass."

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Monday, January 08, 2007

cognoscible: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 8 is:

cognoscible \kog-NAH-suh-bul\ adjective
: cognizable, knowable

Example sentence:
"Discourse must be in words, and it is possible to give a name to that which is not understood nor cognoscible by human reason." (Flann O'Brien, _The Dalkey Archive_)

Did you know?
The exact synonym of "cognoscible" is the far better-known "cognizable." Both words mean "capable of being judicially heard and determined" (as "a cognoscible claim") and "capable of being known" (as "cognoscible circumstances"). Both terms are from Latin "cognoscere," meaning "to know." And both appeared in the 17th century, less than two decades apart -- first, "cognoscible," direct from the Late Latin adjective "cognoscibilis"; then, "cognizable," from the English noun "cognizance" ("knowledge").

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Sunday, January 07, 2007

vox populi: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 7 is:

vox populi \VOKS-POP-yoo-lye\ noun
: popular sentiment

Example sentence:
It's too early to determine with certainty just how much influence the vox populi will really have on the new governor's policy decisions.

Did you know?
"Vox populi" is a Latin phrase that literally translates as "the voice of the people." It can be found in the longer maxim, "Vox populi, vox Dei," which means "The voice of the people is the voice of God." Many people think that expression means that the people are always right, but it really implies that the will of the masses -- right or wrong -- is often irresistible. Since the mid-1960s, English speakers, especially British ones, have trimmed "vox populi" down to the abbreviated form "vox pop," an expression used particularly for popular opinion as it is used and expressed by the media.

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Saturday, January 06, 2007

expeditious: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 6 is:

expeditious \ek-spuh-DISH-us\ adjective
: characterized by or acting promptly and efficiently

Example sentence:
Poisonous snakebites require expeditious treatment.

Did you know?
Like "expeditious," all of the following words contain "ped." Can you guess which ones get those three letters from the same Latin root as "expeditious"?

encyclopedia expedition stampede torpedo orthopedic impede

The Latin source of "expeditious" is the verb "expedire," which means "to extricate," "to prepare," or "to be useful." The "ped" is from "pes," meaning "foot." (The "ex-" means "out of," and the literal sense of "expedire" is "to free the feet.") The "ped" in "impede" also comes from "pes." But the "ped" in "encyclopedia" and "orthopedic" is from the Greek "pais," meaning "child"; "stampede" is from the Spanish "estampar," meaning "to stamp"; and "torpedo" is from the Latin "torpere," meaning "to be sluggish." What about "expedition"? Meaning both "a journey" and "promptness," it too is from "expedire."

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Friday, January 05, 2007

mesmerize: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 5 is:

mesmerize \MEZ-muh-ryze\ verb
1 : hypnotize
*2 : spellbind, fascinate

Example sentence:
The audience was mesmerized by the performance of the circus acrobats on the trapeze.

Did you know?
Experts can't agree on whether Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) was a quack or a genius, but all concede that the late 18th-century physician's name is the source of the word "mesmerize." In his day, Mesmer was the toast of Paris, where he enjoyed the support of notables including Queen Marie Antoinette. He treated patients with a force he termed "animal magnetism." Many believe that what he actually used was what we now call "hypnotism." Mesmer's name was first applied to a technique for inducing hypnosis by one of his students in 1784.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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Thursday, January 04, 2007

juncture: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 4 is:

juncture \JUNK-cher\ noun
1 : joint, connection
*2 : a point of time; especially : one made critical by a concurrence of circumstances

Example sentence:
"At this juncture in the editing process," said Philip, "it is important that all facts have been double-checked and sources verified."

Did you know?
"Juncture" has many relatives in English -- and some of them are easy to spot, whereas others are not so obvious. "Juncture" derives from the Latin verb "jungere" ("to join"), which gave us not only "join" and "junction" but also "conjugal" ("relating to marriage") and "junta" ("a group of persons controlling a government"). "Jungere" also has distant etymological connections to "joust," "jugular," "juxtapose," "yoga" and "yoke." The use of "juncture" in English dates back to the 14th century. Originally, the word meant "a place where two or more things are joined," but by the 17th century it could also be used of an important point in time or of a stage in a process or activity.

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence

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Tuesday, January 02, 2007

riot act: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 2 is:

riot act \RYE-ut-AKT\ noun
: a vigorous reprimand or warning -- used in the phrase _read the riot act_

Example sentence:
When Chris arrived late to class again, the teacher read him the riot act for not being more punctual.

Did you know?
Many people were displeased when George I became king of England in 1714, and his opponents were soon leading rebellions and protests against him. The British government, anxious to stop the protests, passed a law called the "Riot Act." It allowed public officials to break up gatherings of 12 or more people by reading aloud a proclamation, warning those who heard it that they must disperse within the hour or be guilty of a felony punishable by death. By 1819, "riot act" was also being used more generally for any stern warning or reprimand. Although the law long ago fell into disuse and was finally repealed in 1973, the term that it generated lives on today.

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Monday, January 01, 2007

fatidic: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 1 is:

fatidic \fay-TID-ik\ adjective : of or relating to prophecy

Example sentence:
I hope the dream I had last night about losing my wedding ring doesn?t prove fatidic.

Did you know?
As you might guess, "fatidic" is a relative of the word "fate." The Latin word for fate is "fatum," which literally means "what has been spoken." "Fatum," in turn, comes from "fari," meaning "to speak." In the eyes of the ancients, your fate was out of your hands -- what happened was up to gods and demigods. Predicting your fate was a job for oracles and prophets. "Fatidic" is "fatum" combined with "dicere," meaning "to say." That makes "fatidic" a relative of the word "predict" as well; the "-dict" of "predict" also comes from Latin "dicere."

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