Skip to content

The word for today is…

acquiesce (verb):

: to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : Essentially meaning “to comply quietly,” acquiesce has as its ultimate source the Latin verb quiescere, “to be quiet.” (Quiet itself is also a close relation.) Quiescere can also mean “to repose,” “to fall asleep,” or “to rest,” and when acquiesce arrived in English via French in the early 1600s, it did so with two senses: the familiar “to agree or comply” and the now-obsolete “to rest satisfied.” Herman Melville employed the former in Moby-Dick, when Ahab orders the “confounded” crew to change the Pequod’s course after a storm damages the compasses: “Meanwhile, whatever were his own secret thoughts, Starbuck said nothing, but quietly he issued all requisite orders; while Stubb and Flask—who in some small degree seemed then to be sharing his feelings—likewise unmurmuringly acquiesced.”

If you enjoyed this BFD word of the day please consider sharing it with your friends and, especially, your children.

Latest

Good Oil Backchat

Good Oil Backchat

Please read our rules before you start commenting on The Good Oil to avoid a temporary or permanent ban.

Members Public