GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Disheveled [dih-SHEV-uld] 📖 What It Means: A disheveled person or thing is not neat or tidy. 📰 Example: His wrinkled suit gave him a disheveled appearance. 💬 In Context: “My mother is waking up. ... She dresses quickly. Her oblong, Scots-Irish face may be too idiosyncratic for the screen anyway, the hollow cheekbones and sharp eyes, the straw-blond hair worn in a low-slung and slightly disheveled beehive.” — Matthew Specktor, The Golden Hour: A Story of Family and Power in Hollywood, 2025 💡 Did You Know? These days, the adjective disheveled is used to describe almost anything or anyone marked by disorder or disarray. Rumpled clothes, for example, often contribute to a disheveled appearance, as in Colson Whitehead’s novel Crook Manifesto, when the comedian Roscoe Pope walks onstage “disheveled, in wrinkled green corduroy pants.” Apartments, desks, bedsheets, you name it—all can be disheveled when not at their neatest and tidiest. Hair, however, is the most common noun to which disheveled is applied (along with hairdo terms like bun and beard), a fact that makes etymological sense. Disheveled comes from the Middle English adjective discheveled, meaning “bareheaded” or “with disordered hair.” That word is a partial translation of the Anglo-French word deschevelé, a combination of the prefix des- (“dis-“) and chevoil, meaning “hair.” 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Schmooze [SHMOOZ] 📖 What It Means: To schmooze is to warmly chat with someone often in order to gain favor, business, or connections. 📰 Example: The event provides an opportunity for local business owners to network and schmooze. 💬 In Context: "After wrapping up her speech filled with anecdotes and policy promises, the candidate schmoozed with the crowd, seemingly determined to shake every hand before her staff ushered her back to the bus." — Mike Kropf, The News Virginian (Waynesboro, Virginia), 4 Sept. 2025 💡 Did You Know? Schmooze (also spelled shmooze) schlepped into English from the Yiddish schmues, meaning "talk," which itself is from the Hebrew shěmu’ōth, meaning "news" or "rumor." Although originally used to indicate simply talking in an informal and warm manner, the word now commonly suggests conversation for the purpose of gaining favor, business, or connections. Schmooze is one of a number of English schm- words originating from Yiddish; other classics include schmaltz (referring to rendered animal fat or excessively sentimental music or art), schmuck (a slang word for "jerk"), schmutz ("a filthy or soiling substance"), and schmear ("a layer of cream cheese"). 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Quiddity [KWID-uh-tee] 📖 What It Means: Quiddity refers to the essence of a thing—that is, whatever makes something the type of thing that it is. Quiddity can also refer to a small and usually trivial complaint or criticism, or to a quirk or eccentricity in someone's behavior. 📰 Example: The novelist’s genius was her unparalleled ability to capture the quiddity of the Maine seacoast in simple prose. 💬 In Context: “When I was gathering my odes into a book—or rather, piling up my effusions in prose and verse and trying to work out which ones were odes and which weren’t—my friend Carlo gave me a magical concept. He called it ‘the odeness.’ It’s the essential quality, quiddity, … uniqueness of whatever you’re trying to write about. It’s what your ode is attempting to first identify and then celebrate. It’s the odeness of your ode.” — James Parker, The Atlantic, 30 Sept. 2025 💡 Did You Know? When it comes to synonyms of quiddity, the Q’s have it. Consider quintessence, a synonym of the “essence of a thing” meaning of quiddity, and quibble, a synonym of the “trifling point” use. And let’s not forget about quirk: like quiddity, quirk can refer to a person’s eccentricities. Of course, quiddity also comes from a “Q” word, the Latin pronoun quis, which is one of two Latin words for “who” (the other is qui). Quid, the neuter form of quis, led to the Medieval Latin quidditas, which means “essence,” a term that was essential to the development of the English word quiddity. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Ephemeral [ih-FEM-uh-rul] 📖 What It Means: Something described as ephemeral lasts only for a very short time. 📰 Example: The performance was not recorded, a fact that made its ephemeral nature all the more poignant. 💬 In Context: "Like most garden moments, fresh holiday wreaths are ephemeral. Having accomplished their purpose of seeing us through the darkest days of winter, removing this traditional symbol of the wheeling seasons is a way to recognize the birth of a new year and celebrate the returning light." — Lorene Edwards Forkner, The Seattle Times, 16 Nov. 2025 💡 Did You Know? In its aquatic immature stages, the mayfly (order Ephemeroptera) has all the time in the world—or not quite: among the approximately 2,500 species of mayflies, some have as much as two years, but a year is more common. But in its adult phase, the typical mayfly hatches, takes wing for the first time, mates, and dies within the span of a few short hours. This briefest of heydays makes the insect a potent symbol of life's ephemeral nature. When ephemeral (from the Greek word ephēmeros, meaning "lasting a day") first appeared in print in English in the late 16th century, it was a scientific term applied to short-term fevers, and later, to organisms (such as insects and flowers) with very short life spans. Soon after that, it acquired an extended sense describing anything fleeting and short-lived, as in "ephemeral pleasures." 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Elicit [ih-LISS-it] 📖 What It Means: Elicit is a formal word meaning “to get (a response, information, etc.) from someone.” 📰 Example: The announcement of the final amount raised by the charity walk elicited cheers from the crowd. 💬 In Context: “By the end of the ceremony, the attendees knew where each soon-to-be graduate would be studying next. The students lined up and stormed the stage, screaming their names and their postsecondary destinations while hoisting flags from the institutions in the air. ... Each proud declaration elicited raucous clapping and hooting from the crowd.” — Elizabeth Hernandez, The Denver Post, 15 May 2025 💡 Did You Know? Say them fast—or even slow—in isolation, and no one will know which one you mean: elicit and illicit both rhyme with the likes of explicit and complicit. But beyond being auditorily indistinguishable, they are used very differently. Illicit is an adjective applied to no-nos. It’s used to describe things people aren’t supposed to do. Something illicit is not permitted especially because it is illegal. Elicit, on the other hand, is a verb most often used to talk about calling forth or drawing out a response or reaction from someone, as in “her onstage antics elicited roars of laughter from the audience.” The Latin ancestors of this pair are easy to confuse too. Elicit comes from elicitus, illicit from illicitus. But going back just a little further, we find that elicit traces back beyond elicitus to lacere, meaning “to allure,” while illicitus comes ultimately from licēre, meaning “to be permitted.” 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Notorious [noh-TOR-ee-us] 📖 What It Means: Notorious describes people and things that are well-known or famous, especially for something bad or unfavorable. 📰 Example: Their city is notorious for its extremely hot and humid summers. 💬 In Context: “Given Long Island’s cul-de-sac geography and notorious traffic, proposed bridges and tunnels to Connecticut are bound to get attention on the Island.” — Peter Gill, Newsday, 8 Dec. 2025 💡 Did You Know? For those who don’t give a fig about a bad reputation, being notorious for unpopular behavior is no biggie. (Being notorious for topping the Billboard charts? Now that’s a Biggie.) Although notorious (which comes from Latin noscere, “to come to know”) can be a synonym of famous, it’s more often a synonym of infamous, having long ago developed the additional implication of someone or something disreputable. The Book of Common Prayer of 1549 includes one of the first known uses of the unfavorable meaning in print, referring to “notorious synners.” You know what they say: more notorious synners, more problems. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Vendetta [ven-DET-uh] 📖 What It Means: Vendetta refers to an active and mutual hatred between two families or groups, also known as a blood feud. It can also refer to an often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts, or to a commitment to carrying out such acts. 📰 Example: The student insisted that the principal had a personal vendetta against her. 💬 In Context: "Rita publicly refused a vendetta at his funeral. She wouldn't ask her sons to avenge him, even though that wasn't just normal for the time, it was expected." — Rita Halász, Deep Breath: A Novel (translated by Kris Herbert), 2025 💡 Did You Know? English speakers borrowed vendetta, spelling and all, from Italian in the 19th century; literally meaning "revenge," vendetta first referred specifically to Italian and especially Corsican family- or clan-based feuds. It later extended in meaning to cover the acts that tend to feature in such feuds, and later still expanded further to refer to a commitment to carrying out such acts. Vendetta ultimately traces to the Latin verb vindicta, meaning "revenge" or "vindication." That Latin word is also in the family tree of other English terms related to getting even, including avenge, revenge, vengeance, vindicate, and vindictive. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Cloying [KLOY-ing] 📖 What It Means: Cloying is used disapprovingly to describe something that is too sweet, pleasant, or sentimental. 📰 Example: She finds most romantic comedies cloying and predictable. 💬 In Context: “Images of her came to me often, as did snatches of songs in her repertoire, which she sang to me as lullabies. ... What I couldn’t quite summon, despite what I thought of as my keen smell memory, was her fragrance. As a kid, I had never liked it. Bellodgia was heavy, spicy, and floral; when my mother would lean over me to comb my hair ... the cloying rose and carnation combined with her tugging on my scalp always threatened to give me a headache. Still ... I missed that fragrance now.” — Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 10 July 2025 💡 Did You Know? The history of cloying isn’t sweet—it’s tough as nails. Cloying comes from the verb cloy, which in Middle English meant “to hinder or seriously injure”; its source is an Anglo-French word meaning “to prick (a horse) with a nail in shoeing.” English cloy too carried this farriery meaning (a farrier being a person who shoes horses) in the early 16th century, but it also had a general sense relating to clogging and stuffing, and in particular to overloading with especially sweet or rich food. From there quickly arose meanings of cloy still in use today: “to supply with an unwanted or distasteful excess usually of something originally pleasing” and “to be or become insipid or distasteful usually through an excess of an originally pleasurable quality (such as sweetness).” The adjective cloying, which describes things that are too sweet, pleasant, or sentimental, was doing the job it does today by the end of the 16th century. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Delegate [DEL-uh-gayt] 📖 What It Means: To delegate something (such as control, responsibility, authority, or a job or duty) is to trust someone else with it. 📰 Example: Those tasks can be delegated to someone else. 💬 In Context: “In practice, principals shuttle back and forth, sometimes multiple times a day, or divide their schedule between mornings and afternoons, or alternate full days at each school. When they’re off-site, they must formally delegate authority, but parents and teachers say it’s not always clear who holds decision-making power.” — Isabel Teotonio, The Toronto Star, 1 Dec. 2025 💡 Did You Know? To delegate is to literally or figuratively send someone else in your place, an idea that is reflected in the word’s origin: it is a descendant of the Latin word lēgāre, meaning “to send as an envoy” (a messenger or representative). The noun delegate, which refers to a person who is chosen or elected to vote or act for others, arrived in English in the 14th century, while the verb didn’t make its entrée till the early 16th century. (Note that the verb rhymes with relegate while the noun rhymes with delicate.) Some distant cousins of the word delegate that also trace back to lēgāre include legacy, colleague, relegate, and legate, “an official representative sent to a foreign country.” 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Umbrage [UM-brij] 📖 What It Means: Umbrage refers to a feeling of being offended by what someone has said or done. It is often used in the phrase “take umbrage.” 📰 Example: Some listeners took umbrage at the podcaster’s remarks about the event. 💬 In Context: “The one item on offer was considered to be so good that the chef took umbrage at being asked for mustard.” — The Irish Times, 31 Oct. 2025 💡 Did You Know? Umbrage is a word born in the shadows. Its ultimate source (and that of umbrella) is Latin umbra, meaning “shade, shadow,” and when it was first used in the 15th century it referred to exactly that. But figurative use followed relatively quickly. Shakespeare wrote of Hamlet that “his semblable is his mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more,” and by the 17th century this meaning of “vague suggestion; hint,” had been joined by other uses, including the “feeling of resentment or offense” heard today in such sentences as “many took umbrage at the speaker’s tasteless jokes.” The word’s early literal use is not often encountered, though it does live on in literature: for example, in her 1849 novel, Charlotte Brontë describes how the titular Shirley would relax “at the foot of some tree of friendly umbrage.” 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Brackish [BRACK-ish] 📖 What It Means: Brackish, meaning “somewhat salty,” usually describes water or bodies of water, such as rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The word can also mean “not appealing to the taste” or “repulsive.” 📰 Example: The river becomes brackish as we approach the tidemark. 💬 In Context: “The blood-testing organs don’t measure water levels but rather the concentration of salt, whose healthy range lies at almost exactly the same concentration as that of the brackish intertidal water in which vertebrates first evolved (which is about one-third as salty as seawater).” — Dan Samorodnitsky, Wired, 28 Sept. 2025 💡 Did You Know? When the word brackish first appeared in English in the 1500s, it simply meant “salty,” as did its Dutch parent brac. Then, as now, brackish was used to describe water that was a mixture of saltwater and freshwater, such as one encounters where a river meets the sea. Since that time, however, brackish has developed the additional meanings of “unpalatable” and “repulsive,” presumably because of the oozy, mucky, and sometimes stinky (or stinkyish, if you prefer)—not just salty—qualities of coastal estuaries and swamps. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Paradox [PAIR-uh-dahks] 📖 What It Means: Paradox refers to something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible. It can also refer to someone who does two seemingly opposite things or who has qualities that are opposite; to a statement that seems to say two opposite things but that nonetheless may be true; or to the use of such statements in writing or speech. 📰 Example: It is a paradox that computers need time-consuming updates so often, since they are meant to save people time. 💬 In Context: “In some ways, I think the idea of a ‘serious lady’ might even be a paradox, if to be serious means to understand the world according to one’s own precepts, experiences, and observations, and to behave in a way that reflects this. A lady, on the other hand, follows rules that others have devised. How, then, can a ‘serious lady’ be anything other than a very peculiar and odd creature—which the women in this book certainly are?” — Sheila Heti, from the introduction to Two Serious Ladies: A Novel by Jane Bowles, 2025 (orig. 1943) 💡 Did You Know? The ancient Greeks were well aware that a paradox—the saying “less is more,” for example—can take us outside our usual way of thinking. They combined the prefix para-, “beyond” or “outside of,” with the verb dokein, “to think,” forming paradoxos, an adjective meaning “contrary to expectation.” Latin speakers used that word as the basis for a noun paradoxum, which English speakers borrowed during the 1500s as paradox. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Collude [kuh-LOOD] 📖 What It Means: To collude is to work with others secretly especially in order to do something illegal or dishonest. Collude is used as a synonym of conspire and plot. 📰 Example: She is accused of colluding with known criminals. 💬 In Context: "Two lawsuits filed in April accuse hundreds of insurers of colluding to drop policyholders and force them onto the plan, which offers limited policies that typically cost more." — Laurence Darmiento, The Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2025 💡 Did You Know? Colluding—working secretly with others to do something deceitful or illegal—is not a game, but you'd never know it if you took your cues on the meaning of collude solely from its etymology. Collude comes from the Latin verb colludere, which in turn combines the prefix com-, meaning "together," and the verb ludere, "to play." Ludere, in turn, comes from ludus, meaning "game, play, or sport." (Ludus is also the source of the adjective ludicrous and the noun interlude). Collude has a related noun—collusion—which carries the specific meaning "secret agreement or cooperation." Despite their playful history, collude and collusion have always suggested illicit trickery rather than good-natured fun. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Innocuous [ih-NAH-kyuh-wus] 📖 What It Means: Innocuous describes either something that is not likely to bother or offend anyone (as in “an innocuous comment”), or something that causes no injury, or is otherwise considered harmless (as in “an innocuous prank”). 📰 Example: The reporter asked what seemed like an innocuous question, but it prompted the candidate to storm off, abruptly ending the press conference. 💬 In Context: “Strong solar storms can be dangerous for astronauts in space, and can cause problems for GPS systems and satellites. ... But solar storms can also have more innocuous consequences on Earth, such as supercharged displays of the northern lights.” — Denise Chow, NBC News (online), May 15, 2025 💡 Did You Know? Innocuous is rooted in a lack of harm: it comes from the Latin adjective innocuus, which was formed by combining the negative prefix in- with a form of the verb nocēre, meaning “to harm” or “to hurt.” It first appeared in print in the early 1600s with the meaning “harmless; causing no injury,” as in “an innocuous gas,” and soon developed a second, metaphorical sense used to describe something that does not offend or cause hurt feelings, as in “an innocuous comment.” Innocent followed the same trajectory centuries before; its negative in- prefix joined with Latin nocent-, nocens, meaning “wicked,” which also comes from nocēre. This is not to say that nocēre has only contributed words that semantically negate the harm inherent in the root: nocēre is also the source of noxious and nuisance. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Gumbo [GUM-boh] 📖 What It Means: Gumbo refers to a soup thickened with okra pods or filé and containing meat or seafoods and usually vegetables. The word is also used figuratively to refer to a mixture or blend of something. 📰 Example: The reputation of the family’s gumbo guaranteed them an invitation to any and all neighborhood potlucks. 💬 In Context: “Gram and Aunt Rachel got a big bucket of gumbo on the way home ... and we ate it out of the container with plastic spoons in front of the clubhouse TV, watching episode after episode of Jeopardy!, none of us wagering any answers. Gull sat in my lap and picked out the okra.” — Tennessee Hill, Girls with Long Shadows: A Novel, 2025 💡 Did You Know? Gumbo refers to an aromatic soup of the Creole cuisine of Louisiana, combining African, Indigenous North American, and European elements. It takes its name from the American French word gombo, which in turn is of Bantu origin and related to the Umbundu word ochinggômbo, meaning “okra.” Okra usually plays a starring role in gumbo as a thickener (unless the soup is thickened by filé, powdered young sassafras leaves) alongside the holy trinity of celery, onion, and bell pepper, and any number of additional ingredients, from seafood (shrimp, crab, or oysters) to meat (chicken, sausage, duck, or game) to leafy greens. The variety of ingredients and ways to prepare the dish eventually led to the figurative sense of gumbo referring to a variety, mixture, or mélange of things, as in “a gumbo of ideas.” 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Eminently [EM-uh-nunt-lee] 📖 What It Means: Eminently is used as a synonym of very and means "to a high degree." 📰 Example: Our team came up with an eminently sensible plan to reduce waste. 💬 In Context: "This was jazz of the highest order—challenging, yet accessible, eminently entertaining and arrestingly beautiful. Goosebumps were felt." — T'Cha Dunlevy, The Gazette (Montreal, Canada), 8 July 2025 💡 Did You Know? When British physician Tobias Venner wrote in 1620 of houses "somewhat eminently situated," he meant that the houses were located at an elevated site—they were literally in a high place. That use has since slipped into obsolescence, as has the word's use to mean "conspicuously"—a sense that reflects its Latin root, ēminēre, which means "to stick out" or "protrude." All three meanings date to the 17th century, but today's figurative sense of "notably" or "very" is the only one now regularly encountered. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Loll [LAHL] 📖 What It Means: Loll most often means “to droop or hang loosely.” It can also mean “to act or move in a relaxed or lazy manner.” 📰 Example: We’re counting down the days until the weather will be warm enough again to laze and loll by the pool. 💬 In Context: “Just across the highway at Año Nuevo State Park, elephant seals loll lazily on the beach.” — Scott Clark, quoted in Saveur, 3 Apr. 2025 💡 Did You Know? Despite appearances, loll isn’t an exaggerated version of the abbreviation LOL. It isn’t even related to laughing. Instead, it is about hanging out, both literally and figuratively. Like another relaxing verb, lull (“to cause to rest or sleep”), it probably originated as an imitation of the soft sounds people make when resting or trying to soothe someone else to sleep. In addition to meaning “to hang loosely,” as in “a dog with its tongue lolling out,” loll shares meaning with a number of l verbs that are all about taking it easy, including loaf, lounge, and laze. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Marginalia [mahr-juh-NAY-lee-uh] 📖 What It Means: Marginalia is a plural noun that refers to notes or other marks written in the margins of a text, and also to nonessential matters or items. 📰 Example: I loved flipping through my literature textbooks to find the marginalia left behind by former students. 💬 In Context: “Marginalia have a long history: Leonardo da Vinci famously scribbled thoughts about gravity years before Galileo Galilei published his magnum opus on the subject; the discovery was waiting under our noses in the margins of Leonardo’s Codex Arundel.” — Brianne Kane, Scientific American, 19 Sept. 2025 💡 Did You Know? In the introduction to his essay titled “Marginalia,” Edgar Allan Poe wrote: “In getting my books, I have always been solicitous of an ample margin; this not so much through any love of the thing in itself, however agreeable, as for the facility it affords me of penciling suggested thoughts, agreements and differences of opinion, or brief critical comments in general.” At the time the essay was first published in 1844, marginalia was only a few decades old despite describing something—notes in the margin of a text—that had existed for centuries. An older word, apostille (or apostil), refers to a single annotation made in a margin, but that word is rarely used today. Even if you are not, like Poe, simply ravenous for scribbling in your own books, you likely know marginalia as a telltale sign that someone has read a particular volume before you. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Titanic [tye-TAN-ik] 📖 What It Means: Something described as titanic is very great in size, force, or power. 📰 Example: The batter saved the game in the bottom of the ninth inning by hitting a titanic home run right out of the park. 💬 In Context: “Absurdly, though, if you were standing on a Rodinian beach [on the ancient supercontinent of Rodinia] you might not have even noticed the seas rising at all. This is because, as the land bounced back from underneath the weight of the now-vanished ice sheets, and the gravitational pull of these titanic ice sheets on the oceans disappeared, the seas might have appeared to some Rodinian beachgoers to instead retreat from the coast, and even drop by over three hundred feet—despite the unthinkable rise in sea level globally.” — Peter Brannan, The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything:... 💡 Did You Know? Before becoming the name of the most famous ship in history, titanic described that which resembled or was related to the Titans, the family of giant gods and goddesses in Greek mythology who were believed to have once ruled the earth. They were subsequently overpowered and replaced by the younger Olympian gods under the leadership of Zeus. The size and power of the Titans is memorialized in the adjective titanic and in the noun titanium, a chemical element of exceptional strength that is used especially in the production of steel. 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

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GM ☀️ Your word of the day is! 🔤 Senescence [sih-NESS-unss] 📖 What It Means: Senescence is a formal and technical word that refers to the state of being old or the process of becoming old. 📰 Example: Our grandparents, now in their senescence, are enjoying spending more time with family and going on new adventures together. 💬 In Context: “Pilates provides improvements in core strength, flexibility and balance, even when done just once a week. It can help with stress relief, as well as anxiety and depression. Among those 60 years of age and older, Pilates has even been shown to slow the process of senescence.” — Leah Asmelash, CNN, 7 Sept. 2025 💡 Did You Know? Senescence can be traced back to Latin senex, meaning “old.” Can you guess which other English words come from senex? Senile might (correctly) come to mind, as well as senior. But another one might surprise you: senate. This word for a legislative assembly dates back to ancient Rome, where the Senatus was originally a council of elders composed of the heads of patrician families. There's also the much rarer senectitude, which, like senescence, refers to the state of being old (specifically, to the final stage of the normal life span). 🔗

Word of the Day: Besmirch

The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means

#WordOfTheDay #Nostr #Dictionary #Learning