New Game: What's the Word?

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: INSTAURATION

pronunciation: [in-staw-REY-shən]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Latin, 17th century

 

Meaning:

1. The action of restoring or renewing something.

 

Examples:

"The instauration of the old mill was a complex undertaking after decades of abandonment and disrepair."

"Rather than rebuild the family home, which hadn’t been lived in for 20 years, my father set out to give it a full instauration."

About Instauration

“Instauration” is from the Latin “instauratio,” which refers to the act of renewing, as well as to the restarting of a ritual that has been interrupted or gone wrong.

 

Did you Know?

“Instauration” is easily confused with its near homonym “restoration,” and both broadly describe the act of making something old nicer. However, “instauration” refers specifically about the process of repairing and restoring something — such as a building or a work of art — that has suffered neglect, decay, and dilapidation. Restoration is concerned simply with restoring something to its original state, and does not consider the present state from which such a restoration must begin. “Instauration,” however, makes it clear that the job of restoration will be a serious one, as it will begin with a building or object in a state of significant deterioration.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: FARCTATE

pronunciation: [FARK-teyt]

 

Part of speech: adjective

Origin: Latin, 19th century

 

Meaning:

1. Stuffed; filled solid.

2. Stuffed; full from overeating.

 

Examples:

"Jim was completely farctate following his third serving of Christmas dinner."

"It was hard to fit the final items into the farctate moving van, so we carried some with us in the cab."

About Farctate

“Farctate” is derived from the Latin “farctus,” meaning “stuffed” or “full.”

 

Did you Know?

“Farctate” was first known as a botanical term: A farctate stem on a plant was solid or filled solid, rather than hollow. Over time, however, the term has shifted its focus; in most cases it describes the human sensation of being uncomfortably full after overeating. However, the adjective “farctate” can describe anything that is stuffed full, whether a solid branch, a very full belly, or a subway train packed so full of people, it cannot admit any more commuters.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: APPOSITE

pronunciation: [AP-ə-zət]

 

Part of speech: adjective

Origin: Latin, 17th century

 

Meaning:

1. Apt in the circumstances or in relation to something.

 

Examples:

"The lake in the park was an apposite location to race RC boats."

"My mother believes cardamom is the apposite secret spice for carrot cake."

About Apposite

“Apposite” is based on the Latin “appositus,” the past participle of “adponere” (meaning “put”).

 

Did you Know?

“Apposite” is easily confused with its close homonym “opposite.” The two words don’t have similar meanings, but they share deep Latin roots. “Opposite” is based on the Latin “oppositus,” which is the past participle of “oppōnō,” meaning “I oppose,” while the Latin “appositus” traces to the verb for “to put.” However, Latin students can trace the etymology of “oppositus” to the root word for “put” (“pōnō”) as well. “Opposite” deals with things put at odds with or against one another, while “apposite” describes things well put together.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: PREPONE

pronunciation: [pree-POHN]

 

Part of speech: verb

Origin: Indian English, 20th century

 

Meaning:

1. To reschedule to a time earlier than the current scheduled time.

 

Examples:

"I’m going to call the dentist to see if I can prepone my appointment to this afternoon."

"The head office preponed our annual meeting, leaving my team scrambling to get our reports finished in time."

About Prepone

“Prepone” is a reworking of the word “postpone” to include the suffix “pre-.” It is also related to the Latin “praepōno,” meaning “to place before.”

 

Did you Know?

As far back as the 16th century, “prepone” meant “to place something in front of another thing,” but in the 20th century, the word was adopted as an opposite term for “postpone,” which has always meant “to put off until the future.” Accordingly, “prepone” is now used to describe moving a date forward in time. While “postpone” was originally a Scottish term, “prepone” is only in wide usage in Indian English (or “Hinglish,” as it is sometimes called, a code-switched merger of “Hindi” and “English”). Though it is an English word, “prepone” is among the cluster of English expressions — such as “passing out of college,” or “being out of station” — that are today considered exclusively Indian English.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: DYAD

pronunciation: [DY-ad]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Latin, 17th century

 

Meaning:

1. Something that consists of two elements or parts.

 

Examples:

"As closing time approached, the café servers dropped hints to the dyad in the back corner that it was time to leave."

"Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have proven time and again that they’re one of the most inventive dyads in comedy."

About Dyad

“Dyad” is from Latin, based on the ancient Greek “δυάς” (“duás”) or “δυάδ-“ (“duád-l”), both meaning “two.”

 

Did you Know?

“Dyad” can be a stand-in for terms such as “couple,” “pair,” or “duo”; however, the term is widely used across many fields of study to refer to specific two-parted concepts. In sociology, “dyad” refers to two people in a relationship, but in music, a dyad is a chord of two notes. There are also more complicated uses for the term in chemistry, biology, and mathematics, but all return to the same focus on pairs or couples. Whether it’s in linear algebra, chromosomal structures, or atomic chemistry, “dyad” always describes a relationship of two factors.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: MIZZLE

pronunciation: [MIZ-əl]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Dutch, 15th century

 

Meaning:

1. Light rain; drizzle.

 

Examples:

"It wasn’t raining heavily, but the drops came down in a steady mizzle that soaked my clothes over the day."

"As the sky began to clear, the mizzle still falling to the east created a rainbow."

About Mizzle

“Mizzle” is likely based on the Dutch “mieselen,” meaning “to rain gently.”

 

Did you Know?

Though mizzle is the lightest kind of rain, it is associated more with wet climates than with dry ones. As residents of Pacific Northwest cities such as Portland and Vancouver know, rain is so consistent in that moist climate that it doesn’t need to rain very hard. Sometimes it does, but much of the time, the rain is a quiet, steady mizzle that appears so frequently, it keeps the grass green and the flowers bright.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: ALABASTRINE

pronunciation: [al-ə-BAS-trin]

 

 

Part of speech: adjective

Origin: French, 16th century

 

 

Meaning:

1. Made of or resembling alabaster, in particular in being white or smooth.

 

Examples:

"The chandelier was made of an alabastrine glass that gently diffused the lights."

"The landscape designer commissioned an alabastrine statue to contrast against the red rose bushes."

About Alabastrine

“Alabastrine” is taken from the French “alabastrin,” which is based on the Latin “alabastrinus,” both meaning “made of alabaster.”

 

Did you Know?

Alabaster, a mineral, is known for its distinctive color (or lack thereof): It is creamy white, but translucent enough to refract light so that it appears to glow from within. To compare a substance or color to alabaster, call it “alabastrine.” For example, creamy translucent marble could be described as alabastrine, in the same way a pale, smooth gourd might be alabastrine. And in the era of black-and-white films, Greta Garbo and Veronica Lake were known for their alabastrine complexions.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: SCRUTATOR

pronunciation: [skroo-TAY-ter]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Latin, 16th century

 

Meaning:

1. A person who scrutinizes or investigates.

 

Examples:

"Detective Sherlock Holmes is one of literature’s most famous scrutators."

"After the fire in our house, the insurance company sent a scrutator to explore its causes."

About Scrutator

“Scrutator” is taken from the Latin “scrūtātor,” meaning “searcher” or “examiner.”

 

Did you Know?

From Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes to Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander, fictional scrutators have brought readers along as they investigate, ask questions, and explore various mysteries. TV and movie scrutators have pulled audiences even deeper into their worlds. For example, “Law and Order” detectives Lennie Briscoe and his partner Rey Curtis spent years entertaining viewers as they interviewed witnesses and suspects in nearly every type of business or organization in New York City, from garbage dumps to Wall Street offices to fish markets to day care centers.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: DEUCEDLY

pronunciation: [DOO-sid-lee]

 

Part of speech: adverb

Origin: German, 17th century

 

Meaning:

1. Quite; extremely; utterly.

 

Examples:

"After a few early wins, I had nothing but deucedly bad luck in the casino."

"Tyrone didn’t want to miss the concert, but he had a deucedly persistent head cold."

About Deucedly

“Deucedly” is based on the adjective “deuced,” which is related to the Middle English “dewes” (meaning “two”) and the Latin “duo.”

 

Did you Know?

In dice games, a score of two, or “a deuce,” is usually a losing roll. “Deuce” became a synonym for “bad luck” by the end of the Middle Ages; accordingly, “deuced” is an adjective describing something cursed by bad luck, and “deucedly” began its life as an adverb suggesting the same. Now, it simply describes the extreme intensity of any kind of situation, not limited to negative situations associated with bad luck.

 

Edited December 30, 2024 by DarkRavie

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: PROLEPSIS

pronunciation: [pro-LEP-sis]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Ancient Greek, 15th century

 

Meaning:

1. The anticipation and answering of possible objections in rhetorical speech.

2. The representation of a thing as existing before it actually does or did so, as in he was a dead man when he entered.

 

Examples:

"Tyrell expected objections, so he tried to include answers to possible questions in a prolepsis of his proposal to the HOA."

"The new biography of Charlie Chaplin begins with his birth, then in a prolepsis, jumps to the height of his fame."

About Prolepsis

The word entered late Middle English via Latin, from the Greek "prolēpsis," which comes from the word "prolambanein," meaning "anticipate."

 

Did you Know?

Many children are masters of prolepsis: For example, a child wishing to stay up past her bedtime might try to head off possible objections by telling her father, “I don’t think we’re doing anything important at school tomorrow, so I don’t need as much sleep,” before making her request. A separate narrative form of prolepsis occurs in fiction. This prolepsis is the flash-forward, as used in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Ebenezer Scrooge is transported both into the past, as a reminder of how things used to be, and into the future as a warning of how things could be. This second move — jumping from the present into the future — is a prolepsis. The flashback to Christmas Past, by contrast, is called an “analepsis.”

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: WRITHEN

pronunciation: [RITH-ən]

 

Part of speech: adjective

Origin: Old English, 14th century

 

Meaning:

1. (Literary) Twisted or contorted out of normal shape or form.

2. (Of antique glass or silver) Having spirally twisted ornamentation.

 

Examples:

"The glassblower twisted a unique writhen ornamentation on each vase he created."

"It must have taken the carpenter weeks to carve this writhen banister."

About Writhen

The adjective “writhen” is based on the Old English verb “wriþan,” meaning “to twist” or “to wrap up.”

 

Did you Know?

“Writhen,” which describes twisted ornamentation, is closely related to the verb “writhe.” But “writhen” existed first, taken directly from an Old English word meaning “to twist,” “to bind,” or “to wrap up.” From it came the verb “to writhe,” which in its early definitions meant “to engulf” or “to tie up.” Over time, “writhe” came to describe a physical twisting or contorting motion, while today “writhen” describes objects designed to appear twisted and contorted, such as art and stemware made from twirled blown glass.

 

[DarkRavie]

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

 

What's the Word: EPHEMERA

pronunciation: [ih-FEM-ər-ə]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Latin, 14th century

 

Meaning:

1. Things that exist or are used or enjoyed for only a short time.

2. Items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.

 

Examples:

"Realizing many of his belongings were basically ephemera, Greg donated them to charity before he moved."

"When Sara is at the fair, she’d rather eat decadent foods than win ephemera on the midway."

About Ephemera

“Ephemera” is taken directly from the Latin, where it was borrowed from the ancient Greek “ἐφήμερᾰ” (“ephḗmera”), meaning “short lived” or “living for a day.”

 

Did you Know?

In the world of collectibles, “ephemera” refers to a broad category of items that were never intended to last a long time or have any particular value. This category includes things such as old periodicals, receipts, tickets, and product packaging, as well as outdated maps and documents that are now obsolete. All of these items were intended to exist for a very short period of time, but to modern collectors, ephemera from years ago provides a clear picture of life in the past.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: QUIETEN

pronunciation: [KWAI-ih-tn]

 

Part of speech: verb

Origin: English, 18th century

 

Meaning:

1. Make or become quiet and calm.

 

Examples:

"My phone is plugged in across the bedroom so I have to get out of bed to quieten the alarm."

"Rodrigo finds it challenging to quieten his excitable students at the beginning of class."

About Quieten

“Quieten” was formed within English by taking the existing adjective “quiet” and adding the suffix “-en” to form a verb.

 

Did you Know?

The challenge of quietening a room full of students of any age is in capturing their attention. When an instructor enters a classroom full of students talking excitedly, they need the students to quieten their activity and redirect their focus to a single source: the lesson at the front of the room. One of the most effective ways to quieten a classroom in college, high school, elementary school, and even preschool is to begin with humor and fun before gently moving the discussion toward more focused subjects.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: INGEMINATE

pronunciation: [in-JEM-ə-neyt]

 

Part of speech: verb

Origin: Latin, 16th century

 

Meaning:

1. Repeat or reiterate (a word or statement), typically for emphasis.

 

Examples:

"The mayor learned to ingeminate the main points in her weekly addresses to make sure they were understood as clearly as possible."

"Before they left for the weekend, Laura’s parents ingeminated they did not want a party thrown in their absence."

About Ingeminate

“Ingeminate” is based on the Latin “ingeminō,” meaning “to repeat” or “reiterate.”

 

Did you Know?

Most people ingeminate, or repeat, an important point any time they need to drive it home. However, we tend to experience more ingemination (the noun form) in front of our TVs and other screens than anywhere else, because that’s where we encounter advertising. One advertising theory holds that an audience must see a message seven times before they internalize it, which explains why sometimes the same ad will appear during every commercial break in a program, or across multiple forms of online media. Advertisers ingeminate to keep the brand in the forefront of the customer’s mind.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: TUBBABLE

pronunciation: [TUB-ə-bəl]

 

Part of speech: adjective

Origin: English, 20th century

 

Meaning:

1. (Especially of fabric or clothes) Suitable for washing in a tub or washing machine.

 

Examples:

"Anna owns many fancy gowns, and none of them is tubbable."

"The clothes in the washer are all tubbable, but some must be hung up to dry."

About Tubbable

“Tubbable” was formed in English by adding the suffix “-able” to the noun “tub,” referring to a laundry-washing tub.

 

Did you Know?

Before the invention of the washing machine, laundry had to be soaked in hot water before being beaten and scrubbed by hand, then rinsed. It was a lengthy and labor-intensive process, but inventors began patenting washing machines in the 17th century. By the 20th century, the washing machine — often a large tub with machinery attached to it — was a common household appliance. Clothes that were sturdy enough to be washed by machine were therefore called “tubbable.” The first recorded use of the word is in the 1920s, and it was a common synonym for “machine washable” into the 1980s. Today, as more clothing fabrics are tubbable by default, the term is used instead to describe children’s toys that can be used in the bath.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: VEDETTE

pronunciation: [və-DET]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: French, 17th century

 

Meaning:

1. (Historical) A mounted sentry positioned beyond an army's outposts to observe the movements of the enemy.

2. A leading star of stage, screen, or television.

 

Examples:

"The Golden Globes honor some of Hollywood’s most famous vedettes."

"My grandmother used to read me celebrity gossip magazines like “Allo Vedettes” so we could talk about Quebec’s biggest vedettes."

About Vedette

“Vedette” is taken from French, where the word was based on the Italian “vedetta,” meaning “lookout” or “patrol.”

 

Did you Know?

“Vedette” has seen a swap in meaning since it entered English in the 17th century. In its early forms, “vedette” referred to an advance sentry outside an army’s encampment who kept tabs on the enemy. Instead of referring to those performing surveillance, “vedette” now refers to those people who are watched and seen: celebrities. Though considered outdated in France, “vedette” is still widely used in Canada’s French-speaking province Quebec, where it often celebrates “vedettes de chez nous,” or “major stars of our own.”

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: PERSEVERATE

pronunciation: [pər-SEV-ə-reyt]

 

Part of speech: verb

Origin: English, 20th century

 

Meaning:

1. Repeat or prolong an action, thought, or utterance after the stimulus that prompted it has ceased.

 

Examples:

"Though Cassie has been out of birdseed for two months, the birds outside her window perseverate in hanging around her feeder."

"Even though baseball season is over, I perseverate in reading MLB news ahead of next season’s spring training."

About Perseverate

“Perseverate” was a verb created out of the existing English noun “perseveration,” which was based on the Latin “persevērāre,” meaning “to abide by” or “to continue steadfastly.”

 

Did you Know?

When does someone “perseverate” rather than simply “persevere”? The words are very similar and share a common Latin root, but “persevere” is a more general verb that describes the action of persisting at a task in spite of obstacles. The term “perseverate” was developed by psychologists in the early 20th century to describe circumstances in which a patient continued to respond to a stimulus even when the stimulus was removed. “Perseverate” means to persist in an action even though the reason for doing so no longer exists. For example, a person may perseverate in getting their hair trimmed at a specific salon even though the hairdresser they like has long since moved out of state.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: BUSKER

pronunciation: [BUS-kər]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Spanish, 17th century

 

Meaning:

1. A person who performs music or other entertainment in the street or another public place for monetary donations.

 

Examples:

"The busker outside the restaurant was playing a moving rendition of a Whitney Houston song."

"Shirish put himself through college by performing as a busker with his guitar outside the movie theater downtown."

About Busker

“Busker” is based on the verb “to busk,” meaning “to ask for money in exchange for entertaining the public in the street.” This term was likely based on the Spanish “buscar,” meaning “to seek” or “to fetch.”

 

Did you Know?

Cities as disparate as Halifax, Dubai, San Diego, Tullamore, and Zagreb play host to busker festivals every year. Many of these claim to be “the world’s largest festival of buskers,” though none has been proved to be so. The buskers themselves are as creative as they are unpredictable. There are plenty of performances of live music, juggling, and magic, but there are deep variations on even those traditional ideas. People attending a busker festival might see someone juggling chainsaws and bowling balls, or musicians playing whimsical instruments in surprising ways.

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: UNDERBREATH

pronunciation: [un-dər-BRETH]

 

Part of speech: adjective

Origin: English, 19th century

 

Meaning:

1. Vocalized under one's breath.

 

Examples:

"Sharon told Elsie about her blind date in an underbreath voice because they were on the bus."

"When my father left the room, my mother told me in an underbreath whisper what she’d bought him for his birthday."

About Underbreath

“Underbreath” was formed within English by adding the preposition “under” as a prefix to “breath.” “Breath” is based on the Old English “brǣþ,” meaning “odor,” “exhalation,” or “vapor.”

 

Did you Know?

“Underbreath” operates as three parts of speech. The first is as a noun: An underbreath is a remark made in a whisper or otherwise under one’s breath; the goal is not to be heard. For example, “In the crowded gallery, Shanice told me her opinion of the art in an underbreath.” But “underbreath” can also be an adjective, as in “an underbreath criticism,” which would be a whispered criticism. “Underbreath” can also be an adverb and modify a verb or adjective, as in, “My mother lectured me underbreath so as not to wake my sister.”

 

[DarkRavie]

What's the Word: TOPIARY

pronunciation: [TOH-pee-ehr-ee]

 

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Latin, 16th century

 

Meaning:

1. The art or practice of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes.

2. Shrubs or trees clipped into ornamental shapes.

 

Examples:

"The botanical gardens boasted an expert in topiary who clipped the bushes into animal shapes."

"Topiaries are a fun way to interest young children in plants and gardening."

About Topiary

“Topiary” is based on the Latin “topiarius,” meaning “related to ornamental gardening.”

 

Did you Know?

Topiary is the practice of turning trees and bushes into shapes both by careful trimming and by slowly training the trunks and branches to grow in different patterns over time. The products of the topiary process are also called topiaries. Topiaries emerged as early as ancient Rome, when an associate of Julius Caesar pioneered shaped gardens. In early forms, topiaries were plants and bushes shaped like animals, but also symbols such as obelisks and puzzles. However, topiary gardening developed more quickly in regions that didn’t have stones appropriate for traditional forms of sculpture. There were more topiaries in England in the 18th century than there were in Italy, owing to England’s abundance of trees and shrubs in place of stone suitable for carving.