Word of the day

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Friday, September 18, 2009

alacrity \uh-LACK-ruh-tee\, noun:

A cheerful or eager readiness or willingness, often manifested by brisk, lively action or promptness in response.

As for his homemade meatloaf sandwich with green tomato ketchup, a condiment he developed while working in New York, I devoured it with an alacrity unbecoming in someone who gets paid to taste carefully.
-- R.W. Apple Jr., "Southern Tastes, Worldly Memories", New York Times, April 26, 2000

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 19, 2009

farrago \fuh-RAH-go; fuh-RAY-go\, noun:

A confused mixture; an assortment; a medley.

Ivan Illich writes "a farrago of sub-Marxist cliches, false analogies, non sequiturs, false or bent facts and weird prophesies."
-- "The Paul Johnson Enemies List", New York Times, September 18, 1977

[2jules7]

They sat with alacrity as the cars raced passed.

He felt farrago on certain questions.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 20, 2009

tchotchke \CHOCH-kuh\, noun:

A trinket; a knickknack.

The rare tchotchke aside, our antiquing journeys mainly amounted to wishful foraging, in the spirit of a more roomy and prosperous someday we somehow never really articulated.
-- Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Most Wanted

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Monday, September 21, 2009

equivocate \ih-KWIV-uh-kayt\, intransitive verb:

To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or to avoid committing oneself to anything definite.

The witness shuffled, equivocated, pretended to misunderstand the questions.
-- Thomas Babington Macaulay, History of England

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 22, 2009

cognoscente \kon-yuh-SHEN-tee; kog-nuh-; -SEN-\, noun:

A person with special knowledge of a subject; a connoisseur.

However, I thought it well to acquaint myself with the latest scientific thinking, so as not to write a tale that would embarrass me among the cognoscenti.
-- Ronald Wright, A Scientific Romance

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 23, 2009

eldritch \EL-drich\, adjective:

Strange; unearthly; weird; eerie.

In the eldritch light of evening in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, the eye plays tricks on the brain.
-- Thom Stark, "Something's Burning", Boardwatch, November 2000

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Thursday, September 24, 2009

assiduous \uh-SIJ-oo-uhs\, adjective:

1. Constant in application or attention; devoted; attentive.
2. Performed with constant diligence or attention; unremitting; persistent; as, "assiduous labor."

I can scarcely find time to write you even a Love Letter, Samuel Adams, an assiduous committeeman, wrote his wife in early 1776.
-- Pauline Maier, American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Friday, September 25, 2009

cavort \kuh-VORT\, intransitive verb:

1. To bound or prance about.
2. To have lively or boisterous fun; to behave in a high-spirited, festive manner.

. . .Enkidu, who was seduced by gradual steps to embrace the refinements of civilization, only to regret on his deathbed what he had left behind: a free life cavorting with gazelles.
-- Yi-Fu Tuan, Escapism

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Saturday, September 26, 2009

traduce \truh-DOOS; -DYOOS\, transitive verb:

To expose to contempt or shame by means of false statements or misrepresentation; to represent as blamable; to vilify.

Sir Edward rang twice to stress that he had no business relationship with the family other than his consultancy, but also to vouch for the fact that they were "splendid people" who should not be traduced.
-- Ian Jack, "Generous spirits, secretive souls", Independent, October 17, 1998

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Sunday, September 27, 2009

predilection \preh-d'l-EK-shun; pree-\, noun:

A predisposition to choose or like; an established preference.

Wilson doesn't see any inconsistency between his socialism and his predilection for the high life.
-- Marina Cantacuzino, "On deadly ground", The Guardian, March 13, 2001

[2jules7]

She held the tchotchke around her neck.
They equivocated the papers for prom.
Hes a cognoscente for western movies.
Amazing Graces is eldritch at night.
She is a very assiduous worker.
Tigger cavorts everywhere he goes.
He sat in court as the jury traduced his files.
The judges predilection was what they saw.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Monday, September 28, 2009

sinuous \SIN-yoo-uhs\, adjective:

1. Characterized by many curves or turns; winding.
2. Characterized by graceful curving movements.
3. Not direct; devious.

Long gone are the days when a "robotic movement" meant something jerky, awkward, and stiff: The new robo-fish that have just been unveiled by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology swim through the water with sinuous grace.
-- Eliza Strickland, Robo-Fish Are Ready to Take to the Seas, Discover Magazine, August 25, 2009

[2jules7]

His sinuous behavior was always getting him into trouble.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Tuesday, September 29, 2009

ameliorate \uh-MEEL-yuh-rayt\, transitive verb:

1. To make better; to improve.

intransitive verb:
1. To grow better.

Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances.
-- Terence Brown, The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography

[2jules7]

He ameliorated his work.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Wednesday, September 30, 2009

gaucherie \goh-shuh-REE\, noun:

1. A socially awkward or tactless act.
2. Lack of tact; boorishness; awkwardness.

If you find yourself sitting next to an obviously prosperous guest at a dinner party and your host introduces him (it will be a him) as a "successful barrister", you will be guilty of a gaucherie of the crassest kind if you exclaim: "How fascinating! If I promise not to call you Rumpole, will you tell me about your goriest murder trials?"
-- Nick Cohen, "Don't leave justice to the judges", New Statesman, December 13, 1999

[2jules7]

Parallel parking is a gaucherie feeling.

[BM <3]

Word of the Day for Thursday, October 1, 2009

adjuvant \AJ-uh-vuhnt\, adjective:

1. Serving to help or assist; auxiliary.
2. Assisting in the prevention, amelioration, or cure of disease.

noun:
1. A person or thing that aids or helps.
2. Anything that aids in removing or preventing a disease, esp. a substance added to a prescription to aid the effect of the main ingredient.
3. Immunology. a substance admixed with an immunogen in order to elicit a more marked immune response.

Some people think the benefit of screening is huge, and others say that the reduction in death rates is due primarily to adjuvant therapy, Berry says. No one has known for sure, and although we still don't know for sure, this is the best set of analyses that is possible given the available information.
-- "Decline in Breast Cancer Deaths Explained by Use of Screening and Adjuvant Therapies", M. D. Anderson News Release, October 26, 2005

[2jules7]

They all went in and got an adjuvant for the flu.