halcyon - Word of the Day - 19/07/18

halcyon

adjective

Pronunciation

HAL-see-un

Definition

1 : calm, peaceful

2 : happy, golden

3 : prosperous, affluent

Did You Know?

According to Greek mythology, Alkyone, the daughter of the god of the winds, became so distraught when she learned that her husband had been killed in a shipwreck that she threw herself into the sea and was changed into a kingfisher. As a result, ancient Greeks called such birds alkyōn or halkyōn. The legend also says that such birds built floating nests on the sea, where they so charmed the wind god that he created a period of unusual calm that lasted until the birds' eggs hatched. This legend prompted people to use halcyon both as a noun naming a genus of kingfisher and as an adjective meaning either "of or relating to the kingfisher or its nesting period" or "calm."

Examples

"Today, California is in the black and has even banked an emergency fund of eight billion dollars. Unemployment is less than five per cent. Still, there is nothing halcyon about Brown's vision of the future. At a press conference in January, he unveiled his valedictory budget proposal … and made clear that this was no cause for celebration." — Connie Bruck, The New Yorker, 26 Mar. 2018

"There was a time when the gates opened at Molson Stadium and fans flocked in to watch the Alouettes play. And mostly, win. Until those halcyon days return, the organization realizes something must change." — Herb Zurkowsky, The Gazette (Montreal), 31 May 2018

Name That Synonym

What synonym of halcyon rhymes with acid?

Merriam-Webster

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obviate - Word of the Day - 14/07/18

obviate

verb

Pronunciation

AHB-vee-ayt

 Definition

: to anticipate and prevent (something, such as a situation) or make (an action) unnecessary

Did You Know?

Obviate derives from the Late Latin obviare (meaning "to meet or withstand") and the Latin obviam (meaning "in the way") and is also an ancestor of our adjective obvious. Obviate has a number of synonyms in English, including prevent, preclude, and avert; all of these words can mean "to hinder or stop something." When you prevent or preclude something, you put up an insurmountable obstacle. In addition, preclude often implies that a degree of chance was involved in stopping an event. Obviate generally suggests the use of intelligence or forethought to ward off trouble. Avert always implies that a bad situation has been anticipated and prevented or deflected by the application of immediate and effective means.

Examples

"Many tech experts wouldn't expect the online advertising and data powerhouse to be interested in blockchain—a technology that, in many ways, obviates the need for the cloud and enables users to wrest control of their data from big tech companies." — Ben Dickson, PC Magazine, 27 Apr. 2018

"But for those of us who relish the familiarity of the status quo and perhaps cannot afford the $50,000 a year or more that assisted living would cost, our current homes may require some adjustments to postpone—and perhaps obviate—any need to move to safer if not more pleasurable dwellings." — Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, 21 May 2018

Name That Synonym

What 5-letter word beginning with "s" joins with off to form a synonym of obviate?

Merriam-Webster

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gumption - Word of the Day - 13/07/18

gumption

noun

Pronunciation

GUMP-shun
 

Definition

1 chiefly dialectal : common sense, horse sense

2 : enterprise, initiative

Did You Know?

English speakers have had gumption (the word, that is) since the early 1700s. The term's exact origins aren't known, but its earliest known uses are found in British and especially Scottish dialects (which also include the forms rumblegumption and rumgumption). In its earliest uses, gumption referred to common sense. American English speakers adopted the word and took it in a new direction, using it refer to the kind of courage or get-up-and-go that makes undertaking difficult things possible. Artists may know the word with another application: it's also used to refer to the art of preparing painters' colors.

Examples

"When fatigue began to take over his body and his legs started to quake, LaDonna had the gumption to throw his best fastball of the day." — Gregg Sarra, Newsday (New York), 29 May 2018

"Negotiating salary increases requires finesse, timing and being informed. It also requires a certain measure of gumption." — The Laramie (Wyoming) Boomerang, 10 June 2018

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of gumption: p _ _ _ k

Merriam-Webster

http://creatingcharactersforfictionwriters.blogspot.com.au/

cerebrate - Word of the Day - 12/07/18

cerebrate

verb

Pronunciation

SAIR-uh-brayt

Definition

: to use the mind : think

Did You Know?

When you think of the human brain, you might think of the cerebrum, the large, fissured upper portion of the brain that is recognized as the neural control center for thought and sensory perception. In 1853, Dr. William Carpenter thought of the cerebrum when he coined "unconscious cerebration," a term describing the mental process by which people seem to do the right thing or come up with the right answer without conscious effort. People thought enough of Carpenter's coinage to use it as the basis of cerebrate, though the verb refers to active thinking rather than subconscious processing. Cerebrate, cerebrum, and the related adjective cerebral all derive from the Latin word for "brain," which is cerebrum.

Examples

"You can't cerebrate over what you can't see, which therefore becomes an object of loathing and mistrust." — Howard Portnoy, Examiner.com, 25 June 2012

"I can never decide if Derek is incredibly shallow or so deep that he's cerebrating on two levels at once and I'm privy only to the superficial one." — Susan B. Johnson, Spirit Willing, 2006

Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks to complete a name for the cerebral cortex: p _ _ li _ m.

Merriam-Webster

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nimiety - Word of the Day - 11/07/18

nimiety

noun

Pronunciation

nih-MYE-uh-tee

 Definition

: excess, redundancy

Did You Know?

There's no scarcity of English words for too much of a good thing—words like overkill, plethora, superfluity, surfeit, surplus, and preponderance, to name a few. In fact, you might just feel that nimiety itself is a bit superfluous. And it's true—English speakers have never found much need for it, though it has been part of our language for over 450 years. For reasons long forgot, we borrowed it from Late Latin nimietas, a noun taken, in turn, from the Latin adjective nimius, meaning "excessive." If nimiety appeals to you but you'd like it in adjective form look no further than its only English relative: nimious, also from nimius, means "excessive, extravagant," and is even rarer than nimiety.

Examples

As she organized the potluck lunch, Julie offered suggestions for dishes that were still needed so that we wouldn't end up with a dearth of salads or a nimiety of desserts.

"Like all good haunted houses, it hovers atop a hill surrounded by large gnarled oak trees. There are broken windows with little fragments in the jambs, like transparent teeth. There is an iron fence; a graveyard in the back; and a nimiety of ghosts." — Richard Bangs, The Huffington Post, 6 Dec. 2017

Name That Antonym

Fill in the blanks to complete an antonym of nimiety: t _ _ pe _ _ n _ e.

Merriam-Webster

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benevolent - Word of the Day - 10/07/18

benevolent

adjective

Pronunciation

buh-NEV-uh-lunt

 Definition

1 a : marked by or disposed to doing good

   b : organized for the purpose of doing good

2 : marked by or suggestive of goodwill

Did You Know?

Someone who is benevolent genuinely wishes other people well, which is not surprising if you know the word's history. Benevolent can be traced back to Latin bene, meaning "good," and velle, meaning "to wish." Other descendants of velle in English include volition ("the act or power of making one's choices or decisions"), voluntary, and the rare word velleity (meaning either "the lowest degree of volition" or "a slight wish or tendency"). There is also one more familiar velle descendant: malevolent is the antonym of benevolent, and describes one who is disposed to doing ill instead of good.

Examples

"The sky above was blue, the whole scene lit by a bright benevolent sun on that crisp winter day." — Arnold Thomas Fanning, The Irish Times, 2 June 2018

"At the center is a boy who is poor but honest, brave and hard-working—attributes that eventually attract the attention of an older, well-off and benevolent stranger who, accustomed to greedy jerks, is moved by the strength of his character and helps to lift him from indigence." — Ginia Bellafante, The New York Times, 3 June 2018

Word  Quiz

What 6-letter adjective is derived from Latin bene and describes things that are harmless or people who are gracious?

Merriam-Webster

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transmogrify - Word of the Day - 09/07/18

transmogrify

verb

Pronunciation

transs-MAH-gruh-fye t
 

Definition

: to change or alter greatly and often with grotesque or humorous effect

Did You Know?

We know that the prefix trans- means "across" or "beyond" and appears in many words that evoke change, such as transform and transpire, but we don't know the exact origins of transmogrify. The 17th-century dramatist, novelist, and poet Aphra Behn, who is regarded as England's first female professional writer, was an early adopter of the word. In her 1671 comic play The Amorous Prince, Behn wrote, "I wou'd Love would transmogriphy me to a maid now." A century later, Scottish poet Robert Burns plied the word again in verse, aptly capturing the grotesque and sometimes humorous effect of transmogrification: "See Social life and Glee sit down, All joyous and unthinking, Till, quite transmugrify'd, they're grown Debauchery and Drinking…."

Examples

"It hadn't been cleaned in more than two years and the captured leaves had transmogrified into a wonderfully fecund compost." — Frank Mulligan, The Leader (Corning, New York), 8 Aug. 2014

"He was present in 1917 when communists shot their way to power and Imperial Russia transmogrified into the Soviet Union." — Colin Nickerson, The Boston Globe, 30 Apr. 2017

Name That Synonym

Fill in the blanks to complete a synonym of transmogrify: _ e _ _ m _ rp _ _ se.

Merriam-Webster

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