Word - 135

EFFIGY \EFF-uh-jee\ noun

: an image or representation especially of a person; especially : a crude figure representing a hated person

Example sentence:
A giant effigy is set ablaze at the climax of the annual Burning Man festival in Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

Did you know?

An earlier sense of "effigy" is "a likeness of a person shaped out of stone or other materials," so it’s not surprising to learn that "effigy" derives from the Latin verb "fingere," which means "to shape." "Fingere" is the common ancestor of a number of other English nouns that name things you can shape. A "fiction" is a story you shape with your imagination. "Figments" are shaped by the imagination, too; they're something you imagine or make up. A "figure" can be a numeral, a shape, or a picture that you shape as you draw or write.

Word - 134

DISABUSE \diss-uh-BYOOZ\ verb

: to free from error, fallacy, or misconception

Example sentence:
After several months of hard work, Adam was thoroughly disabused of any notion that starting his own business would be an easy endeavor.

Did you know?

We know the verb "abuse" as a word meaning "to misuse," "to mistreat," or "to revile." But when "disabuse" first appeared in the early 17th century, there was a sense of "abuse," now obsolete, that meant "to deceive." Sir Francis Bacon used that sense, for example, when he wrote in 1605, "You are much abused if you think your virtue can withstand the King's power." The prefix "dis-" has the sense of undoing the effect of a verb, so it's not surprising that "disabuse" means "to undeceive." English speakers didn't come up with the idea of joining "dis-" to "abuse" all on their own, however. It was the French who first appended their prefix "des-" to their verb "abuser." English "disabuse" is modeled after French "desabuser."

Word - 133

CIRCUMSPECT \SER-kum-spekt\ adjective

: careful to consider all circumstances and possible consequences

: prudent

Example sentence:
"Indications are that school boards, uncertain of what voters will do, have been more circumspect in drafting budgets." (The Star-Ledger [Newark, New Jersey], April 7, 2008)

Did you know?

"Circumspect," "cautious," "wary," and "chary" all imply looking before you leap, but each puts a unique spin on being careful in the face of risk or danger. "Circumspect," which descends from Latin "circum-" ("around") and "specere" ("to look"), implies the surveying of all possible consequences before acting or deciding (as in "he is circumspect in business dealings"). "Cautious" suggests fear of danger and the exercise of forethought that it prompts (as in "a cautious driver"). "Wary" emphasizes suspiciousness and alertness in sensing danger and cunning in escaping it (as in "keep a wary eye on the competition"). "Chary" implies a cautious reluctance to give, act, or speak freely (as in "she is chary of signing papers without reading them first").

Word - 132

BATTUE \bat-TOO\ noun

: the beating of woods and bushes to flush game; also

: a hunt in which this procedure is used

Example sentence:
During the battue, rabbits scampered out of the bushes where they had been hiding and toward the open field.

Did you know?

The battue is a technique practiced by hunters in order to give them a clean shot at their targets. The hunters' assistants (or sometimes the hunters themselves) rap sticks against trees and bushes in order to scare animals out of the woods and into open space. The practice appears to have originated in France, which is probably why the word "battue," which debuted in English in the early 19th century, derives from the feminine past participle of the French verb "battre," meaning "to beat." Although some hunting traditionalists decried the practice as either cruel or unsportsmanlike when it began, the battue survives today, as does the word for it.

Word - 131

PANTHEON \PAN-thee-ahn\ noun

1 : a temple dedicated to all the gods; also : the gods of a people

*2 : a group of illustrious persons

Example sentence:
With his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the former player joined a pantheon of legends from the sport.

Did you know?

Some of the earliest uses of this word in the English language refer to that most famous Pantheon, the circular domed temple built in Rome more than 19 centuries ago (and still standing). We can easily identify the origins of the temple's name, which the Romans borrowed from the Greek word for a temple honoring all their gods. That Greek word, "pantheion," combines "pan-" ("all") and "theos" ("god"). Later on, in English, "all the gods" was used to mean just that -- a pantheon could be a collective of gods (as "the Egyptian pantheon"). We stop short of worshiping outstanding men and women as actual gods, of course, but nevertheless, in the 19th century we also began using "pantheon" as a word for any eminent company of the highly venerated.

Word - 130

CABOTAGE \KAB-uh-tahzh\ noun

1 : trade or transport in coastal waters or airspace or between two points within a country

*2 : the right to engage in coastal trade or transport

Example sentence:

Some assert that the problem would be resolved if the government would simply relax restrictions on cabotage.

Did you know?

Coastlines were once so important to the French that they came up with a verb to name the act of sailing along a coast: "caboter." That verb gave rise to the French noun "cabotage," which named trade or transport along a coast. In the 16th century, the French legally limited their lucrative coastal trade, declaring that only French ships could trade in French ports. They called the right to conduct such trading "cabotage" too. Other nations soon embraced both the concept of trade restrictions and the French name for trading rights, and expanded the idea to inland trade as well. Later, English speakers also applied "cabotage" to the rights that allowed domestic airlines to travel within national boundaries but that prevented foreign carriers from doing so.

Word - 129

JETTISON \JET-uh-sun\ verb

1 : to throw (goods) overboard to lighten a ship or aircraft in distress

*2 : discard

Example sentence:
When they realized their plan was not going to work, the committee jettisoned the idea and thought up a new one.

Did you know?

"Jettison" comes from the Anglo-French noun "geteson," meaning "action of throwing," and is ultimately from the Latin verb "jactare," meaning "to throw." The noun "jettison" ("a voluntary sacrifice of cargo to lighten a ship's load in time of distress") entered English in the 15th century; the verb has been with us since the 19th century. The noun is also the source of the word "jetsam" ("jettisoned goods"), which is often paired with "flotsam"("floating wreckage"). These days you don’t have to be on a sinking ship to jettison something. In addition to literally "throwing overboard," "jettison" means simply "to get rid of." You might jettison some old magazines that are cluttering your house. Or you might make a plan but jettison it at the last minute, as in our example sentence.

Word - 128

SEDENTARY \SED-un-tair-ee\ adjective

1 : not migratory : settled

*2 : doing or requiring much sitting

3 : not physically active

4: permanently attached

Example sentence:

Jerry worried that he was becoming physically unfit after taking a sedentary desk job.

Did you know?

English speakers borrowed "sedentary" in the late 16th century from Middle French "sedentaire," which in turn derives from Latin "sedentarius." "Sedentarius," which means "of one that sits," is from the present participle of the verb "sedere," meaning "to sit." Other descendants of "sedere" in English include "dissident,", "insidious," "preside," "reside," and "subsidy." "Sedere" is also the base of the rare word "sedens," a noun meaning "a person who remains a resident of the place or region of his birth."

Word - 127

CONUNDRUM \kuh-NUN-drum\ noun

1 : a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun

2 a : a question or problem having only a conjectural answer

*b : an intricate and difficult problem

Example sentence:
Ideally, students in an ethics class are encouraged to really wrestle with moral conundrums.

Did you know?

The exact origin of "conundrum" isn't known with certainty. What is known is that the word has been in use since the early 1600s, and that it had various spellings, such as "conimbrum," "quonundrum," "conuncrum," and "quadundrum," before the current spelling was finally established sometime in the mid-17th century. One theory of origin suggests that the word was coined as a parody of Latin by students at Oxford University, where it appears to have enjoyed particular popularity in its "word play" or "pun" sense. While the prevalent sense in this century is that of the seemingly unanswerable question or problem, frequently applied to heady dilemmas involving ethics, sociology, or economics, the word is sometimes so loosely applied to anything enigmatic as to be synonymous with "puzzle" or "mystery."

Word - 126

FASTIDIOUS \fas-TID-ee-us\ adjective

1 : having high and often unpredictable standards

*2 : showing a meticulous or demanding attitude

Example sentence:
These designer handbags are beautiful and have clearly been made with fastidious attention to detail.

Did you know?

There's nothing offensive about fastidious workmanship, and yet the word "fastidious" traces to the Latin noun "fastidium," meaning "aversion" or "disgust." "Fastidium" itself is probably a combination of the Latin words "fastus," meaning "arrogance," and "taedium," meaning "irksomeness" or "disgust." ("Taedium" also gave us our "tedium.") In keeping with its Latin roots, "fastidious" once meant "haughty," "disgusting," and "disgusted," although those uses are now archaic or obsolete. The word came to be applied to someone who is squeamish or overly difficult to please, and later, to work which reflects a demanding or precise attitude.

Word - 125

UMAMI \oo-MAH-mee\ noun

: a taste sensation that is meaty or savory and is produced by several amino acids and nucleotides (as glutamate and aspartate)

Example sentence:
"Vegetarian dishes are usually difficult to meld with big red wines unless the dish includes umami, from ingredients such as intensely flavored mushrooms…." (The San Francisco Chronicle, August 22, 2008)

Did you know?

A Japanese scientist was the first to discover the savory taste of the amino acid glutamic acid, which was found to occur in soup stocks made with seaweed. This fifth basic taste -- alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter -- was named "umami," meaning "savoriness" in Japanese. Umami can be experienced in foods such as mushrooms, anchovies, and mature cheeses, as well as in foods enhanced with monosodium glutamate, or MSG, a sodium salt derived from glutamic acid.

Word - 124

FORAY \FOR-ay\ noun

1 : a sudden or irregular invasion or attack for war or spoils : raid

*2 : a brief excursion or attempt especially outside one's accustomed sphere

Example sentence:

The book marks the novelist's first foray into nonfiction.

Did you know?

"Foray" comes from Middle English "forrayen" and probably traces back to an Anglo-French word that meant "raider" or "forager." It's related to the word "forage," which usually means "to wander in search of food or forage." A "foray," in its earliest sense, was a raid for plunder. Relatively recently, "foray" began to take on a broader meaning. In a sense, a "foray" is still a trip into a foreign territory. These days, though, looting and plundering needn't be involved in a "foray." When you take a "foray," you dabble in an area, occupation, or pastime that's new to you.

Word - 123

EXTRICATE \EK-struh-kayt\ verb

1 : to distinguish from a related thing

*2 : to free or remove from an entanglement or difficulty

Example sentence:
Joe looked for a way to extricate himself gracefully from the long and tedious conversation with his chatty colleague.

Did you know?

It can take an ample amount of dexterity -- manual, verbal, or mental -- to free yourself from a tangled situation. This can be seen in "extricate," a word derived from Latin "extricatus," which combines the prefix "ex-" ("out of") with the noun "tricae," meaning "trifles or perplexities." (The resemblance of "tricae" to our word "trick" is no illusion; it's an ancestor.) While a number of words (such as "disentangle") share with "extricate" the meaning of "to free from difficulty," "extricate" suggests the act of doing so with care and ingenuity, as in "Through months of careful budgeting, he was able to extricate himself from his financial burdens."

Word - 122

VELD \VELT\ noun

: a grassland especially of southern Africa usually with scattered shrubs or trees

Example sentence:
"Less than 200 years ago, thousands upon thousands of quaggas roamed the grassy veld of southern Africa." (Sharon Begley, Newsweek, June 18, 1984)

Did you know?

"Veld" (also spelled "veldt") comes from Afrikaans, the language of the Afrikaners, the descendants of the Dutch and Huguenot people who settled in southern Africa in the 17th century. Literally, "veld" means "field," and is akin to "feld," the Old English predecessor of "field." English speakers adopted the Africa-specific sense of "veld" in the 19th century. "Veld" refers to open country in southern Africa. Different regions of "veld" are distinguished by their elevations. There is the Highveld, the Lowveld, and the Middle Veld, each with different geographical characteristics. Another term associated with "veld" is "kopje" (or "koppie" -- both are pronounced \KAH-pee\). This word came to English from Afrikaans (and ultimately from a Dutch word meaning "small head" or "cup") and refers to a small hill, particularly one on the African veld.

Word - 121

GAUCHE \GOHSH\ adjective

*1 : lacking social experience or grace; also : not tactful : crude

2 : crudely made or done

Example sentence:

"I can't believe she'd be so gauche as to ask you how much money you earn," Courtney huffed.

Did you know?

"Gauche" is one of several words that come from old suspicions or negative associations surrounding the left side and use of the left hand. In French, "gauche" literally means "left," and it has the extended meanings "awkward" and "clumsy." Presumably these meanings came about because left-handed people could appear awkward trying to manage in a right-handed world -- or perhaps because right-handed people appear awkward when they try to use their left hand. In fact, "awkward" itself comes from the Middle English "awke," meaning "turned the wrong way" or "left-handed." On the other hand, "adroit" and "dexterity" have their roots in words meaning "right" or "on the right side."

Word - 120

PARRY \PAIR-ee\ verb

1 : to ward off a weapon or blow

*2 : to evade especially by an adroit answer

Example sentence:
The senator effectively parried all Beverly's questions about his dubious financial affairs.

Did you know?
"Parry" (which is used in fencing, among other applications) probably comes from "parez," a form of the French verb "parer," meaning "to guard or ward off." Its history can be compared with that of two other English words: "parapet" and "parasol." Those two terms go back to an Italian word ("parare") that means "to shield or guard." (A parapet shields soldiers and a parasol wards off the sun.) All three -- "parry," "parapet," and "parasol" -- can ultimately be traced to the Latin "parare," meaning "to prepare." And they're not alone. Other descendants of the Latin term include "apparatus," "disparate," "emperor," and even "prepare."

Word - 119

CHIROPTERAN \kye-RAHP-tuh-run\ noun

: any of an order of night-flying mammals with forelimbs modified to form wings
: bat

Example sentence:
The vampire hunters were greeted by swarms of chiropterans as they entered Dracula's castle.

Did you know?

"Chiroptera" is the name of the order of the only mammal capable of true flight, the bat. The name is influenced by the hand-like wings of bats, which are formed from four elongated "fingers" covered by a cutaneous membrane. It is based on the Greek words for "hand," "cheir," and "wing," "pteron." "Cheir" also had a hand in the formation of the word "surgery," which is ultimately derived from the ancient word "cheirourgos," meaning "doing by hand." "Pteron" is widely used in technical names of flying insects. It's also the ancestor of a well-known, common word: "helicopter," which joins "pteron" with Greek "heliko," meaning "spiral."

Word - 118

SUPERFICIES \soo-per-FISH-eez\ noun

1 : a surface of a body or a region of space

*2 : the external aspects or appearance of a thing

Example sentence:

Although there have been changes in the superficies of our lives, many of the human dilemmas faced by our ancestors are still quite recognizable.

Did you know?

Look below the surface of "superficies" and "surface" and you'll find the very same Latin roots: "super-," meaning "on top," and "facies," meaning "face" or "aspect." English speakers plucked "superficies" right from Latin -- it means "surface" in that language. Our word "surface" came to us by way of Middle French, where "sur-" (which comes from "super" and also means "on top") was combined with "face" (meaning "face"; from "facies"). We added "surface" to our crop of borrowed words around 1600, and the first known use of “superficies” is from 1530. One tricky thing to keep in mind about "superficies" is that it can be singular (even though it ends in an "s"!) or plural. There is no "superficie" or "superficy."

Word - 117

ELDRITCH \EL-dritch\ adjective

: weird, eerie

Example sentence:
Christina accompanied her ghost story by playing a recording filled with creaks, howls, and other eldritch sound effects.

Did you know?

"Curse," "cobweb," "witch," "ghost," and even "Halloween" -- all of these potentially spooky words have roots in Old English. "Eldritch," also, comes from a time when otherworldly beings were commonly thought to inhabit the earth. The word is about 500 years old and believed to have come from Middle English "elfriche," meaning "fairyland." The two components of "elfriche" -- "elf" and "riche" -- come from the Old English "aelf" and "rice" (words which meant, literally, "elf kingdom"). Robert Louis Stevenson wasn't scared of "eldritch." He used the term in his novel Kidnapped: "'The curse on him and his house, byre and stable, man, guest, and master, wife, miss, or bairn -- black, black be their fall!' --The woman, whose voice had risen to a kind of eldritch sing-song, turned with a skip, and was gone."

Word - 116

MANTICORE \MAN-tih-kor\ noun

: a legendary animal with the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a dragon or scorpion

Example sentence:
The book, a collection of fantastic tales, has on its cover a vivid illustration of a wild-eyed manticore chasing a hunter.

Did you know?

A mythical creature of ancient fables, the manticore keeps company with the better-known unicorn, dragon, and griffin. Descriptions of the manticore's features sometimes differ (some accounts mention porcupine quills or poisonous spikes, for example; others depict the tail as having a serpent's head), but the animal is by all accounts a dreadful beast. The word "manticore" came to English through Greek and Latin, and is probably ultimately of Iranian origin. Etymologists think it is related to an Old Persian word for "man-eater."

Word - 115

MUCKRAKE \MUCK-rayk\ verb

: to search out and publicly expose real or apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business

Example sentence:
Arn is an aggressive reporter, never afraid to ask difficult questions, hound evasive sources, or muckrake when things appear suspect.

Did you know?

The noun "muckrake" (literally, a rake for "muck," i.e., manure) rose out of the dung heap and into the realm of literary metaphor in 1684. That's when John Bunyan used it in Pilgrim's Progress to represent man's preoccupation with earthly things. "The Man with the Muckrake," he wrote, "could look no way but downward." In a 1906 speech, Teddy Roosevelt recalled Bunyan's words while railing against journalists he thought focused too much on exposing corruption in business and government. Roosevelt called them "the men with the muck-rakes" and implied that they needed to learn "when to stop raking the muck, and to look upward." Investigative reporters weren't insulted; they adopted the term "muckraker" as a badge of honor. And soon English speakers were using the verb "muckrake" for the practice of exposing misconduct.

Word - 114

WHEREWITHAL \WAIR-with-awl\ noun

: means, resources; specifically : money

Example sentence:

If I had the wherewithal, I'd buy that empty lot next door and put in a garden.

Did you know?

"Wherewithal" has been with us in one form or another since the 16th century. It comes from "where" and "withal" (meaning "with"), and it has been used as a conjunction meaning "with or by means of which" and as a pronoun meaning "that with or by which." These days, however, it is almost always used as a noun referring to the means or resources one has at one's disposal -- especially financial resources, that is, money.

Word - 113

EXOTERIC \ek-suh-TAIR-ik\

*1 : suitable to be imparted to the public

2 : belonging to the outer or less initiate circle

3 : external

Example sentence:

As a specialist writing for a broader audience, Annette faces the challenge of producing an exoteric synthesis of complex information.

Did you know?

"Exoteric" derives from Latin "exotericus," which is itself from Greek "exoterikus," meaning "external," and ultimately from "exo," meaning "outside." "Exo" has a number of offspring in English, including "exotic," "exonerate," "exorbitant," and the combining form "exo-" or "ex-" (as in "exoskeleton" and "exobiology"). The antonym of "exoteric" is "esoteric," meaning "designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone"; it descends from the Greek word for "within," "eso."

Word -112

SCOFFLAW \SKAHFF-law\ noun

: a contemptuous law violator

Example sentence:

The governor's office set up a database listing the names of scofflaws who hadn't paid their traffic fines.

Did you know?

In 1924, a wealthy Massachusetts Prohibitionist named Delcevare King sponsored a contest in which he asked participants to coin an appropriate word to mean "a lawless drinker." King sought a word that would cast violators of Prohibition laws in a light of shame. Two respondents came up independently with the winning word: "scofflaw," formed by combining the verb "scoff" and the noun "law." Henry Dale and Kate Butler, also of Massachusetts, split King's $200 prize. Improbably, despite some early scoffing from language critics, "scofflaw" managed to pick up steam in English and expand to a meaning that went beyond its Prohibition roots, referring to one who violates any law, not just laws related to drinking.

Word- 111

LACUNA \luh-KOO-nuh\ noun

*1 : a blank space or a missing part : gap

2 : a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure

Example sentence:
The newly discovered Civil War documents filled many lacunae in the museum's archives.

Did you know?

Exploring the etymology of "lacuna" involves taking a plunge into the pit -- or maybe a leap into the "lacus" (that's the Latin word for "lake"). Latin speakers modified "lacus" into "lacuna," and used it to mean "pit," "cleft," or "pool." English speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century. Another English word that traces its origin to "lacuna" is "lagoon," which came to us by way of Italian and French.

Word - 110

SHUNPIKE \SHUN-pyke\ noun

: a side road used to avoid the toll on or the speed and traffic of a superhighway

Example sentence:
When people request directions to our house, I ask them if they prefer to take the turnpike or the shunpike.

Did you know?

America's love affair with the automobile and the development of a national system of superhighways (along with the occasional desire to seek out paths less-traveled) is a story belonging to the 20th century. So the word "shunpike," too, must be a 20th-century phenomenon, right? Nope. Toll roads have actually existed for centuries (the word "turnpike" has meant "tollgate" since at least 1678). In fact, toll roads were quite common in 19th-century America, and "shunpike" has been describing side roads since the middle of that century, almost half a century before the first Model T rolled out of the factory.

Word - 109

AGGRESS \uh-GRESS\ verb

: to commit aggression : to act

Example sentence:
Certain indicators, such as irritability, can indicate an animal's likelihood to aggress.

Did you know?

"Aggress" and its more familiar relatives, "aggression" and "aggressive," derive from the Latin verb "aggredi," meaning "to approach, attack, or undertake." When "aggress" was first used in English in the 16th century, it meant "to approach," but that use is now obsolete. The current meaning of the word has been with us since the early 18th century. Back then, the noun "aggress" ("an attack") appeared occasionally as well, but time has relegated that use to obsolescence, too.

Word - 108

CONGLOBATE \kahn-GLOH-bayt\ verb

: to form into a round compact mass

Example sentence:
Jack alternately conglobated and flattened the bit of clay as he talked.

Did you know?

"Conglobate" descends from the Latin verb "conglobare," which in turn comes from the prefix "con-" (meaning "with" or "together") and "globus" (meaning "globe"). "Conglobare" also means "to form into a ball," and in the 16th century it gave us the word "conglobe," of the same meaning. A century after "conglobe" first appeared in print, its cousin "conglobate" arrived on the scene. You may be wondering if the word "glob" is a relative too. "Glob" isn't linked directly to "conglobate," but it does have a possible link to "globe." Etymologists think that "glob" might have originated as a blend of "globe" and "blob."

Word - 107

CLOCHARD \kloh-SHAR\ noun

: tramp, vagrant

Example sentence:

"He lives on the Pont Neuf, the oldest and most beautiful bridge in Paris, which has become a secret home to clochards ... while closed for extensive repairs." (Vincent Canby, The New York Times, October 6, 1992)

Did you know?

Why such a fancy French word for a bum? The truth of the matter is, nine times out of ten, you will find "clochard" used for not just any bum, but a French bum -- even more specifically, a Parisian bum. And, sometimes, it's even a certain type of Parisian bum -- a type that has been romanticized in literature and is part of the local color. Nevertheless, as "francais" as this word (which comes from the French verb "clocher," meaning "to limp") may seem, its regular appearance in English sources since 1937 makes it an English word, too.

Word - 106

GENIUS \JEEN-yus\ noun

*1 : a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude

2 : extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity

3 : a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially : a person with a very high IQ

Example sentence:
Those children have a genius for getting into trouble!

Did you know?

The belief system of the ancient Romans included spirits that were somewhere in between gods and humans and were thought to accompany each person through life as a protector. The Latin name for this spirit was "genius," which came from the verb "gignere," meaning "to beget." This sense of "attendant spirit" was first borrowed into English in the early 16th century. Part of such a spirit's role was to protect a person's moral character, and from that idea an extended sense developed in the 16th century meaning "an identifying character." In time, that meaning was extended to cover a special ability for doing something, and eventually "genius" acquired senses referring particularly to "very great intelligence" and "people of great intelligence."

Word - 105

CASTIGATE \KASS-tuh-gayt\ verb

: to subject to severe punishment, reproof, or criticism

Example sentence:

Before sentencing, the judge angrily castigated the two young defendants for their malicious act of vandalism.

Did you know?

"Castigate" has a synonym in "chastise" -- both verbs mean to punish or to censure someone. Fittingly, both words derive from the same root: the Latin "castigare," formed from the words for "pure" ("castus") and "to drive" ("agere"). ("Castus" also gave us the noun "caste," meaning "social class or rank.") Another verb derived from "castigare" is "chasten," which can also mean "to discipline by punishment" but more commonly means "to subdue or make humble" (as in "chastened by his foolish error"). "Castigate" is the youngest of the three verbs in English, dating from the early 17th century, some three centuries after "chasten" and "chastise."

Word - 104

PALMARY \PAL-muh-ree\ adj

: outstanding, best

Example sentence:

Louis Pasteur is best known for originating pasteurization, but he also made palmary contributions in the field of immunology, including finding a vaccination for anthrax.

Did you know?

English speakers have been using "palmary" since the 1600s, and its history stretches back even further than that. It was the ancient Romans who first used their "palmarius" to describe someone or something extraordinary. "Palmarius" literally translates as "deserving the palm." But what does that mean exactly? Was it inspired by palms of hands coming together in applause? That would be a good guess, but the direct inspiration for "palmarius" was the palm leaf given to a victor in a sports competition. That other palm, the one on the hand, is loosely related. The Romans thought the palm tree's leaves resembled an outstretched palm of the hand; they thus used their word "palma" for both meanings, just as we do with "palm" in English.

Word - 103

FACETIOUS \fuh-SEE-shuss\ adjective

*1 : joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish

2 : meant to be humorous or funny : not serious

Example sentence:
Gwen was being facetious when she used the word "classy" to describe Bill's brightly colored necktie.

Did you know?

"Facetious" came to English from the Middle French word "facetieux," which traces to the Latin word "facetia," meaning "jest." "Facetia" seems to have made only one other lasting contribution to the English language: "facetiae," meaning "witty or humorous writings or sayings." "Facetiae," which comes from the plural of "facetia" and is pronounced fuh-SEE-shee-ee or fuh-SEE-shee-eye, is a far less common word than "facetious," but it does show up occasionally. For example, in a letter to the editor published in the Seattle Times, August 26, 1995, a reader used the following words to describe a column written by the humorist Dave Barry: "Hey, it's a HUMOR column, based entirely upon facetiae."

Word - 102

KOINE \koy-NAY\ noun

1 capitalized : the Greek language commonly spoken and written in eastern Mediterranean countries in the Hellenistic and Roman periods

*2 : a dialect or language of a region that has become the common or standard language of a larger area

Example sentence:

Koines inevitably developed in the early British colonies as different dialects converged.

Did you know?

Koine, which means "common" or "shared" in Greek, was the language spoken in the eastern Mediterranean countries from the 4th century B.C. until the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (mid-6th century A.D.). In linguistics, the word "koine" is applied to a language developed from contact between dialects of the same language over a large region. Basically, a koine adopts those grammatical and lexical elements from the dialects of the region that are easily recognized by most area speakers and dispenses with those that are not.

Word - 101

DIVULGE \duh-VULJ\ verb

: to make known (as a confidence or secret)

Example sentence:
Sarah promised not to divulge the news of her friend's promotion until it was official.

Did you know?

It isn't vulgar to make known the roots of "divulge" -- and that sentence contains two hints about the word's origin. "Divulge" was borrowed into Middle English in the 15th century from Latin "divulgare," a word that combines the prefix "dis-," which meant "apart" or "in different directions" in Latin, with "vulgare," meaning "to make known." "Vulgare," in turn, derives from the Latin noun "vulgus," meaning "mob" or "common people." As you have no doubt guessed, English "vulgar" is another word which can be traced back to "vulgus"; it came into use about a century before "divulge."

Word - 100

HYPOCORISM \hye-PAH-kuh-riz-um\ noun

*1 : a pet name

2 : the use of pet names

Example sentence:

Darren started calling Sheila by her hypocorism, "Bubbles," when they were juniors in high school.

Did you know?

In Late Latin and Greek, the words "hypocorisma" and "hypokorisma" had the same meaning as "hypocorism" does in English today. They in turn evolved from the Greek verb "hypokorizesthai" ("to call by pet names"), which itself comes from "korizesthai" ("to caress"). "Hypocorism" joined the English language in the mid-19th century and was once briefly a buzzword among linguists, who used it rather broadly to mean "adult baby talk," that is, the altered speech adults use when supposedly imitating babies. Once the baby talk issue faded, "hypocorism" settled back into being just a fancy word for a pet name. Pet names can be diminutives like our "Johnny" for "John," endearing terms such as "honey-bunch," or, yes, names from baby talk, like "Nana" for "Grandma."

Word - 99

POSSE \PAH-see\ noun

*1 : a large group often with a common interest

2 : a body of persons summoned by a sheriff to assist in preserving the public peace usually in an emergency

3 : a group of people temporarily organized to make a search (as for a lost child)

4 : one's attendants or associates

Example sentence:

"On the Saturday morning we used to watch anxiously for the usual signs of activity and when we saw a large barrel of beer being escorted up the streets by a posse of small boys, we knew that all was well." (Edmund Barber, Country Life, October 12, 1951)

Did you know?

"Posse" started out as a technical term in law, part of the term "posse comitatus," which in Medieval Latin meant "power or authority of the county." As such, it referred to a group of citizens summoned by a sheriff to preserve the public peace as allowed for by law. "Preserving the public peace" so often meant hunting down a supposed criminal that "posse" eventually came to mean any group organized to make a search or embark on a mission. In even broader use it can refer to any group, period. Sometimes nowadays that group is a gang or a rock band but it can as easily be any group -- of politicians, models, architects, tourists, children, or what have you -- acting in concert.

Word - 98

INDAGATE \IN-duh-gayt\ verb

: to search into

: investigate

Example sentence:
The defense attorneys requested an adjournment so that they could fully indagate the new evidence.

Did you know?

A close examination of "indagate" reveals that it's a rather uncommon word. If we delve into the past, we discover that it first appeared in an English dictionary in 1623. Probing further, we see that its synonym "investigate" was already a hundred years old at the time. Despite the fact that our search turns up the derivatives "indagation," "indagator," "indagatory," and "indagative," we see that none of these words was ever used as widely as "investigation," "investigator," "investigatory," and "investigative." If we hunt for the etymology of "indagate," we sniff out the Latin verb "indagare" ("to track"), which often referred, as did Latin "investigare," specifically to tracking done by hunting dogs.

Word - 97

GLOM \GLAHM\ verb

*1 : take, steal

2 : seize, catch

Example sentence:
"She signed an affidavit of confession attesting she glommed more than $284,000, the company contends." (Frank Donnelly, Staten Island Advance, September 15, 2008)

Did you know?

It's a classic case of glomming: Americans seized on "glaum" (a term from Scots dialect that basically means "grab") and appropriated it as our own, changing it to "glom" in the process. "Glom" first meant "steal" (as in the purse-snatching, robber kind of stealing), but over time that meaning got stretched. Today, "glom" often figuratively extends that original "steal" sense. A busy professional might glom a weekend getaway, for example. "Glom" also appears frequently in the phrase "glom on to," which can mean "to appropriate for one's own use" ("glom on to another's idea"); "to grab hold of" ("glom on to the last cookie"); or "to latch on to" ("glom on to an opinion" or "glom on to an influential friend").

Word - 96

PUISSANT \PWISS-unt\ adj

: of great force or vigor

: strong, powerful

Example sentence:
Laurie was aware of the restaurant critic's puissant influence in the industry, so she became quite nervous when she spotted him sitting at a table in her cafe.

Did you know?

"Puissant" has some powerful ties to some more commonplace English words. Although "puissant" has a considerably fancier feel than "power" and "potent," all three words share the same Latin ancestor: "posse," a verb meaning "to be able." "Power" came to us by way of Anglo-French "poer," which is itself thought to have come from "potere," a Vulgar Latin alteration of "posse." "Potent" came from "potent-, potens," a present participle of "posse." From "poer" came the adjective "pussant," meaning "able" or "powerful" in Anglo-French, and English speakers borrowed that to form "puissant" in the 15th century.