Words that you don't see everyday

nudiustertian

PRONUNCIATION:
(noo-dee-uhs-TUR-shuhn, nyoo-)


MEANING:
adjective: Of or relating to the day before yesterday.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin nudius tertius, literally, today is the third day. Earliest documented use: 1647. Also see hesternal (relating to yesterday) hodiernal (relating to today).


USAGE:
"I'd ordered the key on-line for £48 that nudiustertian morning and was not expecting it to arrive until the following week."
Benjamin Nolan; Cyclin' the City; Syniq.co.uk; Aug 22, 2012.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
My own experience and development deepen every day my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy. -George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880)

nouveau pauvre

PRONUNCIATION:
(NOO-voh POH-vruh)


MEANING:
adjective: Recently impoverished.
noun: One who is newly impoverished.


ETYMOLOGY:
From French nouveau (new) + pauvre (poor), patterned after nouveau riche. Earliest documented use: 1877.


USAGE:
"[Hope's] nouveau pauvre mother, Evangeline, has betrothed her daughter to the wealthy Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in a bid to restore the family fortunes."
Ben Brantley; A Glimpse of Stocking?; The New York Times; Apr 7, 2011.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I dreamt that my hair was kempt. Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971)

pneumonic

PRONUNCIATION:
(noo-MON-ik, nyoo-)


MEANING:
adjective:
1. Of or relating to the lungs.
2. Relating to or affected by pneumonia.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek pneumon (lung). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pleu- (to flow), that is also the source of flow, float, flit, fly, flutter, pulmonary, pneumonia, pluvial, fletcher, and plutocracy. Earliest documented use: 1668.


USAGE:
"It seems your husband has been walking about with a pneumonic condition that has put a strain on his heart."
Edward T. Slavin; The Matriarch; AuthorHouse; 2006.

Explore "pneumonic" in the Visual Thesaurus.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
To be capable of embarrassment is the beginning of moral consciousness. Honor grows from qualms. -John Leonard, critic (1939-2008)

nugacity

PRONUNCIATION:
(noo-GAS-i-tee, nyoo-)


MEANING:
noun: Triviality; futility.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin nugax (trifling), from nugari (to trifle). Earliest documented use: 1572.


USAGE:
"For many, the Beachcomber column has been an oasis of nugacity in an otherwise worthy landscape."
Beachcomber; The Daily Express (London, UK); Jan 9, 2006.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. -Robert A. Heinlein, science-fiction author (1907-1988)

Have you ever opened a dictionary to look up a word, only to find yourself distracted by another word on the page? The definition of that word steers you to yet another, some two hundred pages ahead, and before you know it your fingers are cavorting as if in a random dance on the leaves of the lexicon.
This week's words in AWAD were chosen by following precisely that route. You could call it Brownian Motion, Browsing the Web, or Looking Words Up In a Dictionary.


cogent

PRONUNCIATION:
(KOH-juhnt)


MEANING:
adjective:
1. Convincing or believable.
2. Relevant.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin cogere (to drive together), from co- (together) + agere (to drive). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ag- (to drive, draw), which is also the source of such words as act, agent, agitate, litigate, synagogue, and ambassador. Earliest documented use: 1659.


USAGE:
"[Michael Chabon's novel] 'Telegraph Avenue', tries to weave the stories of nearly a dozen different characters into a cogent narrative."
Failure of Imagination; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 8, 2012.

Explore "cogent" in the Visual Thesaurus.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
And the fox said to the little prince: men have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator (1900-1945)

praxis

PRONUNCIATION:
(PRAK-sis)


MEANING:
noun:
1. Practice, as opposed to the theory.
2. Accepted practice or custom.
3. A set of practice exercises.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin praxis, from Greek praxis, from prassein/prattein (to do). Earliest documented use: before 1586.


USAGE:
"His head hung lower than was its praxis."
Mark Christopher; Monkeys Can't Swim; AuthorHouse; 2009.

"The contradiction between the declared intent and actual praxis causes a clash."
Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi; Africa Wo/Man Palava: The Nigerian Novel by Women; The University of Chicago Press; 1996.

Explore "praxis" in the Visual Thesaurus.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961)

conterminous

PRONUNCIATION:
(kuhn-TUHR-muh-nuhs)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Having a common boundary.
2. Confined within one common boundary.
3. Having the same scope, in time, meaning, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin con- (with) + terminus (boundary, limit). Earliest documented use: 1631.

USAGE:
"Bob Greene estimates he has performed in all 48 states in the conterminous United States."
Steve Stout; Illinois Musician's Father Drove Him to Circus Career; The Carmi Times (Illinois); Jun 5, 2011.

Explore "conterminous" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Remorse is a violent dyspepsia of the mind. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971)

aurorean

PRONUNCIATION:
(o-ROR-ee-uhn, o-ROHR-)

MEANING:
adjective: Of or belonging to the dawn.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin aurora (dawn, goddess of the dawn). Earliest documented use: 1820.

USAGE:
"The moon shone resplendently above us -- its splendid aureola seemed suffused with stolen aurorean light."
Pietros Maneos; The Italian Pleasures of Gabriele Paterkallos; Aesthete Press; 2012.

Explore "aurorean" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with. -Harry Crews, novelist and playwright (b. 1935)

cenobite

PRONUNCIATION:
(SEN-uh-byt, SEEN-)

MEANING:
noun: A member of a religious order living in a monastic community. (Also see eremite and anchorite.)

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin coenobium (monastery), from Greek koinobion (convent), from koinos (common) + bios (life). Earliest documented use: before 1638.

USAGE:
"He knew a fellow cenobite when he saw one. There was no religious meditation involved, but they were both alone in places where they should not have been alone."
Elizabeth George; Careless in Red; Harper; 2009.

Explore "cenobite" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Most people think that shadows follow, precede, or surround beings or objects. The truth is that they also surround words, ideas, desires, deeds, impulses and memories. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928)

Blood may be the best-known fluid in the human body, but it's not the only one. And it's not the largest either (there's about twice as much lymph). There are dozens of fluids in the human body and they all have their purposes in life. Even the lowly cerumen (that's a highfalutin word for earwax) helps to protect the ear from bacteria.
This week we'll be exchanging bodily fluids with you, metaphorically speaking. All five words we've picked this week are coined from fluids that make our body work.


sang-froid


PRONUNCIATION:
(san*-FRWA)
[* the first syllable is nasal]

MEANING:
noun: Calmness, especially under stress.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French sang-froid (cold blood). Earliest documented use: 1750.

USAGE:
We can take a lot more, we the stoic nation with its legendary sang-froid."
S. Prasannarajan; Shame el-Sheikh; India Today (New Delhi); Aug 3, 2009.

Explore "sang-froid" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
There are two kinds of light -- the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures. -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961)

Lymphatic

PRONUNCIATION:
(lim-FAT-ik)


MEANING:
adjective:
1. Sluggish; lacking energy.
2. Of or relating to lymph.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin lympha (lymph, water). Formerly it was believed that an excess of lymph in the system resulted in sluggishness. Earliest documented use: 1649.


USAGE:
"The day has been a real lazy one and I have felt lymphatic accordingly."
Thomas Worthington King; Journal of a Voyage Around the World; The Ohio State University Press; 2003.

Explore "lymphatic" in the Visual Thesaurus.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928)

seminal


PRONUNCIATION:
(SEM-uh-nuhl)


MEANING:
adjective:
1. Highly original and proving influential on later work.
2. Of or relating to semen or seed.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin semen (seed). Ultimately from the Indo-European root se- (to sow) which also gave us seed, sow, season, seminary, and disseminate. Earliest documented use: 1398.


USAGE:
"It was in 1962 that Rachel Carson published the seminal book of the environmental movement, Silent Spring."
What's New at the A.K. Smiley Public Library; Redlands Daily Facts (California); Dec 29, 2012.

Explore "seminal" in the Visual Thesaurus.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends imprisoned by an enchanter in paper and leathern boxes. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

salivate

PRONUNCIATION:
(SAL-uh-vayt)


MEANING:
verb intr.:
1. To show great relish in anticipation of something desirable.
2. To produce saliva.


ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin salivare (to salivate). Earliest documented use: 1669.


USAGE:
"The capitalists gathered in Tianjin salivate at the prospect of pushing beyond China's richer coastal provinces and into the hinterland, where hundreds of millions of new consumers would love to buy a fridge and fancy food to put in it."
The Summer Davos Blues; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 15, 2012.

Explore "salivate" in the Visual Thesaurus.


A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot. -Charlie Chaplin, actor, director, and composer (1889-1977)

melancholy


PRONUNCIATION:
(MEL-uhn-kol-ee)

MEANING:
noun: A pensive, gloomy, depressed state.
adjective: Having or causing a sad mood.

ETYMOLOGY:
From the former belief that a gloomy state was the result of the excess of black bile. From Latin melancholia, from Greek melancholia (the condition of having an excess of black bile), from melan- (black) + chole (bile), ultimately from the Indo-European root ghel- (to shine), which is also the source of words such as yellow, gold, glimmer, gloaming, glimpse, glass, arsenic, and cholera. Earliest documented use: before 1375.

USAGE:
"Loss, estrangement, and distance--and a mood finely poised between melancholy and melodrama -- are the collection's keynotes."
Life's a beach: New fiction; The Economist (London, UK); Nov 30, 2002.

"His sigh and then his laugh, his melancholy and his humour, made people like him, and he knew it."
Virginia Woolf; Together and Apart.

Explore "melancholy" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Some tortures are physical / And some are mental, / But the one that is both / Is dental. -Ogden Nash, poet (1902-1971)

Don Juan

PRONUNCIATION:
(don wahn)

MEANING:
noun: An obsessive womanizer.

ETYMOLOGY:
After Don Juan, a legendary 14th century Spanish nobleman, who devoted his life to seducing women. The story of Don Juan has been portrayed by many including Moliere, Mozart, Byron, and Shaw. Earliest documented use: 1848.

USAGE:
"Oscar had always been a Don Juan ... but now that we were nearly 50, there was something desperate about his mania for conquests."
Leif Davidsen; Lime's Photograph; Vintage Books; 2002.

Explore "Don Juan" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: they must be fit for it; they must not do too much of it; and they must have a sense of success in it. -John Ruskin, author, art critic, and social reformer (1819-1900)