Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

Sunday, February 1st repartee Fast Talk Word of the Day:

A handful of words in English designate witticisms in various ways. Repartee, from French, is usually reserved for occasions when the witty words fly in both directions in more than one exchange, so it often suggests the ability to answer quickly and wittily. This tends to make the plural repartées a rare, but not completely unseen bird in English, which usually treats the noun as a mass noun.

Monday, February 2nd camouflage Hidden in Plain Sight Word of the Day:

English did the sensible thing with this early 20th century French word and shortened it to camo in the late 20th century, thereby dealing death to spelling confusion. Camouflage first came into use in the first World War to designate the disguising of military equipment and personnel. It still has that meaning today, as well as applying to fabric that is printed with a design for use as camouflage.

Tuesday, February 3rd impetuous From the Hip Word of the Day:

Since there is no adjective petuous you don't have to go to far out on a limb to guess that the im- here is not a negating prefix. In fact this adjective's closest English relative is impetus, and there's some overlap in meaning: impetuous means either characterized by undue haste, or by great force.

Wednesday, February 4th progenitor Granddaddy of Them All Word of the Day:

This noun's original meaning is simply "one that begets," or in other words, an ancestor. Today it usually has more specific denotation, suggesting a person or thing that is the original source or cause of something. The roots of progenitor are French and Latin, with the genitor bit having far-flung relatives in English including benign, genuine, and pregnant.

Thursday, February 5th antithetical Contrary Word of the Day:

English hasn't found any use for thetical, a possible adjective derivable from thesis, but we're all over antithetical, an adjective whose underlying noun is antithesis. Antithetical has some specific meanings in rhetoric and logic, but people use it mainly as a strong way of saying directly opposed or opposite. It is nearly always followed by "to."

Friday, February 6th slander What He Said Word of the Day:

Over the centuries there have been a few consonant substitutions that mask the relationship between today's word slander and its nearest English relative scandal. Their common ancestor is Latin scandalum, "stumbling block, offense." It's not surprising that scandals may follow from slanders, which are uttered false representations against another. The verb slander preceded the noun by a century.

Saturday, February 7th obsolescent Slow Fade Word of the Day:

Today's handy adjective combines the idea of obsolete with the idea of "becoming," a meaning that you can often interpret from -scent adjectives. It's a sophisticated idea that didn't arrive in English till the mid-18th century, when the estimable Samuel Johnson used the word in his dictionary. However, the word was available for borrowing long before that; it's little changed from its Latin ancestor obsolescere.

Sunday, February 8th marshal It's Official! Word of the Day:

Before you tack on a second l on the end of this word, ask yourself: is it worth it? Probably not, because although marshall is an accepted spelling and a moderately frequent surname, a single l will do for marshal when it is a noun or uninflected verb. Throughout its long history marshal, a Germanic word, has always denoted an official of some kind: first one associated with nobility in medieval times, now a law enforcement officer.

Monday, February 9th manipulate Real Handful Word of the Day:

The idea of hand lurks in many words that contain -man- (like manual, manage, and emancipate) and it does also in manipulate, a verb derived ultimately from Latin manipulus, "handful." Manipulate is a latecomer to English, being a back-formation from the noun manipulation. They both wandered in from French in the 19th century.

Tuesday, February 10th jovial Godlike Word of the Day:

Though their meanings may seem distinct, there's good reason to store today's adjective jovial and Roman god Jupiter (aka Jove) in the same little memory box. While you're there you can throw in the planet Jupiter as well, and then it all begins to make sense: it was once thought that the planet exerted a cheerful influence on those born under it. The adjective came along in the 16th century, when fanciful astrological notions were more influential than they are today.

Wednesday, February 11th demise Endgame Word of the Day:

Death is not usually a stress-free topic so there exist many words to talk about it in different ways, to avoid using the main d-word. One of those is demise, a word of French origin that began in English as a legal term and still has that function. Demise is related to two other English words that it resembles: dismiss, and the rare demit, a now semiretired verb.

Thursday, February 12th epenthesis Insert Here! Word of the Day:

Some words are easier to get your tongue around when extra vowels or consonants are inserted in them. Sometimes this addition becomes a part of the spelling of the word and sometimes it doesn't, but in either case the phenom is called epenthesis. The even cooler related adjective is epenthetic. The word thimble, for example, has an epenthetic b in it.

Friday, February 13th kindred Thicker Than Water Word of the Day:

The connection of today's noun and adjective with kin is obvious so it remains only to explain the -dred-ful ending. The -red is an Old English suffix meaning "condition," which also appears in hatred. Kindred is the condition of being related. Kindred's favorite job today is to modify spirit.

Saturday, February 14th deprave Despicable Acts Word of the Day:

We tend to hold people responsible for their own moral failings, and the use of today's verb bears that out. Deprave, which means "corrupt morally" is not common as a finite verb, being outnumbered dozens to one by its past participle as an adjective (e.g., "depraved acts") and by the noun depravity. The origin is a Latin verb with a similar meaning.

Sunday, February 15th entrepreneur Undertake This! Word of the Day:

Today's word, a noun of French origin, enjoys generally positive associations today in its most frequent meaning: one who takes some risk to organize and begin a new business venture. Its original meaning in English was a little less grand than this: it was simply one who undertook something, morphing later to one who organized musical entertainments: a job description that we now give to impresario.

Monday, February 16th spurious Ill-Begotten Word of the Day:

When you want to knock down your opponents' claims there's hardly a better way than to characterize them than spurious, that is "plausible but false" or "intended to deceive." Spurious began its 400-year career on no better footing: it originally denoted persons born out of wedlock.

Tuesday, February 17th turmoil All Stirred Up Word of the Day:

Like many words with good sound sense, today's noun turmoil is of uncertain origin. It sounds like what it is: a state of great agitation. It was originally a verb, which is now archaic. Etymologists speculate on a connection with French trémie de moulin "mill-hopper," in reference to the constant to and fro motion of that apparatus.

Wednesday, February 18th aperture Grand Opening Word of the Day:

For a thing as sophisticated as a camera it wouldn't do to call the opening being the lens the "hole," and so we use this somewhat grand-sounding word, aperture, which means "hole" or "opening." Aperture had a couple of other uses before it was applied to optical instruments but that's its main use now. The origin is the Latin verb aperire, which shows up variously disguised in aperitif, overt, and pert.

Thursday, February 19th pontifex Bridge to Somewhere Word of the Day:

If you think this word looks a bit like pontiff you're on the right track; it's older than pontiff but influenced its development. A pontifex was a priest who belonged to a council of them in ancient Rome. Christianity found it convenient to adopt a related term for its head guy. The origins of pontifex are Latin pons, "bridge," and fecs, a combining form from the verb for "make."

Friday, February 20th nuptials Goin' to the Chapel Word of the Day:

Five centuries of usage have sealed the deal on the peculiar use of today's word, an adjective at heart (nuptial, pertaining to marriage) that becomes a plural noun with the addition of an s, but denotes a single wedding. Nuptials is a favorite for journalists looking for variations on "wedding." The word is originally from Latin word that also gives us nubile and connubial.

Saturday, February 21st wangle By Hook or by Crook Word of the Day:

Etymologists have not found a satisfactory narrative for the origin of today's word, a verb that means "bring about by underhand methods." Wangle has no proven connection to the much older verb wrangle, which is unfortunate because these days people conflate the two words and use wrangle when they seem to mean wangle.