Category Archives: word

Pronounced: CORE-uh-skate, verb Notes: I happened to run across this word in reading Yesterday’s word The word peripeteia is “a sudden or unexpected change of fortune (especially in a literary work) First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments I was thinking that this word had something about walkingContinue reading “coruscate”

Pronounced: per-uh-puh-TEE-uh (alt: per-uh-puh-TIE-uh), noun Notes: Also spelled “peripetia”. It wasn’t what I thought Yesterday’s word The word sequester means First usage Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s Background / Comments I started reading the Perry Mason stories in my late teens, and the idea of a jury being sequesteredContinue reading “peripeteia”

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 First usage Our word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments In my mind, there was a vague association of our word with the French Revolution: as you can see by the first definitionContinue 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”