Word of the day

velleity • \vuh-LEE-uh-tee\

Means:

1 : the lowest degree of volition

*2 : a slight wish or tendency : inclination

Example sentence:

Samuel sometimes mentions that he would like to go back to school, but his interest strikes me as more of a velleity than a firm statement of purpose.

Word of the day

gild the lily • \GILD-thuh-LILL-ee\

Means:to add unnecessary ornamentation to something beautiful in its own right.

Example sentence:
My sister has good bone structure and lovely skin, so she doesn't need to gild the lily by wearing makeup.

Did you know?
You might be aware that "gild the lily" is attributed to Shakespeare, but there is a catch -- the phrase used in Shakespeare's play King John is actually "to paint the lily." The quotation reads, in part, "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily / To throw a perfume on the violet. . .. / Is wasteful and ridiculous excess." There are those who criticize "gild the lily" as a misquotation, and "paint the lily" does appear from time to time. But "gild the lily" has become firmly established, and it holds true to the spirit of the original version, even if the wording does not.

Word of the day

shenanigan • \shuh-NAN-ih-gun\

means:1 : a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose

2 *a : tricky or questionable practices or conduct -- usually used in plural

b : high-spirited or mischievous activity -- usually used in plural

Example sentence: The CEO resigned amid accusations of financial shenanigans and dubious deals.

Did you know?
The history of "shenanigan" is as tricky and mischievous as its meaning. Etymologists have some theories about its origins, but no one has been able to prove them. All we can say for certain is that the earliest known use of the word in print appeared in the April 25, 1855, issue of San Francisco's Town Talk. Although the "underhanded trick" sense of the word is oldest, the most common senses in use now are "tricky or questionable practices" (as in "political shenanigans") and "high-spirited behavior" (as in "youthful shenanigans").

Word of the day

neophyte -(noun) [NEE-ah-fiet']

Means:

1. a new convert being taught the principles of Christianity by a catechist

2. any new participant in some activity: "As a neophyte, I just want to make it down the mountain without falling."

3. a religious novice

Origin:

Approximately 1400; from Middle English, 'neophite'; borrowed from Late Latin, 'neophytus'; from Greek, 'neophytos': literally, newly planted ('neos': new + '-phytos': planted, from 'phyein': to cause to grow, to beget).

Word of the day

speculate • \SPEK-yuh-layt\

Means:
1 a : to meditate on or ponder a subject : reflect

*b : to think or theorize about something in which evidence is too slight for

certainty to be reached

2 : to assume a business risk in hope of gain; especially : to buy or sell in

expectation of profiting from market fluctuation

Example sentence: Mia's abrupt firing caused her coworkers to speculate endlessly

about what she might have done wrong

Word of the day

errant • \AIR-unt\

means : traveling or given to traveling
a : straying outside the proper path or bounds
b : moving about aimlessly or irregularly
c : behaving wrongly
Sentence:"'Move! Move! Move!' cried Helen, chasing him from corner to corner with a chair as though he were an errant hen." (Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, 1915)

Did you know?
"Errant" has a split history. It comes from Anglo-French, a language in which two confusingly similar verbs with identical spellings ("errer") coexisted. One "errer" meant "to err" and comes from the Latin "errare," meaning "to wander" or "to err." The second "errer" meant "to travel," and traces to the Latin "iter," meaning "road" or "journey." Both "errer" homographs contributed to the development of "errant," which not surprisingly has to do with both moving about and being mistaken. A "knight-errant" travels around in search of adventures. Cowboys round up "errant calves." An "errant child" is one who misbehaves. (You might also see "arrant" occasionally -- it's a word that originated as an alteration of "errant" and that usually means "extreme" or "shameless.")

Source:Meriam-Webster

Word of the day

VIM

Means: exuberant vitality and energy; vigor

Example sentence: "Sarah's vim into her late nineties was legendary."

• "In contrast to the bile from the stands and vim on the pitch in the FA Cup tie against United the previous week, this meeting with United's cross-city rivals was a bland disappointment.

ORIGIN: Approximately 1843; probably from Latin, 'vim,' accusative of 'vis': strength, power, energy