The word for today is… jeopardise (verb): : to expose to danger or risk Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Today’s word will get no comment from me, but I don’t expect others will be so restrained. It may be hard to believe that jeopardise was once controversial, but in 1870
The word for today is… gasconade (noun): confident talk or behavior that is intended to impress other people. Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The citizens of Gascony in southwestern France have proverbially been regarded as prone to bragging. Their reputation has been immortalized in such swashbuckling literary works as Alexandre Dumas’
The word for today is… doff (verb): 1a : to remove (an article of wear) from the body b : to take off (the hat) in greeting or as a sign of respect 2 : to rid oneself of : put aside Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Time was, people talked about doffing and donning
The word for today is… regnant (adjective): 1 : exercising rule : reigning 2a : having the chief power : dominant b : of common or widespread occurrence Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The etymology of regnant is fairly straightforward: English speakers borrowed the word sometime around 1600 from Latin. Regnant is derived from the Latin
The word for today is… desultory (adjective): 1 : marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose 2 : not connected with the main subject 3 : disappointing in progress, performance, or quality Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The Latin adjective desultorius, the parent of desultory, was used by the ancients to refer
The word for today is… amenable (adjective): willing to agree to or accept something that is wanted or asked for. Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Nowadays, amenable is often used to describe someone who is favorably disposed to something, but it ultimately comes from Latin minari, meaning “to threaten.” Since the
The word for today is… fugitive (adjective, noun): adjective 1 : running away or intending flight 2 : moving from place to place 3a : being of short duration b : difficult to grasp or retain c : likely to evaporate, deteriorate, change, fade, or disappear noun 1 : a person who flees or tries to
The word for today is… ossify (verb): 1 : to change into bone 2 : to become hardened or conventional and opposed to change Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The skeletons of mammals originate as soft cartilage that gradually transforms into hard bone (in humans, the process begins in the womb and continues
The word for today is… cryptic (adjective): 1 : secret, occult 2a : having or seeming to have a hidden or ambiguous meaning b : marked by an often perplexing brevity 3 : serving to conceal 4 : not recognized 5 : employing cipher or code Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The history of “cryptic” starts with
The word for today is… emigrate (verb): to leave one’s place of residence or country to live elsewhere Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Immigrant and emigrant both refer to a person leaving their own country for another. However, immigrant (and its verb form immigrate) typically stress the country going to,
The word for today is… liminal (adjective): 1 : of, relating to, or situated at a sensory threshold : barely perceptible or capable of eliciting a response 2 : of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The noun limen refers to the point at which
The word for today is… sophistry (noun): subtly deceptive reasoning or argumentation :reasoning or arguments that sound correct but which are actually false. Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The original Sophists were ancient Greek teachers of rhetoric and philosophy prominent in the 5th century B.C. In their heyday, these philosophers
The word for today is… aghast (adjective): : struck with terror, amazement, or horror : shocked and upset Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If you are aghast, you might look like you’ve just seen a ghost, or something similarly shocking. “Aghast” traces back to a Middle English verb, gasten, meaning “to frighten.
The word for today is… jamb (noun): 1 : an upright piece or surface forming the side of an opening (as for a door, window, or fireplace) 2 : a projecting columnar part or mass Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Middle English jambe, borrowed from Anglo-French jambe, gaunbe “side post of a door
The word for today is… defenestration (noun): 1 : a throwing of a person or thing out of a window 2 : a usually swift dismissal or expulsion (as from a political party or office) Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : These days defenestration is often used to describe the forceful removal of someone
The word for today is… tousle (verb, noun): verb : dishevel, rumple noun 1 Scotland : rough dalliance : tussle 2 : a tangled mass (as of hair) Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Tousle is a word that has been through what linguists call a “functional shift.” That’s a fancy way of saying it
