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David Theobald

The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… sloth (noun) – 1a : disinclination to action or labor b : spiritual apathy and inactivity 2 : any of various slow-moving arboreal edentate mammals (genera Bradypus and Choloepus) that inhabit tropical forests of South and Central America, hang from the branches back downward, and feed on leaves,

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… lothario (noun) – a man whose chief interest is seducing women Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Lothario comes from The Fair Penitent (1703), a tragedy by Nicholas Rowe. In the play, Lothario is a notorious seducer, extremely attractive but beneath his charming exterior a haughty and unfeeling

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… kerfuffle (noun) – : a disturbance or commotion typically caused by a dispute or conflict Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Fuffle was first used in Scottish English, as early as the 16th century, as a verb meaning “to dishevel.” The addition of the prefix car- (possibly derived from

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… underwhelm (verb) : to fail to impress or stimulate Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Overwhelm and its rare synonym “whelm” have both been around since the 14th century, but “underwhelm” first appeared in print in 1949. Both “overwhelm” and “whelm” are derived from the Middle English “whelmen,

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… toady (noun) – : one who flatters in the hope of gaining favors : sycophant Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : In 17th-century Europe, a toadeater was a showman’s assistant whose job was to make the boss look good. The toadeater would eat (or pretend to eat) what

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… anodyne (adjective) – 1 : serving to alleviate pain 2 : not likely to offend or arouse tensions : innocuous Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Anodyne came to English via Latin from Greek an?dynos (“without pain”), and it has been used as both an adjective and a noun (“something

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… vanilla (noun, adjective) – noun 1a : vanilla bean b : a commercially important extract of the vanilla bean that is used especially as a flavoring 2 : any of a genus (Vanilla) of tropical American climbing epiphytic orchids adjective 1 : flavored with vanilla 2 : lacking distinction : plain, ordinary,

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… voracious (adjective) – 1 : having a huge appetite : ravenous 2 : excessively eager : insatiable Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Voracious is one of several English words that derive from the Latin verb vorare, which means “to eat greedily” or “to devour.” “Vorare” is also an ancestor of “devour”

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… ambidextrous (adjective) – 1a : using both hands with equal ease or dexterity b soccer : using both feet with equal ease : 2 : designed or suitable for use by the left or right hand 3 : unusually skillful 4 : characterized by duplicity Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Latin dexter originally

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… durable (adjective) – able to exist for a long time without significant deterioration in quality or value Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Something “durable” lasts a long time, so it’s no surprise that the word comes to us, via Anglo-French, from the Latin verb durare,

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… nugatory (adjective) – 1 : of little or no consequence 2 : having no force Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Nugatory, which first appeared in English in the 17th century, comes from the Latin adjective nugatorius and is ultimately a derivative of the noun nugae, meaning “trifles.” Like its

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… funambulism (noun) – 1 : tightrope walking 2 : a show especially of mental agility Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Back in ancient Rome, tightrope walking was a popular spectacle at public gatherings. The Latin word for “tightrope walker” is “funambulus,” from the Latin funis, meaning “rope,” plus ambulare,

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

crepuscular (adjective) – 1 : of, relating to, or resembling twilight 2 : occurring or active during twilight Source : Online Etymology Dictionary Etymology : figurative use, “dim, indistinct,” is attested from 1660s; literal use, “pertaining to or resembling twilight,” from 1755. From Latin crepusculum “twilight, dusk,”; related to creper “obscure, uncertain,” from Proto-Italic

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… mesmerise (verb) – 1 : to subject to mesmerism (hypnotic induction held to involve animal magnetism) 2 : spellbind Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Experts can’t agree on whether Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) was a quack or a genius, but all concede that the late 18th-century

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… nebula (noun) – 1 : any of numerous clouds of gas or dust in interstellar space 2 : a galaxy other than the Milky Way galaxy —not used technically Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Nebula comes to us from Latin, where it meant “mist” or “cloud.” In its earliest

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… tonsorial (adjective) \- : of or relating to a barber or the work of a barber Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Tonsorial is a fancy word that describes the work of those who give shaves and haircuts. (It can apply more broadly to hairdressers as well.) It derives

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