Word of the Day
decorous
adjective
characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc.
More about decorous
The English adjective decorous ultimately derives from Latin decōrus “acceptable, fitting, proper.” The adjective decōrus is a derivative of the noun decus (inflectional stem decor-) “esteem, honor.” The Latin words derive from the Proto-Indo-European root dek-, dok- “to accept, take,” from which Latin also derives the verb decēre “to be acceptable, be fitting,” whose present participle stem decent- is the source of English decent. From the root dok- Latin forms the verb docēre “to teach (i.e., to make acceptable, make fitting).” The English derivatives of docēre include doctrine and docent. The same root appears in Greek dokeîn “to expect, suppose, imagine, seem, seem good,” and its derivative nouns dógma “what seems good, opinion, belief,” source of English dogma, and dóxa “expectation, opinion, estimation, repute,” and in the Septuagint and the New Testament, “glory, splendor,” which forms the first element in doxology “hymn of praise.” Decorous entered English in the 17th century.
how is decorous used?
If you think British historical dramas are all decorous whisperings about how one should behave upon meeting the queen, this mini-series is here to prove that notion wrong …
The normally decorous Senate has been rocked by heated confrontations this week as fellow Republicans have traded personal and profane insults over how much loyalty to show President Trump.
agora
noun
the place where a popular political assembly met in Ancient Greece, originally a marketplace or public square.
More about agora
In Greek agorá originally meant “assembly,” especially of the common people, not of the ruling class. Agorá gradually developed the meanings “marketplace, the business that goes on in the marketplace, public speaking.” The Greek noun is a derivative of the verb ageírein “to gather,” from the Proto-Indo-European root ger-, gere- “to gather, collect,” source also of Latin grex “flock, herd,” with its English derivatives aggregate, egregious, and gregarious. Agora entered English in the late 16th century.
how is agora used?
In the fall of 1964, left-wing students at U.C. Berkeley demanded the right to hand out antiwar literature on Sproul Plaza, the red brick agora at the center of the campus.
… it has become a commonplace among ancient historians to single out the agora as the political centre of the polis where the people met to make all important decisions or, in oligarchies and tyrannies, to rubber stamp the decisions made by the rulers.
littoral
adjective
of or relating to the shore of a lake, sea, or ocean.
More about littoral
English littoral comes from the Latin adjective littorālis (lītorālis is more correct), a derivative of littor- (lītor-), the inflectional stem of lītus (littus) “shore, shoreline.” In general littoral is used for technical subjects, e.g., geography, biology. The one exception is the common noun lido meaning “fashionable beach resort,” and the somewhat less fashionable “public open-air swimming pool.” Lido comes directly from Venetian Italian Lido (di Venezia) (from Latin lītus), the name of a sandbar or chain of sandy islands between the Lagoon of Venice and the Adriatic, the site of the annual Venice Film Festival. Littoral entered English in the 17th century.
how is littoral used?
The Center for Advanced Studies would be built–perhaps there was still some virgin littoral stretch and the building he envisaged could be nestled somewhere along this lake or the other–but there would be modifications in the plan.
In another hour the horns of motors began to blow down from the winding road along the low range of the Maures, which separates the littoral from true Provençal France.