The word for today is… parvenu (noun) – A person who has suddenly risen to a higher social and economic class and has not yet gained social acceptance by others in that class. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : French has been generous in providing us with terms for obscure folks who
The word for today is… macabre (adj) – 1. Upsetting or horrifying by association with death or injury; gruesome. 2. Constituting or including a representation of death. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : We trace the origins of macabre to the name of the Book of Maccabees, which is included in the
The word for today is… lenticular (adj) – 1. Shaped like a biconvex lens. 2. Of or relating to a lens. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : “Lentil-shaped”—that’s the meaning of Latin lenticularis, the parent of English’s lenticular. It’s an appropriate predecessor because a double-convex lens is one
The word for today is… lackluster (UK lacklustre) (adj) – Lacking brightness, luster, or vitality; dull. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : In its earliest uses, lackluster (also spelled lacklustre) usually described eyes that were dull or lacking in brightness, as in “a lackluster stare.” Later, it came to describe other things
“Conversion therapy” is one of the favourite bugbears of the “rainbow” lobby. Not entirely without justification – forcing plainly homosexual people, youngsters especially, to live in denial can be enormously psychologically damaging. Even more so, if the denial is reinforced with threats of eternal damnation. But, with their characteristic tolerance and
The word for today is… infantilize (UK infantilise) (verb) – 1. To treat or condescend to as if still a young child. 2. To reduce to an infantile state or condition. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Infantilize is just a baby, relatively speaking. It first saw the light of day in
The word for today is… hierophant (noun) – 1. An ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries, especially the priest of the Eleusinian mysteries. 2. An interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge. 3. One who explains or makes a commentary. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Hierophant, hieroglyphics, and hierarch have
The word for today is… gist (noun) – 1. The central idea; the essence. 2. (Law) The grounds for action in a suit. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : The word gist often appears in such contexts as “the gist of the conversation was that…” to let us know that what follows
The word for today is… fissile (adj) – 1. Possible to split. 2. (Physics) Fissionable, especially by neutrons of all energies. 3. (Geology) Easily split along close parallel planes. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : When scientists first used fissile back in the 1600s, the notion of splitting the nucleus of an
The word for today is… expunge (verb) – 1. To erase, delete, or strike out. 2. To eliminate completely; wipe out. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : In medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, a series of dots was used to mark mistakes or to label material that should be deleted from a text,
The word for today is… diligent (adj) – Marked by persevering, painstaking effort. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : You’re more likely to be diligent about something if you love doing it. The etymology of diligent reflects the fact that affection can lead to energetic effort. The word, which entered English
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Poor old Woollies (Countdown, to you Kiwis). First, they have to put up with idiots clearing their shelves of dunny paper. Then the enraged People of a Certain Type brawling at the checkouts and taking the stick (literally) to their staff. Then, when they try and innovate to cope with
The word for today is… debonair (adj) – 1. Sophisticated; urbane. 2. Gracious and charming in a cheerful, carefree way. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : In Anglo-French, someone who was genteel and well-brought-up was described as deboneire—literally “of good family or nature” (from the three-word phrase de bon aire). When
The word for today is… canard (noun) – 1. An unfounded or false, deliberately misleading story. 2. (a) A short winglike control surface projecting from the fuselage of an aircraft, such as a space shuttle, mounted forward of the main wing and serving as a horizontal stabiliser. (b) An aircraft whose
The word for today is… ancillary (adj) – 1. Of secondary importance; subordinate. 2. Auxiliary or accessory. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Ancillary derives from the English word ancilla, a rare word that means “an aid to achieving or mastering something difficult.” That word derives from Latin, in which it means
