The word for today is… quack (noun) – 1. The characteristic sound uttered by a duck. 2. An untrained person who pretends to be a physician and dispenses medical advice and treatment. 3. A charlatan; a mountebank. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : “To make a duck sound,” 1610s, earlier quake (1520s)
The word for today is… pejorative (adj) – Disparaging; belittling. (noun) – A disparaging or belittling word or expression. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Parents have given that good advice for years, but unfortunately many people haven’t heeded
The word for today is… noblesse oblige (noun) – Benevolent, honourable behavior considered to be the responsibility of persons of high birth or rank. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : In French, noblesse oblige means literally “nobility obligates.” French speakers transformed the phrase into a noun, which English speakers picked up in
The word for today is… mien (noun) – 1 Air or bearing especially as expressive of attitude or personality : demeanour. 2 Appearance, aspect. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Like its synonyms bearing and demeanour, mien means the outward manifestation of personality or attitude. Bearing is the most general, but it often
The word for today is… mesmerize (US) or mesmerise (Queen’s English) (verb) – 1. To spellbind; enthrall. 2. To hypnotize. Source : The Free Dictionary 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 physician’s
The word for today is… jink (verb) – To make a quick, evasive turn. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Besides the fact that jink first appears in Scottish English, the exact origins of this shifty little word are unknown. What can be said with certainty is that the word has always
The word for today is… indite (verb) – 1. To write; compose. 2. To set down in writing. 3. (Obsolete) To dictate. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Indite looks like a misspelling of its homophone indict, meaning “to charge with a crime,” and that’s no mere coincidence. Although the two
The word for today is… inculcate (verb) – 1. To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill. 2. To teach (others) by frequent instruction or repetition; indoctrinate. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Inculcate derives from the past participle of the Latin verb inculcare, meaning “to
The word for today is… gyre (noun) – A circular or spiral motion or form, especially a circular ocean current. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : William Butler Yeats opens his 1920 poem, “The Second Coming,” with the following lines: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the
The word for today is… folklore (noun) – 1. The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally. 2. The comparative study of folk knowledge and culture. Also called folkloristics. 3. (a) A body of widely accepted but usually spurious notions about a place, group, or institution. (b)
The word for today is… epistolary (adj) – 1. Of or associated with letters or the writing of letters. 2. Being in the form of a letter. 3. Carried on by or composed of letters. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Epistolary was formed from the noun epistle, which refers to a
The word for today is… derelict (adj) – 1. (a) Deserted by an owner or keeper; abandoned. (b) Run-down; dilapidated. 2. Neglectful of duty or obligation; remiss. See Synonyms at negligent. (noun) – 1. A homeless or jobless person; a vagrant. 2. (Law) (a) Abandoned property, especially a ship abandoned at sea.
The word for today is… catastrophe (noun) – 1. A great, often sudden calamity. 2. A complete failure; a fiasco. 3. The concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy, following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot. 4. A sudden violent change in the earth’s surface;
The word for today is… callous (adj) – Unfeeling; emotionally hardened Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : A callus is a hard, thickened area of skin that develops usually from friction or irritation over time. Such a hardened area often leaves one less sensitive to the touch, so it’s no surprise
The word for today is… bowdlerize (verb) – To remove material that is considered offensive or objectionable from (a book, for example); expurgate. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Few editors have achieved the notoriety of Thomas Bowdler. He was trained as a physician, but when illness prevented him from practicing medicine,
The word for today is… anomaly (noun) – 1. Deviation or departure from the normal or common order, form, or rule. 2. One that is peculiar, irregular, abnormal, or difficult to classify. 3. (Astronomy) The angular deviation, as observed from the sun, of a planet from its perihelion. Source : The Free
