leitmotif: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

Word of the Day for Tuesday, May 31, 2011 leitmotif \LYT-moh-teef\, noun: 1. In music drama, a marked melodic phrase or short passage which always accompanies the reappearance of a certain person, situation, abstract idea, or allusion in the course of the play; a sort of musical label. 2. A dominant and recurring theme. Each actor to appear on stage is accompanied by a musical phrase on the drum -- a sort of leitmotif to characterize an emotion, much like a Wagnerian drama. -- Eleanor Blau, "Connecticut's Shakespeare", New York Times, July 9, 1982 One theme had recurred so frequently in these conversations that it had become the leitmotif of the trip. -- Jack F. Matlock Jr., Autopsy on an Empire As is so often the case in a crazy household . . . guilt becomes a leitmotif. -- Frederick Busch, "My Brother, Myself", New York Times, February 9, 1997 Leitmotif (also spelled leitmotiv) is from German Leitmotiv, "leading motif," from leiten, "to lead" (from Old High German leitan) + Motiv, "motif," from the French. It is especially associated with the operas of German composer Richard Wagner. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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What's the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, and what is the former name of Memorial Day? Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday during the Month of May and while it has come to signify the beginning of the summer season, it is also the solemn time when Americans remember the soldiers that died in military service. Originally named Decoration Day, a reference to a tradition of decorating the graves of the Confederate... Read more ››
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avoirdupois: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Monday, May 30, 2011 avoirdupois \av-uhr-duh-POIZ; AV-uhr-duh-poiz\, noun: 1. Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights based on a pound containing 16 ounces or 7,000 grains (453.59 grams). 2. Weight; heaviness; as, a person of much avoirdupois. Claydon . . . was happy to admit that he has shed some avoirdupois. -- Mel Webb, "Claydon's loss leads to net gain", Times (London), February 18, 2000 Yet until middle age and avoirdupois overtook her, Mary was no slouch. -- John Updike, "How to Milk a Millionaire", New York Times, March 29, 1987 Tired of putting on and taking off the same five pounds? Don't delay, buy this book today -- and watch yourself shed both respectability and surplus avoirdupois! -- David Galef, "J. Faust's Guide to Power And Other Self-Help Classics", New York Times, December 18, 1994 Avoirdupois is from Middle English avoir de pois, "goods sold by weight," from Old French aveir de peis, literally "goods of weight," from aveir, "property, goods" (from aveir, "to have," from Latin habere, "to have, to hold, to possess property") + de, "from" (from the Latin) + peis, "weight," from Latin pensum, "weight." Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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What's the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran's Day, and what is the former name of Memorial Day? Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday during the Month of May and while it has come to signify the beginning of the summer season, it is also the solemn time when Americans remember the soldiers that died in military service. Originally named Decoration Day, a reference to a tradition of decorating the graves of the Confederate... Read more ››
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toothsome: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Sunday, May 29, 2011 toothsome \TOOTH-suhm\, adjective: 1. Pleasing to the taste; delicious; as, "a toothsome pie." 2. Agreeable; attractive; as, "a toothsome offer." 3. Sexually attractive. Fleming was impressed not only by its taste but by its astonishing durability: Caudle's apple, after ten months in storage, was still toothsome and fragrant. -- David Guterson, "The Kingdom of Apples", Harper's Magazine, October 1999 Their topic, naturally: business niches that offer toothsome opportunities and comparatively limited competition. -- Dick Youngblood, "Business niches can be opportunities", Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 2, 2003 The myth, which Kournikova herself often takes great measures to perpetuate, is that she is an imposter on the WTA Tour, a toothsome starlet who simply uses the tennis court as a catwalk. -- Jon Wertheim, "Any day now for Anna", Sports Illustrated, April 14, 2000 Toothsome is derived from tooth + -some. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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New law bans use of confusing words and sentences in government documents. Read the results On October 13, 2010, President Obama signed into law the "United States Plain Writing Act of 2010." Thirteen years after President Clinton issued his own "Plain Writing in Government" memorandum, the revised set of guidelines states that by July of this year all government agencies must simplify the often perplexing bureaucratic jargon used in�documents produced... Read more ››
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vertiginous: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Saturday, May 28, 2011 vertiginous \vur-TIJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective: 1. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy. 2. Causing or tending to cause dizziness. 3. Turning round; whirling; revolving. 4. Inclined to change quickly or frequently; inconstant. But up close the building is impossibly steep, vertiginous, hostile. -- Neil Baldwln, Legends of the Plumed Serpent He did us no good when, without permission, he entered Tibetan air space and flew up over central China, explaining that it was impossible to comply with the authorities' instructions to land because of the vertiginous mountain terrain. -- Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, Around the World in 20 Days . . .the bouldery ruins of vertiginous cliffs pounded and lashed by the fury of wind and water. -- Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker, The Beach Vertiginous derives from Latin vertigo, "a turning round, a whirling round; giddiness," from vertere, "to turn." Related words include reverse, "to turn back (re-) or around"; subvert, "to undermine" (from sub-, "under" + vertere -- at root "to turn from under, to overturn"); and versus, "against" (from versus, "turned towards," hence "facing, opposed," from the past participle of vertere). Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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New law bans use of confusing words and sentences in government documents. Read the results On October 13, 2010, President Obama signed into law the "United States Plain Writing Act of 2010." Thirteen years after President Clinton issued his own "Plain Writing in Government" memorandum, the revised set of guidelines states that by July of this year all government agencies must simplify the often perplexing bureaucratic jargon used in�documents produced... Read more ››
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dudgeon: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Friday, May 27, 2011 dudgeon \DUH-juhn\, noun: A state or fit of intense indignation; resentment; ill humor -- often used in the phrase "in high dudgeon." Higgins was so frustrated by such a basic error that he stormed out of the arena for the mid-session interval in high dudgeon. -- Phil Yates, "Stevens begins to feel pressure as Swail stages customary revival", Times (London), April 29, 2000 This woman is forever in a state of spiritual high dudgeon, and a list of her dislikes is as long as the Omaha phone book. -- Jim Harrison, The Road Home What you see, they reckon, is all there is: a media star of fading allure--and shortening temper, if his dudgeon over a television soap-opera satire about him called "How was I, Doris?" (a reference to his fourth wife) is anything to go by. -- "Gerhard Schröder, embattled chancellor", The Economist, September 18, 1999 The origin of dudgeon is unknown. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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Sorry letter z! Learn why z was removed from the alphabet, and what now-extinct letter used to be No. 27 What letter is used most rarely in English? Poor lonely z finishes up the alphabet at number 26. The final letter, z's history includes a time when it was so infrequently used that it was removed altogether. � The Greek zeta is the origin of the humble z. The Phoenician glyph zayin, meaning "weapon," had a long... Read more ››
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clinquant: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Thursday, May 26, 2011 clinquant \KLING-kunt\, adjective: 1. Glittering with gold or silver; tinseled. noun: 1. Tinsel; imitation gold leaf. Leaves flicker celadon in the spring, viridian in summer, clinquant in fall, tallying the sovereign seasons, graying and greening to reiterate the message of snow and sun. -- Ann Zwinger, Beyond the Aspen Grove The room had a twelve-foot high ceiling: hanging from it, four dimly lit antique brass chandeliers cast a clinquant glow on this sunless day. -- Sally Koslow, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx: A Novel The water, turned clinquant by the sunset, lay rather than stood. -- William Least Heat-Moon, River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America Clinquant is from French, glistening, tinkling, present participle of obsolete clinquer, to clink, perhaps from Middle Dutch klinken. Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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Sorry letter z! Learn why z was removed from the alphabet, and what now-extinct letter used to be No. 27 What letter is used most rarely in English? Poor lonely z finishes up the alphabet at number 26. The final letter, z's history includes a time when it was so infrequently used that it was removed altogether. � The Greek zeta is the origin of the humble z. The Phoenician glyph zayin, meaning "weapon," had a long... Read more ››
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sojourn: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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Word of the Day for Wednesday, May 25, 2011 sojourn \SOH-juhrn; so-JURN\, intransitive verb: 1. To stay as a temporary resident; to dwell for a time. noun: 1. A temporary stay. Though he has sojourned in Southwold, wandered in Walberswick, dabbled in Dunwich, ambled through Aldeburgh and blundered through Blythburgh, Smallweed has never set foot in Orford. -- Smallweed, "The trouble with hope", The Guardian, April 14, 2001 Yet he is now an accomplished student and speaker of English, a literary editor and television producer, someone who has sojourned in Paris and attended the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. -- William H. Gass, "Family and Fable in Galilee", New York Times, April 17, 1988 As chance would have it, Degas's five-month sojourn in New Orleans coincided with an extraordinarily contentious period in the stormy political history of the city. -- Christopher Benfey, Degas in New Orleans During that long sojourn in Sligo, from 1870 to 1874, he had lessons from a much loved nursemaid, Ellie Connolly; later he received coaching in spelling and dictation from Esther Merrick, a neighbour who lived in the Sexton's house by St John's, and who read him quantities of verse. -- R. F. Foster, W.B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. 1 Sojourn comes from Old French sojorner, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin subdiurnare, from Latin sub-, "under, a little over" + Late Latin diurnus, "lasting for a day," from Latin dies, "day." Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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Sorry letter z! Learn why z was removed from the alphabet, and what now-extinct letter used to be No. 27 What letter is used most rarely in English? Poor lonely z finishes up the alphabet at number 26. The final letter, z's history includes a time when it was so infrequently used that it was removed altogether. � The Greek zeta is the origin of the humble z. The Phoenician glyph zayin, meaning "weapon," had a long... Read more ››
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prink: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

Word of the Day for Tuesday, May 24, 2011 prink \PRINGK\, transitive verb: 1. To dress up; to deck for show. intransitive verb: 1. To dress or arrange oneself for show; to primp. Tara has supermodel legs and is already getting used to being prinked and coiffed as she prepares for her first beauty contest in the autumn. -- Raffaella Barker, "Diary hatched, matched and almost despatched", Daily Telegraph, September 6, 1997 The point is reinforced by a clutch of contemporary art photos . . . showing plump nudes prinking and preening like pouter pigeons, and, in one case, a couple of dancers deliberately posed to recreate a Degas painting. -- Hilary Spurling, Daily Telegraph, January 23, 1999 Prink is probably an alteration of prank, from Middle English pranken, "to show off," perhaps from Middle Dutch pronken, "to adorn oneself," and from Middle Low German prunken (from prank, "display"). Read the full entry | See synonyms | Comment on today's word | Suggest tomorrow's word Yesterday's word | Previous words | Help
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Why you should remember the following words every 13 years or so A vociferous buzz is radiating throughout parts of Alabama and making the news. From the brilliant first light of day to the still and dark of night, a serenade is being sung - a mating call thirteen years in the making. Millions of cicadas have come up from their underground bedrooms after completing a very... Read more ››
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