• beautiful • Pronunciation: (US) byu -dê-fêl, (UK) byu -ti-fêl • Hear it! Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1. Extremely attractive, having qualities that delight, beyond pretty. 2. Excellent, splendid, remarkable, outstanding. Notes: Here is a word containing four of the five permanent vowels in...

• gregarious • Pronunciation: grê- gæ -ri-ês • Hear it! Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1. Flocking, herding, tending to live in groups rather than alone, as a gregarious bird species. 2. Proactively sociable, always seeking company, skilled at social navigation and networking. Notes: Today's Go...

• impresario • Pronunciation: im-prê- sahr -ri-o • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: A successful theatrical manager, producer or director. Notes: I've always associated this word with highly successful bigtime theatrical promoters or someone pretending to be such. Remember the initial I. An e...

Far too many words coincidentally spelled the same with too many meanings. Try again.

• fluctuate • Pronunciation: flêk -chê-wayt • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive Meaning: 1. To rise and fall in waves, to undulate. 2. To vary or waver, to undergo alternating changes, to vacillate. Notes: Today's word has a large derivative family. The adjective is fluctuant "fluctu...

Latin cauda "tail" is a perfect phonological source of coda, but the semantics seem wildly unrelated. Anyone see a connection between tails and laws?

• codify • Pronunciation: kah -dê-fai • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb Meaning: 1. To collect and organize rules and regulations systematically. 2. To establish officially as a rule or law. Notes: This word is based on the noun code "rule, regulation" along the lines of mode » modify . It ...

• emanate • Pronunciation: em -ê-nayt • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb Meaning: 1. To issue (from), to spring forth (from). 2. To arise or originate (from), to come out of or from, to begin at. 3. (Transitively) To emit, to send or project outwardly. Notes: Emanate offers several adjectives, but I w...

• decimate • Pronunciation: de -sê-mayt • Hear it! Part of Speech: Verb, transitive Meaning: 1. Originally, to reduce by one tenth; first used in the Roman army when every tenth deserter was put to death. 2. To reduce dramatically in size or number. 3. To inflict great damage or destruction. Notes:...

David Spivak sent this comment via our contact page: I am commenting on your Email of Sept. 11th whereby you state that: This word [provocateur] is not to be confused with provoker "someone who provokes". The online version of Merriam-Webster allows, as a secondary usage, "the more ge...

• outcrop • Pronunciation: æwt -krahp • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. A large area of stone sticking out of the surrounding ground. 2. Anything breaking through revealing something beneath the surface. Notes: This noun may be used as a verb making it possible for the present participle,...

• cathedra • Pronunciation: kê- thee -drê • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. The chair or position of a bishop. 2. The official position or office of a respected high officer, such as a president or professor. Notes: We see this word in cathedral , the location of cathedrae (notice the spe...

• provocateur • Pronunciation: prê-vah-kê- tUr • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: Someone assigned by authorities to infiltrate and provoke certain groups to break the law or behave otherwise to suit those authorities. Notes: This word is not to be confused with provoker "someone who pro...

• sympathy • Pronunciation: sim -pê-thee • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: 1. A sense of similar distress for someone, commiseration, compassion, pity for someone in distress. 2. Agreement with or support of an opinion, as 'to be in sympathy with her thinking on issues'. 3. (Usually plural) ...

• grimoire • Pronunciation: grim- wah(r) • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: An instruction book of sorcery and casting spells. Notes: This word is another wonder at the crossroads of grammar and other senses. Another crossroad was grammar and glamor (or British glamour ; see Word History ). T...