a cappella

• cappella

[ah-kuh-PEL-uh]
Adverb or adjective
Without instrumental accompaniment.
Example:
The group is famous for a cappella performances in which human voices mimic the sounds of instruments.
History:
"A cappella" arrived in English from Italian sometime around the mid-19th century. In Italian, "a cappella" means "in chapel or choir style." "Cappella" in Italian means "chapel"; the English word "chapel" is ultimately (if independently) derived from the Medieval Latin word "cappella," which is the source of the Italian "cappella" as well. Scholars once thought all "chapel style" music written before the 1600s was performed a cappella, but modern research has revealed that instruments might have doubled or substituted for some voices back then. Today "a cappella" describes a purely vocal performance.


a cup of joe

• cup of joe
• cup
• joe

a cup of coffee.
Etymology:
There is no clear origin for the use of "joe" to mean coffee; though, we have a few stories being created to explain where it came from.
1) A persistent one alleges that it derives from the ban imposed by Admiral Josephus "Joe" Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, on serving alcohol aboard US Navy ships, except on very special occasions. Coffee, it is said, became the beverage of choice and started to be called "Joe" in reference to him. The problem with this story is the dates. "Cup of joe" appears in the written record in 1930 but the order to ban alcohol - General Order 99 - was issued on 1 June 1914. It banned officers' wine messes, which had only been permitted since 1893; ships had otherwise been dry since the spirit ration was abolished in 1862. It seems hardly likely that the loss of a wine mess limited to officers on board otherwise alcohol-free ships would have led to a nickname for coffee that only started to be written down 16 years after the order.
2) Prof. Jonathan Lighter, in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, leans towards another story: that it came from the Stephen Foster song "Old Black Joe", with the resultant mental link between "black" and "coffee". It is true that the song - written in 1860 - was extremely popular at one time, but it makes no reference to coffee, so linking the two is implausible.
3) The most probable suggestion is that it is a modification of "java" or "jamoke" for coffee, perhaps under the influence of one or other of the many expressions at the time that contained the word "Joe" - for example, "an ordinary Joe" (though "GI Joe" for an enlisted man in the US military is from the next decade). It is significant that an early example appears in 1931 in the Reserve Officer's Manual by a man named Erdman: "Jamoke, Java, Joe. Coffee. Derived from the words Java and Mocha, where originally the best coffee came from".


a dime a dozen

• dime a dozen
• dime
• dozen

Very common and inexpensive; easy to get and available anywhere, able to be bought anywhere cheaply; low priced, (dirt) cheap.
Examples:
1) He can remember when eggs were cheap - a dime a dozen.
2) Anthony thought his old Hardy Boys books were rare, but they were a dime a dozen.
History:
In 1786 the U.S Continental Congress officially named the ten-cent coin "a dime". The dime soon became a popular coin. Millions were minted. Everyone had them. Since they were so cheap, so abundant, and so common the phrase "a dime a dozen" became a natural way to describe any everyday thing that was easy to get and of small value. And "dime" and "dozen" begin with the same letter, which makes the saying catchy through alliteration.


a fool and his money are soon parted

• fool
• money
• soon
• parted
• part
• be parted

This saying means that a person who is foolish with his money won't hold on to it very long. People usually say it as a warning.
Example:
The first time Noah got paid for mowing a neighbor's yard, he wanted to rush out and buy
something - anything! But he remembered his big brother saying that a fool and his money are soon parted, and he decided to save his money for something worthwhile.

a friend in need is a friend indeed

• friend in need is a friend indeed
• friend in need
• friend indeed
• in need
• friend
• indeed
• need
• a friend in need

A person who is still your friend when you are in
trouble is a true and lasting friend.
Example:
Every day while Mr. Gainey was sick, his neighbor Charles went to his house to cook for him and read to him. Charles really proved that a friend in need is a friend indeed.
Explanation:
Some people are your friends when you are happy but avoid you when you are having
trouble. This proverb explains that a true friend is the one who sticks around when you are in need of a help, comfort, or anything else.

a miss is as good as a mile

• miss is as good as a mile
• miss
• as... as
• mile
• good

This saying means that just missing by a little bit is no better than missing by a whole lot.
Example:
"Well, at least you only lost by one point," Camilla said to her brother, Sean, the quarterback on his school's team.
"I know you're trying to make me feel better, Camilla," Sean replied, "but we still lost. Like they say, a miss is as good as a mile."

a stitch in time saves nine

• stitch in time saves nine
• stitch
• in time
• time
• saves
• save
• nine
• An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

By taking a little care early, you may save yourself a lot of trouble later.
Example:
Marie's father was reading the yellow pages.
"What are you looking for, Dad?" she asked.
"I'm looking for a chimney sweep. We need to get the chimney cleaned before too much soot builds up inside. A chimney fire can ruin a chimney or worse. A stitch in time saves nine, I always say."
Synonym:
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

a?
(SMS) eh?

ab
(SMS) ah, bless!


ab initio

• ab
• initio

[ab-uh-NISH-ee-oh]
From the beginning.
Example:
Under Pennsylvania law, a life-insurance policy that would have been issued at a higher premium if the insured had supplied the correct smoking information was void ab initio... ("The National Law Journal", March 4, 1991)
History, related words and expressions:
We'll tell you right from the beginning where "ab initio" comes from! This adverb was adopted at the end of the 16th century directly from Latin, and it translates, unsurprisingly, as "from the beginning." ("Initio" is a form of the noun "initium," meaning "beginning," which gave rise to such English words as "initial," "initiate," and "initiative.") "Ab initio" frequently appears in legal contexts, as in the example sentence. Recently, people have also begun using "ab initio" as an adjective meaning "starting from or based on first principles" (as in "predicted from ab initio calculations").


ab ovo
[ab-OH-voh]
From the beginning.
Examples:
1) I will begin ab ovo - at the very beginning. ("War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy)
2) The performers do not have to discover these techniques and processes ab ovo; they learn them from the previous generation, who learned them from their predecessors, and so on. (William L. Benzon, "Beethoven's Anvil")
3) "Would you live your life differently if you could start again ab ovo?" Rachel asked.
Etymology, more examples:
"Ab ovo" is from Latin, literally, "from the egg."
"Ab ovo usque ad mala." That phrase translates as "from the egg to the apples," and it was penned by the Roman poet Horace. He was alluding to the Roman tradition of starting a meal with eggs and finishing it with apples. Horace also applied "ab ovo" in an account of the Trojan War that begins with the mythical egg of Leda from which Helen (whose beauty sparked the war) was born. In both cases, Horace used "ab ovo" to allude to a literal egg while figuratively suggesting the meaning "from the beginning." It was this figurative meaning that found its way into English in the 16th century, when Sir Philip Sidney wrote: "If [the dramatic poets] wil represent an history, they must not (as Horace saith) beginne Ab ouo: but they must come to the principall poynt of that one action."


abacus
1. A frame holding bars strung with beads which are used to make mathematical calculations.
2. (Architecture) The uppermost part of a column.
Examples:
1) Once in a while, the numbers fall, the abacus clicks into a pattern.
2) Pillar-capitals, communicating the weight of the entablature above to the columns, consist of a plain, square slab, the abacus, above a bowl-shaped member called, from its shape, the echinos or "sea-urchin".
Etymology:
The device takes its name from the ancient Phoenician word "abak" meaning "dust"; the mathematicians of that day used to cover tables with dust in order to draw their diagrams and figure their problems.


abbreviate

• abridge

[uh-BREE-vee-ayt]
to make briefer; esp. to reduce to a shorter form intended to stand for the whole
Example:
Engineers abbreviate the words 'pounds per square foot' as 'psf.' (Mario Salvadori, "Why Buildings Stand Up")
History, related words:
"Abbreviate" and "abridge" both mean "to make shorter," so it probably will come as no surprise that both derive from the Latin verb "brevis," meaning "short." "Abbreviate" first appeared in print in English in the 15th century, and derives from "abbreviatus," the past participle of Late Latin "abbreviare," which in turn can be traced back to "brevis." "Abridge," which appeared a century earlier, also comes from "abbreviare," but took a side trip through Anglo-French before arriving in Middle English as "abregen." "Brevis" is also the ancestor of the English "brief" itself, as well as "brevity" and "breviary" ("a prayer book" or "a brief summary"), among others.


abecedarian
[ay-bee-see-DAIR-ee-un]
1. One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a beginner.
2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet.
3. Pertaining to the letters of the alphabet.
4. Arranged alphabetically.
5. Rudimentary; elementary.
Examples:
1) Lorraine Heggessey and executive producer Jeremy Mills adroitly tapped into a national obsession at exactly the right time, presenting the topic in a way that appealed to experts and abecedarians alike. (Victor Lewis-Smith, "Lords of the mobile dance", The Evening Standard, June 11, 2001)
2) While much of the work resembled abecedarian attempts of a novice choreographer, "Duet," sensitively danced by Jennifer A. Cooper and William Petroni, is surprisingly sophisticated in its careful deployment of formal thematic manipulations in the service of emotional expression. (Lisa Jo Sagolla, "Open 24 Hours Dance Company", Back Stage, September 1, 1998)
3) The approach may seem abecedarian today, but his was among the first endeavors of the sort. (Jennifer Liese, "May 1973", ArtForum, May 2003)
4) It is also quite abecedarian in that it presents introductory material apt to be known by all linguists and Semitists. (Alan S. Kaye, "Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew", Journal of the American Oriental Society, January 1, 1994)
5) Columba's poem is fittingly 'abecedarian', each stanza starts with a subsequent letter of the alphabet - a harbinger of the Scottish appetite for cataloguing, and delight in craft. (W.N. Herbert, "A rhyme and a prayer", Scotland on Sunday, December 10, 2000)
History:
The history of "abecedarian" is as simple as ABC - literally. The term's Late Latin ancestor, "abecedarius" (which meant "of the alphabet"), was created as a combination of the letters A, B, C, and D, plus the adjective suffix "-arius"; you can hear the echo of that origin in the pronunciation of the English term ("ABC-darian"). In its oldest documented English uses in the early 1600s, "abecedarian" was a noun meaning "one learning the rudiments of something"; it specifically referred to someone who was learning the alphabet. The adjective began appearing in English texts around 1665.


aberrant
[a-BERR-unt; AB-ur-unt]
Markedly different from an accepted norm; deviating from the ordinary or natural type; abnormal.
Examples:
1) The impulse toward individual expression is a recent and a possibly aberrant one in art. (Nicholas Delbanco, "From Echoes Emerge Original Voices," New York Times, June 21, 1999)
2) These characters are so wild and aberrant they are close to appearing lunatics. (Bosley Crowther, "Who's Afraid of Audacity?" New York Times, July 10, 1966)
3) But I could never accept the aberrant dictates of socialist realism which ruled out all mystery and turned literary activity into a propaganda exercise. (Mario Vargas Llosa, "Making Waves")
Etymology:
"Aberrant" comes from Latin "aberro, aberrare" ("to wander off, to lose one's way"), from "ab" ("away from") + "erro, errare" ("to wander").


abeyance

• in abeyance

[uh-BAY-unss]
1. A lapse in succession during which there is no person in whom a title is vested.
2. Temporary inactivity.
Synonym: suspension.
Example:
When Joe lost his job, house-hunting had to be put in abeyance until he could secure a new position.
Etymology, related words:
"Abeyance" has something in common with "yawn." Today, "yawn" implies sleep or boredom, but years ago it could also signify longing or desire: "Full many men know I that yawn and gape after some fat and rich benefice" (Thomas Hoccleve, 1420). The Old French word for "yawn" was "baer," which joined the prefix "a-" ("in a state or condition of") to form "abaer," a verb meaning "to expect" or "await." There followed Anglo-French "abeyance," which referred to a state of expectation - specifically, a person's expectation of inheriting a title or property. But when "abeyance" was adopted into English in the 16th century, the expectation to the property itself was applied: a property or title "in abeyance" is in temporary limbo, waiting to be claimed by a rightful heir or owner.


abide

• abidden
• abode
• abided
• abiding
• abidance
• abode
• abide by

1. a) to endure without yielding; withstand; b) to bear patiently; tolerate
Example:
John simply could not abide the full heat of summer, so he bought an air conditioner.
2. to accept without objection
3. to remain stable or fixed in a state
4. to continue in a place
History, related words, more examples:
O.E. "abidan, gebidan" - "remain," from "ge-" completive prefix (denoting onward motion) + "bidan" ("bide, remain, wait, dwell"). Originally intransitive (with genitive of the object: "we abidon his" = "we waited for him"); transitive sense emerged in M.E. Meaning "to put up with" (now usually negative) first recorded 1526.
"Abide" may sound rather old-fashioned these days. The word has been around since before the 12th century, but it is a bit rare these days, except in certain specialized uses. Even more archaic to our modern ear is "abidden," the original past participle of "abide." Today, both the past and the past participle of "abide" are served by either "abode" or "abided," with "abided" being the more frequent choice. "Abide" turns up often in the phrase "can't (or couldn't) abide." The expression "abide by," which means "to conform to" or "to acquiesce in," is also common. Related terms include the participial adjective "abiding" (which means "enduring" or "continuing," as in "an abiding interest in nature"), the noun "abidance" ("continuance" or "compliance"), and the noun "abode" ("residence").


abjure

• jury
• recant
• renounce
• forswear

[ab-JUR]
1. To renounce under oath.
2. To renounce or reject solemnly; to recant; to reject; repudiate.
3. To abstain from; to shun.
Synonyms: recant, renounce, forswear
Examples:
1) Abjure, on his knees, his heretical views that the Earth moves around the Sun. (Alan Gurney, "Below the Convergence") 2) He closed his eyes as he raised the goblet to his lips and took a small sip of the cool liquid, and then his face paled as he understood how sublime the taste of the forbidden drink was, and how easily one might become enslaved to it. There and then he resolved to abjure it totally. (A. B. Yehoshua, "A Journey to the End of the Millennium"
3) In the mid-1970's, a young European couple abjure middle-class comforts in favor of travel to India, where the wife, Sophie, grows disillusioned with Eastern spiritualism just as her husband, Matteo, is swept up in it. (Laurel Graeber, "New and Noteworthy Paperbacks," New York Times, January 12, 1997)
Etymology:
"Abjure" comes from Latin "abjurare" ("to deny upon oath"), from "ab-" ("away") + "jurare" ("to swear"). It is related to "jury" ("a body of persons sworn to give a verdict on a given matter").


ablution
[uh-BLOO-shun]
1. The act of washing or cleansing; specifically, the washing of the body, or some part of it (as in a religious rite).
2. The water used in cleansing.
Examples:
1) Worshipers, who have performed their ablutions in the basement before entering the prayer hall, individually prepare themselves for participation in the communal worship. (Jane I. Smith, "Islam in America")
2) There is ... a large fountain in the center, beneath an opening in the roof through which the sun streams down to meet the rising water, so that ablutions required of worshipers before they pray can be performed inside the building. (Mary Lee Settle, "A Sacred Spa Where Sultans Led an Empire," New York Times, July 8, 1990)
3) He went straight to the loo to begin his usual ablutions, soaping his cheeks and neck. (Brooks Hansen, "Perlman's Ordeal")
4) In fact, writing - more exactly, composing in your head - formal poetry may be recommended in solitary confinement as a kind of therapy, alongside pushups and cold ablutions. (Joseph Brodsky, "The Writer in Prison," New York Times, October 13, 1996)
Etymology:
"Ablution" comes from Latin "ablutio", from "abluere" ("to wash, to remove by washing, to wash away"), from "ab-" ("away from") + "luere" ("to wash").


abnegate

• abnegation
• denial

[AB-nih-gayt]
1. To refuse or deny oneself; to reject; to renounce.
2. To give up (rights, claims, etc.); to surrender; to relinquish.
Examples:
1) Sylvia chose to abnegate the privileges of her wealthy upbringing, seeking instead a simple life helping those less fortunate than herself.
2) "An exaggerated veneration for an exceptional individual" will allow worshippers "to abnegate responsibility, looking to the great man for salvation or for fulfilment" that we should work out for ourselves. (Christina Hardyment, "The intoxicating allure of great men," review of Heroes: Saviors, Traitors, and Supermen, by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Independent, October 19, 2004)
3) Adrift and divided, lacking intelligent leadership from the White House, the members of Congress have chosen to abnegate their constitutional responsibility in the hope that the blunt, crude mechanism of Gramm-Rudman will compensate for the failure of political will. (Evan Thomas, "'Look, Ma! No hands!' ", Time, December 23, 1985)
4) Feed no more blossoms to the wind, abnegate the constellations, negate the sea and what is left of your world? What is left then? (Alessandra Lynch, "Excommunication," American Poetry Review, July/August 2003)
Etymology, related words:
"Abnegate" is a back-formation from "abnegation", from Late Latin "abnegatio, abnegation-", from Latin "abnegare" ("to refuse; to refute"), from "ab-" ("away") + "negare" ("to deny").
There's no denying that the Latin root "negare" has given English some useful verbs. That verb was the ultimate source of the noun "abnegation", a synonym of "denial" that began appearing in English manuscripts in the 14th century. By the 17th century, people had concluded that if there was a noun "abnegation", there ought to be a related verb "abnegate", and so they created one by a process called "back-formation" (that's the process of trimming a suffix or prefix off a long word to make a shorter one). But "abnegate" and "abnegation" are not the only English offspring of "negare". That root is also an ancestor of other nay-saying terms such as "deny", "negate", and "renegade".

abominable

• abominate
• abomination

[uh-BAH-muh-nuh-bul]
1. worthy of or causing disgust or hatred
Synonym: detestable
2. quite disagreeable or unpleasant
Example:
I imagine it must be a relief to receive another letter from me written on a typewriter, for ... my handwriting has been abominable for several years past. (Alexander Woollcott, "Letters")
History, related words, more examples:
The tendency to hate evil omens is a vital part of the history of "abominable." The word descends from the Latin verb "abominari," which means "to deprecate as an ill omen" or "to detest"; "abominari" itself comes from "ab-" ("off, away from") + "omin-" (stem of "omen"). When English speakers adopted "abominable" in the 14th century, they used it to express their disgust over evil or truly detestable things - and for 500 years that's the way things stood. In the 1800s, the word's meaning moderated, so that Scottish novelist William Black could write in "A Princess of Thule" (1873), "Sheila had nothing to do with the introduction of this abominable decoration." Other descendents of "abominari" are "abominate" ("to hate or loathe intensely") and "abomination" ("something odious or detestable").


abominate
[uh-BOM-uh-nayt]
To hate in the highest degree; to detest intensely; to loathe; to abhor.
Example:
1) I had no wish to study or learn anything, and as for Latin, I abominated it. (Charles Tyng, "Before the Wind")
2) "Sir Laurence," he said, smiling wanly, "I detest literature. I abominate the theatre. I have a horror of culture. I am only interested in magic!" (John Lahr (editor), "The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan")
Etymology:
"Abominate" comes from Latin "abominari" - "to deprecate as a bad omen, to hate, to detest," from "ab-" + "omen" ("an omen").
Synonyms: abhor, detest, hate, loathe.


aborning

• aborn
• borning

[uh-BOR-ning]
1. While being produced or born.
2. Being produced or born.
Examples:
1) In universities at least as much as anywhere else, vast floods of words pour forth to no useful end. Nothing would be lost if they had died aborning. (Loren Lomasky, "Talking the talk: Have universities lost sight of why they exist?", Reason, May 2001)
2) In "Base-Ball: How to Become a Player" he expounds on the importance of the sport's vital edges: pickoffs, relay throws, brushback pitches, drawing the infield in or moving it out, hit-and-run plays, signals - all commonplace today, but in 1888 only aborning. (Bryan Di Salvatore, "A Clever Base-Ballist")
3) Nine months later, ABC Washington bureau chief George Watson left to join the aborning Cable News Network, taking several staffers with him. (Judy Flander, "Catching up with Katie Couric," Saturday Evening Post, September 1, 1992)
Etymology, related words, an example:
"Aborning" is a native of U.S. soil; its arrival is marked in the early 20th century dialect of the rural South, and it quickly found its way to the crowded cities and towns of the industrial north. (We don't know exactly when it was conceived, but it came to the attention of the editors at Merriam-Webster in 1916.) "Aborning" combines the prefix "a-", meaning "in the process of," and "borning", a dialectal word meaning "birth." "Borning" itself is simply the gerund, or noun form, of the verb "born", a dialectal term that was used by, among others, William Faulkner: "The talk... went here and there about the town, dying and borning again like a wind or a fire." ("Light in August", 1932)


above board

• above
• board

Honest, not secret.
Example: The real estate agent was always above board when dealing with people who were trying to buy a house.
Etymology:
Originally players showed their honesty by keeping their hands above the board when playing a game.

abrogate

• annul

[AB-ruh-gayt]
1. to abolish by authoritative action
Synonym: annul
Example:
An old law that abrogated the right of liquor store owners to sell alcohol on Sundays was recently struck from the books.
2. to treat as nonexistent
History, related words:
If you can't simply wish something out of existence, the next best thing might be to "propose it away." That's sort of what "abrogate" lets you do, at least etymologically speaking. It comes from the Latin root "rogare," which means "to propose a law," and "ab-," meaning "from" or "away." "Rogare" is also an ancestor in the family tree of "prerogative" and "interrogate." "Abrogate" first appeared in English as a verb in the 16th century, but was preceded by an adjective sense meaning "annulled" or "cancelled" which is now obsolete.


abscond

• recondite

[ab-SKOND]
To depart secretly; to steal away and hide oneself (used especially of persons who withdraw to avoid arrest or prosecution).
Examples:
1) The criminal is not concerned with influencing or affecting public opinion: he simply wants to abscond with his money or accomplish his mercenary task in the quickest and easiest way possible so that he may reap his reward and enjoy the fruits of his labours. (Bruce Hoffman, "Inside Terrorism")
2) Pearl, now an orphan (her father having absconded shortly after her conception), has been taken to live with her great-aunt Margaret in the north of England. (Zoe Heller, "Everything You Know")
3) Detectives arrived at the suspect's apartment only to learn that he had cleared out his bank account and absconded to Mexico.
Etymology, related words, more examples:
First appearing in English in the 16th century, "abscond" derives from the Latin "abscondere," meaning "to hide away," "to conceal", a product of the prefix "ab-, abs-" ("away") and "condere" ("to put, to place"). ("Condere" is also the root for "recondite," a word meaning "concealed" as well as "hard to understand" or "obscure.") In general usage, "abscond" refers to any act of running away and hiding (usually from the law and often with funds), but, in legal circles, the word is used specifically when someone who has already become the focus of a legal proceeding hides or takes off in order to evade the legal process (as in "absconded from parole").


absinthe
[AB-sinth]
1. Wormwood; especially: a common European wormwood ("Artemisia absinthium").
2. A green liqueur which is flavored with wormwood, anise, and other aromatic herbs and commercial production of which is banned in many countries for health concerns.
Example:
I draw the line at absinthe, a bottle of which is still sitting in my liquor cabinet five years after it was received, gleaming ominously. (Alexandra Jacobs, "The New York Times", November 7, 2004)
Etymology:
In 1797, the Swiss Henri-Louis Pernod was the first to commercially produce an alcoholic drink from the bitter herb Artemisia absinthium, known commonly as wormwood. By the mid- to late 1800s this bright green distillation, by then known in both French and English as "absinthe," had become wildly popular, especially among artists and writers, but it also had a tendency to make people a little wild. In fact, it was linked to several nasty disorders, including convulsions and foaming at the mouth. The culprit? A toxin in wormwood - perhaps the very chemical that gives the plant its tapeworm-exterminating properties (and thus its name). Because of these horrific side effects, true absinthe was banned in many countries (including the U.S.) in the early 1900s, but that didn't remove the taste for the drink.


abstemious

• abstinent
• teetotal
• temperate

[ab-STEE-mee-uhs]
1. Sparing in eating and drinking; temperate; abstinent.
2. Sparingly used or consumed; used with temperance or moderation.
3. Marked by or spent in abstinence.
Synonyms: abstinent, teetotal, temperate.
Examples:
1) They were healthy and abstemious; their chief pleasure was reading and Oliver was a life member of the London Library. (Sylvia Townsend Warner, "The Music at Long Verney")
2) For a man who trafficked in excess, he was surprisingly abstemious. (Ralph Blumenthal, "Stork Club")
3) When the 1796 outbreak of yellow fever turned into an epidemic, the frightened citizens followed each preventive vogue: herb tea, cold baths, cream of tartar, vinegar, camphor and abstemious diets. (Christina Vella, "Intimate Enemies")
4) In the clubby world of the Senate, the elder Gore was an aloof figure whose "divinity student blue" suits and abstemious habits (no cigarettes, little alcohol, and a daily swim in the Senate pool) created the aura "of a man just come from a powerful hell-and-brimstone sermon." (Bill Turque, "Inventing Al Gore: A Biography")
Etymology:
"Abstemious" comes from Latin "abstemius", from "ab-, abs-" ("away from") + the root of "temetum" ("intoxicating drink").


abstruse

• recondite
• abstrude

difficult to comprehend or understand
Synonym: recondite
Example:
"This textbook is poorly written and unnecessarily abstruse," complained Marilyn.
Etymology:
"Abstruse" comes from Latin "abstrusus", past participle of "abstrudere" - "to push away from any place, to hide", from "ab-", "abs-" ("away from") + "trudere" ("to push, to thrust").



abulia

• aboulia
• abulic
• aboulic

Also: aboulia
[ay-BOO-lee-uh; uh-BOO-lee-uh; uh-BYOO-]
Loss or impairment, i.e. abnormal lack of the ability to act or to make decisions.
Examples:
1) I was suffering from an aboulia, you know. I couldn't seem to make decisions. (Anatole Broyard, "Reading and Writing; (Enter Pound and Eliot)," New York Times, May 30, 1982)
2) There's little escape from her black hole of abulia. (James Saynor, "Woman in the Midst of a Nervous Breakdown," New York Times, June 12, 1994)
3) "Since his college graduation, my son seems to be suffering from abulia -- he just can't decide what he wants to do next," sighed Philip.
Etymology:
"Abulia" derives from Greek through New Latin: "a-" ("without") + "boule" ("will"). The adjective form is "abulic".
"I must have a prodigious quantity of mind," Mark Twain once wrote. "It takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up." The indecision Twain laments is fairly common; only when inability to make decisions reaches an abnormal level does it have an uncommon name: "abulia". The word can refer to the kind of generalized indecision that makes it impossible to choose what flavor ice cream you want, though it was created to name a severe medical disorder that can render a person nearly inert.

accede

• acquiesce
• agree
• assent
• comply
• concur
• consent

[ak-SEED]
1. To agree or assent; to give in to a request or demand.
2. To become a party to an agreement, treaty, convention, etc.
3. To attain an office or rank; to enter upon the duties of an office.
Examples:
1) Well, after much blustering and standing and sitting, he acceded to my demand. (Alfred Alcorn, "Murder in the Museum of Man")
2) Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president, announced that China would accede to the Information Technology Agreement signed last winter, which will eliminate China's steep tariffs on imported computer and telecommunications equipment. (John M. Broder, "U.S. and China Reach Trade Pacts but Clash on Rights", New York Times, October 30, 1997)
3) She is looking down at him with a tender smile, as if he were a prince, Harry thinks, and she a servant, grateful to accede to his every whim. (Millicent Dillon, "Harry Gold")
Etymology:
"Accede" derives from Latin "accedere" ("to approach, to accede"), from "ad-" ("toward, to") + "cedere" ("to move, to yield").
Synonyms:
acquiesce, agree, assent, comply, concur, consent.


acceptation

• acceptance

[ak-sep-TAY-shun]
1. Acceptance; especially: favorable reception or approval.
2. A generally accepted meaning of a word or understanding of a concept.
Example:
I may not be an "athlete," in the common acceptation of that word, but I do enjoy my daily workouts at the gym.
History, synonyms, difference:
"Acceptation" is older than its synonym "acceptance"; it first appeared in print in the 15th century, whereas "acceptance" took until 1574. Grammarian H. W. Fowler insisted in 1926 that "acceptation" and "acceptance" were not actually synonymous (he preferred to reserve "acceptation" for the "accepted meaning" use), but the earliest meaning of "acceptation" was indeed "acceptance." Both words descend from the Anglo-French word "accepter" ("to accept"), but "acceptation" took an extra step. Anglo-French added the "-ation" ending, which was changed to form "acceptacioun" in Middle English. (English embraced the present-day "-ation" ending later.) "Acceptance" simply comes from "accepter" plus the Anglo-French "-ance."


acclimate
[uh-KLY-mit; AK-luh-mayt]
To accustom or become accustomed to a new climate, environment, or situation.
Examples:
1) "Getting acclimated to being in the suburbs, Sally?" Mrs. Westin asked. (Julia Slavin, "The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club and Other Stories")
2) The Korbels did not have much time to pull their lives together and acclimate themselves to English culture. (Ann Blackman, "Seasons of Her Life")
Etymology:
"Acclimate" is from French "acclimater", from "a-" ("to", from Latin "ad-") + "climat" ("climate," from Late Latin "clima", "climat-", from Greek "klima" - "inclination; the supposed slope of the earth toward the pole; region; clime," from "klinein" - "to lean").

accolade
[AK-uh-layd]
1. A ceremonial embrace.
2. A ceremony or salute conferring knighthood.
3. A mark of acknowledgment.
Synonym: award
4. An expression of praise
Example:
A celebration that normally thanks those who risked their lives now includes accolades to those putting their lives on the line at the moment. ("Chicago Daily Herald", November 10, 2001)
5. A brace or a line used in music to join two or more staffs carrying simultaneous parts.
Etymology:
"Accolade" was borrowed into English in the 17th century from French. The French noun in turn derives from the verb "accoler," which means "to embrace," and ultimately from the Latin term "collum," meaning "neck." ("Collum" is also an ancestor of the English word "collar.") When it was first borrowed from French, "accolade" referred to a ceremonial embrace that once marked the conferring of knighthood. The term was later extended to any ceremony conferring knighthood (such as the more familiar tapping on the shoulders with the flat blade of a sword), and eventually extended to honors or awards in general.


ace up one's sleeve

• ace up your sleeve
• ace
• up
• sleeve

a surprise or secret advantage, especially something tricky that is kept hidden until needed.
Example:
"I don't know how Henry is going to get his mom to buy him a bike, but I'm sure
he has an ace up his sleeve."
Etymology:
Back in the 1500s most people didn't have pockets in their clothes, so they kept things in their sleeves. Later on, magicians hid objects, even small live animals, up their sleeves and then pulled them out unexpectedly to surprise their audiences. In the 1800s dishonest card players secretly slipped a winning card, often an ace, up their sleeves and pulled it out when nobody was looking to win the game.

acerbate

• irritate
• exasperate
• exacerbate

1. irritate, exasperate;
2. irritated, exasperated, harsh;
3. exacerbate.
Example: The repetitive little noise acerbated the nerves of everyone in the vicinity.
Etymology:
The verb "acerbate" was first documented in English around 1731 and is ultimately derived (via the past participle of the Latin verb "acerbare") from the Latin "acerbus", meaning "harsh" or "bitter". There's also an adjective "acerbate" (pronounced uh- SER-but and meaning "irritated, exasperated, harsh"), but it is used infrequently. These days, the verb turns up fairly often in place of "exacerbate" ("to make worse"), although this sense is not quite common enough yet to be in dictionaries. The use of "acerbate" for "exacerbate" may be an error created by confusing two very similar words, but it's actually a pretty insightful mistake - "exacerbate" is also from "acerbus".



acerbic
[uh-SUR-bik]
Sharp, biting, or acid in temper, expression, or tone.
Examples:
1) But more than that, he is a social critic, and an efficient one, acerbic and devastating. (Benoit Aubin, "Quebec's King of Comedy," Maclean's, August 27, 2001)
2) Since I started out as a writer many years ago, I have built a reputation as an acerbic, mean-spirited observer of the human condition. (Joe Queenan, "My Goodness: A Cynic's Short-Lived Search for Sainthood)
3) Joey gained a reputation as a smart aleck adept at delivering acerbic one-liners. ("Joseph Heller, Author of 'Catch-22,' Dies at 76," New York Times, December 14, 1999)
Etymology:
"Acerbic" comes from Latin "acerbus" ("bitter, sour, severe, harsh").


acolyte

• akolouthos

[AK-uh-lyte]
1. One who assists a member of the clergy in a liturgical service by performing minor duties.
2. One who attends or assists; follower
Example:
The lawyer arrived with one of her acolytes, an eager young attorney who looked at her with obvious admiration.
Etymology, related words, additional meanings:
Follow the etymological path of "acolyte" back far enough and you'll arrive at "keleuthos," a Greek noun that means "path" and that is itself the parent of "akolouthos," an adjective that means "following." "Akolouthos" traveled from Greek, leaving offspring in Medieval Latin and Anglo-French, and its descendant, "acolyte," emerged in English in the 14th century. Originally, it was exclusively a term for a person who assisted a priest at Mass, but by the 19th century, "acolyte" had acquired additional meanings, among them "attendant body, satellite" (a meaning used in astronomy) and "attendant insect" (a zoological sense), as well as the general meaning "assistant" or "sidekick."


acquiesce
[ak-wee-ESS]
to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively
Example:
Clark inevitably acquiesces when his mother-in-law insists that he have a second helping of one of her home-cooked meals.
Etymology:
"Acquiesce" means essentially "to comply quietly"; it is ultimately derived from the Latin verb "quiescere", meaning "to be quiet". It arrived in English around 1620, via the French "acquiescer", with the now obsolete sense "to rest satisfied". The earliest known recorded use of the word "acquiesce" in the sense of "agree, comply" appeared in the writings of the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes in 1651. In his masterpiece "Leviathan", Hobbes argued that people must subject themselves completely to a sovereign and should obey the teachings of the church. Encouraging his readers to adopt his position he wrote, "Our Beleefe ... is in the Church; whose word we take, and acquiesce therein."


acquisitive

• greedy
• covetous
• avaricious

[uh-KWIZ-uh-tiv]
Strongly desirous of acquiring and possessing.
Example:
My great uncle was an acquisitive workaholic who amassed great material wealth but never found happiness.
History, synonyms:
"Acquisitive" and its synonyms "greedy," "covetous," and "avaricious" are ideal for the "give me, get me, buy me" set. All suggest a strong desire for possessions, especially material possessions. "Greedy" stresses unrestrained craving to have anything and everything, while "covetous" implies inordinate desire for something that belongs to someone else. "Avaricious" connotes an obsessive appetite for money, and it is often used to describe people who are stingy or miserly. "Acquisitive" generally expresses eagerness to both possess and keep things, whether they are material or cognitive (for example, someone hungry to learn and remember new things might be said to have an acquisitive mind).


acrimony
[AK-ruh-moh-nee]
Bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness, as of language, disposition, or manners.
Examples:
1) In years to come, liturgical infighting ranked alongside disputed patents, contested fortunes, and savage political feuds as a source of McCormick family acrimony. (Richard Norton Smith, "The Colonel")
2) The partnership eventually broke up in acrimony. (Henry Grunwald, "One Man's America")
3) As losses swelled, acrimony led to lawsuits, countersuits, and the bankruptcy of the ironworks. (Patricia O'Toole, "Money & Morals in America")
4) Mr. Cioran himself once wrote: "However much I have frequented the mystics, deep down I have always sided with the Devil; unable to equal him in power, I have tried to be worthy of him, at least, in insolence, acrimony, arbitrariness and caprice." (Eric Pace, "E. M. Cioran, 84, Novelist And Philosopher of Despair," New York Times, June 22, 1995)
Etymology:
"Acrimony" is from Latin "acrimonia", from "acer" - "sharp."


acting like a cat on a hot tin roof

• act like a cat on a hot tin roof
• Nimble as a cat on a hot bake-stone
• acting
• like
• act
• a cat on a hot tin roof
• cat on a hot tin roof
• cat
• hot
• tin
• roof
• Nimble
• hot
• bake-stone
• bake
• stone

Someone with frayed nerves; jumpy.
The phrase originated in Tennessee Williams' play of the same name. As then, it indicates someone who is jumpy - behaving like a cat would if they were on a hot tin roof. A similar English phrase is "Nimble as a cat on a hot bake-stone," which means in a hurry to get away (a bake-stone was a large stone on which bread was baked).

acuity

• keenness

[uh-KYOO-uh-tee]
Acuteness of perception or vision; sharpness.
Synonym: keenness.
Examples:
1) They fail to understand how a person can hold beliefs so contrary to theirs and still retain any mental acuity. (Charles Krauthammer, ". . . Why Bush Will Win," Washington Post, November 3, 2000)
2) With unusual acuity, one of the wire service reporters pounced on that possibility with an insinuating question. (Alfred Alcorn, "Murder in the Museum of Man")
3) Monkeys, diurnal animals that have a high visual acuity - necessary for finding food and for moving through the trees without bumping into things or missing one's hold on a branch - have a large visual area of the neocortex. (Stephen Budiansky, "If a Lion Could Talk)
4) Horses tend to shy a lot because the construction of their eyes is optimized for a near 360-degree field of view, useful for spotting danger, but the price the horse pays for that is relatively poor acuity and some out-of-focus spots that can cause objects within the field of view to suddenly sail into sharp focus. (Stephen Budiansky, "If a Lion Could Talk")
Etymology:
"Acuity" comes from Latin "acutus" - "sharpened, pointed, acute," past participle of "acuere" - "to sharpen."


acumen

• sharpness
• sagacity
• perspicacity

[uh-KYOO-mun; AK-yuh-muhn]
Quickness of perception or discernment; shrewdness shown by keen insight; keenness and depth of perception, discernment, or discrimination, especially in practical matters
Examples:
1) For a man who was never in the country, and who did not evidently do much in the way of business, his knowledge and acumen were wonderful. (Bram Stoker, "Dracula")
2) With Leo's rare combination of editorial acumen and business know-how, he might have become a publishing giant had he not permitted his drinking and gambling to hold him back. (Ellis Amburn, "Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac")
3) The family store gave him a sharp business acumen - acquired, he would say, by manning the cash register - that few of his rivals possessed. (David Schiff, "Who Was That Masked Composer?", The Atlantic, January 2000)
Synonyms: sharpness, sagacity, perspicacity
Etymology:
"Acumen" comes from Latin "acumen" ("the sharp point of something; sharpness of understanding; cunning"), from "acuere" ("to sharpen"), from "acus," the Latin word for "needle."
A keen mind and a sharp wit can pierce the soul as easily as a needle passes through cloth. Remember the analogy between a jabbing needle and piercing perception, and you will readily recall the history of "acumen." The English word retains the spelling and figurative meaning of its direct Latin ancestor. In its first known English uses in the 1500s, "acumen" referred specifically to a sharpness of wit. In modern English, it conveys the sense that someone is perceptive enough to grasp a situation quickly and clever enough to use that discernment to good advantage.


ad hoc

• ad
• hoc

[AD-HOCK]
1. Concerned with a particular end or purpose.
2. Formed or used for specific or immediate problems or needs.
3. Fashioned from whatever is immediately available; improvised.
Example:
When her car broke down, Susannah managed an ad hoc repair that lasted long enough to get it to the mechanic's.
History, more examples & meanings:
In Latin, "ad hoc" literally means "for this." That historical meaning is clearly reflected in contemporary English uses of "ad hoc" - anything that is "ad hoc" can be thought of as existing "for this purpose only." For example, an "ad hoc committee" is generally authorized to look into a single matter of limited scope, not to pursue any interesting issue. "Ad hoc" can also be used as an adverb meaning "for the case at hand apart from other applications," as in "a commission created ad hoc." The adverb is older (it has been used in English since the mid-17th century), but the adjective is no quickly improvised addition to English; it has been part of the language since at least 1879.


adage

• aphorism
• proverb
• saw
• saying

[AD-ij]
An old saying, which has obtained credit by long use; a proverb.
Examples:
1) Did she sense the proverbial limp in my walk: proverbial as the Somali adage in which it is said that a lie has a lame leg, truth a healthy one. (Nuruddin Farah, "Secrets")
2) We may find out too late the wisdom of the adage that cautions us to be careful what we wish for lest we get it. (Charles Murray, "What It Means to Be a Libertarian")
3) "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," the old adage goes. (Zachary Karabell "No Left Turn," New York Times, September 24, 2000)
Etymology:
"Adage" derives from the Latin "adagium" (akin to "aio" - "I say"). Trivia: It is sometimes said that the expression "old adage" is redundant, since an adage is by definition a saying with some tradition behind it. But the first recorded instance of the word in the "Oxford English Dictionary" occurs in the phrase "old adage": "He forgat the olde adage, saynge in tyme of peace provyde for warre."
Synonyms:
aphorism, proverb, saw, saying.


adamant
[AD-uh-muhnt]
Not capable of being swayed by pleas, appeals, or reason; not susceptible to persuasion; unyielding.
Examples:
1) In the cabin, the skipper and Truong Hong were arguing furiously, one convinced the boat had run aground, the other adamant that it was snared in nets. (Tran Vu, "The Dragon Hunt")
2) I pretended that nothing had happened, so adamant in my denial that my memory gradually underwent a revision. (Chu T'ien-wen, "Notes of a Desolate Man")
3) It's amazing the ignorance - and the adamant ignorance - of so many people, people one would think might at least admit to simply not having knowledge of something. (Ira Berkow, "To the Hoop: The Seasons of a Basketball Life")
Etymology:
"Adamant" derives from Greek "adamas, adamant-" ("unconquerable; the hardest metal; diamond").


add fuel to the fire

• fan the flames
• fan the flame
• add fuel to the flame
• add fuel to the flames
• fan
• flames
• add
• fuel
• fire
• flame

to make a bad situation worse; to do or say something that causes more trouble, makes someone angrier.
Example:
I was already angry with you, and when you forgot to pick me up, that really added fuel to the fire.
Etymology:
Thousands of years ago the famous Roman historian Livy used this expression. If you pour water on a fire, it goes out. But if you put fuel (like coal or wood) on a fire, you make it burn hotter and brighter. If "fire" represents any kind of trouble, then anything you do to make that trouble worse is "fuel".
Synonyms:
fan the flames; add fuel to the flame; add fuel to the flames

adduce

• induce

[uh-DOOSS]
To offer as example, reason, or proof in discussion or analysis.
Example:
"Leon has made some pretty strong accusations here tonight," said Tim, "but he has adduced no convincing evidence in support of them."
History, related words:
"Adduce" is one of a plethora of familiar words that trace to the Latin root "ducere," which means "to lead." A few other "ducere" offsprings are "abduct," "duke," and "reduce". There are also many others, including "induce," which means "to persuade" or "to bring about."


adjudicate
[uh-JOO-dih-kayt]
1. To settle judicially.
2. To act as judge.
Example:
In his concurring opinion in "Gillis v. City of Waycross", Judge Mikell said that judges are not replaceable at will - the judge voted into office should be the judge to adjudicate in all cases.
Etymology, related words:
"Adjudicate" is one of several terms that give testimony to the influence of "jus," the Latin word for "law," on our legal language. "Adjudicate" is from the Latin verb "adjudicare," from "judicare," meaning "to judge," which, in turn, traces to the Latin noun "judex," meaning "judge." English has other "judex" words, such as "judgment" "judicial," "judiciary," and "prejudice." If we admit further evidence, we discover that the root of "judex" is "jus," the word for "law." What's the verdict? Latin "law" words frequently preside in English-speaking courtrooms. Not only the "judex" words, but "jury," "justice," "injury," and "perjury" are all ultimately from Latin "jus."


adminisphere
The rarefied organizational layers beginning just above the rank and file; decisions that fall from the adminisphere are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to solve.
Example:
I'm telling you they're brains don't get enough air in that adminisphere.


adscititious

• nescience
• prescience

[ad-suh-TISH-us]
Derived or acquired from something extrinsic.
Example:
As someone born in Baltimore as opposed to having moved there, I have been given the northern character..., a character that is adscititious to my father's way. (Michael Weaver, "My Father's Geography")
History, related words, more meanings and examples:
"Adscititious" comes from a very "knowledgeable" family - it ultimately derives from "scire," the Latin verb meaning "to know." "Scire" also gave us "science," "conscience," "prescience" ("foreknowledge"), and "nescience" ("lack of knowledge"). "Adscititious" itself comes to us from "scire" by way of the Latin verb "adsciscere," which means "to admit" or "to adopt." This explains why "adscititious" describes something adopted from an outside source. "Adscititious" also has a rarely encountered second sense, meaning "additional" or "supplemental" (as in "adscititious remarks").


adulation

• adulate
• adulate
• adulatory

[aj-uh-LAY-shun]
excessive or slavish admiration or flattery
Example:
The star was somewhat embarrassed by the adulation of his teenage fans.
Etymology:
If "adulation" makes you think of a dog panting after its master, you're on the right etymological track; the word ultimately derives from the Latin verb "adulari", meaning "to fawn on" (a sense used specifically of the affectionate behavior of dogs) or "to flatter". "Adulation", which came to us from Latin by way of Old French, can be traced back as far as the 14th century in English. The verb "adulate", the noun "adulator", and the adjective "adulatory" later joined the language.



adult walker

• senior
• senior walker
• adult
• walker

An advice that is an aid to the infirm, works like crutches, but is much more stable.
Synonym: senior walker
Examples:
1) Adult Walker for Independent mobility is the ultimate goal for any individual.
2) Adult Walker offers good symmetry for proper body alignment.


adumbrate

• intimate
• obscure

[AD-uhm-brayt; uh-DUHM-] 1. To give a sketchy or slight representation of; to outline. 2. To foreshadow in a vague way. 3. To suggest, indicate, or disclose partially. 4. To cast a shadow over; to shade; to obscure.
Examples:
1) In her second book, the author developed ideas that she had only adumbrated in her first work.
2) The next day, when the year that had passed had been fully gone over and the hope for the year to come had been cautiously adumbrated, the delicate moment arrived when Ben Attar had to decide how to apportion the year's profit among the three partners. (Abraham B. Yehoshua, "A Journey to the End of the Millennium")
3) Thus, in his choice of themes and forms, Berechiah seems to promise the emergence of a new type of Jewish scholar in Christian Europe. This promise was fully redeemed in medieval Italy and Provence, but the catastrophic developments of the 13th and 14th centuries kept Jewish writing in northeastern Europe from realizing the potential adumbrated in Berechiah's work. (Raymond P. Scheindlin, "The Punctuator and the Professor", August 30, 2002)
4) The symbolical paintings, as they have come to be called, adumbrate a dark dream world where what seem dimly recollected circumstances, caught in their own nocturnal inertia, remain cryptic and mystifying. (Robert Berlind, "Edwin Dickinson: waking visions", Art in America, February 2003)
5) The letter even fixes the meeting as having taken place on October 23, which fits the chronology adumbrated by Professor Bald. (Jeremy Bernstein, "Heaven's Net: The Meeting of John Donne and Johannes Kepler", American Scholar, Spring 1997)
6) To create her three-dimensional composition, she variedly manipulated floor and ceiling planes so as to adumbrate virtual spaces. (Monica Geran, "Shadow play", Interior Design, April, 2000)
Synonyms: to intimate, obscure.
Etymology:
The word developed from the Latin verb "adumbrare" ("to sketch"; literally, "to shade towards," hence "to foreshadow or prefigure"), from "ad-" ("towards") + "umbrare" ("to shade"), from "umbra" ("shadow").
The word "adumbrate" tends to show up most often in academic or political writing. In fact, some usage commentators find it too hard for "ordinary" use (although they are hard-pressed to define "ordinary"). Art and literary critics have long found it useful, and it's a definite candidate for those oft-published "lists of words you should know" (especially for vocabulary tests).


adventitious
[ad-ven-TISH-uhs]
1. Added extrinsically; not essentially inherent.
2. (Biology) Out of the proper or usual place; as, "adventitious buds or roots."
Examples:
1) The snag is that the play's inflamed and adventitious topicality may distract people from the timelessness of its deepest concerns. (Paul Taylor, "Afghanistan mon amour," Independent, December 15, 2001)
2) I want first to argue that Nietzsche's contempt for democracy was an adventitious extra, inessential to his overall philosophical outlook. (Richard Rorty, "Pragmatism as Romantic Polytheism")
3) But his posing was mostly harmless, - as superficial as the swagger and millinery of the soldier - merely adventitious to the genuine strength and gallantry underneath. (J.F.A.Pyre, "Byron in Our Day," The Atlantic, April 1907)
4) The trunk spores are actually adventitious roots that have erupted from the trunk in response to some stress or injury to the inner bark and are probably no reason for concern. (Scott Aker, "Expect More Dogwood Blossoms Next Year," Washington Post, August 24, 2000)
Etymology:
"Adventitious" comes from Latin "adventicius" ("coming from without, from outside sources"), from the past participle of "advenire" ("to come towards or to; (of events) to happen"), from "ad-" ("to") + "venire" ("to come").


adversary
[AD-ver-sair-ee]
One that contends with, opposes, or resists; enemy.
Example:
Susan dreaded meeting her adversary at the negotiating table again, because she had come out on the losing side every time so far.
History, related words:
If you've ever had someone turn on you and become your adversary, you've inadvertently lived out the etymology of "adversary." The word is from the Latin adjective "adversarius," meaning "turned toward" or "antagonistic toward," which in turn can be traced back to "adversus," the past participle of the verb "advertere," meaning "to turn to." "Advertere" itself derives from "ad-" and "vertere" ("turn"), which is the source of a number of English words. Along with obvious derivatives like "inadvertently" and "adverse" are some surprises, such as "anniversary," "prose," and "vertebra," among others.


advertent

• heedful
• inadvertent

[ad-VER-tunt]
Giving attention.
Synonym: heedful
Example:
Marcia listened to everything I said with an advertent expression on her face, then proceeded to tell me, point by point, why she disagreed with me.
Etymology, antonyms, meanings:
You may be thinking that "advertent" should mean "intentional." After all, "inadvertent" means "unintentional." Take away the negative prefix "in-" and you're left with that word's opposite. If this is your line of thought, you're not entirely off base; the two words (which both entered English in the 17th century and derive from Latin "advertere," meaning "to turn the mind or attention") are in fact closely linked. But "inadvertent" has another, older meaning: "inattentive" or "not focusing the mind on a matter." The established meaning of "advertent" falls opposite that older sense of "inadvertent." Does this mean that "advertent" never means "intentional"? Not exactly. We have seen some evidence of this use, but it's not yet well enough established to be entered in our dictionaries.


aegis
[EE-jiss]
1. Protection; support.
Example:
A third round of talks is scheduled to begin on May 23rd in New York under the aegis of the United Nations. ("Denktash declared head after rival withdraws", Irish Times, April 21, 2000)
2. Sponsorship; patronage.
Example:
The county fair is being run under the aegis of the business council, so we can expect to see its members' logos featured prominently throughout the fairgrounds.
3. Guidance, direction, or control.
Example:
It is this ideal of the human under the aegis of something higher which seems to me to provide the strongest counterpressure against the fragmentation and barbarization of our world. (Ted J. Smith III (Editor), "In Defense of Tradition: Collected Shorter Writings of Richard M. Weaver")
4. A shield or protective armor; applied in mythology to the shield of Zeus.
Etymology:
We borrowed "aegis" from Latin, but the word derives ultimately from the Greek noun "aigis", which means "goatskin", from "aix-", "aig-" ("a goat") many primitive shields being goatskin-covered. In ancient Greek mythology, an aegis was something that offered physical protection. In some stories, it was the thundercloud where Zeus kept the thunderbolts he used as weapons. In others, the aegis was a magical protective cloak made from the skin of the goat that had suckled Zeus as an infant. The word first entered English in the 16th century as a noun meaning "shield" or "protection", but by the 20th century it had acquired the extended senses of "auspices" or "sponsorship".


aerie

• eyrie

Also: eyrie
[EYE-ree]
1. The bird's nest built on a lofty place, such as a cliff or mountaintop.
2. A dwelling or stronghold located in a lofty place.
Examples:
1) The sun is beating down on the Braes of Balquhidder, at the fringes of the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, as three of us, each trying to ignore a halo of midges, are peering through binoculars, surveying a cleft in a rock face where an untidy rickle of twigs indicates a golden eagle's eyrie. (Jim Gilchrist, "End of a golden age?", The Scotsman, August 18, 2001)
2) Sauni?re regaled them with sumptuous banquets and other forms of largess, maintaining the life-style of a medieval potentate presiding over an impregnable mountain domain. In his remote and well-nigh inaccessible aerie he received a number of notable guests. (Michael Baigent, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail")
3) We could not afford a nicer house and all those luxuries besides; he did elaborate sums on the backs of envelopes to regretfully prove it -- and then would climb back happily to the little eyrie he'd made for himself in the attic, where he would lie on his bed listening to obscure continental stations on his radio, smoking his pipe. (Angela Carter, "Shaking a Leg")
Etymology:
"Aerie" derives from Medieval Latin "aeria" - "nest of a bird of prey," perhaps from Latin "area" - "an open space (for birds of prey like to build their nests on flat and open spaces on the top of high rocks)."


aerodyne

• aerostat

[AIR-uh-dine]
A heavier-than-air aircraft (as an airplane, helicopter, or glider).
Example:
Every summer aerodyne fanciers gather at the Experimental Aircraft Association's air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to show off home-built aircraft and get a close-up look at classic flying machines.
History, antonym:
"I regret the introduction of a new term in the nomenclature of aerodynamics, but ... 'flying-machine' is too general and too suggestive of a wing-flapping machine; ... moreover, 'aeroplane' is used to denote a soaring machine ...which is not power-driven." Thus a Canadian engineer named W.R. Turnbull, writing around 1906, acquainted readers of the "Physical Review" with "aerodyne" (a back-formation from "aerodynamic"). But the term never had adequate propulsion and it foundered. It received a temporary lift in the 1950s when aeronautics pioneer Alexander Lippisch insisted he preferred "aerodyne" for his experimental wingless aircraft, which was "not an airplane but a new concept of flight." Today, "aerodyne" serves best in contrast to "aerostat," the term for lighter-than-air aircraft such as balloons and blimps.


affable
[AF-uh-buhl]
1. Easy to speak to; receiving others kindly and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner.
2. Gracious; benign.
Examples:
1) Nonetheless, in view of the fact that Leon stated in the warrant that I was good-looking, cheerful and affable, they exhorted me to make myself appear to be taciturn, melancholy and ugly. (Susana Rotker (Editor), "The Memoirs of Fray Servando Teresa De Mier")
2) Johnny's father, while strict with his children, usually was affable and relaxed. (Paul C. Nagel, "John Quincy Adams")
3) There was even more joking than usual Saturday afternoon; he seemed to be in a particularly affable mood. ("Presley Treats Fans to His Best," New York Times, July 21, 1975)
Etymology:
"Affable" is from Latin "affabilis", from "affari" ("to speak to"), from "ad-" ("to") + "fari" ("to speak").


afflatus
[uh-FLAY-tuhs]
A divine imparting of knowledge; inspiration.
Examples:
1) Whatever happened to passion and vision and the divine afflatus in poetry? (Clive Hicks, "From 'Green Man' (Ronsdale)," Toronto Star, November 21, 1999)
2) Aristophanes must have eclipsed them . . . by the exhibition of some diviner faculty, some higher spiritual afflatus. (John Addington Symonds, "Studies of the Greek Poets")
3) The miraculous spring that nourished Homer's afflatus seems out of reach of today's writers, whose desperate yearning for inspiration only indicates the coming of an age of "exhaustion." (Benzi Zhang, "Paradox of origin(ality)," Studies in Short Fiction, March 22, 1995)
Etymology, related words:
"Afflatus" is from Latin "afflatus", past participle of "afflare" ("to blow at or breathe on"), from "ad-" ("at") + "flare" ("to puff, to blow"). Other words with the same root include "deflate" ("de-", i.e. "out of", + "flare"); "inflate" ("in-", i.e. "into", + "flare"); "souffl?" - the "puffed up" dish (from French "souffler" = "to puff," from Latin "sufflare" = "to blow from below," hence "to blow up, to puff up," from "sub-", i.e. "below", + "flare"); and "flatulent".


affluent

• well-to-do
• well
• to-do

[AF-loo-unt]
1. Flowing in abundance.
2. Having a generously sufficient and typically increasing supply of material possessions.
Example:
While the affluent families head for their mountain getaways on sultry summer weekends, the less well-heeled seek respite in the river that flows through town.
History, related words, more examples, synonym:
Are your coffers overflowing? Is your cash flow more than adequate? Are your assets fluid? If so, you can consider yourself "affluent." Today's word is all about "flow" - that is to say, it's based on the Latin word for "flow," which is "fluere." (Some other "fluere" descendants are "confluence," "fluctuate," "fluid," "influence," "mellifluous," and "superfluous.") The older sense of "affluent" refers, both literally and figuratively, to an abundant flow, as in "an affluent fountain" or "affluent joy." The use of "affluent fortune" for an abundant flow of money is what likely led to the use of "affluent" as a synonym of "well-to-do."


affray
[uh-FRAY]
A tumultuous assault or quarrel.
Synonym: brawl.
Examples:
1) Mounted encounters by armored knights locked in desperate hand-to-hand combat, stabbing and wrestling in tavern brawls, deceits and brutalities in street affrays, balletic homicide on the dueling field - these were the martial arts of Renaissance Europe. (Sydney Anglo, "The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe")
2) An Irish soldier was stabbed with a boar spear by a German mercenary in 1544 during an affray that followed Henry VIII's capture of Boulogne. (James Williams, "Hunting, hawking and the early Tudor gentleman," History Today, August 2003)
Etymology:
"Affray" comes from Old French "esfrei", from "esfreer" - "to disquiet, to frighten."


aficionado

• devotee

[uh-fish-ee-uh-NAH-doh]
An enthusiastic admirer; a fan; a person who likes, knows about, and appreciates a usually fervently pursued interest or activity.
Synonym: devotee
Examples:
1) Dad is a passionate lover of jazz, and the father of three more jazz aficionados.
2) An aficionado of Chinese food, Diffie was also known for carrying around a pair of elegant chopsticks, much the way a serious billiard player totes his favorite cue. (Steven Levy, "Crypto")
3) Aficionados of spy fiction may find the plot by itself enough to keep them reading -- the book is certainly never boring. (Erik Tarloff, "Hanky Versus Panky", New York Times, July 16, 2000)
4) For one thing, they listened to classical records together; Sagan was a real aficionado of the musical masters. (Keay Davidson, "Carl Sagan: A Life")
Etymology:
The affection an aficionado has for his or her favorite subject isn't merely emotional - it's also etymological. Back in the early 1800s, English borrowed "aficionado" from the past participle of the Spanish verb "aficionar," which means "to inspire affection." That verb comes from the Spanish noun "aficion," meaning "affection." Both Spanish words trace to the Latin "affectio" (which is also an ancestor of the English word "affection"). "Affectio," in turn, is from "afficere" ("to influence"), and gave English speakers the noun and verbs "affect."


afro
A bushy haircut of curly hair, as worn by some African-Americans.
Example: Did you see that guy? His afro must have been two feet high.
Etymology: From 'African'.

afterparty

• after-party
• after party
• after
• party
• afterpartying
• afterpartied
• Afterparties
• chillout
• chill-out
• chill out
• chill
• chillout music
• chilling out
• chilling
• quiet party
• quiet
• party

Also: after-party, after party.
1. (Noun) A relaxed social gathering which occurs after a party, concert, or trip to a nightclub.
2. (Verb) To take part in a relaxed social gathering which occurs after a party, concert, or trip to a nightclub.
Examples:
1) Going three for eight wasn't the only thing that Mariah Carey and Kanye West had in common on Grammy night. Both also hosted the most anticipated afterparties. Revelers had to travel to a secret location in Beverly Hills and then board shuttles to get to Mariah's party. (MTV News, 9th February 2006) 2) I can honestly recommend the marriott in brighton. That's where we & our guests stayed (it also has a huge lobby bar that we afterpartied in). (Personal weblog <http://www.plattitudes.com/plattitudes/ 2005/05/worst_weekend_e.html>, 9th May 2005)
3) One of the movie industry's most influential award ceremonies takes place on Sunday 5th March 2006 - the 78th annual Oscars, to be held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. In the aftermath of the glitz, glamour and hype, and the inevitable speculation about the winners and the reaction to them, the media will be avidly following the afterparties, the exclusive social gatherings attended by celebrities wanting to chill out' after the excitement of the ceremony. History, related forms and words: Afterparties usually involve people sitting down, relaxing, chatting freely and consolidating new friendships that may have begun during the main party. If the afterparty takes place in the early hours of the morning, it may go on to include breakfast. The noun has also morphed into a verb, with some evidence for forms such as "afterpartying" and "afterpartied" as illustrated in the second citation above. Though afterparties can be impromptu gatherings in the homes of ordinary people, the use of the word popularised by the media refers to a pre-planned event held at a specific venue, including cocktails, entertainment and an exclusive guest list featuring high-profile celebrities. The word "afterparty" first appeared in the early eighties, though has gained currency much more recently through its exposure in web-based journalism. A related term is the noun/adjective "chillout" (also "chill-out"), which emerged in the early nineties based on the phrasal verb "chill out" (to spend time relaxing'). The word "chillout" encapsulates the quiet period after a party or other hectic event when slow, soothing music is played in a calming atmosphere. One of its most common uses is in referring to a style of soothing music, e.g. chillout music, or simply chillout. In 2002, the idea of chilling out was taken to the extreme in the new concept of a quiet party, an unconventional social gathering in which loud noise and talking are prohibited, with guests often communicating though hand-written notes.


agglomeration
[uh-glom-uh-RAY-shuhn]
1. The act or process of collecting in a mass; a heaping together.
2. A jumbled cluster or mass of usually varied elements.
Examples:
1) Female biologists such as Lynn Margulis have suggested that symbiosis is the origin of complex life and that, if artificial intelligence comes about, it will do so by an agglomeration and binding up of functions, rather than through some Frankensteinian hauling down of a single power switch. (Roz Kaveney, "The Eight Technologies of Otherness," New Statesman, January 9, 1998)
2) Upon closer inspection, it revealed itself to be an agglomeration of differently shaped and colored prescription eyeglasses, inserted into a thin wall built in front of a window. (Susan Harris, "Jean Shin at Frederieke Taylor," Art in America, October, 2004)
3) On flat farmland outside the town of Paulding, Ohio, sits an agglomeration of storage tanks, conveyors and long, rotating kilns that burn 60,000 tons of hazardous waste a year. (David Bowermaster, "The cement makers' long sweet ride," U.S. News & World Report, July 19, 1993)
Etymology:
"Agglomeration" is the noun form of "agglomerate" ("to gather into a ball or mass"), which derives from the past participle of Latin "agglomerare" ("to mass together; to heap up"), from "ad-" + "glomerare" ("to form into a ball"), from "glomus, glomer-" ("ball").


agitprop
[AJ-it-prop]
Propaganda, especially pro-communist political propaganda disseminated through literature, drama, music, or art.
Examples:
1) Despite its explicit program, when the symphony was first performed in 1957 a Russian audience always on the lookout for subtexts quickly interpreted it as being about the crushed Hungarian uprising of the previous year. This officially sanctioned work of agitprop was read as an encrypted denunciation of the Soviet regime. (Justin Davidson, "Musical Explosions, Moving and Martial," Newsday, May 22, 1999)
2) The essay was a farewell to the men of the left, a brilliant, impassioned piece of agitprop that galvanized women in communes, bookstores, hippie coffee houses and underground newspaper offices all over the country. ("Memoirs by women writers get personal with a host of issues, from politics to pregnancy to parent care," Washington Post, January 14, 2001)
3) Neither writer offers a shred of evidence for her claims, which makes these books second-rate agitprop rather than "first-rate sociology." (Kim Phillips-Fein, "Feminine Mystiquers," The Nation, March 19, 1999)
4) . . . nationally televised agitprop designed to appear nonpartisan while actually pushing the ideology of the party in power. (Peter Beinart, "The sleazification of an American ritual," The New Republic, February 3, 1997)
Etymology:
"Agitprop" comes from Russian, from "agitatsiya" ("agitation") + "propaganda".


agog
[uh-GOG] Full of excitement or interest; in eager desire; eager, keen.
Examples:
1) Kobe Bryant left the Minnesota Timberwolves agog after a series of eye-popping moves in a game last week. ("New York Times", February 5, 1998)
2) He was now so interested, quite so privately agog, about it, that he had already an eye to the fun it would be to open up to her afterwards. (Henry James, "The Ambassadors")
3) By the second day he had found his sea-legs, and with hair flying and double-waistcoats flapping, he patrolled the deck agog with excitement, questioning and noting. (Richard Holmes, "Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834")
Etymology:
"Agog" derives from Middle French "en gogues" ("in mirth; lively").



agon

• agones

[AH-gahn; ah-GOHN]
plural agones [uh-GOH-neez]
A struggle or contest; conflict; especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a literary work.
Examples:
1) Conflicts about moral claims are part of what it means to be human, and a political ideal stripped of sentimentality and the utopian temptation is one committed to the notion that political life is a permanent agon between clashing, even incompatible goods. (Jean Bethke Elshtain, "Real Politics")
2) It is the irresolvable love-hate agon between men and women that drives all cultures. (Lawrence Osborne, "False goddess," Salon, June 28, 2000)
3) Almost every poem Auden wrote in the weeks before and after his arrival in New York portrayed the agon of an artist in combat with his gift. (Edward Mendelson, "Later Auden")
Etymology:
"Agon" comes from Greek "agon" ("a struggle or contest"). It is related to agony.


agrestic
[uh-GRES-tik]
Pertaining to fields or the country; rural; rustic.
Examples:
1) The funniest and most agrestic of all his paintings were, undoubtedly, the cows. (Robert Hughes, "An Outlaw Who Loved Laws", Time, July 26, 1993)
2) Grass plants possess an agrestic simplicity that probably connects them, at sorne level of mind, with wholesome grain and the restorative country life. (George Schen, "The Complete Shade Gardener")
Etymology:
"Agrestic" is from "agrestis", from "ager" ("field"). It is related to agriculture.


ailurophile

• ailurophobe

[eye-LOOR-uh-fyle]
A cat fancier; a lover of cats.
Example:
Bill, the office ailurophile, could often be heard talking about his cats, Smokey, Twinkle, and Lucy, as if they were his children.
History, antonym:
Although the word "ailurophile" has only been documented in English since the 1920s, ailurophiles have been around for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians were perhaps history's greatest cat lovers, pampering and adorning felines, honoring them in art, even treating them as gods. But the English word "ailurophile" does not descend from Egyptian; rather, it comes from a combination of the Greek word "ailouros," which means "cat," and the suffix "-phile," meaning "lover." If Egyptian cat-loving sentiments leave you cold and you're more sympathetic to medieval Europeans, who regarded cats as wicked agents of evil, you might prefer the word "ailurophobe" (from "ailouros" plus "-phobe," meaning "fearing or averse to").


air one's dirty laundry in public

• air your dirty laundry in public
• air your dirty linen in public
• air one's dirty linen in public
• air
• dirty laundry
• dirty linen
• dirty
• linen
• laundry
• in public
• public

to talk about your private disagreements or embarrassing matters in public, usually while quarreling.
Example:
My upstairs neighbors fight a lot and air their dirty laundry in public.
Etymology:
Picture this: instead of hanging your freshly washed laundry on a clothesline, you hang your dirty clothes out there in the air for all the world to see. Wouldn't that be embarrassing? Imagine that your "dirty laundry" represents secret personal
matters and that "to air" them means to discuss them out loud for anyone to hear. Some people use "air your dirty linen in public".

airhead
Someone who isn't very smart; a stupid person.
Examples:
1) Susan and Jim are such airheads - they love sports but they are failing all of their classes at school! 2) I wouldn't ask Alaine for the answer - she's an airhead!
Etymology:
If your head is filled with air instead of brains, you probably can't think very well. Synonym: ditz


aka

• also known as
• also
• known

Also known as; pronounced as separate letters - 'a-k-a'.
Examples:
1) Chester Hooligan, aka 'Deke Magoon', is wanted by the police for armed robbery. 2) Takashi, aka Stick Boy, weighs only 85 pounds.
Etymology:
This word is from the first letters of the phrase 'also known as'. It is frequently used in lists of false names that criminals use to diguise their true identities.


alacrity
[uh-LACK-ruh-tee]
A cheerful or eager readiness or willingness, often manifested by brisk, lively action or promptness in response.
Examples:
1) As for his homemade meatloaf sandwich with green tomato ketchup, a condiment he developed while working in New York, I devoured it with an alacrity unbecoming in someone who gets paid to taste carefully. (R.W. Apple Jr., "Southern Tastes, Worldly Memories," New York Times, April 26, 2000)
2) Arranged in long ranks, ten-, twelve-, or thirteen-year-old girls, pale and hollow-eyed, their pinned-back hair sprouting tendrils limp with perspiration, operated the machinery with such alacrity that arms and hands were a flying blur. (Patricia Albers, "Shadows, Fire, Snow: The Life of Tina Modotti")
3) So, I am sure that I was thrilled when I got the letter offering me the fellowship and equally sure that I wrote back to accept with alacrity. (Joan L. Richards, "Angles of Reflection")
4) Never was a sinking ship abandoned with such alacrity and unanimity, never was an experiment condemned so conclusively. (Ernest Gellner, "The End of Utopia by Russell Jacoby")
Etymology:
"Alacrity" comes from Latin "alacritas", from "alacer" ("lively").


alameda

• alamo

[al-uh-MEE-duh]
A public promenade bordered with trees.
Example:
Artist Diego Rivera visited Mexico City's picturesque alameda as a young boy, and he later wove the park's tree-lined pathways into one of his murals.
Etymology:
Residents of the American Southwest may remember the "alamo" in "alameda." This "alamo" is not the 18th-century Franciscan mission that was the site of a key battle in the fight for Texas independence, however, but the Spanish name for the poplar tree (the mission , the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, was named for the trees that grew near it). Spanish speakers used "alamo" as the basis for their word "alameda," which can name either a grove of poplars or a tree-lined avenue. English speakers found "alameda" so appropriate for a shady public promenade that they borrowed it as a generic term in the late 1700s. And yes, the Spanish "alameda" and nearby poplar trees also contributed to the naming of the city of Alameda, California.


albatross around one's neck

• albatross around your neck
• albatross
• around
• neck

a very difficult burden that one can't get rid of or a reminder of something one did that was wrong
Example:
Everywhere I go, my mother makes me take my little bratty sister. She's an
albatross around my neck.
Etymology:
In 1798 the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote his most famous poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". In the poem a young sailor shoots a large seabird called an albatross. In those days that was considered very unlucky. Sure enough, a lot of bad things happen to the ship, and the crew blames the young sailor. They hang the dead bird around his neck.

alcolock

• breath alcohol ignition interlock device
• BAIID
• breath alcohol ignition
• alcohol ignition
• breath
• alcohol
• ignition
• interlock
• device

A device that is fitted to a car's ignition to stop a driver from starting it if he's over the drink-driving limit.
Examples:
1) In Sweden 1,500 Volvo trucks have been fitted with the Alcolock. (The Times, 4 May 2003)
2) The "alcolock" requires the driver to take a breath-test before the ignition can be turned on and activates a lock if the result is above a certain level. (The Observer, 29 Feb. 2004)
Synonym: BAIID
Etymology, history:
Colloquial form; formally in Euro-bureaucrat-speach it is a "breath alcohol ignition interlock device". The device is seen as a way to stop people who have been convicted of driving under the influence from offending again; supporters of the scheme argue that it does help to prevent repeat offences. Trials have been taking place in recent years in the US, Australia, Canada, and Sweden, though not always under this name. The European Union has been conducting studies to see if it ought to be adopted throughout the EU and as a follow-up a trial is to take place in two areas of the UK shortly.



aleatory

• aleatory music
• chance music
• chance
• music

[AY-lee-uh-tor-ee]
1. Depending on an uncertain event or contingency.
2. Relating to luck, especially to bad luck.
3. Characterized by chance or random elements.
Example:
The aleatory nature of a lottery drawing makes it impossible to predict who is going to be the winner.
History, related expressions:
If you're the gambling type, then chances are good you've come across "aleatory" in your travels. Deriving from the Latin noun "alea," which refers to a kind of dice game, "aleatory" was first used in English in the late 17th century to describe things that are dependent on uncertain odds, much like a roll of the dice. The term now describes things that occur by sheer chance or accident, such as the unlucky bounce of a golf shot or the unusual shape of an ink blot. Going a bit further, the term "aleatory music," or "chance music," describes a musical composition in which certain parts are left for the performer to concoct through improvisation.


alfresco
[al-FRES-koh]
1. (Adverb) In the open air; outdoors.
2. (Adjective) Taking place or located in the open air; outdoor.
Examples:
1) Turner escaped from the entangled politics of London's art world, where the Royal Academy was marooned in petty disputes, to paint alfresco on the riverbanks. (Siri Huntoon, "Down by the Riverside," New York Times, November 7, 1993)
2) Outdoor sitting areas all have LAN connections, so that employees can work alfresco. (Scott Kirsner, "Digital Competition - Laurie A. Tucker," Fast Company, December 1999)
3) I sailed past alfresco cafes filled with young people reading the paper, past restaurants doing a thriving brunch business, and ended up dropping down a fairly steep hill to the water yet again, on an obscure street that ended near a big factory. (Gary Kamiya, "An ode to Sydney," Salon, September 27, 2000)
Etymology:
"Alfresco" is from the Italian "al fresco" ("in the fresh (air)"), from "al" = "in the": "a" ("to, in") + "il" ("the") + "fresco" ("fresh").


aliment

• food
• nourishment
• support
• victuals

[AL-uh-muhnt]
1. Something that nourishes or feeds; nutriment.
2. Something that sustains a state of mind or body; sustenance.
3. To give nourishment to; to nourish or sustain.
Examples:
1) Mental health depends upon gastric health. Every ailment stems from improper aliment. (Frederick Kaufman, "Love Yourself Thin," Harper's Magazine, January 2000)
2) Is not truth the natural aliment of the mind, as plainly as the wholesome grain is of the body? (William Ellery Channing, "On the Elevation of the Laboring Classes: Lecture II")
3) Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. (James Madison, "Federalist", Number 10)
Etymology:
"Aliment" is derived from Latin "alimentum", from "alere" ("to nourish"). It is related to alimony.
Synonyms: food, nourishment, support, victuals


all ears

• all
• ear
• ears

Acutely attentive
Example:
Tell your story-we're all ears!


all mouth and trousers

• All mouth and trousers
• All mouth
• trousers
• mouth
• trouser
• all mouth and no trousers

Pushy, over-confident male.
Example:
The famous northern English expression, 'all mouth and trousers' expresses mild contempt for a mouthy pushy individual.
Etymology, related words, examples:
This strange expression comes from the north of England. Proverbial expressions like this are notoriously hard to pin down: we have no idea exactly where it comes from nor when it first appeared, although it is recorded from the latter part of the 19th century onwards. However, we're fairly sure that it is a pairing of "mouth'', meaning insolence or cheekiness, with "trousers'', a pushy sexual bravado. It's a wonderful example of metonymy ("a container for the thing contained'').
The phrase seems to have become known, and surprisingly popular, among southern English writers in the last decades of the 20th century, perhaps as a result of the airing of a series of television comedies based in the North, such as the BBC's "Last of the Summer Wine". What is interesting about the saying from a folk etymological point of view is that its opaqueness has led its modern users to reinterpret it as "all mouth and no trousers''. For example, an article in the "Daily Record" in 2002 quoted a Scottish politician as saying, "The First Minister is all mouth and no trousers"; a piece in the "People" newspaper described a pop group in the same terms; the "Guardian" in June 2002 said: "Bloody men. All mouth and no trousers.'' It has reached the stage in which the older, non-negative form is in great danger of vanishing, though Australia and New Zealand seem to be staying with it (when they use it at all, which isn't often).
Metropolitan writers are trying here to make sense of something obscure that they have not often heard in its native surroundings, and are getting it muddled. They confuse it with other put-downs that are conventionally phrased with a negative, such as "all talk and no action" or "all fur coat and no knickers". To have no trousers on is not only embarrassing, the argument seems to go, but is a state in which one is not ready for action (outside the bedroom, that is).


all of your eggs in one basket

• all of one's eggs in one basket
• Don't put all of your eggs in one basket
• Don't put your eggs in one basket
• Don't put all eggs in one basket
• put all of your eggs in one basket
• put all eggs in one basket
• put one's eggs in one basket
• all of
• eggs
• basket
• all
• egg

Having all of your resources in one place; putting your money or hopes or future into one thing.
Example:
1) You don't want to keep all of your eggs in one basket. You might lose everything!
2) Tom had all of his eggs in one basket - Yoyodyne.com stock - and when the stock market crashed he was bankrupt.
Etymology:
'Eggs' are delicate, and if all of your eggs were in one container, and that container was damaged, you might lose all of your eggs in one quick and painful moment.


all that

• all
• that

Wonderful, excellent, the best.
Examples:
1) My girlfriend is all that! 2) She thinks she's all that, but she's not!
Etymology:
This popular phrase is probably derived from an older and longer phrase, "all that and more", which means the same thing. 'All' means 'total number' or 'everything', and 'that' designates something - in this case, positive personal qualities. So "all that" means 'the full variety of good things', such as beauty, intelligence, charm, etc.


all thumbs

• be all thumbs
• all
• thumbs
• thumb

awkward and clumsy, especially with the hands.
Example:
"Marco can't build the model of the atom for the science project. He's all thumbs."
Etymology:
Human beings and apes have thumbs; most other animals don't. A thumb helps the other fingers pick things up, turn dials, and do other fine motor tasks. But what if all your fingers were thumbs? You'd have a hard time picking up small object, keyboarding a computer, doing art projects, and so on. That's why this expression means clumsy at doing physical tasks with your hands.


all-nighter

• pull an all-nighter
• nighter

A study or work session that goes through the night; studying without sleep (usually a last-minute course of action).
Examples:
1) We pulled an all-nighter to finish the report. 2) I pulled an all-nighter to study for my math exam.
Etymology:
The term is popular with college students who spend the night before an exam studying (or 'cramming'), trying to learn a lot of material in a short period of time. The term is frequently used in the phrase 'pull an all-nighter'.


all-out

• all
• out

Giving as much effort as possible; not holding back.
Examples:
1) Karen went all-out in the race, and won a gold medal. 2) Captain Barne's final act was to order an all-out assault on the fortress.
Etymology:
'All' refers to everything, and 'out' is an intensifier. So 'all-out' means 'everything and more'.


allege
[uh-LEJ]
1. To assert without proof or before proving.
2. To bring forward as a reason or excuse.
Example:
Several employees alleged that the company had engaged in discriminatory practices, and claimed to have evidence to support their allegations.
Etymology:
These days, someone "alleges" something before presenting the evidence to prove it (or perhaps without evidence at all), but the word actually derives from the Middle English verb "alleggen," meaning "to submit (something) in evidence or as justification." "Alleggen," in turn, traces back to Anglo-French and probably ultimately to Latin "allegare," meaning "to send as a representative" or "to offer as proof in support of a plea." Indeed, "allege" once referred to the actions of someone who came forward to testify in court; this sense isn't used anymore, but it led to the development of the current "assert without proof" sense.


alleviate

• relieve

[uh-LEE-vee-ayt]
To relieve, lessen; as:
a) to make (as suffering) more bearable;
b) to partially remove or correct.
Example:
Mom suggested that ibuprofen and tea would perhaps alleviate some of the misery of my cold.
History, related words, synonyms:
"Alleviate" derives from the past participle of Late Latin "alleviare" ("to lighten or relieve"), which in turn was formed by combining the prefix "ad-" and the adjective "levis," a Latin word meaning "light" or "having little weight." ("Levis" comes from the same ancient word that gave rise to that "light" in English.) Englishmen acquired "alleviate" in the 15th century, and for the first few centuries the word could mean either "to cause (something) to have less weight" or "to make (something) more tolerable." The literal "make lighter" sense is no longer used, however, so today we have only the "relieve" sense. Incidentally, not only is "alleviate" a synonym of "relieve," it's also a cousin; "relieve" comes from "levare" ("to raise"), which in turn comes from "levis."


alley cat

• alley
• cat

A stray or homeless cat.
The "alley" portion probably refers to prostitutes, who at one point literally carried a mattress around with them. The "cat" probably alludes to the mating habits of female cats.

aloof
(Adj.)
1. Distant.
2. Standoffish, remote in manner; unfriendly, indifferent, reserved.
(Adv.)
3. At or from a distance, but within view, or at a small distance; apart; away.
4. In a withdrawn manner; in an aloof manner; without sympathy; unfavorably.
Examples:
1) To make the bible as from the hand of god, and then to look at it aloof and with caution, is the worst of all impieties. (Taylor) 2) He stood apart with aloof dignity.
3) Her aloof smile seemed to be the last sign of her presence with us. 4) The local gentry and professional classes had held aloof for the school had accepted their sons readily enough.
5) Our palace stood aloof from streets
History:
The word "aloof" derives from the Dutch "loef" ("the weather side of a ship"). The wisdom buried in the etymology is that during stormy weather you avoid dangerous - and hidden - shores by heading into the weather (i.e. towards the wind). Originally, a nautical command to keep a ship's head to the wind, it now describes the emotionally distant.



alpenglow
[AL-puhn-gloh]
A reddish glow seen near sunset or sunrise on the summits of mountains.
Examples:
1) In the soft alpenglow, we watch copper turn pink on the peaks above. (Brian Payton, "A river of dreams," Boston Globe, July 25, 1999)
2) At the Ahwahnee Hotel, guests book reservations a year in advance to watch the alpenglow off the majestic Half Dome from cozy rooms equipped with TVs and minibars. (Jeanne McDowell, "Fighting For Yosemite's Future," Time, January 14, 1991)
Etymology:
"Alpenglow" is a partial translation of German "Alpengl?hen", from "Alpen" ("Alps") + "gl?hen" ("to glow").


altercation

• altercate

[awl-tuhr-KAY-shuhn]
A heated, noisy, or angry dispute; noisy controversy or argument.
Examples:
1) Like Epaminondas, he fought continuously with his fellow generals and was nearly court-martialed for his altercations with his superiors - like Epaminondas he was relieved of command after his greatest victories. (Victor Davis Hanson, "The Soul Of Battle")
2) He indulged in a heated altercation with his fellow-townsmen over some land which they thought theirs, though it was certainly his. (Carl Van Doren, "The American Novel")
3) The professor had had a trifling altercation in the morning with that young gentleman, owing to a difference about the introduction of crackers in school-time. (William Makepeace Thackeray, "Vanity Fair")
Etymology, related words:
"Altercation" comes from Latin "altercatio, altercation-", from "altercari" - "to dispute (with another)," from "alter" ("other"). The verb form is altercate.


amalgam
[uh-MAL-guhm]
1. An alloy of mercury with another metal or metals; used especially (with silver) as a dental filling.
2. A mixture or compound of different things.
Examples:
1) In that year, Zola struck back at the novelist and critic Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, that curious amalgam of religious conservative and blasphemous melodramatist - Zola called him a"hysterical Catholic" - whom he had long detested for his superior bearing and his unfortunate sallies against writers Zola admired. (Gary B. Nash, "History on Trial")
2) The so-called "protest" literature of the thirties was often an amalgam of the private rebellion of youth with social revolt. (Nona Balakian, "The World of William Saroyan")
3) The governing body of college athletics is gradually extruding a regulatory text that reads like some crazed amalgam of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the Uniform Commercial Code. (Paul F. Campos, "Jurismania")
4) Her vocabulary was an amalgam of slang, especially the show-business jargon of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley, and a requisite amount of cultivated English. (James A. Drake, "Rosa Ponselle: A Centenary Biography")
Etymology:
"Amalgam" comes from Old French "amalgame", from Medieval Latin "amalgama", probably from Greek "malagma" ("emollient"), from "malassein" ("to soften"), from "malakos" ("soft").


amalgamate
[uh-MAL-guh-mayt]
To unite in or as if in an amalgam; especially: to merge into a single body.
Example:
The three companies will be amalgamated into a single large corporation early next year.
Etymology:
The noun "amalgam" derives by way of Middle French from Medieval Latin "amalgama." It was first used of an alloy of mercury with another metal, but it eventually came to describe any mixture of elements. By the 18th century, it was also being applied figuratively, as in an "amalgam of citizens." The verb "amalgamate" was created from "amalgam" and has been in use since at least 1617. It too began life referring only to compounds of mercury, but it can now be used for formation of any compound or combined entity. In particular, it often implies the forming of a close union without complete loss of individual identities, as in "refugees who were readily amalgamated into the community."


amanuensis

• amanuenses

[un-man-yoo-EN-sis] (plural amanuenses, [-seez])
A person employed to take dictation or to copy manuscripts.
Examples:
1) The chore of actually writing the words in the end fell to a hand-picked amanuensis. (Austin Baer, "River of Desire," Atlantic, October 1996)
2) On this blue day, I want to be nothing more than an amanuensis to the birds, transcribing all the bits and snatches of song riding in on the wind. (Barbara Crooker, "Transcription (Poem)," Midwest Quarterly, March 22, 2003)
3) When it comes to literature, the French count the largest number of Nobel Prizes; their authors include one who wrote a whole book without using the letter `e' and another who, suffering from `locked-in syndrome' after a severe stroke, dictated a memoir by blinking his eye as an amanuensis read through the alphabet. (Jonathan Fenby, "France on the Brink")
Etymology:
"Amanuensis" comes from Latin, from the phrase "(servus) a manu" - "slave with handwriting duties," from "a, ab" ("by") + "manu" (from "manus" - "hand").


amative
[AM-uh-tiv]
1. Pertaining to or disposed to love, especially sexual love; strongly moved by love, and especially sexual love.
2. Indicative of love; of or relating to love; full of love; amorous.
Examples:
1) On Valentine's Day, Fred expressed his amative feelings for Nancy with a gift of chocolate.
2) Theoretically, any given left-kisser should meet more right-kissers and, over an amative lifetime, or even good year in junior high, be subtly pressured to shift to the right in order to land a wet one - or just avoid a broken nose. No? (Donald G. McNeil, Jr., "Pucker Up, Sweetie, and Tilt Right," New York Times, February 13, 2003)
3) In the spring a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of another nap even more often than it does to amative imaginings, Tennyson to the contrary notwithstanding. ("Touch of Spring Fever Makes Whole World Kin," Science News, May 23, 1931)
4) Well, poetry has been erotic, or amative, or something of that sort - at least a vast deal of it has -- ever since it stopped being epic. (Helen Deutsch, "Death, desire and translation: on the poetry of Propertius," TriQuarterly, March 22, 1993)
Etymology:
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways . . ." Elizabeth Barrett Browning came up with eight ways to express her love in her poem; we offer six ways, or rather six words, to describe those expressions of love. Besides the familiar "amorous" and today's "amative", there's "amatory", "amoristic", "amatorious", and "amatorial" (you have to go to our unabridged dictionary to look up those last two). What we love about this list is that all the words stem from Latin "amare", meaning "to love". "Amative", which was first introduced in 1636, was modeled on Medieval Latin "amativus", from the past participle of "amare". "Amorous", on the other hand, goes back to Middle English and came from Medieval Latin "amorosus", an adjective based on the noun "amor" ("love").


ambidextrous

• ambidexter
• ambidexterous
• ambisinister
• ambisinistrous
• ambilevous

[am'bi-dex"tral]
Also: ambidexter, ambidexterous
1. Pertaining equally to the right-hand side and the left-hand side; using both hands with equal ease; right-handed on both sides - i.e., adroit.
Antonyms: ambisinister, ambisinistrous
2. Marked by deliberate deceptiveness, especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another.
Synonyms:
deceitful, double-dealing, duplicitous, Janus-faced, two-faced, double-faced, double-tongued
Examples:
1) He is a universal ambidextrous surgeon.
2) She was an ambidextrous scheming little thing.
Etymology:
Latin "ambi" ("both"), and "dexter" ("right-handed").




ambient

• encompassing
• Ambiance

[AM-bee-unt]
Existing or present on all sides.
Synonym: encompassing
Example:
The general, or ambient, light in each gallery is enhanced by accent lights focused ... on objects or groups of objects. (Grace Glueck, "The New York Times Magazine", January 24, l982)
Etymology, related words, more examples:
1596, "surrounding, encircling," from L. "ambientem" (nom. "ambiens"), prp. of "ambire" - "to go around," from "amb-" ("around"; see "ambi-") + "ire" ("go"). The ground sense of "revolving" led to "encircling, lying all around". "Ambiance" as a term in art, meaning "atmospheric effect of an arrangement," is an 1889 borrowing from Fr.
With biologists exploring the effects of ambient light on plants, acoustics experts trying to control ambient sound, and meteorologists studying ambient pressure, air, or temperature, "ambient" may seem like a technical term, but when it first saw light of day, that all-encompassing adjective was as likely to be used in poetry or philosophy as science. John Milton used it in "Paradise Lost", and Alexander Pope wrote of a mountain "whose tow'ring summit ambient clouds conceal'd".


ambilevous

• ambidextrous
• ambidexter
• ambidexterous
• ambisinister
• ambisinistrous

[am`bi-le"vous]
Left-handed on both sides; clumsy.
Synonyms: ambisinister, ambisinistrous
Antonyms: ambidextrous, ambidexterous, ambidexter.
Example:
I was born right-handed, but keyboarding, playing piano, and juggling have brought me to the point of being ambilevous.
Etymology:
"Ambo" (both) + "laevus" (left).

ambivalent

• ambivalence

[am-BIV-uh-lunt]
1. Simultaneously holding contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward someone or something.
2. Continually fluctuating (as between one thing and its opposite).
3. Uncertain as to which approach to follow.
Example:
I love learning about the solar system, but I'm ambivalent about paying to take an astronomy course.
History, related words:
The words "ambivalent" and "ambivalence" ("state of having both positive and negative feelings towards a subject") entered English during the early 20th century in the field of psychology. They came to us through the International Scientific Vocabulary, a set of words common to men and women of science who speak different languages. The prefix "ambi-" means "both," and the "-valent" and "-valence" parts ultimately derive from the Latin verb "valere," meaning "to be strong." Not surprisingly, an ambivalent person is someone who has strong feelings on more than one side of a question or issue.


ambuscade
[AM-buh-skayd; am-buh-SKAYD]
1. An ambush.
2. To attack by surprise from a concealed place; to ambush.
Examples:
1) But so great were his fears for the army, lest in those wild woods it should fall into some Indian snare, that the moment his fever left him, he got placed on his horse, and pursued, and overtook them the very evening before they fell into that ambuscade which he had all along dreaded. (Mason Locke Weems, "The Life of Washington")
2) The storm is distant, just the lights behind The eyes are left of lightning's ambuscade. (Peter Porter, "The Last Wave Before the Breakwater")
3) No more ambuscades, no more shooting from behind trees. (William Murchison, "What the voters chose," Human Life Review, January 1, 1995)
Etymology:
"Ambuscade" comes from Middle French "embuscade", from Old Italian "imboscata", from past participle of "imboscare" ("to ambush"), from "in" (from Latin) + "bosco" ("forest", of Germanic origin).


ameliorate
[uh-MEEL-yuh-rayt]
1. (transitive verb) To make better; to improve.
2. (intransitive verb) To grow better.
Examples:
1) Among the pressures provoking these distresses were a father's financial inadequacy and a growing awareness that, by finding employment himself, he could ameliorate the family's exiguous circumstances. (Terence Brown, "The Life of W. B. Yeats: A Critical Biography")
2) In the socially fluid and (until the crash of 1837) economically expansive 1830s, the legislature frequently appropriated public money to investigate social problems, forestall dependency, and ameliorate human suffering. (Elisabeth Gitter, "The Imprisoned Guest")
Etymology:
"Ameliorate" is derived from Latin "ad" + "meliorare" ("to make better"), from "melior" ("better)."


amenable
1. liable to be brought to account
Synonym: answerable
2. a) capable of submission (as to judgment or test); synonym - suited; b) readily brought to yield, submit, or cooperate; c) inclined or favorably disposed in mind; synonym - willing.
Example:
Dorothy assured her family she'd be amenable to whatever they planned for her 80th birthday.
Etymology:
"Amenable" is a legacy of Anglo-French and derives ultimately from Latin "minari", meaning "to threaten". Since 1596, English speakers have been using it in courtrooms and writings of law with the meaning "answerable", as in "citizens amenable to the law". It later developed the meanings "suited" ("a simple function . . . which is perfectly amenable to pencil- and-paper arithmetic" - "Nature", April 1973) and "responsive" (as in "mental illnesses that are amenable to drug therapy"). It also came to be used of people with a general disposition to be agreeable or complaisant - like Mr. Dick in "David Copperfield", who was "the most friendly and amenable creature in existence". Nowadays, "amenable" is often used to describe someone who is favorably disposed to a particular named something.


amicable
[AM-ih-kuh-buhl]
Characterized by friendliness and good will; friendly; peaceable.
Examples:
1) He is back on amicable terms with his first wife and with his children. (Bruce Weber, "Raymond Carver: A Chronicler of Blue-Collar Despair," New York Times, June 24, 1984)
2) While the discussion was very spirited, the most amicable feelings were displayed on all sides. ("The Inauguration of the President of the Southern Confederacy," New York Times, February 18, 1861)
3) The stage was set for simmering hostility between the two sects, and the breakdown in amicable relations was hastened by the high-handed attitude of the Maronite emirs towards the Druze barons, who lost many of their ancestral privileges and lands. (Robin Waterfield, "Prophet: The Life and Times of Kahlil Gibran")
4) Quarrels over property, for example, severed long-amicable bonds between siblings and neighbors. (Katherine Verdery, "The Political Lives of Dead Bodies")
Etymology:
"Amicable" derives from Latin "amicus" - "friend," from "amare" - "to love."


amigo

• pal
• buddy

A friend.
Examples:
1) Eric has been my amigo ever since we were little kids. 2) How are you, amigo?
Etymology:
This is a Spanish word for 'friend' that has become popular in English. Synonyms: pal, buddy


ammonia

• ammoniac

(Chemistry) Colorless soluble gas; an explosive consisting of a mixture of powdered aluminium and nitrate of ammonium.
Example:
Water has a greater capacity to absorb heat than any other natural material except for ammonia.
Etymology:
"Ammonia" = "ammonium" + "aluminium".
The word "ammonia" was coined by Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman because he had gotten the gas from sal ammoniac - salt that contains ammonium chloride. Sal ammoniac was named for salt deposits that were found near the temple of Jupiter Ammon in Libya, thus the name ultimately derives from the Greek "ammoniakon", belonging to Ammon.


amphibology
[am-fuh-BAH-luh-jee]
A sentence or phrase that can be interpreted in more than one way.
Example:
Not wanting to voice what I really felt, I resorted to amphibology and said, "I can't say too many good things about her."
History, more examples:
A venerable old word in English, "amphibology" is from Greek "amphibolos" (via Late Latin and Latin). "Amphibolos," from "amphi-" ("both") and "ballein" ("to throw"), literally means "encompassing" or "hitting at both ends"; figuratively it means "ambiguous." Amphibology is an equivocator's friend. An editor who has been sent an unsolicited manuscript to critique, for example, might reply, "I shall lose no time in reading your book." Or a dinner guest who feels the onset of heartburn might say something like, "Ah, that was a meal I shall not soon forget!" But amphibology's ambiguity can be unintended and undesirable as well, as in "When Mom talked to Judy, she said she might call her back the next day." (Who said who might call whom back?)


an arm and a leg

• arm and a leg
• arm
• leg

A large amount of money; very expensive or costly.
Example:
My new Mercedes cost me an arm and a leg!
Etymology:
Some things are so expensive that they are painful to buy, and cost everything you have.

an ordinary Joe

• ordinary Joe
• John Q. Public
• John Doe
• ordinary
• Joe
• John
• Doe
• Q. Public
• Public

any average person
Synonyms: John Doe, John Q. Public

anathema
1. A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by ecclesiastical authority and accompanied by excommunication. Hence: the denunciation of anything as accursed. 2. An imprecation; a curse; a malediction.
3. Any person or thing cursed by ecclesiastical authority.
4. Any person or thing that is intensely disliked.
Examples:
1) The Communists were not prepared to accept any compromises; it was anathema to them that Tibet should have an international personality beyond being a region of China. (Tsering Shakya, "The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947")
2) Academies, the argument went, were anathema to creativity. (Deborah Solomon, "How to Succeed In Art", New York Times, June 27, 1999)
3) Advertising was anathema to the Internet ethos, they said, and people would never pay for on-line material. (Steve Lohr, "The Freewheeling Net Meets the Free Market", New York Times, June 9, 1996)
Etymology:
Anathema comes from the Greek word meaning "a thing devoted", especially a thing devoted to evil, hence "a curse", from "anatithenai" ("to dedicate, to set up"), from "ana" ("up") + "tithenai" ("to place or put").


ancillary
1. Subordinate; subsidiary.
2. Auxiliary; helping.
3. Something that is subordinate to something else.
Examples:
1) The dining room, never used except as an ancillary larder, a cool place in which to set jellies and store meat, eggs and fish for the cat, is unchanged in essentials since I first came here in 1945. (Angela Carter, "Shaking a Leg")
2) The forty-two active divisions, comprising 600,000 men, would on mobilisation take with them into the field another twenty-five reserve divisions and ancillary reserve units, raising the war strength of the army to over three million. (John Keegan, "The First World War")
3) Narrow streets, reeking of horse and pig manure, were crowded with boardinghouses, countless shops and warehouses, and a sea of trade signs, all surrounded by a forest of masts, intricate webs of spars and rigging, shipyard ways, ropewalks, breweries, a distillery, and grog shops - the innumerable ancillaries of a booming seaport. (Richard M. Ketchum, "Saratoga")
Etymology:
"Ancillary" comes from Latin "ancillaris", from "ancilla" ("female servant").


angel investor

• angel
• investor
• venture capitalist
• VC
• venture
• capitalist

An individual who invests in a company during its start-up phase to help it grow, taking a large risk in exchange for a potentially large return on investment (will often asset strip); a financial supporter in the early stages of a corporation's existence; a wealthy individual who provides startup capital to very young companies.
Example:
The company never would have survived without the backing of its angel investors. Etymology:
An 'angel' is a winged creature from heaven who is supposed to help you when you are in danger. An 'angel investor' is someone who provides money for young businesses that really need it. The phrase was first used to describe wealthy patrons who kept Broadway plays on stage despite a lack of profits.
Synonyms: venture capitalist, VC.

angiogenesis inhibitor

• angiogenesis
• inhibitor

Etymology, meaning, history:
Angiogenesis is the medical term for the production of new blood vessels (from Greek "angeion", a vessel), so an "angiogenesis inhibitor" is one that stops them forming. They've been studied in the laboratory for many years in the hope that one will be found that chokes off the blood supply to cancers in the body and so makes them shrink. A great advantage of such drugs is that they are likely to be much less toxic than the existing chemotherapy agents. The first drug to treat a cancer by this means has recently been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. It is suggested now that they might also be useful in treating obesity, since the stores of fat in the body are served by active blood supplies. However, fears have been expressed that they might damage immune reactions in the body and they are a long way from being a practical therapy for this purpose.
Examples:
1) The irony, says Li, is that many of us already take angiogenesis inhibitors every day without even knowing it, and they could be protecting us from cancer and keeping us thin into the bargain. A long list of dietary factors strongly inhibit blood vessel growth, among them resveratrol in red wine, as well as genistein in soya, catechins in green tea and brassinin in Chinese cabbage. ("New Scientist", 10 Apr. 2004)
2) Novartis ... Bayer, and Pfizer are among the big companies with angiogenesis inhibitors in final testing for colon, kidney, and gastrointestinal cancers, among others. ("Knight Ridder", Tribune Business News, 26 Feb. 2004)

animus
1. Basic attitude or governing spirit; disposition, intention.
2. A usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will.
3. An inner masculine part of the female personality in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung.
Examples:
1) Barney's deep-seated animus towards doctors dates back to when his first wife left him for one.
2) The seemingly anti-intellectual animus of the syllabus [the Syllabus of Errors, issued by Pope Pius IX in 1864] also disillusioned some converts, among them Thomas Arnold, who reverted to Anglicanism when he learned of it. (Patrick Allitt, Catholic Converts)
3) It is important to note also that part of Kipling's animus against the Christian missionaries in India arose from his indignation at their destructive puritanism. (Christopher Hitchens, "A Man of Permanent Contradictions", The Atlantic, June 2002)
4) To teach the poor chump a lesson, the media mogul steals the burglar's lucky ring, an act of scornful hauteur that brings out the animus in Dortmunder. (Marilyn Stasio, review of "M Is for Malice", by Sue Grafton, New York Times, November 10, 1996)
Etymology:
"Animus" has long referred to the rational or "animating" components of a person's psyche (it derives from the Latin "animus", which can mean "spirit," "mind," "courage," or "anger"). Since a key "animating" component of personality can be temper, the word came to mean "animosity", especially ill will driven by strong prejudice. "Animus" is closely related to words such as "magnanimous", and "unanimous", but it is not as closely related to other similar-looking terms such as "animal" and "animate". Those latter terms derive from the Latin "animus, anima", a distinct term that means "soul, character, disposition" or "breath" and that suggests someone's physical vitality or life force - the breath of life.


ankle
1. To walk.
Example:
Let's ankle over to Mary's party.
2. To quit one's job or place of employment.
Example:
He ankled his job after fighting with the director.
Etymology:
This is movie industry slang, originally found in Variety, the long-time trade magazine of the film business in Hollywood.


anodyne
[AN-uh-dyn]
1. Serving to relieve pain; soothing.
2. Not likely to offend; bland; innocuous.
3. A medicine that relieves pain.
4. Anything that calms, comforts, or soothes disturbed feelings.
Examples:
1) But for the most part the British charts were clogged with anodyne ballads. (Nigel Williamson, "Here's a little story, to tell it is a must," Times (London), January 11, 2000)
2) He is alternately accused of being too much the warrior and too anodyne. (Hanna Rosin, "The Madness of Speaker Newt," New Republic, March 17, 1997)
3) Numbness . .. may have replaced pain as the complaint of our century now that aspirin analgesia, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDS), and other anodynes can take away the pains of the civilized world. (Howard M. Spiro, "Facing Death")
4) An avid fisherman himself, McGarr shares Nellie's philosophy: "I do not merely fish for fish," she would say, "I fish for doubt's anodyne and care's surcease." (Marilyn Stasio, "Crime," New York Times, September 19, 1993)
5) This third novel by a reporter for The New York Times shrewdly examines love as an anodyne for rural isolation. ("Notable Books of the Year 1997," New York Times, December 7, 1997)
Etymology:
"Anodyne" comes, via Latin, from Greek "anodunos" ("free from pain"), from "a-, an-" ("without") + "odune" ("pain").


anthophilous

• -philous
• ornithophilous
• Entomophilous
• melittophilous

[an-THAH-fuh-lus]
Feeding upon or living among flowers.
Example:
A 1998 study in Tasmania showed that anthophilous parrots are among the major visitors to the flowers of the eucalyptus - and among this important tree's most effective cross-pollinators.
Etymology, related words:
Parrots love eucalyptus flowers. That's because anthophilous birds are naturally attracted to "ornithophilous" flowers - which is to say, flowers that are pollinated by birds. The "-philous" in both of those terms is the combining form that means "loving" (from Greek "-philos"). "Anthophilous" uses the Greek word "anthos," meaning "flower," while "ornithophilous" traces back to Greek "ornis," meaning "bird." "Ornithophilous" is one of a whole swarm of specialized words that identify flowers in terms of the flower-loving creatures that pollinate them. "Entomophilous" flowers, for example, are pollinated by anthophilous insects, such as bees. There's even a word specifically for plants that are pollinated by bees: "melittophilous" (from the Greek word "melitta," meaning "bee").


antic
[AN-tik]
1. Characterized by clownish extravagance or absurdity.
2. Whimsically gay; frolicsome.
Example:
As the movie progresses, the characters become involved in a series of antic misadventures, each one funnier and more absurd than the last.
History:
When Renaissance Italians began exploring the ancient Roman ruins around them, they discovered fantastic mural paintings that they called "pitture grottesche" (which means "cave paintings," from the fact that they were found in caves, or "grotte"). Because they were so old, the murals were also called "antichi," or "ancient things." English speakers began to use "antics," both for depictions that are incongruous, caricatured, and ludicrous (such as gargoyles, which we now might refer to as "grotesques") and for ludicrous or outlandish behavior. Within 20 years of its earliest recorded uses as a noun, "antic" appeared as an English adjective. Originally, it meant "grotesque" or "bizarre" (a sense now considered archaic), but today it means "playful, funny, or absurd" and the noun means "a wildly playful or funny act."


antimacassar
A protective or decorative cloth over the back of a chair.
Example:
Kicking her shoes off, she rested her head on an antimacassar and gazed up at the chandelier. (W. Fox, "Willoughby's phoney war")
History:
To find the inspiration for this term, we must go back to the very start of the 19th century and to Mr. Rowland of Hatton Garden in London, who invented "Macassar oil", what the Oxford English Dictionary describes as "an unguent for the hair". He claimed it was based on sweet oils imported from Macassar or Makassar, a seaport now named Ujung Pandang on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. (His unguent was basically palm oil with some additions but may never have been anywhere near Macassar.) The fashion for oiled hair became so widespread that in desperation housewives began to cover the backs of their chairs and sofas with washable cloths to preserve the fabric coverings from being spoilt. Around 1850, these started to be known as "antimacassars". They came to have elaborate patterns, often in matching sets for the various items of parlour furniture; they were either made at home using a variety of techniques such as crochet or tatting, or bought from shops. By the beginning of the 20th century, they had become so associated in peoples' minds with the Victorian period that the word briefly became a figurative term for it.


antinomian
1. One who believes that the moral laws of the Old Testament were replaced by the teachings set forth in the New Testament (Christianity); a follower of the doctrine of antinomianism.
2. One who believes that he is outside of normal moral constraints.
3. Relating to or influenced by antinomianism.
Example:
He was especially concerned about the prevalence of Antinomian teachings amongst the soldiers. (Owen, Stuart. "Richard Baxter 16151691". Kidderminster: Owen Publications, 1991)
Etymology:
The word "antinomian" originally denoted a 16th-century Christian sect that believed that the quality of your faith, not the prevailing morality, determined whether you went to heaven: "one who maintains the moral law is not binding on Christians under the law of grace," 1645, from M.L. "Antinomi", name given to a sect of this sort that arose in Germany in 1535, from Gk. "anti-" ("opposite, against") + "nomos" ("rule, law").


antiquarian
[an-tuh-KWAIR-ee-uhn]
1. One who collects, studies, or deals in objects or relics from the past.
2. Of or pertaining to antiquarians or objects or relics from the past.
3. Dealing in or concerned with old or rare books.
Examples:
1) From the depositions filed with the Loyalist Claims Commission after the Revolution, from a handful of letters gathered by an antiquarian at the beginning of the twentieth century, and from scattered court papers in scattered archives, it is possible to piece together some of the family's history. (Linda K. Kerber, "No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies")
2) Except to antiquarians and preservationists, silent cinema has little presence on the cultural radar screen, its landmark films unrented on video, its iconic images spotted only as fodder for video collage on MTV. (Thomas Doherty, "Pre-Code Hollywood")
3) Indeed, the evident attention to detail and studied historicism bore the impress of Truefitt's years with the antiquarian Cottingham. (Francis R. Kowsky, "Country, Park & City")
4) A friend of mine, the manager of an antiquarian bookshop in Leningrad in the 1960s, told me that he remembered well the twice-monthly visits of a matronly lady from the censorship bureau, who spent hours rifling through the thousands of books on his shelves, checking them against her latest copy of the Summary List (which was always being updated). (David King, "The Commissar Vanishes")
Etymology:
"Antiquarian" is from Latin "antiquarius" ("pertaining to antiquity"), from "antiquus" ("ancient").


ants in one's pants

• ants in your pants
• ants in pants
• ants
• pants
• ant
• pant

extreme restlessness; overactivity
Example:
You never sit still. You must have ants in your pants.
Etymology:
We can easily imagine where this saying came from. What if you actually had ants in your pants? You'd find it difficult to settle down. You'd keep squirming to get rid of the ants.


apercu

• apperceive
• apperception

[ap-er-SOO]
1. A brief survey or sketch.
Synonym: outline
2. An immediate impression; especially: insight.
Example:
He holds the reader's attention with his artful essays woven with entertaining anecdotes and wry apercus.
Etymology, more examples, related words:
In French, "apercu" is the past participle of the verb "apercevoir" ("to perceive" or "to comprehend"), which in turn comes from Latin "percipere" ("to perceive"). It is also a noun meaning "insight," "judgment," or "quick survey." English speakers borrowed the noun "apercu," meaning and all, in the early 19th century. And though it has a literary tone, and is mostly used in writing, we put it to good use: "Cybercafes have sprung up in Paris.... For Netties on holiday, they offer an opportunity to log on as well as an apercu of French techno-life" (Catharine Reynolds, "Gourmet", April 1997). "Apercevoir" is also an ancestor of two other English words: "apperceive," meaning "to have consciousness of oneself," and "apperception," meaning "introspective self-consciousness" or "mental perception."


apex

• summit
• pinnacle
• acme

[AY-peks]
1. The uppermost point; vertex.
2. The narrowed or pointed end; tip.
3. The highest or culminating point.
Example:
The apex of her athletic career was winning a gold medal at the Olympics.
History, synonyms, more examples:
When you make it to the top (either literally or figuratively), you've reached the "apex" or "summit" or "pinnacle" or "acme," but the exact nature of your perch varies depending upon which of those words you choose. "Apex" implies the point where all ascending lines converge ("the apex of Dutch culture"), while "summit" suggests the topmost level attainable ("the summit of the Victorian social scene"). A "pinnacle" is often a dizzying and insecure height ("the pinnacle of worldly success"), but "acme" carries the sense of reaching a level of quality representing perfection ("a statue that was once deemed the acme of beauty").


aphelion

• perihelion
• apogee
• perigee

[af-EEL-yun]
the point in the path of a celestial body (as a planet) that is farthest from the sun
Example:
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you might expect the earth to be closest to the sun in July, but in fact it is at aphelion then.
Etymology, related words:
"Aphelion" and "perihelion" are troublesome terms. Which one means a planet is nearest the sun and which means it is farthest away? An etymology lesson may help in this case. The "ap" of "aphelion" derives from a New Latin prefix that means "away from" (the mnemonic "'A' for 'away'" can help too); "peri-," on the other hand, means "near." And how are "aphelion" and "perihelion" related to the similar-looking astronomical pair, "apogee" and "perigee"? Etymology explains again. "Aphelion" and "perihelion" are based on the Greek word "helios," meaning "sun," while "apogee" and "perigee" are based on "gaia," meaning "earth." The first pair describes distance in relation to the sun, the second in relation to the earth.


aplomb
[uh-PLOM]
Assurance of manner or of action; self-possession; confidence; coolness.
Examples:
1) Then, unexpectedly, she picked up a microphone and began to sing. She sang several songs, handling herself with the aplomb of a professional entertainer. ("Rediscovering Japanese Life at a Bike's Pace," New York Times, April 24, 1988)
2) For all the slings and arrows, he seems almost preternaturally good-natured; set upon by a group of drunken revelers at dinner in Des Moines,... he weathers their boozy blandishments and inevitable potato jokes with admirable grace and aplomb. ("Quayle Running Against His Own Image," Los Angeles Times, August 1, 1999)
3) His initial broadcasting success was due at least as much to his considerable professional aplomb as it was to his father's broadcasting connections. (John A. Jackson, "American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire")
Etymology:
"Aplomb" is from the French word meaning "perpendicularity, equilibrium, steadiness, assurance," from the Old French phrase "a plomb", from "a" ("according to", from Latin "ad") + "plomb" ("lead weight"), from Latin "plumbum", ("lead").


apocrisiary
1. delegate or deputy; especially, the pope's nuncio or legate at constantinople;
2. a person appointed to give answers.


apocryphal
1. (Bible) Pertaining to the Apocrypha.
2. Not canonical. Hence: Of doubtful authority or authenticity; spurious; false. Examples:
1) Apocryphal or not, the anecdote contains at least a grain of truth. (Caroline Fraser, "God's Perfect Child")
2) In 1959 he told Walter Gutman that he first started writing when he was three years old, but that his sister threw away all his childhood writings one day when she cleaned out the attic. This sounds apocryphal as it is unlikely that he could read or write at that tender age, and if he could he would certainly have told us. (Barry Miles, "Jack Kerouac King of the Beats")
3) He always told romanticised apocryphal stories of his ancestry, sometimes a bastard grandfather, brought up on the parish, sometimes "a weaver, half poet and half madman". (Kathleen Jones, "A Passionate Sisterhood")
Etymology:
"Apocryphal" ultimately derives from Greek "apokruphos" ("hidden - hence, spurious"), from "apokruptein" ("to hide away"), from "apo-" ("away, from") + "kruptein" ("to hide").

apogee
[AP-uh-jee]
1. The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth.
2. The farthest or highest point; culmination.
Examples:
1) But in retrospect, this period would prove to be the apogee of O'Sullivan's career, although he always felt bigger and better things were on his way. (Edward L. Widmer, "Young America")
2) How can we suppose that science has reached its apogee in the twentieth century? (John Maddox, "What Remains To Be Discovered")
3) Aurangzeb ended the family tradition of building architectural masterpieces that had reached its apogee when his father, Shah Jahan, built the world's most beautiful tomb, the Taj Mahal. (Anthony Read and David Fisher, "The Proudest Day") Etymology:
"Apogee" is derived from Greek "apogaion", from "apogaios" - "situated (far) away from the earth," from "apo-" ("away from") + "gaia" ("earth").


apologia

• apology

A (formal) defense or justification, especially of one's opinions, position, or actions.
Examples:
1) Mr. Arbatov is well aware that he was perceived in this country as a spokesman at best and toady at worst for the regime. And he clearly wants this book to serve as his apologia. (Bernard Gwertzman, "When Soviet Bureaucrats Were the Last to Know", New York Times, August 20, 1992)
2) I should hasten to add that this volume is neither a dreary academic summary nor a tedious apologia by a politician who has just left office. (Jack F. Matlock Jr., "Chinese Checkers", New York Times, September 13, 1998)
3) John F. Lehman Jr. has written a lively and provocative apologia, in the classic sense of the word, to defend and justify his stewardship as Secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987. (Richard Halloran, "Floating a Few Proposals", New York Times, February 19, 1989)
4) The work is "a classic apologia, an aggressive defense of Roth's moral stance as an author", Harold Bloom said in The Book Review last year. (Patricia T. O'Conner, New York Times, September 14, 1986)
Etymology:
"Apologia" is from the Greek word meaning "a spoken or written defense", from "apologos" ("a story"), from "apo-" ("away from") + "logia", from "logos" ("speech"). Originally, "apologia" and "apology" had the same basic meaning: a formal justification or defense. Both words derive from Late Latin; "apologia" came to English as a direct borrowing while "apology" traveled through Middle French. Though "apology" is still sometimes used in that sense, it now usually indicates an acknowledgment expressing regret or asking pardon for a fault or offense. An "apologia" involves explaining, defending, or clarifying one's conduct, opinions, belief, etc.


apology
1. Excuse; justification.
Example: He didn't want to make an apology for his behaviour, though it had been terrible. 2. bad example of something; makeshift; substitution
Example: This is just an apology for a letter, but not a normal message.

apophasis

• preterition
• paraleipsis
• apophysis

[uh-PAH-fuh-sis]
The raising of an issue by claiming not to mention it.
Example:
"And I won't even mention my opponent's dismal record on environmental issues," said the candidate, using apophasis to take a jab at her rival.
Etymology, synonyms, related words:
"Apophasis" is a sly debater's trick, a way of sneaking an issue into the discussion while maintaining plausible deniability. It should come as no surprise, then, that the roots of "apophasis" lie in the concept of denial - the word was adopted into English from Late Latin, where it means "repudiation," and derives from the Greek "apophanai," meaning "to deny." ("Apophanai," in turn, comes from "apo-," meaning "away from" or "off," and "phanai," meaning "to say.") This particular rhetorical stunt is also known by the labels "preterition" and "paraleipsis" (which is a Greek word for "omission"), but those words are rarer than "apophasis." Incidentally, don't confuse "apophasis" with "apophysis"; the latter is a scientific word for an expanded or projecting part of an organism.


apoplectic
Violently excited and angry, and often having a red face.
Example: He gets apoplectic if he's contradicted.

apothegm

• apothegmatic

[AP-uh-them]
A short, witty, and instructive saying.
Examples:
1) Nineteen Eighty-four the most contemporary novel of this year and who knows of how many past and to come, is a great examination into and dramatization of Lord Acton's famous apothegm, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (Mark Schorer, "When Newspeak Was New," New York Times, October 6, 1996)
2) The rare talent of compressing a mass of profound thought into an apophthegm. (Henry Hart Milman, "The History of Latin Christianity")
3) The admirable Hebrew apophthegm, Learn to say I do not know. (Frederic Farrar, "Life of St. Paul")
Etymology, related words:
"Apothegm" comes from Greek "apophthegma", from "apophthengesthai" ("to speak one's opinion plainly"), from "apo-" (intensive prefix) + "phthengesthai" ("to speak"). The adjective form is apothegmatic.


apotheosis

• apotheoses

[uh-pah-thee-OH-sis; ap-uh-THEE-uh-sis]
plural: apotheoses [-seez]
1. Elevation to divine rank or stature; deification.
2. An exalted or glorified example; a model of excellence or perfection of a kind.
Examples:
1) Following martyrdom at the Alamo and apotheosis in song, tall tale, and celluloid myth, this bumpkin from west Tennessee [Davy Crockett] became better known and more revered than all but a handful of American presidents. (Mark Royden Winchell, "Cleanth Brooks and the Rise of Modern Criticism")
2) Plato's Athens, conventionally the apotheosis of civilized Western urbanity, endured Diogenes the Cynic, who (according to tradition) dwelt in contented filth under an overturned bathtub outside the city gates, heaping ribald scorn on philosophers and citizens alike. (Mark Caldwell, "A Short History of Rudeness Charles")
3) Charles I's court represented the English apotheosis of this Renaissance ideal of kingship. (John Brewer, "The Pleasures of the Imagination")
Etymology:
"Apotheosis" comes from Greek, from "apotheoun" - "to deify," from "apo-" + "theos" ("a god").


apparition

• ghost
• phantom
• revenant
• specter
• wraith

[ap-uh-RISH-uhn]
1. A ghost; a specter; a phantom.
2. The thing appearing; the sudden or unexpected appearance of something or somebody.
3. The act of becoming visible; appearance.
4. (Astronomy) The first appearance of a star or other luminary after having been invisible or obscured; opposed to occultation.
Synonyms: ghost, phantom, revenant, specter, wraith.
Examples:
1) Boris staggers into the noblemen's council chamber, shouting at an apparition that only he can see. (Algis Valiunas, "Immodest Ambition," Weekly Standard, June 24, 2000)
2) Angered, the distraught apparition returned some nights later in a fresher, even more vivid dream, wearing the same ragged gown as before. (James H. Beck, "Three Worlds of Michelangelo")
3) I lazily looked out the window and saw what seemed to be a comet hanging in the western sky, its bright tail calling our attention. The other children teased me as I wondered aloud how we would report this wondrous apparition. (David H. Levy, "Comets: Creators and Destroyers")
4) Ezra Pound had a moment of recognition that inspired him to write a two-line poem "In a station at the Metro," which comprised these brief sentences: "The apparition of these faces in the crowd: Petals, on a wet, black bough." (Nancy Etcoff, "Survival of the Prettiest")
Etymology:
"Apparition" derives from Latin "apparitio", from "apparere", from "ad-" ("to") + "parere" ("to be visible, to appear").


appellation
1. The word by which a particular person or thing is called and known; name; title; designation.
2. The act of naming.
Examples:
1) For as long as Olympia can remember, her mother has been referred to, within her hearing and without, as an invalid - an appellation that does not seem to distress her mother and indeed appears to be one she herself cultivates. (Anita Shreve, "Fortune's Rocks")
2) A communist or a revolutionary, for example, would likely readily accept and admit that he is in fact a communist or a revolutionary. Indeed, many would doubtless take particular pride in claiming either of those appellations for themselves. (Bruce Hoffman, "Inside Terrorism")
3) I feel honored by yet undeserving of the appellation "novelist." I am merely a craftsperson, a cabinetmaker of texts and occasionally, I hope, a witness to our times. (Francine Du Plessix Gray, "I Write for Revenge Against Reality," New York Times, September 12, 1982)
Etymology:
"Appellation" comes from Latin "appellatio", from "appellare" - "to name."


apple-polish

• apple
• polish
• apple-polishing
• apple-polisher
• toady
• sycophant
• bootlicker

[AP-ul-pah-lish]
1. To attempt to ingratiate oneself; toady.
2. To curry favor with (as by flattery).
Example:
Edna really wanted the internship working with the professor over the summer, so she took his course and apple-polished a bit.
History, related words, synonyms:
It began innocently enough - a shiny apple for the teacher, a young student's gift (OK, bribe) given in the hope that classroom high jinks would be forgotten or forgiven. The college students of the 1920s tried a more sophisticated version of the trick, polishing professorial egos with compliments in the hopes of getting a better grade. Because of its similarity to the "apple for the teacher" practice, college students dubbed that grade-enhancement strategy "apple-polishing." But the idea quickly lost its luster and by 1935 the verb "apple-polish" had picked up negative connotations. Nowadays, the apple-polisher (academic or otherwise) is viewed in the same much-maligned class as the toady, sycophant, and bootlicker.


apposite

• apt
• opposite
• relevant
• pertinent
• germane
• material

[AP-uh-zit]
Highly pertinent or appropriate; being of striking appropriateness and relevance; very applicable.
Synonyms: apt, relevant, pertinent, germane, material.
Examples:
1) It is a lucid work, written in simple English and amply illustrated by apposite examples.... (Judith N. Shklar, "Social Research", September 22, 2004)
2) As we survey Jewish history as a whole from the vantage point of the late twentieth century, Judah Halevi's phrase "prisoner of hope" seems entirely apposite. The prisoner of hope is sustained and encouraged by his hope, even as he is confined by it. (Jane S. Gerber (Editor), "The Illustrated History of the Jewish People")
3) Suppose, for example, that in a theoretical physics seminar we were to explain a very technical concept in quantum field theory by comparing it to the concept of aporia in Derridean literary theory. Our audience of physicists would wonder, quite reasonably, what is the goal of such a metaphor - whether or not it is apposite - apart from displaying our own erudition. (Alan D. Sokal and Jean Bricmont, "Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science")
Etymology, related words:
"Apposite" and "opposite" sound so much alike that you would expect them to have a common ancestor - and they do. It is the Latin verb "ponere," which means "to put or place." Adding the prefix "ad-" ("to, toward") to "ponere" created "apponere," meaning "to place, to set or put near" or "apply to," and that branch of the "ponere" family tree led to "apposite." The word is used to describe something that applies well to or is very appropriate for something else, a notion perhaps suggested by the close proximity of two objects. To get "opposite" ("facing, across from; contrary; reverse; different; antithetical; contrast; contrarily") the prefix "ob-" was added to "ponere" to create "opponere," meaning "to place against or opposite." The related verb "componere," meaning "to put together," gave us "compound" and "composite."


apprehension
[ap-rih-HEN-shun]
1. a) the act or power of perceiving or comprehending
Example:
"Oddly combined with her sharp apprehension ... was the primitive simplicity of her attitude..." (Edith Wharton, "The Reef")
1. b) the result of apprehending mentally
Synonym: conception
2. seizure by legal process
Synonym: arrest
3. suspicion or fear especially of future evil
Synonym: foreboding
Etymology:
The Latin verb "prehendere" really grabs our attention. It means "to grasp" or "to seize", and it is an ancestor of various English words. It teamed up with the prefix "ap-" ("to", "toward", or "near") to form "apprehendere", the Latin predecessor of our words "apprehension", "apprehend" and "apprehensive". When "prehendere" joined the prefix "com-" ("with", "together", "jointly"), Latin got "comprehendere", and English eventually got "comprehend", "comprehension", and "comprehensive". "Prehendere" also gave us the words "comprise", "prehensile" ("adapted for seizing or grasping"), "prison", "reprehend", and "reprise", among others.


apprise
(often followed by of) to give notice to; to inform.
Examples:
1) We will apprise the general of an intended attack; he apprised the commander of what he had done.
2) When Tyler, tuning in to channel seven, became apprised of this news, he raised his eyebrows and smiled. (William T. Vollmann, "The Royal Family")
3) I felt it a duty almost to stifle opinion: as a doctor, you are there to support the patient, apprise him of the bare clinical facts only. (David Loxterkamp, M.D., "A Measure of My Days")
4) Baum soon apprised Denslow of his plan to mount a Wizard of Oz musical, and Denslow, eager to participate in the project, began to shop around for a producer. (Mark Evan Swartz, "Oz Before the Rainbow")
Etymology:
"Apprise" comes from French appris, past participle of "apprendre", from Old French "aprendre" ("to learn"), from Vulgar Latin "apprendere", from Latin "apprehendere" - "to take hold of (by the mind)", from "ad-" + "prehendere" ("to lay hold of, to seize").


approbation
1. The act of approving; formal or official approval.
2. Praise; commendation.
Examples:
1) The speech struck a responsive chord among many and won him much approbation. (George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, "A World Transformed")
2) More importantly, these drawings represented a first success, which brought the intoxicating rewards of approbation and cash. (Matthew Sturgis, "Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography")
3) To some of his contemporaries, the episode seemed more the schemings of someone craving attention and the approbation of his peers than an act of sabotage. (Richard Siklos, "Shades of Black")
Etymology:
"Approbation" is from Latin "approbatio", from "approbare" ("to approve or cause to be approved"), from "ap-" (for "ad-"), used intensively + "probare" ("to make or find good"), from "probus" ("good, excellent, fine").


appurtenance
[uh-PUR-tn-un(t)s] 1. An adjunct; an accessory; something added to another, more important thing. 2. (Plural) Accessory objects; gear; apparatus. 3. (Law) An incidental right attached to a principal property right for purposes such as passage of title, conveyance, or inheritance.
Examples:
1) The inauguration of presidents, the coronation of monarchs, the celebration of national holidays--these events require everywhere the presence of the soldier as a "ceremonial appurtenance." (Barbara Ehrenreich, "Blood Rites")
2) She began by demolishing an 18th-century Paris mansion whose wainscoting, paneling and other appurtenances she admired, instructing an architect to design a house for her that would incorporate these elements. (Angeline Goreau, "A Spectacular Mess of a Marriage", New York Times, August 31, 1997)
3) Apart from sports cars, he did not have his father's passion for the appurtenances of celebrity. (Howard Chua-Eoan, "He Was My Hero'", Time, January 27, 1997)
4) A few of the appurtenances of wealth are well known--the Range Rovers and Rolexes, the little Chanel purses and the personal chefs trained in the Pritikin diet. (Richard Lacayo, "Murder in Polo Land", Time, September 22, 1997)
Etymology:
"Appurtenance" is derived from the present participle of Late Latin "appertinere" ("to belong to"), from Latin "ad-" + "pertinere" ("to relate to, to belong to"), from "per-" ("through") + "tenere" ("to hold").



apron strings

• apron string
• apron
• strings
• string

The strings of an apron. The strings of an apron are regarded as a sign of the control of a boy or a man by his mother or wife.
Examples:
He's tied to his wife's apron strings.
Although he's nearly 40 he's still tied to his mother's apron strings.

arbiter

• arbitrator

[AHR-buh-ter]
1. A person with power to decide a dispute; judge.
2. A person or agency whose judgment or opinion is considered authoritative.
Examples:
1) Rather than looking to famous fashion designers as arbiters of style, Amy prefers to make up her own mind about what is hip.
2) There was no shortage of such socially knowing, good-natured, and adaptable folk among the charter members of the Institute, especially in its department of literature, where a sizable number were not really literary practitioners but instead high-quality magazine editors, professors, and other well-settled arbiters of taste. (John Updike (Editor), "A Century of Arts & Letters")
3) Justin had a way of making people want to do things for him; of all the kids he had made himself the arbiter of cool. (Rebecca Chace, "Capture the Flag")
History, related words, synonyms:
There's no disputing it - "arbiter" and "arbitrator" are synonyms. But judging by usage, "arbitrator" has been appointed the preferred term for legal situations and is the one more likely to be used in the sense "a person chosen by two parties in a dispute to decide their differences." "Arbiter" is the more literary of the two and is identical to the Latin "arbiter" (meaning "judge"), the grandparent of both terms. "Arbitrator" and "arbiter" each came to us via Anglo-French; first "arbiter" was picked up in the late 14th century, and "arbitrator" followed less than four decades later. And the Latin "arbiter" ("a witness, a spectator," hence "a judge of any matter") is also an ancestor of "arbitrary" and "arbitrate."


arbitrage

• arbitrageur

[AR-buh-trahzh]
The nearly simultaneous purchase of a good or asset in one market where the price is low, and sale of the same good or asset in another market where the price is higher.
Examples:
1) If the market exchange rate deviates from par, there is opportunity for arbitrage by exchanging the cheaper currency for gold, shipping the gold to the other country, converting the gold into the other currency, and converting the proceeds into the cheaper currency on the market. (Milton Friedman, "Money Mischief")
2) There are undoubtedly many arbitrage opportunities, where price transparency has failed to bring about price harmonisation. (Nunzio Quacquarelli, "Euro optimism," Guardian, May 28, 2002)
Etymology, related words:
"Arbitrage" comes from the French, from Latin "arbitrari" ("to pass judgment)," from "arbiter" ("witness, arbitrator, judge"). One who practices arbitrage is an arbitrageur.


arboreal

• arboraceous
• arborary
• arborical
• arborous
• arboreous
• arboricole
• arborescent
• arboresque
• arboriform
• arborize
• arborvitae
• arboretum
• arboriculture
• Arbor Day
• Arbor

[ahr-BOR-ee-ul]
1. Of, relating to, or resembling a tree.
2. Inhabiting or frequenting trees.
Example:
With some of the largest and oldest trees in the world, Sequoia National Park in California is an arboreal wonder.
Etymology, related words, synonyms:
"Arbor," the Latin word for "tree," has been a rich source of tree-related words in English, though some are fairly rare. Some "arbor" descendants are synonyms of "arboreal" in the "relating to trees" sense: "arboraceous," "arborary," "arborical," and "arborous." Some are synonyms meaning "inhabiting trees": "arboreous" and "arboricole." Others mean "resembling a tree": "arborescent," "arboresque," and "arboriform." The verb "arborize" means "to branch freely," and "arborvitae" is the name of a shrub that means literally "tree of life." There's also "arboretum" ("botanical garden") and "arboriculture" ("cultivation of trees and shrubs"). And we can't forget "Arbor Day," which since 1872 has named a day set aside by various states (and the national government) for planting trees. But watch out - the word "arbor," in the sense of a "bower," is from Anglo-French "herbe."


arcanum

• arcana

[ar-KAY-nuhm] (plural arcana [-nuh])
1. A secret; a mystery.
2. Specialized or mysterious knowledge, language, or information that is not accessible to the average person (generally used in the plural).
Examples:
1) Through the years, Usenet evolved into an international forum on thousands of topics, called Usenet news groups, from the arcana of programming languages to European travel tips. (Katie Hafner, "James T. Ellis, 45, a Developer of Internet Discussion Network, Is Dead," New York Times, July 1, 2001)
2) Here we must enter briefly into the technical arcana of employment law. (Paul F. Campos, "Jurismania The Madness of American Law")
Etymology:
"Arcanum" is from the Latin, from "arcanus" - "closed, secret," from "arca" - "chest, box," from "arcere" - "to shut in."


arduous
[AHR-juh-wus]
1. Hard to accomplish or achieve.
Synonym: difficult
2. Marked by great labor or effort.
Example:
In the wake of the hurricane, residents face the arduous task of rebuilding.
Synonym: strenuous
3. Hard to climb.
Synonym: steep.
History, more examples:
"To forgive is the most arduous pitch human nature can arrive at". When Richard Steele published that line in "The Guardian" in 1709, he was using "arduous" in what was apparently a fairly new way for English writers in his day: to imply that something was steep or lofty as well as difficult. Steele's use is one of the earliest documented in English for that meaning, but he didn't commit it to paper until almost 200 years after the first uses of the word in its "hard to accomplish" sense. Although the "difficult" sense is older, the "steep" sense is very true to the word's origins; "arduous" derives from the Latin "arduus," which means "high" or "steep."


arenaceous
[arI'neIS@s]
Having the appearance or consistency of sand; resembling or containing sand particles, of or pertaining to sand.
Example:
Sedimentological details have been described by Tunbridge (1983), but the reservoir potential of these and other arenaceous beds requires further assessment. ("Habitat of palaeozoic gas in NW Europe", ed. Goff, J; Brooks, J. - Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986)
History, related words:
Unlike "sabulous" and its close relative "arenose", both of which also refer to something sandlike and which rarely appear outside lists of rare words, "arenaceous" is still very much with us. But it's a term you're most likely to find in a deeply technical article that discusses matters such as "the influence of matrix conduction upon hydrogeophysical relationships in arenaceous aquifers" or refers to the "squamulose lichen of both calcareous and arenaceous soils". The rest of us can make do with "sandy". Its spelling is potentially confusing, since it has nothing to do with arenas in the public entertainment sense, but derives from "arena" or "harena", the Latin word for sand. "Arena" itself derives from the name for the central part of a Roman amphitheatre in which gladiatorial fights and the like took place and which was strewn with sand to absorb the blood. Apologies. Very rarely you may find it used figuratively. James Russell Lowell did so in "Among My Books" in 1876 when writing of William Wordsworth: "He seems striving to bind the wizard Imagination with the sand-ropes of dry disquisition, and to have forgotten the potent spell-word which would make the particles cohere. There is an arenaceous quality in the style which makes progress wearisome."

argosy

• argonaut

[AHR-guh-see]
1. A large ship; especially: a large merchant ship.
2. A rich supply.
Example:
Uncle Ken is always armed with an argosy of jokes, and he keeps the family entertained for hours.
Etymology, related words:
Looking at the first sense of "argosy," you might assume that this word is a close relative of "argonaut," but that isn't the case. Although both words have a nautical sense, they have different etymologies. The original argonauts sailed on a ship called the Argo to seek the Golden Fleece; their moniker combines the name of their ship and the Greek word "nautes," meaning "sailor." "Argosy" comes from Arragosa, the English name for the city that is now Dubrovnik, Croatia. Over time, the Italian name of the town, Ragusa, was gradually modified into a noun for the laden merchant ships that sailed from that port in medieval days, and later still into one denoting any merchant vessel or rich store.


armpit

• dump

An unpleasant or backwards place; an ugly and undesirable city or area.
Example: Some people think Detroit is the armpit of America.
Etymology: Sometimes an 'armpit' (where the arm meets the body) has a strong and offensive odor.
Synonym: dump.


arrant

• errant

[AR-unt] Thoroughgoing; downright; out-and-out; confirmed; extreme; notorious.
Examples:
1) More deplorable is his arrant and compulsive hypocrisy . . . Under all the chest hair, he was a hollow man. (J. D. McClatchy, review of "Crux: The Letters of James Dickey", New York Times, December 19, 1999)
2) I think a pilot would be a most arrant coward, if through fear of bad weather he did not wait for the storm to break but sank his ship on purpose. (Georges Minois, "History Of Suicide", translated by Lydia Cochrane)
3) The moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun.
(W. Shakespeare, "Timon of Athens")
4) The entire story is a load of arrant nonsense. (Victor Pelevin, "Buddha's Little Finger", translated by Andrew Bromfield)
Etymology:
"Arrant" was originally a variant spelling of "errant", meaning "wandering." It was first applied to vagabonds, as an arrant (or errant) rogue or thief, and hence passed gradually into its present sense. It ultimately derives from Latin "iter" ("a journey").




arriviste

• upstart

[a-ree-VEEST]
A person who has recently attained success, wealth, or high status but not general acceptance or respect.
Synonym: upstart.
Examples:
1) Sherman, in his $1,800 imported suit and British hand-lasted shoes is... an arriviste and a poseur. (Frank Conroy, "Urban Rats in Fashion's Maze," New York Times, November 1, 1987)
2) He excavates enough dirt that, midway through the book, the reader loses sympathy with Bernays, who comes across as an insufferable egotist and insecure, name-dropping arriviste. (Ron Chernow, "First Among Flacks," New York Times, August 16, 1998)
3) Since January its market value in Europe has risen more than threefold, topping $7.5 billion and making its founder, a 34-year-old Cambridge University Ph.D., a billionaire arriviste. (Elizabeth Corcoran, "The Searcher," Forbes, April 2000)
Etymology:
"Arriviste" comes from French, from "arriver" ("to arrive"), from (assumed) Vulgar Latin "arripare" ("to reach the shore"), from Latin "ad-" ("to, toward") + "ripa" ("shore").


arrogate
[AIR-uh-gayt] 1. To claim or seize without right or justification; to appropriate. 2. To claim on behalf of another; to ascribe.
Examples:
1) What's certain is that another American President has arrogated to himself the prerogative of dispatching U.S. military personnel on an overseas combat mission, disregarding the constitutional mandate that only Congress may declare war. ("Imposing 'democracy' in Haiti", The Progressive, November 1, 1994)
2) A measure to abolish or radically restrict the ability of ministers to arrogate powers to themselves would be a necessary adjunct to the list of proposals on "open government/parliament". (Mike Marqusee, "Stumped for success", New Statesman & Society, January 19, 1996)
3) The most sinister dimension of this form of 'terror' was that it became an intrinsic component of Fascist and Nazi governance, executed at the behest of, and in complete subservience to, the ruling political party of the land - which had arrogated to itself complete, total control of the country and its people. (Bruce Hoffman, "Inside Terrorism")
Etymology:
"Arrogate" comes from Latin "adrogare" ("to take to oneself, to claim"), from "ad-" ("towards") + "rogare" ("to ask").


artifice
[AR-tuh-fis]
1. Cleverness or skill; ingenuity; inventiveness.
2. An ingenious or artful device or expedient.
3. An artful trick or stratagem.
4. Trickery; craftiness; insincere or deceptive behavior.
Examples:
1) Built by design and artifice, it fell apart in confusion and chaos. (John Gray, "False Dawn")
2) This theatricality is necessary to signal Prospero's farewell to magic, and indeed the play debates that very contrast between artifice and reality, illusion and truth. (Amy Rosenthal, "An insubstantial pageant," New Statesman, February 3, 2003)
3) The smoke had cleared enough for him to see bayonets flash in the distance, behind the wall, what looked like thousands of them, the wall itself appearing to rise out of the smoke as if produced by the artifice of some magician. (Kathleen Cambor, "In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden")
4) The intuitive connection children feel with animals can be a tremendous source of joy. The unconditional love received from pets, and the lack of artifice in the relationship, contrast sharply with the much trickier dealings with members of their own species. (Frans De Waal, "The Ape and the Sushi Master")
Etymology:
"Artifice" comes from "artificium", from "artifex, artific-" ("artificer, craftsman"), from Latin "ars, art-" ("art") + "facere" ("to make"). It is related to "artificial".


artifice burglary

• artifice