Pronounced: AN-tih-muh-TAB-uh-lee, noun
Notes: A mouthful! Whether or not you know the definition, you’ve run across them
Yesterday’s word
The word repine means
- to feel or express dejection or discontent; complain
- to long for something [but see Comments below]
First usage
Our word came into English in the early 1500s
Background / Comment
As noted, I have heard this word in a rather obscure song. As I imagine you are, I am more familiar with “pining for <something>” instead of “repining over <something>”. So what’s the difference? Repine contains the idea of being discontent. When one pines for something, it can merely be longing for something one once knew. At the very least, however, our word is a nice fancy word for “complain”. Our word came from the Old English word pinian (to suffer), which (it is thought) came from the Latin word poena (punishment).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 