Learn English Spelling Rules | English Spelling Lessons | English Spelling Software

notorious

Apr 29th 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 29, 2012 is:

notorious • \noh-TOR-ee-us\ • adjective
: generally known and talked of; especially : widely and unfavorably known

Examples:
That particular model of car is notorious for quickly developing a number of irritating mechanical problems.

"Stroll along La Rambla and take in the very touristy mile-long avenue filled with kiosks, cafés and flower stands. Be careful — the area is notorious for its pickpockets." — From an article by Marc Schwarz in the Herald News (Passaic County, NJ), March 25, 2012

Did you know?
"Notorious" was adopted into English in the 16th century from Medieval Latin "notorius," itself from Late Latin’s noun "notorium," meaning "information" or "indictment." "Notorium," in turn, derives from the Latin verb "noscere," meaning "to come to know." Although "notorious" can be a synonym of "famous," meaning simply "widely known," it long ago developed the additional implication of someone or something unpleasant or undesirable. The Book of Common Prayer of 1549 includes the first known use of the unfavorable meaning in print, referring to "notorious synners."

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

notorious
obliterate

Apr 28th 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 28, 2012 is:

obliterate • \uh-BLIT-uh-rayt\ • verb
1 a : to remove from recognition or memory b : to remove from existence 2 : to make undecipherable by wiping out or covering over

Examples:
The epitaph on the centuries-old headstone had been obliterated by wind, rain, and age.

"With the forecast for the end of the month included, monthly-averaged temperatures for March across large parts of the Great Lakes and Northern Plains will thoroughly obliterate previous records, blasting through the temperature ceiling modern climate has until now defined." — From a post by Greg Postel on the Washington Post’s "Capital Weather Gang" blog, March 27, 2012

Did you know?
Far from being removed from existence, "obliterate" is thriving in our language today with various senses that it has acquired over the years. True to its Latin source, "oblitteratus," it began in the mid-16th century as a word for removing something from memory. Soon after, English speakers began to use it for the specific act of blotting out or obscuring anything written. Eventually (by the late 18th century), its meaning was generalized to removing anything from existence. In the meantime, another sense had developed. In the late 17th century, physicians began using "obliterate" for the surgical act of filling or closing up a vessel, cavity, or passage with tissue. Its final stamp on the English lexicon was delivered in the mid-19th century: "to cancel a postage or revenue stamp."

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

obliterate
patagium

Apr 27th 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 27, 2012 is:

patagium • \puh-TAY-jee-um\ • noun
1 : the fold of skin connecting the forelimbs and hind limbs of some tetrapods (as flying squirrels) 2 : the fold of skin in front of the main segments of a bird’s wing

Examples:
The flying squirrel uses its two patagia to glide from tree to tree.

"One of the key identification marks is the dark leading edge of the wing, called the patagium. These marks on the under wing are only found on the red-tailed hawk." — From an article by Bill Fenimore, The Salt Lake Tribune, February 6, 2012

Did you know?
In Latin, "patagium" referred to a gold edging or border on a woman’s tunic, but in English its uses have been primarily scientific. It entered the English language in the early 19th century and was used by entomologists to refer to a process on the back of the foremost segment of an insect. Zoologists borrowed it as a word for the fold of skin of "flying" mammals and reptiles. Then ornithologists took the word to higher heights by the century’s end, applying it to the forward part of the wings of birds.

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

patagium
unabashed

Apr 26th 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 26, 2012 is:

unabashed • \un-uh-BASHT\ • adjective
: not disconcerted : undisguised, unapologetic

Examples:
"I am an unabashed fan of the Scripps National Spelling Bee," admitted Carly.

"He long has been an unabashed advocate of increasing the gas tax to help pay for transportation projects…." — From an article by Matt Cella in The Washington Times, April 9, 2012

Did you know?
When you are "unabashed," you make no apologies for your behavior, but when you are "abashed," your confidence has been shaken and you may feel rather inferior or ashamed of yourself. English speakers have been using "abashed" to describe feelings of embarrassment since the 14th century, but they have only used "unabashed" (brazenly or otherwise) since the late 1500s. Both words can be traced back to the Anglo-French word "abair," meaning "to astonish."

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

unabashed
cahoot

Apr 25th 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 25, 2012 is:

cahoot • \kuh-HOOT\ • noun
: partnership, league — usually used in plural

Examples:
Police suspect that the burglar was in cahoots with the bartender.

"In a huge anti-mafia bust, 16 judges have been arrested near Naples, Italy, according to the BBC, for allegedly being in cahoots with Italy’s notorious Camorra crime syndicate." — From a news article in The Huffington Post, March 19, 2012

Did you know?
"Cahoot" is used almost exclusively in the phrase "in cahoots," which means "in an alliance or partnership." In most contexts, it describes the conspiring activity of people up to no good. (There’s also the rare idiom "go cahoots," meaning "to enter into a partnership," as in "they went cahoots on a new restaurant.") "Cahoot" may derive from French "cahute," meaning "cabin" or "hut," suggesting the notion of two or more people hidden away working together in secret. "Cahute" is believed to have been formed through the combination of two other words for cabins and huts, "cabane" and "hutte."

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

cahoot
kowtow

Apr 24th 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 24, 2012 is:

kowtow • \KOW-tow\ • verb
1 : to show obsequious deference : fawn 2 : to kneel and touch the forehead to the ground in token of homage, worship, or deep respect

Examples:
Martin kowtows to our boss every chance he gets, complimenting him on his suits and offering favors.

"It’s not honorable to kowtow to the extremes so you can preserve your political career." — From an op-ed column by David Brooks in The New York Times, February 28, 2012

Did you know?
"Kowtow" originated as a noun referring to the act of kneeling and touching one’s head to the ground as a salute or act of worship to a revered authority. In traditional China this ritual was performed by commoners making requests to the local magistrate, by the emperor to the shrine of Confucius, or by foreign representatives appearing before the emperor to establish trade relations. (In the late 18th century, some Western nations resisted performing the ritual, which acknowledged the Chinese emperor as the "son of heaven.") The word "kowtow" derives from Chinese "koutou," formed by combining the verb "kou" ("to knock") with the noun "tou" ("head"). The noun had arrived in English by 1804, and the earliest evidence for the verb dates from 1826.

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

kowtow
pace

Apr 23rd 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 23, 2012 is:

pace • \PAY-see\ • preposition
: contrary to the opinion of — usually used as an expression of deference to someone’s contrary opinion

Examples:
Pace everyone with a smartphone, I think e-mail is best written and read—and the wilds of the Internet best explored—in the privacy of one’s own domicile.

"Pace Mr. Jiang, I submit that this kind of political idealism is wishful thinking. It simply does not accord with human nature, especially the nature of human groups, nor is it supported by the lessons of history." — From the 2011 book The Renaissance of Confucianism in Contemporary China, edited by Ruiping Fan

Did you know?
Though used in English for nearly 150 years, the preposition "pace" has yet to shed its Latin mantle, and for that reason it’s most at home in formal writing or in contexts in which one is playing at formality. The Latin word "pace" is a form of "pax," meaning "peace" or "permission," and when used sincerely the word does indeed suggest a desire for both. This Latin borrowing is unrelated to the more common noun "pace" (as in "keeping pace") and its related verb ("pacing the room"); these also come from Latin, but from the word "pandere," meaning "to spread."

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

pace
vindicate

Apr 22nd 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 22, 2012 is:

vindicate • \VIN-duh-kayt\ • verb
1 a : avenge 2 a: to free from allegation or blame b : confirm, substantiate c : to provide justification or defense for : justify d : to protect from attack or encroachment : defend 2 : to maintain a right to

Examples:
Recent discoveries appear to vindicate the scientist’s once controversial theory.

"A mixture of overreaction, overconfidence and herding causes investors to see growth where none exists and so pay too much for it. This implies that a low yield is a sign not of future capital appreciation and growth, but rather that the share is overvalued. History seems to vindicate this prediction." — From an article in Investors Chronicle, March 5, 2012

Did you know?
It’s not surprising that the two earliest senses of "vindicate," which has been used in English since at least the mid-16th century, are "to set free" (a sense that is now obsolete) and "to avenge." "Vindicate" derives from Latin "vindicatus," the past participle of the verb "vindicare," meaning "to set free, avenge, or lay claim to." "Vindicare," in turn, derives from "vindex," a noun meaning "claimant" or "avenger." Other descendants of "vindicare" in English include such vengeful words as "avenge" itself, "revenge," "vengeance," "vendetta," and "vindictive." Closer cousins of "vindicate" are "vindicable" ("capable of being vindicated") and the archaic word "vindicative" ("punitive").

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

vindicate
malediction

Apr 21st 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 21, 2012 is:

malediction • \mal-uh-DIK-shun\ • noun
: curse, execration

Examples:
The two old women began casting aspersions and heaping maledictions upon one another.

"Culture may have been the principal instrument of our transfiguration, and we could now only curse the few beneficiaries of the founder of civil society with Caliban’s malediction addressed to Prospero in The Tempest: ‘The red plague ride you / For learning me your language!’" — From Robert Wokler’s 2012 book Rousseau, the Age of Enlightenment, and Their Legacies

Did you know?
"Malediction," which at one time could also refer to slander or to the condition of being reviled or slandered, derives (via Middle English and Late Latin) from the Latin verb "maledicere," meaning "to speak evil of" or "to curse." "Maledicere," in turn, was formed by combining the Latin words "male," meaning "badly," and "dicere," "to speak" or "to say." You may recognize both of those component parts, as each has made a significant contribution to the English language. "Male" is the ancestor of such words as "malady," "malevolent," and "malign"; "dicere" gives us "contradict," "dictate," "diction," "edict" and "prediction," just to name a few.

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

malediction
gregarious

Apr 20th 2012

By: ibeforee

No comments

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for April 20, 2012 is:

gregarious • \grih-GAIR-ee-us\ • adjective
1 a : tending to associate with others of one’s kind : social b : marked by or indicating a liking for companionship: sociable c : of or relating to a social group 2 a a of a plant : growing in a cluster or a colony b : living in contiguous nests but not forming a true colony — used especially of wasps and bees

Examples:
My travel companion is a gregarious soul who makes friends easily, so we never want for company at dinner time.

"Mr. Dean, who is also an ordained minister and a voluntary Chaplain for New York City Transit, is known for his gregarious, welcoming attitude on the job."— From an article by David Sims in The Chief-Leader, March 19, 2012

Did you know?
When you’re one of the herd, it’s tough to avoid being social. The etymology of "gregarious" reflects the social nature of the flock; in fact, the word grew out of the Latin noun "grex," meaning "herd" or "flock." When it first began appearing in English texts in the 17th century, "gregarious" was applied mainly to animals, but by the 18th century it was being used for social human beings as well. By the way, "grex" gave English a whole flock of other words too, including "egregious," "aggregate," "congregate," and "segregate."

View full post on Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day

English Spelling Word of the Day

gregarious
- <
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- ...
- 135
- >

English Spelling Rules

notorious

obliterate

patagium

unabashed

cahoot

kowtow

pace

vindicate

malediction

gregarious

Recent Comments

Categories

Recent Search Terms

Popular Search Terms

Tags

Blogroll

Archives