Word of the Day
indefatigable
adjective
incapable of being tired out; not yielding to fatigue; untiring.
More about indefatigable
Indefatigable “incapable of being tired out” has changed little in spelling and meaning since its origin as the Latin adjective indēfatīgābilis “untiring” or, more literally, “not-tire out-able.” This adjective derives from the verb fatīgāre “to tire,” the source of English fatigue (via French), but its ultimate origin is unknown. The most compelling theory is that fatīgāre comes from a hypothesized adjective, fatis “gaping open” or “yawning,” found also in the verb fatīscere “to grow weak” or “to crack open.” Indefatigable entered English in the late 1500s.
how is indefatigable used?
At the age of sixty-eight, Tolstoy was given a tennis racket and taught the rules of the game. He became an instant tennis addict….All summer long, Tolstoy played tennis for three hours every day. No opponent could rival Tolstoy’s indefatigable thirst for the game of tennis…
vicinage
noun
a particular neighborhood or district, or the people belonging to it.
More about vicinage
Vicinage “a particular neighborhood or district” is a fusion of the Latin adjective vīcīnus “nearby” and the English suffix -age, which forms nouns from other parts of speech. Vīcīnus derives from the noun vīcus “village, hamlet,” which is the source of the suffixes -wich and -wick in English placenames, such as Greenwich and Brunswick, and comes from the Indo-European root weik- “clan” or “settlement.” This same root is the source of villa, from the Latin word for “country house,” and the Ancient Greek noun oikos “home,” which gives English ecology, economy, parochial, and parish.
how is vicinage used?
I drove out to Tara Estates, among the latter-day manors that lined the circling drives and culs-de-sac and stood like arrogant bastions against the ripe green earth. There were no sidewalks here, no signs of age, no mystery, as if the whole vicinage had risen up en masse at an hour in time so designated and precise that history itself had been obliterated.
The Island of Mackinac has a circumference of about nine miles, and its shores and vicinage are picturesque and romantic in the highest degree.
connubial
adjective
of marriage or wedlock; matrimonial; conjugal.
More about connubial
Connubial “of marriage or wedlock” derives from Latin cōnūbiālis, from cōnūbium “wedding,” plus the adjective-forming suffix -ālis. Cōnūbium, in turn, is a compound of com- “together, with” and nūbere “to wed,” and nūbere (stem nupt-) is the source of marriage-related words such as nubile, nuptial, and prenup. Nūbere is of obscure origin, but one theory is that its original definition was “to cover oneself with a veil,” which would suggest a derivation from nūbēs “cloud.”
how is connubial used?
She and Maurice were husband and wife. They loved one another. They would have children. Then let everybody and everything else fade into insignificance outside this connubial felicity.
In fact, by the epilogue it’s dateline Hawaii, where he is on his honeymoon—soft breezes blowing into the connubial bedchamber, his bride frolicking on the beach below—and putting in a wholehearted endorsement for the grand old institution of marriage.