Word - 46

FARCE \FAHRSS\ noun

1 : a light dramatic composition marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot

2 : the broad humor characteristic of farce or pretense

3 a : ridiculous or empty show

*b : mockery

Example sentence:

"No wonder we’re late -- the management of traffic in this city is a farce!" Lyle complained.

Did you know?

When "farce" first appeared in English, it had to do with cookery, not comedy. In the 14th century, English adopted "farce" from Middle French, retaining its original meaning of "forcemeat" or "stuffing." The comedic sense of "farce" in English dates from the 16th century, when England imported a kind of knockabout comedy already popular in France. This dramatic genre had its origins in the 13th-century practice of augmenting, or "stuffing," Latin church texts with explanatory phrases. By the 15th century, a similar practice had arisen of inserting unscripted buffoonery into religious plays. Such farces -- which included clowning, acrobatics, reversal of social roles, and indecency -- soon developed into a distinct dramatic genre and spread rapidly in various forms throughout Europe.

Word - 45

INNOCUOUS \ih-NAH-kyuh-wus\ adjective

1 : producing no injury : harmless
*2 : not likely to give offense or to arouse strong feelings or hostility : inoffensive, insipid

Example sentence:
Bella was surprised when her seemingly innocuous remark enraged her classmates.

Did you know?

"Innocuous" has harmful roots -- it comes to us from the Latin adjective "innocuus," which was formed by combining the negative prefix "in-" with a form of the verb "nocere," meaning "to harm" or "to hurt." In addition, "nocere" is related to the truly "harmful" words "noxious," "nocent," and even "nocuous." "Innocent" is from "nocere" as well, although like "innocuous" it has the "in-" prefix negating the hurtful possibilities. "Innocuous" first appeared in print in 1598 with the clearly Latin-derived meaning "harmless or causing no injury" (as in "an innocuous gas"). The second sense is a metaphorical extension of the idea of injury, used to indicate that someone or something does not cause hurt feelings, or even strong feelings ("an innocuous book" or "innocuous issues," for example).