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.