Pronounced: pla-SEN-shus
Notes: Not what I thought
Yesterday’s word
The word divagate means “to wander or stray from a course or subject: diverge; digress”
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1500s
Background / Comments
As I read the first part of the definition, I thought “Oh! It’s like diverge“… and then I saw diverge at the end of the definition. Our word can be used both literally, as in hikers straying from the path, or figuratively, as not keeping to the subject at hand. Our word came from the Latin verb divagari, which is made up of dis- (apart) and vagari (to wander). That second part is also the root of the word “extravagant”, which is literally someone who has wandered an extra amount of distance — but we use it today of spending money well above the usual amount.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 