Author Topic: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com  (Read 137584 times)

Offline ifyoucantfixit

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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #170 on: August 17, 2012, 03:38:26 pm »



phthisis \THAHY-sis\, noun:
 
1. A wasting away.
 2. Pulmonary tuberculosis; consumption.
 
At last Sister Hyacinthe began to speak of the immediate and complete cures of phthisis, and this was the triumph, the healing of that terrible disease which ravages humanity…
 -- Robert Hugh Benson, Lourdes
 
Apoplexy is no longer to be feared, but phthisis is there. Social phthisis is called misery.
 -- Victor Hugo, Les Misérables
 
Phthisis comes from the Greek root phthí which meant "to decay."



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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #171 on: August 19, 2012, 03:13:29 pm »
nomothetic \nom-uh-THET-ik\, adjective:

1. Giving or establishing laws; legislative.
2. Founded upon or derived from law.
3. Psychology. Pertaining to or involving the study or formulation of general or universal laws (opposed to idiographic).

Historical studies have been called 'idiographic' as describing dates and place particulars, as do many phases in geology or astronomy, in contrast to 'nomothetic' studies such as physics and chemistry, which are supposed to lay down rules to hold regardless of date.
-- Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam
The data are usually presented statistically, demographically, or epidemiologically. The nineteenth-century Germany philosopher Wilhelm Windelband called this view the nomothetic approach to knowledge.
-- Edwin S. Shneidman, Autopsy of a Suicidal Mind
Nomothetic stems from Greek roots nomo- meaning "law, custom" and thet meaning "place, set."




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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #172 on: August 19, 2012, 03:15:45 pm »
 
 
 
 
 

lodestar \LOHD-stahr\, noun:

1. Something that serves as a guide or on which the attention is fixed.
2. A star that shows the way.
3. Polaris.

Hilola Bigtree was the lodestar that pulled our visored, sweaty visitors across the water.
-- Karen Russell, Swamplandia
It boasts a transportation system second to none amongst the great cities of the world, and it is, most significantly, the lodestar of Japanese culture in modern times.
-- Lawrence William Rogers, Tokyo Stories
Lodestar comes from the Old English word lode which meant "way, course." The word has been used in navigation since the 1400s.

 
« Last Edit: August 20, 2012, 10:25:51 pm by ifyoucantfixit »



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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #173 on: August 20, 2012, 10:25:19 pm »



 
 
 
 
 

simper \SIM-per\, verb:

1. To smile in a silly, self-conscious way.
2. To say with a simper.

noun:
1. A silly, self-conscious smile.

It was more a simper than a smile; a pleased, self-satisfied simper.
-- John L'Heureux, A Woman Run Mad

The women Sam usually dates simper and flutter and hang on his every word.
-- Kristine Rolofson, Pillow Talk

Simper is derived from the Danish word sippe, which referred to a woman who sipped her drink in an affected manner
 



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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #174 on: August 21, 2012, 01:49:29 pm »



velleity \vuh-LEE-i-tee\, noun:

1. Volition in its weakest form.
2. A mere wish, unaccompanied by an effort to obtain it.

Fortunately it did no more than stress, the better to mock if you like, an innate velleity.
-- Samuel Beckett, Molloy

My guess is that instead of being men of decision we are in reality men of velleity.
-- Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

Have you come across the word velleity? A nice Thomistic ring to it. Volition at its lowest ebb. A small thing, a wish, a tendency. If you're low-willed, you see, you end up living in the shallowest turns and bends of your own preoccupations.
-- Don DeLillo, Underworld

Velleity stems from the Latin word velle which meant "to be willing." The suffix -ity is used for abstract nouns
           



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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #175 on: August 28, 2012, 09:44:16 pm »



bathetic \buh-THET-ik\, adjective:
 
Displaying or characterized by insincere emotions: the bathetic emotionalism of soap operas.
 
The bathetic quality of "instant cliche" endings is to some extent counterbalanced by the kind of ending which combines plot-contortion with climactic enlightenment…
 -- Heterocosms, Heterocosms
 
Attempts to capture the awe and pain of dying can often, alas, come out sounding either bathetic or satiric.
 -- Nancy Kress, Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint
 
Based on the more common word pathetic, bathetic entered English in the 1830s. It comes from the Greek word bathos which meant "depth."



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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #176 on: August 28, 2012, 11:58:48 pm »



compère \KOM-pair\, noun:
 
1. A host, master of ceremonies, or the like, especially of a stage revue or television program.
 
verb:
 1. To act as compère for: to compère the new game show.
 
Just then, the compère got up on the stage and picked up the microphone. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen…"
 -- Kenneth Turpin, Nosy
 
Then a tall, sidling young man appeared and, after some confusion with the compère, unceremoniously proposed to drink a pint of brown ale without at any point using his hands…
 -- Martin Amis, Heavy Water
 
Compère literally means "godfather" in French. It entered English in the 1730s



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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #177 on: August 29, 2012, 12:13:36 am »

 
bole \bohl\, noun:
 
the stem or trunk of a tree.
 
...this time found that it was nought alive, but the bole of a tree sitting high out of the water.
 -- William Morris, The Water of the Wondrous Isles
 
He moved toward the bole eagerly. The tree was shorter than it was wide, the branches enormous appendages that flung to the sides in a giant welcome.
 -- K.M. Frontain, The Gryphon Taint
 
Bole stems directly from the Old Norse word bolr which meant "trunk






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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #178 on: August 29, 2012, 01:51:06 am »



fabulist \FAB-yuh-list\, noun:
 
1. A liar.
 2. A person who invents or relates fables.
 
But at the same time, for fear of disruption and uncertainty, we attempt to relegate the maker's role to that of fabulist, equating fiction with lies and opposing art to political reality...
 -- Alberto Manguel, The Voice of Cassandra
 
Nothing is off limits to this free-range fabulist. He can fold a dusty Persian carpet into the contours of the world itself and wring delight from every lustrous thread.
 -- Clive Barker, The Essential Clive Barker
 
Fabulist is derived from the Middle French word fabuliste which referred to someone who told fables.



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Re: WORD OF THE DAY..........courtesy of Dictionary.com
« Reply #179 on: August 29, 2012, 07:09:13 pm »


truncate \TRUHNG-keyt\, verb:
 
1. To shorten by cutting off a part; cut short: Truncate detailed explanations.
 2. Mathematics, Computers. To shorten (a number) by dropping a digit or digits: The numbers 1.4142 and 1.4987 can both be truncated to 1.4.
 
adjective:
 1. Truncated.
 2. Biology. A. Square or broad at the end, as if cut off transversely. B. Lacking the apex, as certain spiral shells.
 
He pointed out that it was relatively easy to pronounce, though there was the danger that Americans, obsessed with abbreviation, would truncate it to Nick.
 -- Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
 
Tonight we had to truncate the chorus work and replace it with rehearsal of the larger scenes.
 -- Chuck Zito, A Habit for Death
 
Truncate comes from the Latin word truncātus which meant "to lop." The mathematical and computer usage arose in the 1950s.



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