Word - 66

SANGUINE \SANG-gwin\ adjective

1 : bloodred

2 of the complexion : ruddy

*3 : confident, optimistic

Example sentence:
The coach remained sanguine about his team's chances in the playoffs, even though his star player was injured.

Did you know?

"Sanguine" has quite a few relatives in English, including a few that might sound familiar to Word of the Day readers. "Sangfroid" ("self-possession especially under strain") and "sanguineous" ("bloodthirsty") are consanguineous with "sanguine." ("Consanguineous," meaning "descended from the same ancestor," is another former Word of the Day.) The tie that binds these words is "sanguis," the Latin word for blood. "Exsanguination" ("the draining or losing of blood"), "sanguinary" ("murderous" or "bloody"), and the rare "sangsue" ("leech") and "sanguinolent" ("tinged with blood") are also "sanguis" relatives. That's something you can raise a glass of "sangaree" or "sangria" ("a usually iced punch made of red wine, fruit juice, and soda water") to!

Word - 65

WORMHOLE \WERM-hohl\ noun

1 : a hole or passage burrowed by a worm

*2 : a hypothetical structure of space-time envisioned as a long thin tunnel connecting points that are separated in space and time

Example sentence:

Some science fiction writers speculate that wormholes will become the intergalactic highways of the future.

Did you know?

If you associate "wormhole" with quantum physics and sci-fi, you'll probably be surprised to learn that the word has been around since Shakespeare's day -- although, admittedly, he used it more literally than most modern writers. To Shakespeare, a "wormhole" was simply a hole made by a worm, but even the Bard subtly linked "wormholes" to the passage of time; for example, in The Rape of Lucrece, he notes time's destructive power "to fill with worm-holes stately monuments." To modern astrophysicists, a wormhole isn't a tunnel wrought by a slimy invertebrate, but a theoretical tunnel between two black holes or other points in space-time, providing a shortcut between its end points.