Word - 140

NON SEQUITUR \NAHN-SEK-wuh-ter\ noun

1 : an inference that does not follow from the premises

*2 : a statement (as a response) that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously said

Example sentence:

The professor's lecture was a jumble of non sequiturs and irrelevant observations.

Did you know?

In Latin, "non sequitur" means "it does not follow." The phrase was borrowed into English in the 1500s by people who made a formal study of logic. For them it meant a conclusion that does not follow from the statements that lead to it. But we now use "non sequitur" for any kind of statement that seems to come out of the blue. The Latin verb "sequi" ("to follow") has actually led the way for a number of English words. A "sequel" follows the original novel, film, or television show. Someone "obsequious" follows another about, flattering and fawning. And an action is often followed by its "consequence."

Word - 139

GRAVID \GRAV-id\ adjective

*1 : pregnant

2 : distended with or full of eggs

Example sentence:
"The film is about the world of mixed martial arts, a subject gravid with possibilities." (Allen Barra, The New York Sun, April 29, 2008)

Did you know?

"Gravid" comes from Latin "gravis," meaning "heavy." It can refer to a female who is literally pregnant, and it also has the figurative meanings of "pregnant": "full or teeming" and "meaningful." Thus, a writer may be gravid with ideas as she sits down to write; a cloud may be gravid with rain; or a speaker may make a gravid pause before announcing his remarkable findings.

Word - 138

DEPORTMENT \dih-PORT-munt\ noun

: the manner in which one conducts oneself : behavior

Example sentence:

The school expects students to dress in proper attire and maintain a respectful level of deportment throughout the day.

Did you know?

"Deportment" evolved from the verb "deport," meaning "to behave especially in accord with a code," which in turn came to us through Middle French from Latin "deportare," meaning "to carry away." (You may also know "deport" as a verb meaning "to send out of the country"; that sense is newer and is derived directly from Latin "deportare.") "Deportment" can simply refer to one's demeanor, or it can refer to behavior formed by breeding or training and often conforming to conventional rules of propriety: "Are you not gratified that I am so rapidly gaining correct ideas of female propriety and sedate deportment?" wrote 17-year-old Emily Dickinson to her brother Austin.

Word - 137

BLITHESOME \BLYTHE-sum\ adjective

: gay, merry

Example sentence:
In The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day, Mark Twain's Laura, who had been struck by love, wondered why she had never before noticed "how blithesome the world was."

Did you know?

"Blithesome" comes from "blithe," a word that has been a part of English since before the 12th century. "Blithe" can mean "casual" and "heedless" as well as "joyful" and "lighthearted," but "blithesome" obviously makes use of only the "joyful, lighthearted" sense. "Blithesome" didn't show up in print in English until 1724, and is now relatively uncommon, but you'll find it in the works of such authors as Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Word - 136

PREHENSION \pree-HEN-shun\ noun

*1 : the act of taking hold, seizing, or grasping

2 : mental understanding : comprehension

3 : apprehension by the senses

Example sentence:
The new surgery claims to offer an increase in hand prehension and successful use of the hand after a nerve transplant.

Did you know?

It's easy to grasp the origins of "prehension" -- it descends from the Latin verb "prehendere," which means "to seize" or "to grasp." Other descendants of "prehendere" in English include "apprehend," "comprehend" ("to grasp the nature or significance of"), "prehensile" ("adapted for seizing or grasping"), "prison," "reprise," and "reprisal." Even the English word "get" comes to us from the same ancient root that led to the Latin "prehendere."