Word of the Day
hortatory
adjective
urging to some course of conduct or action; exhorting; encouraging: a hortatory speech.
More about hortatory
Hortatory comes from Late Latin hortātōrius “encouraging, cheering,” an adjective that first appears in St. Augustine’s Confessions (a.d. 397–400). Hortātōrius ultimately derives from the verb horī “to urge,” from a Proto-Indo-European root gher-, ghor-, ghṛ– “to like, take pleasure.” From the variant gher-, Oscan, an extinct Italic language related to Latin, has Herentateís súm (“I am of the goddess Venus,” i.e., “I am a dedication to Venus”). Gher– yields Sanskrit háryati “(he) takes pleasure”; ghṛ– yields Greek chaírein “to rejoice” and cháris “grace, favor.” Hortatory entered English in the second half of the 16th century.
how is hortatory used?
He admired the man’s passion and fighting spirit, his wit, his hortatory style, his good looks and fine speech.
Other summits serve a similar hortatory function: leading by example and pressuring others to do more.
limn
verb (used with object)
to portray in words; describe.
More about limn
Limn is not a misspelling of another word. It comes from the late Middle English verb lymne(n) (also limnen, liminen, limpnen, luminen) “to illuminate (a book, manuscript, or rubric),” a shortening of enlumine, from the Old French verb enluminer. Enluminer comes from Latin illūmināre or inlūmināre “to give light to, brighten, illuminate.” The root of the Latin verb is the noun lūmen (inflectional stem lūmin-) “light, radiance, rays of light,” from an unrecorded louksmen. Louksmen is derived from the common Proto-Indo-European root leuk-, louk-, luk– “white, bright,” which is also the source of Latin lūx (stem lūc-) “a light,” lūna “moon (from louksnā, which is also the source of Russian luná “moon”), Greek leukós “white, bright,” amphilýkē “twilight,” and Old English lēoht, līht (English light). Limn entered English in the first half of the 15th century.
how is limn used?
What we do as writers, paradoxically, is attempt at one and the same time to summon up the whole of experience, to limn the world at full tilt, and to render some small portion of this world with such specificity that, walking past, the reader feels the grit of it catching in the soles of shoes.
The creators of the blog Tom and Lorenzo limn the reality show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as a window into gay culture and history.
vicarious
adjective
felt or enjoyed through imagined participation in the experience of others: a vicarious thrill.
More about vicarious
The adjective vicarious comes from the Latin adjective and noun vicārius “substituting, taking the place of another; one who takes over for or from another, a replacement or successor.” Vicārius is formed from the noun vicis (a genitive singular—the nominative singular does not occur) “a recurring occasion, a turn; an interchange or alternation,” and the adjective suffix –ārius, completely naturalized in English as –ary. Vicārius regularly becomes vicaire, vicar(e) in Old French, and vicar(e), vicair(e) in Middle English, with many meanings, including “one delegated with apostolic authority, such as a priest or the pope; a priest appointed to a parish in place of the regular priest or parson.” Vicarious entered English in the 17th century.
how is vicarious used?
Laying a sleeping bag on the hard metal floor of a rail car as it rumbles down the tracks is not for those accustomed to creature comforts. Yet his photographs of this life-on-the-edge experience illicit a vicarious thrill.
Track and field are some of the most exciting events in the Olympic Games, but after the weeks of hype, the events themselves are so short … that it seems like they’re over before a casual fan has time to get a vicarious adrenaline rush.