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David Theobald

The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… ad hominem (adjective, adverb): adjective 1: appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect 2: marked by or being an attack on an opponent’s character rather than by an answer to the contentions made adverb : in an ad hominem manner Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… salubrious (adjective): : favorable to or promoting health or well-being Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Salubrious, like healthful and wholesome, describes things that are favorable to the health of the mind or body. (A rather formal and somewhat rare word, it is related by its Latin

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… agnostic (noun, adjective): noun 1: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (such as God) is unknown and probably unknowable broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god 2: a

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… connive (verb): Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Connive may not seem like a term that would raise many hackles, but it certainly raised those of Wilson Follett, a usage critic who lamented that the word “was undone during the Second World War, when restless spirits felt

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… proximity (noun): : the quality or state of being proximate : closeness Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The fact that the star closest in proximity to our sun (approximately 4.2 light-years distant) is named Proxima Centauri is no coincidence. The history of proximity hinges on the

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… inveterate (adjective): 1: confirmed in a habit : habitual 2: firmly established by long persistence Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Despite how it may seem at first glance, inveterate has nothing to do with lacking a spine. That’s invertebrate, which came into English in the early

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… demean (verb, verb): verb : to lower in character, status, or reputation verb : to conduct or behave (oneself) usually in a proper manner Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : There are two words spelled demean in English. One has a construction similar to its synonym, debase: where debase

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… satire (noun): 1: a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn 2: trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Satire came into English at the beginning of the 16th century,

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… dire (adjective): 1a: exciting horror b: dismal, oppressive 2: warning of disaster 3a: desperately urgent b: extreme Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology :Dire and fury share a history in Roman mythology, as each of these words is connected to the Erinyes, the avenging and terrifying deities

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… translucent (adjective): 1: permitting the passage of light: a: transmitting and diffusing light so that objects beyond cannot be seen clearly b: clear, transparent 2: free from disguise or falseness Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The same group of three letters appear in translucent, elucidate, and

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… retinue (noun): : a group of retainers or attendants Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Retinue comes via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb retenir, meaning “to retain or keep in one’s pay or service.” Another retenir descendant is retainer, which has among its meanings “one

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… ideology (noun): 1a: a manner or the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture b: the integrated assertions, theories and aims that constitute a sociopolitical program c: a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture 2: visionary theorizing Source

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… caterwaul (verb): 1: to make a harsh cry 2: to protest or complain noisily Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Though the most familiar sense of caterwaul, “to protest or complain loudly,” is not specific to our feline friends, we still think it’s the cat’s

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… opprobrium (noun): 1: something that brings disgrace 2a: public disgrace or ill fame that follows from conduct considered grossly wrong or vicious b: contempt, reproach Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology :Opprobrium is quite formal and has few close relations in English. It comes from the Latin

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… lampoon (noun,verb): noun : a harsh satire usually directed against an individual verb : to make the subject of a lampoon : ridicule Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Lampoon can be a noun or a verb. The noun lampoon (meaning “satire” or, specifically, “a harsh satire usually directed

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The BFD Word of the Day

The BFD Word of the Day

The word for today is… troglodyte (noun): 1: a member of any of various peoples (as in antiquity) who lived or were reputed to live chiefly in caves 2: a person characterized by reclusive habits or outmoded or reactionary attitudes Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Peer into the etymological cave of

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