Luckily I looked this up before using it, rather than after. I was going to use it as a near-synonym for *credibility*.… Read the rest
Similar to *refute*, but with stronger connotation. A refutation is an assertion; confutation is substantiated and proven.
Found in one of the footnotes of *The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire*.
> He represents with candour and confutes with subtlety, the opinions of the philosophers.… Read the rest
This one has confused me for a long time. I’m familiar with a lot of different uses of this by itself and as a modifier, and have been curious how those uses came from the same source, what’s common between, say, a *macrobiotic diet* and a *keyboard macro*. It’s still vexing that we use a *microscope* to look at small things, and a *macro lens* to take pictures of small things (to be fair, Nikkor does mark their close-focusing lenses … Read the rest
Found this in Chapter 76 of the Tao Te Ching, Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo translation:
The ten thousand plants and trees Are born soft and tender And die withered and sere.
Context tells a lot, but I don’t recall ever encountering this word before. So I looked it up and lucky you get to read about it.… Read the rest
Funny, I always thought that this meant pretty much its antonym; in the definition *relating to prose* I assumed «proverbial» or «worthy of being written about.» I thought it was odd reading *the prosaic steel girder* wondering what was so interesting about it. I should have been reading «humble» where I was placing «noteworthy».… Read the rest
This word has pretty broad areas of usage, which intrigued me into looking it up. Remit comes from the Latin *mitto* which means to throw, send, eject, or bleed. The re- simply indicates being sent again.… Read the rest
The word I wanted [here]([canonical-url:/2007/03/29/daring-doesnt-make-it-good/]) was «betray» not «belie.» And it is spelled with an «ie» at the end, not with a «y».
Thanks, Dad!… Read the rest
So wicked as to warrant corporal punishment; scandalous.
I came across this word in a rendition of an interactive thesaurus. The example keyword was “bad.” It comes from the latin for “whip,” as do flagellate and flagellum. I guessed that it would have something to do with waving or lashing, but the actual meaning was a bit surprising.… Read the rest
Moral corruption or vile nature.
In 1953, biochemist Alex B. Novikoff’s tenure was revoked and he was dismissed from his position at the University of Vermont on the grounds that his invocation of Fifth Amendment rights when being questioned about his youthful association with the Communist Party constituted “moral turpitude.”… Read the rest
To throw out of a window.
It is humbling that I had to look up a word that I heard on network television. I think it was one of the Law and Order spin-offs. Someone had been killed by being defenestrated. I did a little double-take and looked it up. Sure, the body was on the ground, but it wasn’t really clear from the context what it meant. Besides, I’m trying not to count on my gleanings from context anymore … Read the rest