Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

Wednesday, April 1st nugatory Well Worth Nothing Word of the Day:

Today's adjective might remind you a little of nugget or nougat, both of which have potential endorphin-stimulating potential. In fact, nugatory has no relation to either word; it means "trifling" or "of little value" and comes from a Latin root that means "trifle." Nugatory showed up in the early 17th century and has never enjoyed much time in the limelight of usage.

Thursday, April 2nd verisimilar Get Real Word of the Day:

If you took a wild guess and said that today's word meant "very similar" you'd be wrong — but the idea of similarity does play a part in the word's meaning: it means "appearing to be true," or in other words, similar to reality. It's somewhat less frequent than its noun cousin, verisimilitude.

Friday, April 3rd forsake Good-Bye to All That Word of the Day:

Today's verb is an English old-timer, going right back to the 9th century. Its relationship with its main part, the noun sake, doesn't leap out at you, and that may be because many of forsake's earlier meanings — deny, renounce, dispute, repudiate — have fallen away. Today forsake lies on a continuum between "abandon, desert" and "sacrifice, renounce."

Saturday, April 4th calorific The Heat is On Word of the Day:

Today's adjective is obviously related to calorie, but how is it different from caloric? The two adjectives can be used synonymously but the -fic suffix specifically means "making or producing," and so it does here in the original meaning of calorific, which is "pertaining to conversion into heat." It's used more often today to mean "full of calories."

Sunday, April 5th subdue Tame the Beast Word of the Day:

What do the constituents of today's word, subdue, have to say about its meaning: "bring under control"? The sub- bit is a no-brainer, as it often means 'below' or 'under.' The -due bit is ultimately from Latin ducere, 'lead, draw,' a root that turns up in many English words as -duce or -duct. Subdue lost a consonant while doing time in French for a few centuries, where it originally meant "lead astray."

Monday, April 6th impact Press Firmly Word of the Day:

No, you can't stop people using this 17th century verb as a synonym for "affect," but if you want to branded as a pedant you can remind them that the original meaning of impact is much more physical in nature, like the meaning that it still conveys as a participle, as in "an impacted wisdom tooth." The Latin root also shows up in pact and compact.

Tuesday, April 7th vogue Row Your Boat Word of the Day:

You may think first of a magazine when you see today's word, and it's a well-named magazine: the word's original 16th century meaning is "the foremost place in popular estimation." The word came to English from French but is Old Italian in origin, from a verb that meant "row."

Wednesday, April 8th pneumonia Fresh Air Word of the Day:

You're probably familiar with today's celebrant, pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs) but you may little suspect its connection with another lungy word, namely pulmonary. They both go back ultimately to Greek pneumon, "lung," which was an alteration of pleumon, which in turn became pulmonarius in Latin.

Thursday, April 9th expiate Burnt Offering Word of the Day:

Those who would atone for wrongdoing today — that is, those who would expiate their sins — are fortunate in not having to be true to the origins of the verb, for it is based on a Latin verb that means 'appease by sacrifice.' The -piate part of the verb is related to pious and piety, and more distantly to pity.

Friday, April 10th monarchy Lonely at the Top Word of the Day:

Of the many -archy words that denote forms of government, monarchy (literally: "rule by one") is an enduring favorite, perhaps for its simplicity. No need to consult anyone when all power is invested in you alone! Today monarchy is more likely to designate a country that has a single, hereditary head of state who has been gradually stripped of the absolute sovereignty that his or her ancestors exercised.

Saturday, April 11th wont It's a Habit Word of the Day:

Poor wont, a homonym of want and a homograph, aside from the apostrophe, of won't, is destined to perennial misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Wont, today mainly an adjective and noun, is older than both won't and want and unrelated to both of them but it is related to win. It developed its current meaning from a root that meant 'dwell' and 'be used to.'

Sunday, April 12th pariah Bang the Drum Word of the Day:

It's little comfort to know that when you are despised, rejected, and friendless, you are still entitled to designation by today's word, a noun of Tamil origin. A pariah is someone who is rejected by society. The root in Tamil designates a person of low caste and means "drummer," since drumming was a hereditary duty of said persons.

Monday, April 13th camaraderie Feel the Love Word of the Day:

It's no accident that comrades have camaraderie, or friendly good fellowship: the two words are near relatives. The original comrades were soldiers billeted together, and this meaning was soon extended to roommates generally, those who slept in the same room. Camaraderie is perhaps an optimistic outcome from what may develop when people are thus thrown together in this way.

Tuesday, April 14th mien Double-Take Word of the Day:

Today's word, a noun meaning "bearing," is commoner in writing than in speech but still infrequent — perhaps because it's a homonym of the much more common adjective, noun, and verb mean. Mien is probably from an obsolete noun demean that had the same meaning; the spelling tweak may have been to distinguish it from its common homonym.

Wednesday, April 15th waylay Unavoidably Detained Word of the Day:

Nothing succeeds like reduplication in English words and waylay is a special treat because it's actually based on a German word whose parts are cognate with 'way' and 'lay.' But wegelagen, the inspiration for English waylay, lacks the simple symmetry and brevity of its offspring.

Thursday, April 16th utensil Easy to Use Word of the Day:

A utensil that was not usable would be not only surprising; it would be a sin against etymology, because the noun utensil is derived from a Latin word that means "usable" or "useful." Several English words are related to utensil via their most remote ancestor, Latin uti, "use": the family includes abuse, use, utility, utilize, and usury.