- Grammar Newsletter – English Grammar Newsletter - http://www.grammar.net -

#Word Of The Day

Posted By Victoria On February 10, 2011 @ 2:43 pm In | Comments Disabled

sycophant – a servile flatterer, via Greek>Latin ‘informer, trickster’. 1st attested in 1537

loquacious |lōˈkwā sh əs| – “talkative” from Latin loquax (talk)

conundrum |kəˈnəndrəm| -a confusing and difficult problem or question

ubiquitous |yoōˈbikwətəs| [adj] - present, appearing, or found everywhere. Origin mid 19 century from modern Latin “ubiquitas”

serendipity – the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. ORIGIN 1754: coined by Horace Walpole

hubris |ˈ(h)yoōbris| – excessive pride or self-confidence. ORIGIN: Greek.

paradigm |ˈparəˌdīm| – an example that serves as a model or pattern. ORIGIN late 15th cent.: via late Lat from Gr paradeigma

evitative – the quality of shunning; avoidance.

Palindromic [1] words:

repaper |rēˈpāpər| – apply new wallpaper to (a wall or room)

territ |ˈterit| – each of the loops or rings on a harness pad for the driving reins to pass through.

civic |ˈsivik| – of or relating to a city or town, esp. its administration; municipal

Difficult spelling [2]:

denouement |ˌdānoōˈmä n |-the final part of a play/movie, where the strands of the plot are drawn together.

queue |kyoō| – (UK) a line/sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn to be attended to or to proceed.

miscellaneous |ˌmisəˈlānēəs| – items/people gathered/considered together of various types or from different sources

obsequious |əbˈsēkwēəs| – obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree

hieroglyphic |ˌhī(ə)rəˈglifik| – writing consisting of hieroglyphs/enigmatic or incomprehensible symbols or writing


Article printed from Grammar Newsletter – English Grammar Newsletter: http://www.grammar.net

URL to article: http://www.grammar.net/wordofday

URLs in this post:

[1] Palindromic: http://www.grammar.net/uncategorized/palindromes

[2] Difficult spelling: http://www.grammar.net/uncategorized/misspelledwords

Copyright © 2011 Grammar Newsletter. All rights reserved.