Word of the Day
breviloquent
adjective
speaking or expressed in a concise or terse style; using brevity of speech.
More about breviloquent
Breviloquent means 鈥渟peaking in a concise style.鈥� Breviloquent comes from the Latin adjective 产谤别惫颈濒辞辩耻脓苍蝉 (inflectional stem breviloquent-), a compound of brevis 鈥渟hort鈥� (inflectional stem brevi-) and 濒辞辩耻脓苍蝉, present participle of 濒辞辩耻墨 鈥渢o speak.鈥� Breviloquentia, 鈥渂revity of speech,鈥� the noun derivative of 产谤别惫颈濒辞辩耻脓苍蝉, occurs only once鈥攐ne time!鈥攊n all of Latin literature, in a private letter that Cicero wrote to his close childhood friend, Titus Pomponius Atticus. Breviloquent entered English in the 19th century.
how is breviloquent used?
On the contrary, nothing is more remarkable in the Paston correspondence than the extreme and business-like shortness of most of them. They seem to anticipate the breviloquent era of Sir Rowland Hill.听
Soft-spoken and breviloquent, Nokie Edwards’ gentle manner is contradicted by the quick, clean guitar licks that make him famous as a former member of surf-instro band The Ventures.
breviloquent
panacea
noun
an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties: His economic philosophy is a good one, but he tries to use it as a panacea.
More about panacea
Panacea comes from Latin 辫补苍补肠脓补, which had the same meanings of the Greek original, 辫补苍谩办别颈补 鈥渦niversal remedy; the name of a healing plant and its juice.鈥� 笔补苍谩办别颈补 is a compound of the Greek combining form pan– 鈥渁ll,鈥� completely naturalized in English, and the adjective suffix –补办岣梥 鈥渉ealing,鈥� a derivative 谩办辞蝉 鈥渃ure, remedy.鈥� The Greeks had a genius for personification, making, for instance, the common noun 辫别颈迟丑峁� 鈥減ersuasion鈥� into the goddess 笔别颈迟丑峁�. So, too, with 丑测驳铆别颈补 鈥渉ealthy state, good health鈥� becoming the goddess 贬测驳铆别颈补, and 辫补苍谩办别颈补, the goddess 笔补苍谩办别颈补. In fact the first sentence of the Hippocratic Oath (originally dating between the 5th and 3rd centuries b.c.) begins, 鈥淚 swear by Apollo the physician and Asclepius and Hygeia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses鈥�.鈥� Panacea entered English in the mid-16th century.
how is panacea used?
That could help provide a financial lifeline for the difficult weeks ahead 鈥� but it isn鈥檛 a panacea ….
The panacea of a world state, on the contrary, is doomed to bitter disappointment. A political unification of the nations of the world is impossible while political questions divide mankind.
panacea
taxonomy
noun
a classification into ordered categories: a proposed taxonomy of educational objectives.
More about taxonomy
The English noun taxonomy, 鈥渃lassification into ordered categories,鈥� comes from French taxonomie, an irregular formation from the Greek noun 迟谩虫颈蝉 鈥渕ilitary formation by rank and file,鈥� and the Greek combining form –苍辞尘铆补, a derivative of 苍贸尘辞蝉 鈥渓aw.鈥� A note on the spelling: the original Greek noun 迟谩虫颈蝉 is an 鈥渋-stem,” and its connecting vowel is –i-; the etymologically correct form is taxinomy. The noun 迟谩虫辞蝉, 鈥測ew, yew tree,鈥� has the connecting vowel –o-; taxonomy 鈥減roperly鈥� means 鈥渃lassification of yew trees.鈥� Taxonomy entered English in the first half of the 19th century.
how is taxonomy used?
Warhol was the little match girl peering in at high society, wondering what a rich collector or a countess was like and creating a taxonomy of it.
How long has our current taxonomy of Red State vs. Blue State been part of our political vernacular?
taxonomy