Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: sih-KWEH-stir, verb Notes: I knew one meaning well, but the other one I didn’t know Yesterday’s word The word exordium is “the beginning or introductory part of anything, but especially of a discourse, treatise, etc First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I am pretty sure I haveContinue reading “sequester”

Pronounced: ig-ZOR-dee-uhm (alt 1: eg-ZOR-dee-uym; alt 2: ik-SOR-dee-uhm), noun Notes: Another new word to me Yesterday’s word The word atoll is “a coral island consisting of a reef surrounded by a lagoon” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I have heard of the nuclear test site, theContinue reading “exordium”

Pronounced: A-tawl Notes: I had a general idea of the meaning, but I didn’t know the specific meaning Yesterday’s word The word recrudescence is “a renewed activity after a period of dormancy” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments The background of our word is interesting: it came fromContinue reading “atoll”

Pronounced: ree-kroo-DES-uhns, noun Notes: Not only did I not know this word, I had the pronunciation wrong as well Yesterday’s word The word hyphenate is “a person who performs more than one function” — such as a producer-director in filmmaking. First usage Our word came into English in the 1970s (but see the comments) BackgroundContinue reading “recrudescence”

Pronounced: HI-fuh-nate, noun Notes: Not a word I’ve run across Yesterday’s word The word scapegoat, as a noun, is “one blamed for another’s wrongdoing”. As a verb, it means “to blame someone for another’s wrongdoing” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I had heard of a scapegoat mostContinue reading “hyphenate”

Pronounced: SCAPE-goat, noun/verb Notes: I knew the noun, but not the verb Yesterday’s word The word sansculotte is an extreme radical republican in France at the time of the Revolution a radical or violent extremist in politics First usage Our word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments In my mind, thereContinue reading “scapegoat”

Pronounced: sanz-koo-LAHT, noun Notes: This word has an interesting history Yesterday’s phrase The phrase via dolorosa is “a distressing journey or experience” First usage Our phrase came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments The original via dolorosa is the name given to the route that Jesus Christ took to Calvary. It doesContinue reading “sansculotte”

Pronounced: VIE-uh dol-uh-ROE-suh (alt: VEE-uh dol-uh-ROE-suh), noun Notes: You may this word, or at least its origin Yesterday’s word The word camarilla is “a group of unofficial often secret and scheming advisors; cabal First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments Our word came from the Spanish word camarilla (littleContinue reading “via dolorosa”

Pronounced: ka-muh-RIH-luh, noun Notes: This one is new to me Yesterday’s word The word nimrod means a hunter a stupid person First usage The first meaning came about in the early 1600s (and see the Comments below). The second meaning probably is from the 1930s, but it may have been used in that sense backContinue reading “camarilla”

Pronounced: NIM-rod, noun Notes: An interesting background Yesterday’s phrase The phrase roman à clef is “a novel in which real persons or actual events figure in disguise” (an possibly not very well disguised). First usage Our phrase came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments In Agatha Christie’s novel The Mystery of theContinue reading “nimrod”