The WordSmart WordCast

EFFUSIVE: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:08:17 -0500

Overflowing, pouring out, flowing forth profusely; hence, unduly demonstrative, gushing, expressing unrestrained emotion, without reserve. The verb to EFFUSE and the noun EFFUSION both come from the Latin EFFUSUS, the past participle of EFFUNDERE, to pour out, flow forth. This verb is a combination of EX, out, forth, and FUNDERE, to pour. An EFFUSION is an outpouring, a flowing forth, spilling, shedding. In literature, an EFFUSION is an outpouring of thought in writing or speech. In physics, EFFUSION is the gradual escape of a gas into a vacuum. An EFFUSIOMETER, a term seldom used, measures the EFFUSION of a gas, its escape through tiny holes, into a vacuum. The adjective EFFUSIVE comes from the same Latin EFFUSUS, from EFFUNDERE, to pour out, flow forth. By derivation EFFUSIVE means literally pouring out, but the word is rarely used in this sense today. EFFUSIVE is more often used figuratively of feelings to mean gushing forth, overflowing, and most often describes an extravagant or undue display of emotion in speech or writing.

HEGIRA: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:34:57 -0500

The flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D.; hence, any flight, exodus, departure, separation, leaving, emigration. HEGIRA is an Arabian word, which appears also in Persian and Turkish. The Arabic was spelled HIJRA, which leads to what is evidently the etymologically correct pronunciation, HEGIRA, instead of the later HEGIRA. Today the word may be pronounced either way and is nearly always spelled with a G rather than a J. HEGIRA is thought by 35% of adult readers, and by 9% of high-vocabulary ones, to mean MOTH. EGERIA, also spelled AEGERIA, is a genus of brightly colored MOTHS with transparent wings. The larvae eat and destroy cultivated fruit trees. It seems unlikely that enough persons know this word to confuse it with HEGIRA, but where so many agree in a misinterpretation there is almost always a direct cause. The confusion may be increased by those who look up HEGIRA in the dictionary and find that it means FLIGHT. By another 15% of high-vocabulary readers HEGIRA is thought to mean PROPHET. MOHAMMED, also spelled MAHOMET, was the PROPHET who founded the religion of ISLAM. He was born at Mecca about 570 A.D. Mohammed's father and mother died when he was young and he was brought up first by a wealthy grandfather and then by an uncle. He became a caravan conductor, for Mecca was an important trading center. Later he married a wealthy widow and became part owner in a shop dealing in agricultural produce. Meanwhile Mohammed, through a revelation, became interested in religion. For two years he communicated his religious aspirations only to his wife and his closest relatives. Then for three years more he gained followers who were formed into a secret society. Not until 616, at the age of about forty-seven, did he begin his public preaching. Subsequently, the rulers of Mecca realized that he was gaining great influence, and so barricaded Mohammed and his followers with the object of starving him to death. A temporary truce was made and the neighboring town of Yathrib, later called AL MEDINA, literally The City, offered him sanctuary; and in A.D. 622 he moved from Mecca to Medina. Today the word HEGIRA is used for any forced exodus of a group from one place to another.

LACONIC: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:59:12 -0500

Concise, brief, succinct, terse, pithy, sententious, using few words. Previous to the Peloponnesian War, which lasted from 431 B.C. to 404 B.C., the PELOPONNESUS, the southern peninsula of Greece, was divided into seven or eight countries. The inhabitants of one of these countries, LACONIA, were noted for their brevity of speech. The adjective LACONIC, now spelled with a small letter, means like a LACONIAN in speech, of few words, brief, sententious. LACONIA was captured by the SPARTANS and became known as SPARTA. The SPARTANS were noted for their rigid discipline, and the adjective SPARTAN, still spelled with a capital, means extreme, rigid, as: "SPARTAN endurance," "SPARTAN simplicity." Another adjective from the Peloponnesus is ARCADIAN. ARCADIA was a mountainous country in the center of the Peloponnesus. Its inhabitants were simple, rustic folk; and ARCADIAN, spelled with a capital, means simple, rustic, pastoral. In the test phrase: "A LACONIC answer," the word is thought by 6 percent of high school juniors to mean JOKING, perhaps because of some confusion with COMIC. The adjective COMIC comes through the Latin COMICUS, from the Greek adjective COMICOS, festivity, revelry. Today COMIC is sometimes the adjective which corresponds to COMEDY, as in the phrase: COMIC OPERA; and is used sometimes for COMICAL, funny, droll, ludicrous, facetious, exciting merriment. By another 5 percent LACONIC is thought to mean COMPLETE, an idea embodied in LACONIC. While MEAGER, PERFUNCTORY, and SKETCHY, suggest short and incomplete, LACONIC suggests short and complete, brief but sufficient.

GARGOYLE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:12:16 -0500

A projecting waterspout, nozzle from which water runs, short pipe used to carry rain from the roof. The word GARGOYLE goes back to the Latin GURGULIO, GURGULIONIS, the throat, gullet, related to GURGES, a whirlpool, and the source of such English words as GARGLE, GORGE, and GULLET. A GARGOYLE is a waterspout, projecting from the roof gutter so that the water falls to the ground clear of the wall. Although GARGOYLES are often carved as grotesque men, or fanciful animals, with water flowing out of the open mouth, a GARGOYLE may be a plain spout or projecting trough.

CIPHER: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:34:09 -0500

Code, cryptography, secret writing, specially arranged words of assigned significance, method of conveying a hidden meaning, writing in occult characters. CIPHER goes back to the Arabic SIFR, empty, nothing, a word which in turn comes from the Arabic SAFARA, to be empty. From this original meaning, nothing, zero, comes the English CIPHER, a ZERO, also written 0. This ZERO or CIPHER then came to be used in such numbers as TEN, 10, TWENTY, 20, and THIRTY, 30; "An arithmetical mark," says Dr. Johnson, "which, standing for nothing itself, increases the value of the other figures." Perhaps from this, CIPHER came to mean a monogram, several letters intertwined and written as one. CIPHER is used more often today, however, to mean a secret code. Julius Caesar used a simple CIPHER, writing the fourth letter of the alphabet, D, in place of the first letter, A; and the fifth letter, E, in place of the second, B. In the test phrase: "It is in CIPHER," the word is thought by 8% of adult readers to mean LONGHAND. The word CIPHER has been used loosely at times for SHORTHAND, stenography, the opposite of LONGHAND, written script. CIPHER and CODE are practically synonymous. A CODE is a collection of laws, set of rules, system of signals, as: "The Morse CODE." A CIPHER is an arrangement of words or letters which conveys a meaning understood by only a few persons and kept secret from others.

TITTER: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:35:35 -0500

A foolish hysterical giggle, snicker, silly, self-conscious, half-suppressed laugh. TITTER is thought by 7 percent of adult readers to mean CHATTERING. Although the word comes from a Middle English word which meant to chatter, a TITTER is today always a laugh.

METAPHYSICS: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:57:06 -0500

Abstruse philosophy concerned with the essential nature of life, theoretical study of the essence of things, interpretation of the doctrine of human value, rational theology, speculative science of the absolute, study of the innermost and highest secrets of being, doctrine of the true meaning of life. Tradition relates that Aristotle at his death left his written works to a pupil who in turn bequeathed them to a younger member of the peripatetic school. They subsequently disappeared for nearly two hundred years. Upon rediscovery, they were arranged in the form in which they now appear, and were published about 50 B.C. by Andronicus of Rhodes. Andronicus was the first to use the word METAPHYSICS as the title of the section that deals with the nature of God, which follows the section on PHYSICS. Some translate the Greek META as AFTER, and METAPHYSICS as AFTER PHYSICS, the subject that followed PHYSICS in Aristotle's works. Others interpret META as BEYOND, and METAPHYSICS as dealing with subjects beyond the scope of PHYSICS. Less than a hundred years ago, that field of knowledge now called PHYSICS was known as NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. The word PHYSICS comes from the Greek PHYSIS, nature. PHYSICS is today that branch of science that treats of inorganic nature, the study of forces. The word METAPHYSICS is thought by 35 percent of adult readers to mean SCIENCE. SCIENCE and METAPHYSICS are today the two great branches of PHILOSOPHY. The word PHILOSOPHY comes from the Greek PHILOSOPHIA, love of knowledge and wisdom, a combination of PHILEIN, to love, and SOPHIA, wisdom, skill, art. PHILOSOPHY should designate organized knowledge, all truth known to man, the sum of man's contemplations and accumulated experiences. The word SCIENCE comes from the Latin SCIENTIA, science, knowledge, from SCIENS, SCIENTIS, the present participle of SCIRE, to know. SCIENCE now designates that branch of systematized knowledge gained from observation and experiment. SCIENCE rests upon empirical data, on observation, experimentation, and carefully accumulated measurements. METAPHYSICS is that branch of philosophy or systematized knowledge that deals with final causes not directly susceptible to observation and laboratory experiments. Two branches of METAPHYSICS are: ONTOLOGY, a study of the ultimate problems of being, doctrine of the essence of existence; and EPISTEMOLOGY, theory and study of the problems of human knowledge. Since the recrudescence of the scientific method, beginning with Francis Bacon, 1561 to 1626, often called the herald of modern science, METAPHYSICS has been limited to theoretical speculations remote from observation and experimental verification.

AESTHESIA: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 18:05:06 -0500

Perception, sensitivity, feeling, sensitiveness, sensation. AESTHESIA is thought by 57% of high-vocabulary readers, but by only 31% of those who score low, to mean MEMORY LOSS. This is a confusion of AESTHESIA, feeling, sensation, with AMNESIA. AMNESIA comes directly from the Greek AMNESIA, a combination of the Greek privative A-, not, and MNASTHAI, to remember, the source of the English word MNEMONIC, pertaining to memory, and AMNESTY, the forgetting and so forgiving of an offense. AMNESIA is loss of memory, a pathological term. By another 35% of low-vocabulary readers, but in this case by practically no one who scores high, AESTHESIA is thought to mean UNCONSCIOUSNESS. AESTHESIA comes from the Greek AISTHESIS, perception, from the verb AISTHANESTHAI, to perceive by the senses. ANAESTHESIA, starting with the Greek privative AN-, not, is insensibility, loss of sensation, lack of feeling, unconsciousness, an exact opposite of AESTHESIA. The substantive, an ANAESTHETIC, an agent such as chloroform to produce insensibility, is probably the commonest and best known of the various forms of this word. ANAESTHESIA is the state produced by an ANAESTHETIC. From the same source comes the adjective AESTHETIC, literally sensitive, perceptive, now used to mean having a sense of the beautiful; and the noun AESTHETICS, the science of beauty, theory of the fine arts, principles of taste. All of these may correctly be spelled either AESTHETIC or ESTHETIC, ANAESTHETIC or ANESTHETIC, ANAESTHESIA or ANESTHESIA, AESTHESIA or ESTHESIA.

SEETHE: (v.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:10:16 -0500

This verb is usually intransitive, and means to boil, be agitated by heat, bubble, be in a state of ebullition as the result of heat. To SEETHE may be literal or figurative. Thus a liquid may SEETHE; or a nation may SEETHE with discontent because of internal friction. In the test phrase: "The water SEETHES," the word is thought by 14% of adult readers to mean FLOWS RAPIDLY, and by another 8% to mean TUMBLES, the two popular misconceptions. A rapidly flowing river, striking an obstacle, does not SEETHE; nor does a TUMBLING waterfall. There are words for this bubbling action due to causes other than heat. One is the unusual noun EBULLITION, which has no verb in good standing. EBULLITION is the same agitated state, which may or may not be caused by heat. A torrent which bubbles is, if one wishes to be perfectly correct, in a state of EBULLITION. To EFFERVESCE is another verb for this same bubbling action. It is to be in a state of natural EBULLITION, bubbling. EFFERVESCENCE, the noun, the act of bubbling, is never the result of heat. To EFFERVESCE and to FERMENT are similar; except that to FERMENT is to decompose by bubbling invisibly, so slowly and gently that the bubbles are not apparent; to EFFERVESCE is to bubble visibly. The verb to SEETHE is also used occasionally in a transitive sense, to boil, cook by boiling, as: "To SEETHE food," to prepare food by boiling. In this sense, the word is related to DECOCT, which means to boil down or to extract the essence of a thing by boiling. A DECOCTION is the liquid in which something has been boiled and which has become impregnated with its essence. SEETHE is derived from words which are connected with the idea of burning. It is related to Icelandic and Danish words meaning to burn, singe; to a Gothic word meaning burnt offering; and to the Anglo-Saxon word for smoke. SEETHING, correctly used, must be caused by heat.

SPECTROSCOPE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:08:27 -0500

An instrument for dispersing light of different colors; the essential part is either a prism or diffraction grating. The terms SPECTROSCOPE and MICROSCOPE are confused by 3% of students. The differentiation depends upon a knowledge of Greek as much as upon science. A MICROSCOPE, from the Greek MIKROS, small, is an instrument with which one looks at small things. From the same Greek MIKROS, small, little, comes MICROBE, a minute living organism, a combination of MIKROS and BIOS, life; also MICROMETER, an instrument for measuring very small distances; and MICROPHONE, by derivation a little voice, the mouthpiece into which a small sound enters before being amplified. A MICROSCOPE is for viewing small objects; a SPECTROSCOPE is for viewing SPECTRA, primarily for looking at light separated into its different wavelengths. SPECTRO- comes from the Latin SPECTRUM, a vision, apparition, image. The common ending -SCOPE is practically the Greek word SCOPEIN, to see, look at, view, written in Roman letters. The Greek noun SCOPOS designated a spy, watcher. SPECTROSCOPE and SPECTROPHOTOMETER are confused by another 3% of students. The ending -PHOTOMETER is a combination of the Greek PHOS, PHOTOS, light, and METRON, measure. A PHOTOMETER measures the intensity of light; specifically, it compares the relative intensity of lights from different sources. A SPECTROPHOTOMETER measures the intensity of light from different parts of the SPECTRUM. The SPECTROSCOPE is used by astrophysicists in determining the chemical composition of a star by recognizing wavelengths of light known to be emitted only by some specific substance. It is also used in measuring the motion of a star to or from the observer by the shift of a known line toward one end of the spectrum or the other.

MAGNATE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:34:38 -0500

Important person, one of rank, tycoon, person of eminence in any field. MAGNATE is thought by 17% of adult readers to mean ATTRACTION. This is obviously a confusion of MAGNATE with MAGNET or MAGNETISM. MAGNET comes from the Greek MAGNESIA, a district in Thessaly, north of Greece, where magnetic iron, the lodestone, was first discovered. A MAGNET is a piece of iron which ATTRACTS, draws toward itself, other bits of iron. MAGNETISM is ATTRACTION. MAGNATE comes from the Latin MAGNUS, great, the source of the English word MAGNITUDE, greatness, size. In Late Latin, the word MAGNATE was used for a member of the Upper House in Hungary, also called the House of MAGNATES. A MAGNATE was either a hereditary peer, high state dignitary, or an ecclesiastic of rank. A MAGNATE then came to be any noble, or man of high position, outside of Hungary. Today it is applied popularly, but usually not in admiration, to persons of wealth and financial power, to those who possess influence because of money, as: "A railroad MAGNATE." Because of its direct derivation from the Latin MAGNUS, great, the word MAGNATE should retain the essence of its source, and connote any person of importance in any endeavor, in a community or an industry.

HUMID: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:55:44 -0500

Moist, damp, slightly wet, dank, containing moisture, the opposite of dry. The prefix HYGRO-, from the Greek, also means wet, moist, HUMID. The corresponding noun HUMIDITY, moisture, is probably more familiar. A HUMIDOR, another noun from the same source, is a box equipped with a moistened sponge, in which tobacco is kept from drying. HUMOR, from the same source, once meant moisture, then an animal fluid, and so the four CARDINAL HUMORS of the ancients which were thought to determine, by their conditions and proportions, the human temperament: BLOOD, or sanguine; CHOLER, yellow bile; PHLEGM, mucus; and MELANCHOLY, black bile. HUMID, SULTRY, and DANK, all mean wet, moist. DANK is wet and cold; SULTRY, wet and hot; HUMID, wet or moist, with no indication of cold or heat.

APEX: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:00:12 -0500

Highest point, tip, peak, top, vertex, zenith, summit, pinnacle, apogee, acme. In the test phrase: "The APEX of her career," the word is believed by 1% of adult readers to mean AIM. The AIM is that point towards which one strives, but which one may never reach; the APEX, in this phrase, is the highest point actually reached.

GRAPHIC: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:41:47 -0500

Vivid, clearly and effectively described, well-drawn, represented with accuracy, well-delineated, giving a clear and effective picture; the OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY says: "Producing by words the effect of a picture." The etymology of GRAPHIC shows how the word is connected to both writing and drawing. GRAPHIC comes through the French GRAPHIQUE and the Latin GRAPHICUS, relating to painting or drawing, to the Greek GRAPHE, which meant both drawing, painting, and writing, description. GRAPHE comes in turn from the verb GRAPHEIN, which originally meant to scratch, scrape, and later to represent by lines, and so to draw, paint, or write, inscribe. Because of this derivation, GRAPHIC today has meanings that apply to writing, to drawing, and that incorporate both of these ideas. GRAPHIC representation means representation in letters or characters; GRAPHIC symbols are written symbols. A GRAPHIC material is one fit to be written on, suited for writing. From 1854 comes the quotation: "I would . . . make eloquent The GRAPHIC bark of beech!" The GRAPHIC arts are those that pertain to representation on a flat surface by lines or strokes, such as drawing, painting, etching, engraving, and printmaking. LITHOGRAPHY, literally drawing or writing on stone, from the Greek LITHOS, stone, and the same GRAPHEIN, to write, draw, is a GRAPHIC art. GRAPHICS is the art of drawing, especially the precise kind of mechanical drawing, as used in engineering and architecture. In the phrase: "In GRAPHIC detail," GRAPHIC means giving the effect of a picture, well-drawn, vividly descriptive. This meaning of GRAPHIC, in use since the 17th century, unites in the English word the ideas of writing and drawing intrinsic to its Greek root, GRAPHEIN, to write, draw. GRAPHIC means literally using words to draw pictures; GRAPHIC expression is writing or language that creates vivid pictures in the mind. The syllable -GRAPH, from the same Greek source, is the so-called TERMINAL ELEMENT of many words. In the word TELEGRAPH, from the Greek TELE, afar, distant, -GRAPH means that which writes. A TELEGRAPH is an instrument that sends writing to a distant point. An AUTOGRAPH, from the Greek AUTOS, self, is literally writing by oneself, and so either a person's own handwriting, or more specifically, one's signature. In other instances the ending -GRAPH means picture. A PHOTOGRAPH, from the Greek PHOS, PHOTOS, light, is a picture made by exposure to light. GRAPHIC, VIVID, and PICTURESQUE, all refer to language that has a strong visual effect upon the mind. PICTURESQUE means like a picture or painting, abounding in rich imagery and impressions. Of the three words, PICTURESQUE is the least clear and the most personal, for it implies using words the way an artist uses paint and brush. VIVID and GRAPHIC description are both very clear. VIVID is from the Latin VIVIDUS, animated, full of life, also lifelike, true to life, and combines the two meanings of its source. VIVID means lively, full of vigor and intensity, and realistic, true to life. VIVID description is clear because it is real and forceful, often poignant in expression. GRAPHIC implies close attention to fact and details; it is clear because it is thorough and accurate, well-delineated, well-drawn. PICTURESQUE description may also be detailed, but is subjective, full of personal impressions, often charming or romantic ones. GRAPHIC description is objective, factual, and without sentiment. GRAPHIC description is less vigorous and exciting than VIVID description, but more detailed and accurate. Both produce a striking impression on the mind: GRAPHIC the more definite; VIVID the more strong.

VENAL: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:36:21 -0500

Accessible to bribery, ready to sell one's services, corrupt, hireling, mercenary, willing to sell honor and principle for personal gain. "VENAL rascals" are thought by 15% of adult readers to be DISEASED. This is presumably a confusion of VENAL with VENEREAL. The adjective VENEREAL, frequently employed in the phrase: "VENEREAL disease," comes from VENUS, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. VENEREAL means pertaining to sexual intercourse. VENAL comes from the Latin VENALIS, pertaining to selling, purchasable, from VENUS, sale, for sale, identical in spelling with the goddess, but with no immediate etymological connection. The corresponding familiar verb, VENDERE, to sell, cry out for sale, is a combination of VENUS, for sale, and DARE, to give. From this come the English verb VEND, to sell, transfer to another for money, and the noun VENDER, one who sells. At various periods in the history of man, one who works for pay has been looked down upon with scorn, and at other times admired. This often leads to a brace of words from the same root, both of which mean sell, one with a pleasant implication and the other quite disagreeable. One example is the pair: MERITORIOUS and MERETRICIOUS. MERITORIOUS means deserving of reward, and therefore praiseworthy. MERETRICIOUS means willing to do anything for a reward. The Latin verb MERERE, the source of MERETRICIOUS, meant to earn, merit, serve for pay. From this came the Latin noun MERETRIX, a prostitute, harlot, a word occasionally used in English, MERETRIX, with the same spelling and meaning. From this the adjective MERETRICIOUS has come to mean alluring by false show, tawdry, deceitfully ornamental. Another similar pair is the verb to VEND, which means to merchandise, sell in a pleasant sense, and VENAL, which suggests ready to sell oneself or one's principles for gain.

VOLUPTUOUS: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 18:45:03 -0600

Devoted to the pleasures of the senses, luxury-loving, sensual, causing sensuous or sensual gratification, indulging to excess in sensual pleasure. In literature, Cleopatra personifies VOLUPTUOUSNESS. VOLUPTUOUS is from the Latin VOLUPTAS, pleasure, enjoyment, delight. VOLUPTUOUS and APHRODISIAC both suggest excessive delight in the gratification of the senses. APHRODISIAC refers specifically to sexual pleasures; VOLUPTUOUS is more general and applies to the gratification of all the senses. In the phrase: "A VOLUPTUOUS woman," the word is thought by 40% of adult readers to mean LARGE. This misconception may be due to some confusion of VOLUPTUOUS, luxury-loving, with VOLUME or with the adjective VOLUMINOUS, ample, bulky, large. Or the confusion may be with the words LUXURIOUS and LUXURIANT. LUXURIANT means abundant, exuberant in growth; LUXURIOUS is a synonym of VOLUPTUOUS. VOLUPTUOUS does not imply size. Of the three words VOLUPTUOUS, SENSUOUS, and SENSUAL, the last means unduly indulgent, carnal, a discreditable adjective. SENSUOUS applies to the nicer gratification of the senses. VOLUPTUOUS is softly sensuous, bordering on the sensual.

HIERATIC: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:37:39 -0500

Sacred, priestly, sacerdotal, consecrated to sacred uses. To 42 percent of adult readers HIERATIC incorrectly means ANCIENT, very old, of great age, of early origin. Several words which begin with HIERO-, sacred, priestly, from the Greek HIEROS, sacred, are associated with the ancient Egyptians. The word HIEROLOGY, which by derivation means the science of sacred writings, has departed furthest from the original, and now means the science of ancient Egyptian writings. This word might justifiably be confused with ANCIENT. A HIEROGLYPH, another word from the same source, is a symbol used in the picture writing of the ancient EGYPTIANS; but the word means by derivation sacred carving, not ancient carving. HIERATIC conveys no implication of ancient, but means literally sacred. Three types of Egyptian writing have been distinguished: HIEROGLYPHIC, HIERATIC, and DEMOTIC. HIEROGLYPHIC is the formal symbol writing of the Egyptians. HIERATIC writing is an abbreviated form of HIEROGLYPHIC; it is more rapid and more nearly a running hand. The word DEMOTIC, from the same source as the English word DEMOCRACY, may be used today to mean popular, pertaining to the common people. DEMOTIC writing, still more abbreviated and more rapid than the HIERATIC, was the popular writing of the Egyptians. The famous Rosetta Stone, cut in 195 B.C., and found in 1799 near the mouth of the Nile by soldiers of Napoleon, bears the same inscription in three forms; first in HIEROGLYPHIC, then in DEMOTIC, and finally in Greek. HIERATIC and SACERDOTAL both mean priestly. SACERDOTAL is used in the strict sense of priestly, assisting at a sacrifice; HIERATIC, in the broader sense of sacred.

SLOTH: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:09:16 -0500

Laziness, slowness, tardiness, sluggishness, indolence, disinclination to work. SLOTH is the Anglo-Saxon SLOW plus the abstract formative -TH, as in GROW, GROWTH, where W has not yet been dropped. To 5% of adult readers SLOTH incorrectly means DRINKING. SLOTH is one of the seven MORTAL, deadly, SINS: PRIDE, COVETOUSNESS, LUST, ANGER, GLUTTONY, ENVY, and SLOTH.

UKASE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:01:15 -0500

An edict, order, command, decree, ordinance; originally, an official proclamation issued by a Russian czar or the Russian government having the force of law. The word is sometimes used loosely and humorously today to mean any grand pronouncement, authoritative statement. Nineteen percent of adult readers incorrectly believe a UKASE is a GENERALIZATION. A GENERALIZATION is an induction, inference, an assertion that what is true for a part must be true for the whole. A UKASE is an edict, decree. By another 15 percent UKASE is believed to be a STEPPE This is obviously a confusion of UKASE with UKRAINE, a republic of the Soviet Union bordering on Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, and the Black Sea. STEPPE comes from the Russian word STEPI, a waste, heath, and means a relatively level, grassy, treeless tract; the word is used specifically of any of the vast grasslands of European and Asiatic Russia. A UKASE, a FIAT, and an IRADE, are all official pronouncements. IRADE is the Turkish word for a written decree of the Sultan of Turkey; the word is now used more generally to mean a decree of any Mohammedan ruler. FIAT, which comes ultimately from the Latin FACERE, to do, make, means literally "Let it be done." A FIAT may be authoritative sanction, authorization, as: "We await the king's FIAT"; or it may be an absolute, arbitrary decree, often one which commands that something be done, or creates something which did not exist before. UKASE comes from the Russian UKAZU, an ordinance, edict. The word once meant an imperial edict of the Russian government, but now signifies any proclamation issued by a temporal authority having the power of law.

PROPOSE: (v.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:36:35 -0500

To suggest, nominate, propound, proffer, put forth, call attention to, offer for consideration, tender for acceptance. In the test phrase: "Whom do you PROPOSE?" the word is thought by 2% of adult readers to mean VOTE FOR. A law or the name of a person must be proposed for acceptance or for membership before it can be voted upon. PROPOSE is from the Latin PRO, forward, and POSITUM, the past participle of PONERE, to put, and means literally to put forward. Today practically all English words ending in -POSE mean in some way to put, place, set. To COMPOSE is to put together; to DEPOSE is to put down, put from; to REPOSE is to sit back; to EXPOSE is to set forth, reveal, uncover, place so as to be seen; to PROPOSE is to put forth.

HARUSPEX: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 15:00:21 -0500

Soothsayer, diviner, priest, a minor priest in ancient Rome who inspected the entrails of animals killed in sacrifice and from their appearance interpreted the will of the gods. HARUSPICES, the plural, are thought by 20% of adult readers to be FEMALE SLAVES. The Turkish word HAREM is used not only for the apartments reserved for women, but also collectively for the occupants, including the wife or wives, the female relatives of the husband, and the female slaves or concubines. The HARUSPICES were fortunetellers. Cicero explains the distinction between an AUSPEX and a HARUSPEX, both priests who foretell the future. AUSPEX comes from the Latin AVIS, bird, and the Latin verb SPECERE, to see. An AUSPEX is one who foretells future events by watching the flight of birds. From the Latin AUSPEX comes AUSPICIOUS, of good omen. HARUSPEX comes from the Latin HARUSPEX, HARUSPICIS, soothsayers, minor priests of ancient Rome. The first part, HARU, comes from the Sanskrit HIRA, entrails, animal vitals; and the second part from the same Latin verb SPECERE, to see, inspect, view. A HARUSPEX foretells future events from the entrails of sacrificed animals.

ROCOCO: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:12:31 -0500

Florid, excessively embellished, ornate, baroque, profusely decorated, overelaborate to the point of extravagance. To 29% of college seniors ROCOCO incorrectly means MOORISH. MOORISH, as the word is used in architecture, applies to a style that was introduced into Spain by the Moors in 710 A.D., and continued for approximately eight hundred years. It is embellished with elaborate designs carved on flat surfaces. In this it differs from ROCOCO, a word that comes probably from the French word ROCHE, rock. ROCOCO consists of an assemblage of fantastic, rocklike projections, grotesque scrolls, and conventionalized shellwork. To another 9% of college seniors ROCOCO means ITALIAN. This is no doubt the word BAROQUE, which often means heavy, grotesque, bizarre. Correctly, BAROQUE applies to the architectural style that began in Italy at the beginning of the 17th century, a reaction against the standardized Classical Renaissance of the time, and a style responsible for several buildings that show life and vitality. Later, the style became heavy and grotesque, and at about this time spread to France. It is because of this later development that the word BAROQUE suggests the grotesque and bizarre. ROCOCO applies to the kind of ornamentation so freely used in the later BAROQUE style. ROCOCO ornamentation developed in France during the reigns of Louis XIV, 1643-1715, and Louis XV, 1715-1774. The word is not limited to architecture, but may be used of any elaborate ornamentation. It does not necessarily imply heaviness, ugliness; but it is often used figuratively with reference to any elaborate, extravagant style, burdened with ornamentation.

PARLEY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:36:27 -0500

Mutual discourse, discussion, conversation; specifically, a conference between enemies, meeting of opposing leaders. PARLEY is probably from the French PARLER, to speak. To 3 percent of adult readers PARLEY incorrectly means TRUCE, a suspension of hostilities, armistice. The terms of a TRUCE may be discussed in a PARLEY, conference between enemies.

CLOISTER: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:41:51 -0500

A covered passage between buildings or around a court, arcade; also, a monastery or convent. CLOISTER goes back through Middle English to the French CLOITRE, probably originally to the Latin CLAUDERE, to shut, close. A CLOISTER was at first an enclosure. The word then came to mean the covered walk around an enclosure, around a secluded garden or open court within the walls of a convent or monastery. One side of a CLOISTER is ordinarily a solid wall, and the other side, toward the garden or court, a line of columns holding a series of arches. CLOISTER and COLONNADE are confused by 33 percent of adult readers. The word COLONNADE comes from the Latin COLUMNA, a column. A COLONNADE is a row of columns. Such a COLONNADE, a row of columns supporting arches, often separates a CLOISTER from an unroofed court or garden. Dictionaries which follow usage quote Tennyson: "And around the cool green courts there ran a row of CLOISTERS." This appears to be misuse, the same mistake which a third of adults make today. A COLONNADE is a row of columns; a CLOISTER is a quiet, secluded, covered walk.

SIROCCO: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:08:54 -0500

A hot wind, specifically a dry dust-laden wind blowing from Africa across the Mediterranean, sultry south wind. SIROCCO is thought by 31% of adult readers to mean LEATHER, obviously a confusion of SIROCCO, hot wind, with MOROCCO, a kind of leather. MOROCCO, named for MOROCCO in northwest Africa, is leather made from goatskins. True MOROCCO is used in bookbindings and occasionally in upholstery. MOROCCO, meaning leather, is spelled with a small letter; MOROCCO, the kingdom, is spelled with a capital. SIROCCO is an Italian word for the southeast wind. It goes back probably to an Arabic word for east. In winter, the term SIROCCO is used for a warm, sultry, humid wind, accompanied by rain. The same word SIROCCO is used for a hot, dry, dust-laden wind, rising suddenly at any time of year, but more frequently in the spring.

GUANO: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:35:09 -0500

Bird excrement used as manure, dung, ordure, bird feces, natural manure of sea fowl. GUANO is a Spanish word, GUANO or HUANO, from the Peruvian word HUANU, dung. GUANO was first found in quantity on tiny Chincha Island, just off the Peruvian coast, a third of the way down on the west side of South America. In 1841, three thousand tons of GUANO were imported into England from Peru. The British immediately recognized the effectiveness of this bird dung, and in four years the imports rose to nearly 300,000 tons. As often happens, selfish, short-sighted men used this valuable fertilizer lavishly and exhausted the high-quality deposits. "Collecting GUANO" is thought by 32% of adult readers to mean TROPICAL FRUIT, a confusion of GUANO with GUAVA. GUAVA is an American tropical fruit which grows on a small tree of the myrtle family. The fruit is pear-shaped, the size of a hen's egg, and used in making jelly. The tree is about twenty feet high. GUANO is bird excrement, dung.

STRESS: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:09:45 -0500

Pressure, urgency, force, violence; physical, mental, or emotional tension. In the test phrase: "STRESS of debate," the noun STRESS is thought by 8% of readers to mean HEIGHT, and by another 7% to mean COURSE. COURSE comes from the Latin CURRERE, to run, and in this phrase means in the smooth running of the debate, its gradual progression, orderly sequence. Nothing in the word COURSE suggests STRESS, tension, pressure. HEIGHT is much closer. The verb to HEIGHTEN may mean to intensify, increase, augment. The HEIGHT of an argument is the hottest point; and in this sense HEIGHT and STRESS are nearly synonymous. But HEIGHT means topmost point, culmination, peak. STRESS means pressure, tension, force. In some of its senses, the noun STRESS comes from the verb, which in turn goes back to the Latin STRICTUS, the past participle of STRINGERE, to draw together, compress, contract. In other senses, the noun STRESS seems to be an aphetic form of DISTRESS, the initial DI- clipped by APHERESIS, the omission of a letter or an unaccented syllable from the beginning of a word.

MORAINE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 18:45:28 -0600

Glacial deposit, ridge of rocks left at the sides and at the end of a glacier when it melts, also at the junction of two glaciers. A MORAINE is thought by 32% of adult readers to be a MARSH, obviously a confusion of MORAINE, glacial deposit, with MORASS. A MORASS, probably from Dutch, is a MARSH, bog, slough, swamp, fen. When the word is nicely used, a MARSH is ground which is periodically wet, but not always, as: "A salt MARSH," wet by the sea only at high tide. A MORASS is a large MARSH, too wet and soggy to be productive. MORAINE is a French word, which goes back probably to an earlier word meaning a heap of stones. A GLACIER is a river of ice which moves very slowly down a mountainside, following the valleys. Rocks and other material drop from the sides of the valley onto the top of the glacier along its edges as it moves by. When it reaches the bottom of the valley and pushes slowly out onto the plain below, it begins to melt, and the rocks and dirt carried on its edges sink to the ground and leave on each side a long ridge or pile of debris. These ridges are called MORAINES. MORAINES, ESKERS, and KAMES, were all originally deposits associated with glaciers. A KAME is a round hill of glacial material, formed perhaps originally as a delta at the mouth of a glacial stream. An ESKER is a long ridge of glacial material which can be followed up and down over hills and valleys. Some geologists say it represents the material in the bed of a stream running on, within, or beneath a glacier. A MORAINE is any ridge of glacial material left either at the sides or at the front edge of the melting glacier.

ACCOUTERMENTS: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:01:06 -0500

Apparel, equipment, trappings, furnishings, paraphernalia, gear, any outfit carried about one's person. In the test phrase: "Well-chosen ACCOUTERMENTS," the word is thought by 24% of adult readers to mean SURROUNDINGS, the popular misconception. Ordinarily the plural SURROUNDINGS means environs, ambience, external conditions. ACCOUTERMENTS are articles worn or carried about the body. The three words ACCOUTERMENTS, EQUIPAGE, and VESTMENT, all designate personal equipment. A VESTMENT is a garment, article of clothing, explicitly a ceremonial robe, an official garment. An EQUIPAGE was originally the equipment of a ship or of an army. In the 18th century the word was used for the collection of implements, toothpick, nail cleaner, and private seal, carried by every person of quality. Later the meaning of the word changed again and an EQUIPAGE meant a carriage, including its horses and servants in liveries; and the word is used most frequently today in this last sense. ACCOUTERMENTS are not limited to garments or clothing, nor do they ordinarily include such things as carriages, horses, or servants. ACCOUTERMENTS are those things which might be carried about one's person.

INEBRIATION: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 18:44:49 -0600

Drunkenness, intoxication, insobriety, tipsiness, inebriety, ebriosity, ebriety, befuddlement, temulency, besottedness, the state of being excited by strong drink beyond self-control. INEBRIATION is thought by 10% of adult readers to mean ILLITERACY. ILLITERACY means ignorance, lack of education; the word specifically refers to the inability to read. The verb to INEBRIATE, to make drunk, comes from the Latin IN, in, and EBRIUS, drunk. Of the two words INEBRIATION and DRUNKENNESS, the last, of Anglo-Saxon origin, should be used in daily speech in preference to INEBRIATION. Some of the countless colloquial phrases for INEBRIATION include: HALF-SEAS-OVER, half drunk, dating back to 1700; THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND, reeling, staggering drunk, from sailors' slang; IN ONE'S CUPS, which goes back in English to the 16th century, and was probably taken directly from Latin literature; SQUIFFY, slightly inebriated, of unknown origin; BLOTTO, unconscious from drink, formed from the verb to BLOT; SCREWED and TIGHT, of British 19th century colloquial origin; and from the United States, SMASHED, perhaps from the drink a SMASH, made with brandy, cut ice, water, sugar, and sprigs of mint; and LOADED, which first appeared in 1890 in the CENTURY DICTIONARY.

BIOMETRY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:08:48 -0500

Life measurement, the study of the length of life, calculation of the probable duration of human life. In the test phrase: "Versed in BIOMETRY," the word is thought by 31% of adult readers to be RELATED METALS. There is a word BIMETALLISM. BIMETALLISM is the use of two metals for coins, often gold and silver. The relative value of the two is fixed by law. BIMETALLISM does not strictly mean RELATED METALS, but implies a fixed relation between the values of the two. Here the first syllable BI- means two, as in BILINGUAL, speaking two languages. The word BIOMETRY comes from the Greek BIOS, life, and METRON, a measure. Each of these Greek words appears in other English terms. A BIOGRAPHY, from the same Greek BIOS, life, and GRAPHEIN, to write, is a writing about life, specifically the history of the life of a person. BIOLOGY is the science of life, study of living things. From the Greek METRON comes GEOMETRY, by derivation the measurement of the earth. BIOMETRY is by derivation the measurement of life. The word is now used more specifically for a statistical study of the probable duration of life.

MISANTHROPE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 18:04:50 -0500

A hater of mankind, one who distrusts his fellow men. The word MISANTHROPE comes from the Greek verb MISEIN, to hate, and the noun ANTHROPOS, a man. A MISOGYNIST is a hater of women; a MISANTHROPE, a hater of mankind in general. MISANTHROPE is thought by 19% of adult readers to mean PESSIMIST. The three words: PESSIMIST, CYNIC, and MISANTHROPE, are often given as synonyms. A PESSIMIST is one who predicts that the worst will happen. He professes to want a bright future, but predicts the reverse. A PESSIMIST is the opposite of an OPTIMIST. A CYNIC is one who stands on the sideline and sneers at the efforts of others; he interprets every act unfavorably. A MISANTHROPE is not conscious enough of other persons to misinterpret their actions, and so is not a CYNIC. He is indifferent to the future of mankind, and so is not a PESSIMIST. A MISANTHROPE and a PHILANTHROPIST are, by derivation, exact opposites. PHILANTHROPY, and the corresponding PHILANTHROPIST, come from the Greek PHILEIN, to love, and the same ANTHROPOS, man. A PHILANTHROPIST is by derivation a lover of mankind; a MISANTHROPE is a hater of mankind in general.

FLAMEN: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:56:30 -0500

Priest, one of the ancient Roman priests devoted to the service of a particular deity. In the test phrase: "The FLAMENS of ancient Rome," the word is thought by 39% of adult readers to mean ALTAR FIRES. This is no doubt a confusion of FLAMEN, priest, with the simple word FLAME, or perhaps with FLAMBEAU. FLAMBEAU, from the Latin FLAMMA, a flame, is a flaming torch of any kind used in processions at night. The same word is used today for a large ornate candlestick. FLAMEN comes directly from the Latin FLAMEN, FLAMINIS, probably originally from the same source as FLAME, and designating one who burned the sacrifices. There were originally three FLAMENS, each devoted to the service of a special deity, one consecrated to Jupiter, one to Mars, and one to Romulus. Later the number was increased to fifteen.

COERCION: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:11:47 -0500

Compulsion, constraint, forcible restraint, control by force. COERCION comes from the Latin CO-, together, and ARCERE, to confine, enclose, the source of the English words ARK, the boat on which Noah was saved from the flood, and ARCADE, a series of arches supported by columns. COERCION and COMPULSION are similar in suggestion, but used in different situations. COMPULSION is the general term for force which makes one act against one's will. COERCION is the compulsion of a presumably free agent. COERCION is used most often of social situations, of social acts, of forcing one into conformity. INTIMIDATION is one form of COERCION. From Thomas Babington Macaulay, the British statesman, 1800 to 1859, comes the quotation: "It is by COERCION, it is by the sword, and not by free stipulation with the governed, that England rules India."

PANTECHNICON: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:19:26 -0500

A large warehouse for storing furniture; originally, a place where all sorts of manufactured art objects are displayed for sale, craft market, bazaar. A PANTECHNICON is thought by 30% of adult readers to be an OBSERVATORY. This may be a confusion of PANTECHNICON, warehouse, with PLANETARIUM. A PLANETARIUM, according to Funk and Wagnall's NEW PRACTICAL STANDARD DICTIONARY, 1962, is: "An apparatus for exhibiting the features of the heavens as they exist at any time and for any place on earth, consisting of a suitably mounted projector installed in a room having a circular dome." Other names for this device are ORRERY and COSMOSCOPE. The word PLANETARIUM is now also used for the building containing such a device. A PLANETARIUM is not really an OBSERVATORY, which is a building containing a powerful telescope used to study the planets and stars. The word PANTECHNICON comes from the Greek PAS, PANTOS, all, and TECHNE, art. This last Greek word TECHNE, art, is the source also of PYROTECHNICS, literally the art of fire, now used for fireworks. PANTECHNICON, which originally meant a building for displaying manufactured articles, came in England to mean a warehouse for storing furniture. From this it was used in the phrase: "PANTECHNICON van," a furniture truck, moving wagon, often shortened to PANTECHNICON in British colloquial use. The word PANTECHNICON rarely occurs in America; but in England today a PANTECHNICON is a large warehouse for storing furniture.

STRINGENT: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:09:35 -0500

Strict, rigid, tight, restricted, constrained, Draconian, narrowly held to rules, coercive, thoroughgoing, exacting, rigorously binding. STRINGENT comes from the Latin STRINGERE, to draw tight, compress, make compact. From this same Latin verb, STRINGERE, through Old French, come STRAIN, CONSTRAIN, and RESTRAIN. Directly from the Latin STRICTUS, the past participle of STRINGERE, to draw tight, bind, comes the English adjective STRICT, literally drawn tight, close, once used in this physical sense, as in Dryden's phrase: "In a STRICT embrace." Today STRICT means rigid, exacting, severe, as: "STRICT statutes and most biting laws." A STRINGENT government is thought by 10 percent of adult readers to be ECONOMICAL. ECONOMICAL may mean careful, saving, frugal, sparing, thrifty, and in this sense is very close to STRINGENT, constrained, restricted. To another 5 percent STRINGENT means LOOSE, an exact opposite of the correct meaning. STRINGENT is used of taste to mean constrictive, styptic, astringent. In 1858, Trench, in his SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, wrote: "Harsh and STRINGENT to the palate as unripe fruit." STRINGENT is also used, but rarely, of a physical drawing tight. It is used more frequently of rules, laws, regulations, that are rigid, strict, binding, coercive. Recently it has been used of the money market when funds are scarce, tight, restricted.

ESTUARY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 14:59:58 -0500

Arm of the sea, inlet filled with water only at high tide, and mud at low tide; also, tidal mouth of a river. ESTUARY comes directly from the Latin AESTUARIUM, an arm of the sea at flood tide, channel extending inland. This comes from the Latin AESTUS, tide, surge, swell of the sea. An AESTUARIUM was also a hot bathing room, and AESTUS meant also glowing heat, fire. This suggestion of heat in the two words is indirectly retained in the English adjective ESTIVAL, pertaining to summer; the noun ESTIVATION, spending the summer; and the verb ESTIVATE, to pass the summer. PROMONTORY and PENINSULA are sometimes confused with ESTUARY. These are both confusions of the sea with the land, for an ESTUARY is an arm of the sea; a PROMONTORY and a PENINSULA, arms of land. A PROMONTORY is a headland, high point of land projecting into the sea. A PENINSULA is land almost surrounded by water, connected with the mainland by a narrow neck. PENINSULA comes from the Latin PAENE, almost, and INSULA, island; a PENINSULA is almost an island. A DELTA is also land. The Greek capital DELTA, equivalent to the English D, is triangular; and the term DELTA is applied to the triangular bit of land which sometimes collects at the mouth of a river and around which the water flows into the sea in two channels. A DELTA is land; an ESTUARY is water.

ALEATORY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:59:35 -0500

Dependent on luck or chance, of uncertain outcome, risky, unpredictable, depending on a contingent event, pertaining to accidental causes or occurrences. In law, an ALEATORY contract is an agreement the conditions of which depend on a CONTINGENT, chance, accidental, event. In contemporary music, ALEATORY means incorporating the element of chance in performance, usually by including in the score a number of separate phrases to be played in any order at the discretion of the performer. ALEATORY comes from the Latin ALEATORIUS, pertaining to a gambler or to gambling, from ALEATOR, a gambler, player with dice. This in turn comes from ALEA, a game with dice, chance, risk, venture. ALEATORY means literally depending on the throw of a die; hence, risky, unpredictable, dependent on luck or chance.

MARTIAL: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:35:42 -0500

Warlike, military, pertaining to war, belonging to an army, suited to military life, having the characteristics of a warrior. The word MARTIAL is perhaps most frequently seen in the phrase: "COURT MARTIAL," the military court that tries offenders against military law. COURT MARTIAL is spelled without a hyphen; but when used as a verb, to COURT-MARTIAL, it is hyphenated. When used in the phrase: "MARTIAL music," the word is thought by 2 percent of adult readers to mean CLASSICAL. This confusion may arise from the fact that the adjective MARTIAL comes from the proper name MARS, the ancient Roman god of war. MARTIAL means by derivation Marslike, warlike.

GALLEY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 14:59:20 -0500

Early form of seagoing vessel propelled by rowers, old type of ship using sails part of the time but depending primarily upon oars. The word GALLEY goes back with little change through Middle English and Old French to Middle Latin. The Greek GALLEYS, both for commerce and war, were rated by the total number of oars. Thus a TRIACONTER had thirty oars, fifteen on each side. A PENTECONTER had fifty oars, each handled by a man. From these came larger GALLEYS with several banks of oars, one above the other. A BIREME had two such banks; a TRIREME three; a QUADRIREME four, one above the other. The war ships of the Romans consisted largely of TRIREMES, with short decks at the bow and stern. These were replaced by full decks, and finally by several decks. A GALLEASS was a large GALLEY carrying three masts, some twenty guns, and as many as thirty-two oars on a side, manned by three hundred rowers. GALLEYS continued to be used in the Mediterranean until the 17th century, and had from five to twenty-five oars on a side, each handled by several men. The rowers were prisoners of war, slaves, and sometimes criminals condemned to the GALLEYS and called GALLEY-SLAVES. This compound word leads 17% of adult readers to believe that GALLEYS are SLAVES.

TROGLODYTE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:35:18 -0500

Cave dweller, anyone who lives in a hollow in the earth, primitive spelaean man, cavernicolous person, one who inhabits a den, one dwelling in a subterranean cavern. The word TROGLODYTE comes from the Greek TROGLODYTES, a cave dweller, literally one who creeps into a hole, a combination of TROGLE, hole, cave, and the verb DYEIN, to enter, creep into. A TROGLODYTE is a caveman, one who lives in some sort of excavation. Another Greek word for cave, cavern, is SPELAION. From this comes the English adjective SPELAEAN, which also means pertaining to a cave, cavernous, like a vault, as well as cave-dwelling, living in a cavern. A TROGLODYTE is thought by 29% of adult readers to be a PREHISTORIC ANIMAL. TROGLODYTE may designate an anthropoid ape, such as the gorilla or chimpanzee, but these are not PREHISTORIC ANIMALS, animals which lived prior to recorded history. TROGLODYTE is sometimes used to mean an early primitive man, prehistoric person; but correctly it means specifically a cave dweller.

SOLEMN: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:55:42 -0500

Serious, grave, earnest, sober, formal, ceremonious, dignified, majestic, awe-inspiring, august, as: "A SOLEMN occasion." Also, sacred, religious, reverent, devout, as: "A SOLEMN oath." In the phrase: "SOLEMN people," the word is thought by 2% of adult readers to mean INSOLENT, insulting, offensive, contemptuous, very rude. SOLEMN, SEDATE, and SERIOUS, are used of persons to mean the opposite of GAY, LIVELY, FRIVOLOUS. SERIOUS is the most general of the three and is the opposite of GAY. SEDATE, and the corresponding noun SEDATIVE, anything that soothes or calms, usually a soothing medicine, come from the Latin SEDERE, to sit, the source also of the English verb to SIT. SEDATE means quiet, calm, and is the opposite of LIVELY. SOLEMN comes from the Latin word SOLLEMNIS, annual, yearly, established, traditional, as a religious festival, and so suggests religion and ceremony. SOLEMN is now the opposite of FRIVOLOUS.

SANCTION: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:37:10 -0500

Approval, authorization, justification, confirmation, authority, approbation. The verb to SANCTION is easier to grasp than the noun; it means to allow, permit, approve, confirm, ratify, authorize. The noun a SANCTION may also refer to a coercive measure, a restrictive measure, or a mechanism of social control that serves to prevent or punish a violation or deviant act, as: "Legal or moral SANCTIONS." In the test phrase: "The SANCTION of the church," the noun is thought by 10% of adult readers to mean SACREDNESS. This is no doubt a confusion of SANCTION, authorization, approval, with SANCTITY, holiness, godliness, saintliness. Both SANCTITY and SANCTION come from the Latin word SANCTUS, the past participle of SANCIRE, to render sacred. SANCTITY retains this original meaning of sacredness, holiness, saintliness. A SANCTION was first the act of making SACRED, holy; then the act of binding by oath, of rendering authoritative; and then the act of making lawful, ratification. From this a SANCTION came to be the decree that SANCTIONED, gave approval, final law that conferred authority. A PRAGMATIC SANCTION was an edict of a king or of an emperor, and at one time referred to certain decrees of the Byzantine emperors regulating their subject provinces. In 1724, Charles VI of Austria, who had no male heir, issued a PRAGMATIC SANCTION authorizing the succession of his daughter Maria Theresa to the Austrian throne. Although PRAGMATIC has accumulated many implications, it originally meant civic, pertaining to affairs of the community. A PRAGMATIC SANCTION was therefore a decree SANCTIONING, authorizing, civic practices. The French PRAGMATIC SANCTION of 1268 authorized specific powers of the Pope, and in this instance limited them as well. From this, the noun SANCTION in modern use occasionally denotes the limitation of authority, its restriction, in addition to its fundamental meaning: authority, approval, confirmation.

ELYSIAN: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:10:48 -0500

Exquisitely happy, blissful, delightful, beatific, glorious, paradisaic, paradisaical. In Greek mythology, ELYSIUM was the abode of the blessed after death, called also the ELYSIAN FIELDS. In Greek, the adjective ELYSION, the neuter of ELYSIOS, Elysian, modifies PEDION, field, in the phrase ELYSION PEDION, Elysian Field. The plural, ELYSIA PEDIA, Elysian Fields, was used later in Greek. ELYSIA PEDIA means literally the fields of the departed, of those going or coming, for ELYSIOS comes from a word that meant a going or coming, and this in turn from another word which meant future. ELYSIUM, or the ELYSIAN FIELDS, was a place of perfect delight. In Homer's ODYSSEY it is a plain at the end of the earth. Hesiod and Pindar place it in the Islands of the Blest; later poets in the nether world. The French CHAMPS ELYSEES, the important boulevard running from LA PLACE DE LA CONCORDE up to the ARCH DE TRIOMPHE, translated literally means Fields Elysian. ELYSIAN is a poetic word, used most often in the phrase ELYSIAN FIELDS, but occasionally in other ways. Milton wrote of ELYSIAN flowers; Byron called dreams ELYSIAN; Thomas Carlyle used the phrase "A real ELYSIAN brightness"; and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the American poet, 1807-1887, wrote these lines: This life of mortal breath Is but the suburb of the life ELYSIAN, Whose portal we call Death.

APHRODISIAC: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:07:53 -0500

Sexually exciting, stimulating sexual desire, erotic, sensual. By 19% of college seniors APHRODISIAC is thought to mean FRANTIC, mad, raving, wild, maniacal, the adjective which corresponds to the word FRENZY. APHRODISIAC means provoking sexual desire, and may be either subdued or frantic. To another 13% APHRODISIAC incorrectly means INDIFFERENT, uninterested, apathetic, in suggestion an opposite of the correct meaning. APHRODISIAC is an adjective formed from the name of the Greek goddess APHRODITE, who appears later under the name VENUS in Roman mythology. The word APHRODITE is said to come from APHROS, foam, for APHRODITE, goddess of love and beauty, sprang from the foam of the sea. APHRODISIAC is also a noun, anything which stimulates sexual desire.

PARASITE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 18:04:20 -0500

One who lives on another without making an adequate return, hanger-on, leech, sycophant. PARASITE, directly from the French PARASITE, comes from the Latin PARASITUS, and this in turn from the Greek PARASITOS, a person who eats at another's table. Even in Greek, this word conveyed the unpleasant sense of an unwelcome guest. The Greek is a combination of PARA, beside, and SITOS, food, grain. In the test phrase: "Like some PARASITE," the word is thought by 12% of adult readers to mean DISEASE. DISEASE, a combination of the Latin privative DIS-, not, and EASE, comfort, means literally discomfort, pain, trouble, absence of ease. A PARASITE, unwanted guest, causes uneasiness, discomfort. In zoology, the technical term PARASITE designates an animal or plant living on another and sapping the strength of its host. HOOKWORM DISEASE, technically known as ANKYLOSTOMIASIS, is caused by the HOOKWORM, a PARASITE. The MISTLETOE is a PARASITE which grows on trees.

LUMINOSITY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:34:06 -0500

Brightness, radiance, splendor, luminousness, intensity of light in a color. LUMINOSITY is a noun formed from the adjective LUMINOUS, which means bright, radiating, shining, radiant, giving out light. Both the adjective LUMINOUS and the noun LUMINOSITY are from the Latin noun LUMEN, LUMINIS, light, which comes from the verb LUCERE, to shine. In the test phrase: "A curious LUMINOSITY," brightness, the word is thought by 8% of adult readers to mean ILLUSTRATION, an answer which can almost be justified. An obsolete meaning of the verb to ILLUSTRATE, from the Latin ILLUSTRARE, is to light up, make bright, illuminate. ILLUSTRATE probably comes from the same Latin verb LUCERE, to shine, as LUMINOSITY, the source also of the English noun LUSTER, brilliance, glow, gloss, sheen. The noun ILLUSTRATION is now used to mean an explaining, an example, comparison, or a drawing or picture which helps to clarify the text. Thus one speaks of: "An ILLUSTRATED book," a book with pictures; or "He used an ILLUSTRATION," an example. The confusion of LUMINOSITY with ILLUSTRATION may be the word ILLUMINATION. This comes from the Latin ILLUMINARE, to light up, originally from the Latin LUMEN, LUMINIS, light, and means a supply of light, a lighting up. ILLUMINATION and ILLUSTRATION have one meaning in common, for both words may refer to book designs. In the middle ages, books were ILLUMINATED by hand with brilliantly colored designs in the margins, with colored capitals, and even with paintings. But in suggestion the two words differ. An ILLUSTRATION is specifically for clarifying the text, explaining it. An ILLUMINATION is to make it brighter, gayer, more colorful. ILLUMINATION is the act or fact of being lighted up; LUMINOSITY is brightness, radiance, the quality of giving out light.

TERRESTRIAL: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 18:44:33 -0600

Earthly, pertaining to the earth, sublunary, terrene, mundane. TERRESTRIAL comes from the Latin TERRA, earth, a word which is familiar in the phrase: "TERRA FIRMA," dry land. TERRA is the source of TERRIER, a small dog so named because he routs out of the ground animals which burrow, such as badgers. To 4 percent of adult readers TERRESTRIAL incorrectly means CELESTIAL, heavenly, the popular misconception, and practically the reverse of the correct meaning.

DENIZEN: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 14:59:54 -0500

Inhabitant, citizen, resident, dweller, anything not indigenous but successfully naturalized. DENIZEN, from Old French, goes back ultimately to Latin. It comes from the same source as the modern French DANS, in, within, probably originally from the Latin DE, from, and INTUS, within. The word was once an adjective meaning within the city, an opposite of FOREIGN, not native, belonging to another country. The adjective is obsolete, and today the word DENIZEN is a noun, most frequently an inhabitant, dweller, citizen, one who lives in a place, the opposite of a FOREIGNER. "The DENIZEN of the village" is thought by 18% of readers to be the OFFICIAL, ruler, governor, person in authority. A NATIVE is indigenous, born locally, in the community, city, or country. A FOREIGNER is born elsewhere, a temporary visitor. A DENIZEN is a foreign-born permanent resident.

ACTUARIALLY: (adv.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 18:05:27 -0500

Statistically, concerned with vital statistics, in accordance with computations based on insurance statistics, in the manner of a computer in an insurance company. ACTUARIALLY comes from the Latin ACTUARIUS, clerk, but the modern English word is used only with respect to a specific kind of clerical work. "ACTUARIALLY speaking" is thought by 38% of college seniors to mean AUTHORITATIVELY, in the manner of one having the right to command, of one in authority. By another 18% it is thought to mean LEGALLY, according to law, lawfully. An ACTUARY and an ACCOUNTANT are both experts in the mathematics of business. An ACCOUNTANT deals with bookkeeping, with income and expenditure. An ACTUARY deals with insurance statistics, premiums, risks, dividends, and the like. ACTUARIAL is the adjective from the noun; ACTUARIALLY is the adverb.

LIBRETTO: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:58:55 -0500

Story, text of an opera, book containing the words of a long musical composition such as a cantata, words of an oratorio. In the test phrase: "The LIBRETTO of the opera," the word is thought by 32% of college students to mean ORCHESTRAL SCORE. The SCORE is the musical composition. A piano score is written on two staffs; an organ SCORE on three; an orchestral SCORE on many more, often one for each instrument. The LIBRETTO is the words, story. LIBRETTO has been used in this way since at least 1742, when Richardson wrote in PAMELA: "If the LIBRETTO, as they call it, is not approved, the opera will be condemned." By another 16% of college students, LIBRETTO is thought to mean RESUME. RESUME is the French word RESUME, which comes from the Latin RE-, again, and SUMERE, to take, the source of the English verb to RESUME, to take up again. A RESUME is a summary, recapitulation, condensed statement. LIBRETTO, a little book, is the diminutive of the Italian LIBRO, book, directly from the Latin LIBER, book. A LIBRETTO was originally a book of words set to music. From this it came to mean the words themselves, the text of an oratorio, the words of an opera.

DUN: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:10:42 -0500

Grayish brown, dingy or dull brown in color, swarthy, dusky, fuscous, of a color partaking of brown and black. DUN, grayish brown, can be traced back through an Anglo-Saxon DUN or DUNN to Irish, Gaelic and Welsh words with the same significance. From DUN may come DONKEY, a word of dialectal origin not found in English before 1750, and at first pronounced to rhyme with MONKEY. DONKEY is a combination of DUN and the two diminutive suffixes -K and -EY, spelled also -IE, of Scotch origin. Another English word DUN goes directly back through a different Anglo-Saxon DUN meaning hill, down, to an Irish and Gaelic DUN, a hill, sometimes a fort, and a Welsh DIN, a hill-fort. This DUN is applied specifically by historians and archaeologists to Celtic hill-fortresses, ancient fortifications made of two or more concentric circular mounds or walls, with a deep moat or trench full of water between them, and appears in proper names such as DUNDEE, DUNSTABLE, and with a different spelling in DONCASTER and DONEGAL. The common DUNE, a hill of loose sand, usually a mound piled up by wind, comes from the same source; as does also the English noun DOWN, originally a hill, then any high, rolling land without trees, used chiefly for pasturing sheep. The plural, DOWNS, is used specifically for the rolling treeless chalk uplands of the south of England, which are elevated above the surrounding country. It may be this connection of DUN and DOWNS that leads 29% of adult readers to believe that DUN, in the test phrase: "DUN grass," means PRAIRIE. PRAIRIE comes from the Latin PRATUM, meadow. PRAIRIES and DOWNS are both rolling and treeless. PRAIRIE is used specifically of meadowlands in the United States; DOWNS is used of meadows in the south of England. By derivation, however, a DOWN must be raised above the surrounding country. The word DUN, meaning grayish brown, goes back in English to before the year 1000, and has been applied to numerous animals. The OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY gives the ass and mouse as illustrations of DUN-colored animals. One writer quoted there calls the buffalo a DUN color. Deer are also said to be DUN-colored. As applied to a cow, DUN goes back four hundred years. DUN, BAY, CHESTNUT, and SORREL, are four colors used frequently of horses. SORREL is light reddish or yellowish brown; BAY is brownish red, inclining to CHESTNUT, which is reddish brown; and DUN is grayish brown. Dictionaries often give a second meaning for DUN, dark, gloomy, dusky, murky, a sense used by poets from Chaucer to Tennyson, and occasionally seen today.

ANTINOMY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 18:05:16 -0500

The opposition of one law, rule, or principle to another, mutual incompatibility, contradiction, conflict between two equally binding authorities; in the philosophy of Kant, an unavoidable contradiction in thought. In the test phrase: "This indicates the ANTINOMY," the word is thought by 19% of adult readers to mean TIN. This is obviously a confusion of ANTINOMY, ambiguity in law, with ANTIMONY, a metal. Like TIN, ANTIMONY is a chemical element. It is a white metal of bright luster. Its chemical symbol is Sb; the symbol of TIN is Sn. The atomic weight of TIN is 119 and that of ANTIMONY 120. By another 14% ANTINOMY is thought to mean MUSICAL RESPONSE. This is obviously a confusion of ANTINOMY with ANTIPHONY. ANTIPHONY is the answer made by one choir to another when the psalm or anthem is sung between them. ANTINOMY comes from the Latin ANTINOMIA, a contradiction between laws. This comes directly from the Greek ANTINOMIA, an ambiguity in a law. This is a combination of ANTI, against, and NOMOS, law. Of ANTINOMY Ephraim Chambers says: "A contradiction between two laws or between two articles of the same law." The word is used more generally today to mean the opposition of two equally binding laws, rules, or principles; or in philosophy, a contradiction between two statements, both apparently arrived at by sound reasoning.

PROLETARIAN: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:00:41 -0500

Of the lower classes, belonging to the poorest group, vulgar, common, day-laboring, wage-earning. PROLETARIAN comes from the Latin PROLETARIUS, a citizen of ancient Rome who belonged to the lowest class, had no property, and was regarded as useful to the state only as the parent of children; for this word comes in turn from PROLES, offspring, progeny. PROLES is today an unusual English word meaning offspring, progeny. In British informal speech, the word PROLE, or PROLE, with the plural PROLES or PROLES, means a member of the proletariat, the working class. George Orwell uses the word in his novel 1984: "If there is hope it lies with the PROLES," the PROLETARIAN class. In the phrase: "The PROLETARIAN class," the word is thought by 17% of adult readers to mean ARISTOCRATIC. The adjective ARISTOCRATIC, and the corresponding noun ARISTOCRACY, come from a combination of two Greek words, ARISTOS, best, and CRATEIN, to rule, be strong. ARISTOCRATIC originally meant ruled by the best. It then came to mean noble, ruling, privileged, belonging to the higher classes, an exact opposite of PROLETARIAN, of the lower classes.

PREAMBLE: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:40:57 -0500

A preliminary statement, introduction, preface, prelude, prologue, proem. The word may be used specifically for the introductory part of a statute. Thus used, the PREAMBLE states the reasons for and intent of what follows. PREAMBLE comes from the Latin PRAE, before, and AMBULARE, to walk, and by derivation means to walk before. From AMBULARE comes the English word AMBLE, to walk in a leisurely and comfortable manner; but not the word RAMBLE, to roam, wander about, despite the similarity in both sound and meaning. From the Latin AMBULARE come also the English words AMBULANCE, by derivation a walking hospital, now a vehicle for transporting the sick and injured; and AMBULATORY, an adjective meaning pertaining to walking, capable of walking, or moving from place to place. The noun an AMBULATORY is used in architecture of any passageway designed for walking, usually a covered walk, such as a gallery, a cloister, or the aisle around the choir and apse of a church. Both INTRODUCTION and PREFACE are more familiar words than PREAMBLE. An INTRODUCTION should properly be a part of what follows. It is from the Latin word DUCERE, to lead, and means literally leading one in. A PREFACE is not necessarily a part of what follows. Although the PREFACE is printed at the beginning, it may have been written after the book was completed. PREFACE, from the Latin FARI, to say, means a saying beforehand. A PREFACE may contain an apology for what follows, or sometimes a history of the events that lead to what follows. A PREFACE can be read at any time, not necessarily at the beginning. A PREAMBLE is, if one translates the Latin literally, a delightful ambling about before undertaking the more serious business of what follows.

PARAGON: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:35:52 -0500

A model or pattern of special excellence, perfect example. PARAGON is generally used of a supremely excellent person. In the test phrase: "Another PARAGON of beauty," the word is thought by 12% of adult readers to mean GEOMETRIC FIGURE, the popular misconception. This is presumably because of some association of PARAGON, model, with such words as: PENTAGON, a figure of five angles; HEXAGON, a figure of six angles; and POLYGON, a figure of many angles; all directly from Greek. Numerous attempts have failed to trace the origin of PARAGON back with certainty to either Latin or Greek. The word first appeared in its present form in the 14th century in Italian, and in the 16th century in English. A PARAGON is a model, perfect example.

COSMORAMA: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:59:37 -0500

A series of pictures of the world, photographs of cities, drawings of buildings, paintings looked at through a lens, optical exhibition in which views of the world are presented vividly and greatly enlarged in size. It is said that the first COSMORAMA was set up in Paris in 1811 by the abbe Gazzera. The Greek COSMOS originally meant order, form, harmony; and when first used in English had this same meaning. From this COSMOS came to mean an ordered universe. From the same Greek come the noun COSMOPOLITE, a citizen of the world, and COSMOPOLITAN, worldly, the corresponding adjective. COSMORAMA comes directly from the Greek COSMOS, the world, and HORAMA, a view, from the verb HORAN, to see. By derivation a COSMORAMA is a view of the world. A PANORAMA is a general view as from the top of a mountain. The word comes from the Greek PAS, PANTOS, all, and the same HORAMA, view. A COSMORAMA is thought by 44% of college students to be a MAP. This may be a confusion of COSMORAMA with the unusual term COSMOGRAPHY, the science of mapping the heavens and the earth, also a map of the universe. PHENOMENON is the second most popular misconception of COSMORAMA. Both PHENOMENON and COSMORAMA come from Greek words meaning to see or be seen. PHENOMENON comes from the Greek PHAINOMENON, something seen, that which appears. In science, the plural PHENOMENA, from the Greek PHAINOMENA, are observed facts. A COSMORAMA is an exhibition of pictures of the world. By another 15% of college students "A valuable COSMORAMA" is thought to be an ANTIQUE, a work of the past, object from a bygone era. In the words of WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY, 1963, a COSMORAMA is "An exhibition of views of various parts of the world made to appear realistic by mirrors, lenses, and illumination."

ACCLIMATED: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:00:33 -0500

Adapted to a climate, naturalized, habituated, accustomed, incorporated, adjusted to a region, fitted, acclimatized, accommodated, suited. The pronunciation ACCLIMATED, widely used today, is generally thought to be correct. This is a misconception. Not until recently was it included in the dictionaries, and it is still listed second to the preferred pronunciation, ACCLIMATED. As is often the case with words so frequently and universally mispronounced, ACCLIMATED may yet come to replace ACCLIMATED in the dictionaries; but until that time, the pronunciation ACCLIMATED is still more correct, and is recommended here for those who wish to be careful speakers of the language. In the test phrase: "Easily ACCLIMATED," the word is thought by 5% of adult readers to mean PROVIDED FOR. This is no doubt a confusion of ACCLIMATED with ACCOMMODATED. To ACCOMMODATE is to fit, adapt, adjust, make suitable, conform, so that to ACCOMMODATE oneself to a climate is to become ACCLIMATED. But the verb to ACCOMMODATE may also mean supply, furnish, PROVIDE FOR. ACCLIMATE is not used in this way. The verb to ACCLIMATE comes from the Latin AD, to, which becomes AC- before another C, and the Latin CLIMAT-, climate. This comes in turn from the Greek CLIMA, CLIMATIS, a region, zone, from the verb CLINEIN, to slope, lean. The Greek noun originally meant a slope, inclination, and then came to designate one of the belts around the earth, parallel to the equator, with conditions dependent, as we now say, upon the inclination of the sun's rays. Today the word CLIMATE means, not the region, but the characteristics of the region, the amount of sunny weather, heat or cold, moisture or dryness. To ACCLIMATE is to adapt to a new set of conditions, accustom to a foreign climate.

ROOD: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:12:46 -0500

A large cross or crucifix over the screen which separates the body of a medieval church from the choir. ROOD, with the double "O" sound as in MOOD and FOOD, goes back directly to an Anglo-Saxon word for rod or pole, which was also used for a cross or crucifix. A ROOD is today any cross or crucifix at the entrance to the choir in medieval churches, and so gives its name to the ROOD BEAM, which supports it, and to the ROOD SCREEN. ROOD and RELIQUARY are confused by 28 percent of adult readers. RELIQUARY comes from the Latin RELIQUIAE, relics, remnants, remains. This comes in turn from the verb RELINQUERE, to leave behind, the source of the English word RELINQUISH, to give up, abandon, leave. In the Roman Catholic Church, a RELIC is the body, part of the body, or some personal article of a saint, a martyr, or a holy person, regarded as an object of veneration. A RELIQUARY is a case for relics, chasse, made of precious metals, elaborately decorated, and usually small enough to be carried by two persons. In ceremonial processions, celebrating feasts in the Roman Catholic Church, an officiating clergy carries the ROOD, a large crucifix. With old churches this is often followed by a RELIQUARY, containing sanctified relics. The RELIQUARY is the box or case; the ROOD is the cross.

ANNEX: (v.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:40:36 -0500

To take over, add, connect, append, attach, subjoin, affix. ANNEX is from the Latin AD and NECTERE, to fasten together. When used in the phrase: "To ANNEX the country," the word is thought by 2 percent of adult readers to mean RECOGNIZE, acknowledge, admit the existence of. The noun an ANNEX is used in architecture to mean a subsidiary building, a smaller or less important building attached or adjacent to a large one. The verb to ANNEX means to join a smaller, less important thing to a larger thing.

LINGUIST: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 2 Oct 2009 14:59:27 -0500

A language scholar, one who knows and speaks many different tongues, a polyglot, philologist, specialist in the science of linguistics. In the test phrase: "An accomplished LINGUIST," the word is thought by 15% of elementary school students to mean TYPIST. The word TYPIST is of recent construction; it appeared shortly after Philo Remington placed the first practical commercial typewriter on the market in 1874. It consists of the ending -IST added to the verb to TYPE, and means one who types, one who operates a typewriter. The noun TYPE goes back to the Greek TYPOS, a blow, mark, imprint. The verb to TYPE, to make an impression from type, comes from the noun, and the ending -IST is added to it to designate the AGENT, the one who types, the one who makes blows that leave marks. LINGUIST, and the modern French word LINGUISTE, are from the Latin LINGUA, the tongue. The often-heard Latin phrase LAPSUS LINGUAE means a slip of the tongue, lapse in language. LINGUAL is the English adjective, and means of or pertaining to the tongue, glossal. BILINGUAL means speaking two languages, containing two languages, as: "Switzerland is a BILINGUAL country." From the same Latin LINGUA, tongue, comes the word LINGO, a language, dialect, especially a language of a peculiar kind unintelligible to most people. A LINGUIST is one who knows the LINGO, a person who speaks many tongues, a number of languages.

PROGNOSTICATE: (v.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:56:18 -0500

To predict, foretell, foreshadow, prophesy, tell beforehand by means of signs or symptoms, make a prognosis. To 16 percent of college seniors PROGNOSTICATE incorrectly means PROLONG, drag out, continue, lengthen the duration. This may be a confusion of PROGNOSTICATE, to predict, with PROCRASTINATE, to put off, leave undone as long as possible. To another 14 percent PROGNOSTICATE incorrectly means to CAUSE, make happen, bring about. This is perhaps a confusion of PROGNOSTICATE with PRECIPITATE, which may mean to hasten, cause to happen in advance. Two unusual English words of Greek origin are GNOSIS, which means knowledge, science, mystical wisdom; and the adjective GNOSTIC, pertaining to knowledge. From them come a number of more common words. An AGNOSTIC, which starts with the Greek privative A-, by derivation one who does not know, is today one who believes that mankind does not know the ultimate nature of things, one who neither believes nor disbelieves in God. A DIAGNOSIS is by derivation a thorough knowledge; a PROGNOSIS, a preknowledge, a foreknowledge. To PROGNOSTICATE, to PREDICT, and to PROPHESY, are all to foretell important future events. One PROPHESIES on pure inspiration. One PREDICTS on the basis of vague and uncertain facts and some ability to interpret them. One PROGNOSTICATES only by sound reasoning based on known facts.

PLENARY: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:37:28 -0500

Full, total, complete, entire, utter, absolute, comprehensive. PLENARY comes from the Latin PLENUS, full, the source of the English words PLENTY, enough, abundance; PLENTEOUS, full, abundant, copious, ample; the more familiar PLENTIFUL, ample; the verb to REPLENISH, to fill again; and the noun PLENIPOTENTIARY, one given full power to act, especially an ambassador who has been given absolute authority. In the test phrase: "PLENARY powers," the word is thought by 20% of adult readers to mean LEGAL, relating to law. The adjective PLENARY is applied legally to such abstract nouns as POWER, CONSENT, AUTHORITY, with its ordinary meaning full, complete, entire; thus, PLENARY AUTHORITY is complete. PLENARY also refers occasionally to a lawsuit which goes through its full proceedings, in contrast to SUMMARY, short, brief.

VERTICIL: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:09:07 -0500

Several leaves growing at the same point around an axis; circle, whorl, several equivalent lateral members at the same level; also a turn of the spire of a univalve. VERTICIL comes directly from the Latin VERTICILLUS, a noun which was used for the whirl, rotation, rapid turning of the spindle in spinning, the diminutive of the Latin VERTEX, a whirl, whirlpool, eddy, vortex, and so the pole of the heavens, point about which they seem to turn, and from this ultimately peak, summit, highest point. The Latin VERTEX comes in turn from the verb VERTERE, to turn. From VERTEX come the English word VERTEX, summit, apex, topmost point; and the English adjective VERTICAL, originally at the VERTEX, in the zenith, up and down, as opposed to HORIZONTAL. This word VERTICAL misleads 57% of adult readers into believing that VERTICILS are UPRIGHT FIGURES. In botany, a VERTICIL (or WHORL) is three or more leaves or flowers which spring at the same point from different sides of a stem and so give the impression of a wheel around the stem, the leaves or flowers being the spokes.

DEFALCATION: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:18:50 -0500

Embezzlement or misappropriation of funds by the officer or agent holding them in trust; also, the sum misappropriated, deficiency in trust funds due to fraudulence or mismanagement. "His DEFALCATION was detected." DEFALCATION comes from the Latin DE, away, and FALCARE, to cut with a sickle, from FALX, sickle, the source of the English word FALCON, a hawk trained for hunting, so called because of its curved claws. A DEFALCATION is by derivation a cutting off of any part, diminution. An archaic meaning of DEFALCATION is any curtailment or reduction, especially of funds, of expenses, or of a claim. From the same Latin source as DEFALCATION come the two unusual English verbs to DEFALCATE and to DEFALK, which were once synonymous and meant to curtail, reduce. To DEFALCATE then came to have the legal meaning of setting off the amount of one claim by another, diminishing a debt or claim by deducting from it a smaller claim held by the debtor or payer. In this legal sense, DEFALCATE has been replaced almost entirely by DEFALK, and to DEFALCATE now ordinarily means to be guilty of DEFALCATION in its modern sense of embezzlement or misappropriation of funds. DEFALCATION is not related to DEFAULT, to fail in carrying out an obligation. Both to DEFAULT and the corresponding noun DEFAULT, spelled and pronounced like the verb, come from the Latin DE, away, and FALLERE, to fail, the source of the English FAILURE. DEFALCATION and EMBEZZLEMENT are today close in meaning. EMBEZZLEMENT is the more common term, and always refers to the dishonest use, for one's own purposes, of money or property with which one has been entrusted. DEFALCATION need not necessarily be fraudulent, and always involves money. Today, the word is most often used to mean a misappropriation or deficiency of trust funds due either to dishonesty or mismanagement.

INALIENABLE: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 1 Sep 2009 18:04:28 -0500

Nontransferable, incapable of being transferred to another, taken away, or given up. The adjective ALIEN means foreign, strange, exotic, living in a country in which one was not born. To ALIENATE is to estrange, disaffect, make hostile, cause to be indifferent; or, like the earlier, more unusual verb to ALIEN, transfer ownership, make over to another, sell. The adjective ALIENABLE means transferable, capable of being sold. INALIENABLE means not capable of being transferred or sold. In the test phrase: "Our INALIENABLE rights," the word is thought by 14% of adult readers to mean CIVIC. CIVIC is from the Latin CIVIS, a citizen. CIVIC and CIVIL are closely related. CIVIL carries a legal exactness, as in the phrase: "CIVIL service." CIVIL rights are those of every citizen, of every person born in the country. CIVIL authority is the power of organized society; CIVIL courts are open to the citizenry as opposed to ecclesiastics or the military. CIVIC is used more popularly as the adjective corresponding to the noun CITY or to refer to any community or public-spirited enterprise, as CIVIC interests, CIVIC activities. The confusion of CIVIC and INALIENABLE, in such a phrase as: "INALIENABLE rights," is a failure to distinguish two ideas which apply to the same situation. CIVIL and CIVIC rights cannot be sold, are not transferable, and are therefore INALIENABLE. From the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge comes the quotation: "This right of the individual to retain his whole natural independence . . . is absolutely inalienable."

COLOSSAL: (adj.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:11:56 -0500

Very big, huge, gigantic, tremendous, enormous, monstrous, mammoth, immense, stupendous, titanic, elephantine; Brobdingnagian, a word invented by Jonathan Swift (also called Dean Swift) in GULLIVER'S TRAVELS; and gargantuan, from Rabelais's satire. To 2 percent of adult readers COLOSSAL incorrectly means MYTHICAL, imaginary, fabulous. This is perhaps because of the derivation of the word COLOSSAL, which comes from the word COLOSSUS. The COLOSSUS of RHODES was a huge bronze statue of Apollo, said to be 70 cubits, just over 100 feet in height. It was built by the sculptor Chares, finished in 280 B.C., and stood for 56 years at one side of the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes, an island in the Aegean Sea. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 224 B.C. and the fragments lay where they fell for a thousand years. Although the Colossus of Rhodes was a real statue, an exaggerated story has been handed down that it stood astride the mouth of the port and that ships sailed between its legs. Because of this fiction, the statue itself is often thought of as MYTHICAL, imaginary, fabulous. From COLOSSUS come the words: COLOSSEUM, the great amphitheater at Rome, begun by Vespasian in 75 A.D. and which, when completed, seated 87,000 persons; and the adjective COLOSSAL, huge, gigantic, very big, mammoth, enormous, immense.

BEARING: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:58:29 -0500

Carriage, demeanor, conduct, mien, behavior, manner of comporting oneself. BEARING and the verb to BEAR, to carry, sustain, hold up, as: "To BEAR a weight," are of Anglo-Saxon origin. In the test phrase: "A dignified BEARING," the word is thought by 42% of elementary school students to mean BACKGROUND. The word BACKGROUND is used in painting to mean that part of a picture which furnishes the setting for the principal objects; it is everything on the canvas except the important things. The same word is applied to an actual landscape, as: "A BACKGROUND of mountains." It is also applied to both persons and events to designate that which is historically behind, a set of antecedents, as one's education, family, and experiences. BEARING is the way in which one carries oneself, behavior, mien, carriage.

KIOSK: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:41:23 -0500

An open pavilion, summerhouse common in Turkey and Persia and reproduced in the gardens and parks of other countries. A KIOSK has a roof often supported on columns, no walls, and an open balustrade. KIOSK is from a Persian word meaning palace. To 28 percent of college seniors KIOSK incorrectly means EGYPTIAN MONUMENT, perhaps a confusion of KIOSK with OBELISK, a tall, square-cut, Egyptian monument of stone, carved with hieroglyphics. To another 20 percent KIOSK incorrectly means ESKIMO CANOE. This is evidently a confusion of KIOSK with KAYAK, a light, canoe-shaped boat, usually made of sealskin stretched over a wood frame. Today the word KIOSK is applied in a general sense to any open pavilion used as a newsstand, bandstand, booth, or for the display of posters and bulletins.

EXCULPATE: (v.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:18:32 -0500

To free from blame, acquit, discharge, release, excuse, absolve, vindicate from an accusation, shrive, exonerate, clear from a charge of guilt. EXCULPATE is from the Latin EX, out, and CULPARE, to blame, a word which in turn comes from the Latin noun CULPA, blame. From this come the English words CULPRIT, one who is guilty, an offender; and CULPABLE, worthy of censure, blameworthy. CULPABLE and INNOCENT are opposites; EXCULPATE and CENSURE are opposites. To 20 percent of adult readers EXCULPATE incorrectly means SCALP, the popular misconception. The verb to SCALP may be used in a figurative sense to mean censure severely, rebuke savagely. In this sense it is practically an opposite of EXCULPATE, which means to free of blame.

CONTINGENCY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:18:57 -0500

Chance, casualty, accident, unforeseen occurrence, unexpected happening, conditional event. In the test phrase: "Any CONTINGENCY," the word is thought by 27% of adult readers to mean ARGUMENT. This is perhaps a confusion of CONTINGENCY, unforeseen event, with CONTENTION, a word which may mean an argument in favor of a proposition, the main point in a controversy. By another 20% CONTINGENCY, chance happening, is thought to mean DELEGATION, a body of persons chosen to act for others. The noun a CONTINGENT is sometimes used to mean a representative body composing part of an assemblage or DELEGATION, as: "The Texas CONTINGENT at the political convention." CONTINGENCY cannot be used in this way, but always means something which may happen, a possible event.

STRAPPADO: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 6 Nov 2009 18:45:23 -0600

A form of torture used both for punishment and to extract a confession. With a rope tied to his wrists behind his back, the victim is hoisted a short distance from the ground by a pulley, allowed to fall, and then stopped with a jerk. In the test phrase: "A kind of STRAPPADO," the word is thought by 36% of adults to mean MEXICAN STIRRUP. STRAPPADO comes directly from the Italian STRAPPARE, to pull, tear. It was used in the 16th century. From 1560: "And forthwith I was plucked up again; and after a while let down again. And being put down well near dead of this torment of the STRAPPADO . . ."

GAMUT: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:58:30 -0500

Complete range, whole scale, entire scope; in music, the whole series of recognized musical notes, or the major scale. Under the word GAMUT, the CENTURY DICTIONARY, 1902, says: "Guido d'Arezzo (born about 990) is said to have called the seven notes of the musical scale after the first seven letters of the alphabet, a, b, c, d, e, f, g: whence the name GAMMA, taken from the last of the series (g), applied to the whole scale. He is also said to have invented the names of the notes used in singing (ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si), after certain initial syllables of a monkish hymn to St. John . . . . The syllable UT has been displaced by the more sonorous DO." From this UT come the last two letters of the word GAMUT, which combines GAMMA, the Greek name for the letter G, the last note of the musical scale, with UT, the first note. GAMUT means therefore from the last note to the first, the whole scale, entire range.

FACTION: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:37:04 -0500

A clique, political coterie, cabal, party formed to accomplish some purpose, a group within a larger group, party, organization, or government, that sets itself apart from the rest, as: "A dissenting FACTION." FACTION is from the Latin FACERE, to do, and a FACTION is a group of persons combined for the purpose of doing something. In the phrase: "A powerful FACTION," the word is thought by 30% of elementary school students to mean ADDITION, an increment, part which has been added. This may be due to some confusion of FACTION, small political party, with FRACTION. A FRACTION and an ADDITION are parts of a whole. FRACTION is the general word for any part, as: "A FRACTION of an apple," "A FRACTION of the receipts." A FACTION may be a group of persons within a large organization; but neither the word FRACTION nor ADDITION need apply to a political party as does FACTION. A FACTION and a PARTY are both combinations of persons united for a common purpose. PARTY refers to the whole group, all the members; FACTION refers to a section of the party, a smaller, separate group within the larger one.

LOQUACITY: (n.)

webmaster@wordsmart.com (Kirk Mackay) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:56:18 -0500

Talkativeness, glibness, volubility, loquaciousness, garrulity, prattle, fluency, the habit of jabbering, tendency to chatter, "gift of gab." In the test phrase: "A proof of her LOQUACITY," the word is thought by 9 percent of adult readers to mean SANITY, soundness of mind, mental health. LOQUACIOUS, and the corresponding noun LOQUACITY, come from the Latin LOQUI, to speak. From this same source come the words ELOQUENT, a combination of the Latin E, out, and LOQUI, to speak, literally speaking out, a word now used to mean speaking vividly, fluent, persuasive; GRANDILOQUENT, pompous, bombastic in speech, loftier than the occasion requires; MAGNILOQUENT, boastful, pompous in style or in speech; the noun COLLOQUY, conference, discussion, debate; SOLILOQUY, a talk to oneself, monologue; and OBLOQUY, abusive speech, slander, censure, reproach. From the past participle LOCUTUS come LOCUTION, a style of speech, idiom, peculiar phrase; LOCUTORY, a room for conversation in a convent or monastery, therefore, a room for the reception of visitors; ELOCUTION, the art of speaking in public; ALLOCUTION, a formal speech, exhortation, authoritative address, as by the Pope; and CIRCUMLOCUTION, indirect speech, the use of many words where only a few are needed, speaking around a subject. Finally, from the Latin noun LOQUACITAS, LOQUACITATIS, talkativeness, which comes from the adjective LOQUAX, LOQUACIS, talkative, which comes in turn from LOQUI, to speak, comes the English noun LOQUACITY, talkativeness.