• extol •
Pronunciation: ex-tol • Hear it!Part of Speech: Verb, transitive
Meaning: To praise lavishly, unrestrainedly, to exalt.
Notes: The noun extollation was tried in the 17th century but never gained traction. The current abstract noun is extolment. Don't forget to double the L in the personal noun, extoller, and all the suffixed forms of the conjugation except those with -s: extols, extolled, extolling.
In Play: We most often extol virtues: "Founders of start-up companies have to extol the virtues of their companies to raise money and attract employees." However, we may assume virtues and just use extol: "In both the US political party conventions the presidential and vice presidential nominees were extolled to high heaven."
Word History: Today's Good Word was English extollen in Middle English from Latin extollere "to raise, elevate", but it was used figuratively in the sense of "to exalt, praise highly". This verb was made up of ex- "out (of), from" + tollere "to raise". Tollere was inherited from PIE telê- "to lift, support, weigh", which also went into the making of Greek talanton "balance", the ultimate source of English talent. This PIE root also underlies Lithuanian tiltas "bridge", Sanskrit tula "balance," and Latin tolerare "to bear, support", source of English tolerate and tolerant. (Let us now extol one of the virtues of William Hupy: his ability to spot outstanding Good Words like today's.)
