Category Archives: America

Word of the Day – July 27, 2019

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hyperbole

(hī-pûr′bə-lē)

n.

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.
[Latin hyperbolē, from Greek huperbolē, excess, from huperballein, to exceed : huper, beyond; see hyper- + ballein, to throw; see gwelə- in Indo-European roots.]

Word of the Day – May 18, 2019

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palimpsest

(păl′ĭmp-sĕst′)

n.

1. A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely scraped off or erased and often legible.
2. An object or area that has extensive evidence of or layers showing activity or use: “My skin had become a palimpsest of fleeting sensations, and each layer bore the imprint of who I was” (Paul Auster).
[Latin palimpsēstum, from Greek palimpsēston, neuter of palimpsēstos, scraped again : palin, again; see kwel- in Indo-European roots + psēn, to scrape.]

Word of the Day – April 6, 2019

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moiety

noun

moi·​e·​ty | \ ˈmȯi-ə-tē \
plural moieties

Definition of moiety

1a : one of two equal parts : half
b : one of two approximately equal parts … war, pestilence, and famine had consumed … the moiety of the human species.— Edward Gibbon
2 : one of the portions into which something is divided : component, part an ether molecule with a benzene moiety
3 : one of two basic complementary tribal subdivisions the pueblo’s population is divided into two halves or moieties; the Squash, or Winter People, and the Turquoise, or Summer People  CITE: http://www.freedictionary.com