Word of the Day
veracious
adjective
characterized by truthfulness; true, accurate, or honest in content.
More about veracious
Veracious “characterized by truthfulness” is based on the noun veracity “truthfulness,” combined with the adjective-forming suffix -ous. Veracity comes from Latin vērāx “truthful,” a derivative of vērus, of the same meaning. As we learned from the recent Word of the Day aver, Latin vērus is a distant relative of Old English wǣr “faith, covenant,” the source of warlock, which meant “oathbreaker” once upon a time. Another derivative of vērus is Old French voir (modern French vrai) “true,” as in voir dire (literally “to say truly”), a type of oath in which the voir element is often mistakenly believed to come from modern French voir “to see.” Be careful not to confuse veracious with voracious “craving large amounts of food,” from Latin vorāx “gluttonous.” Veracious was first recorded in the 1670s.
how is veracious used?
In the summer of 1854, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins created the world’s first sculptures of dinosaurs for an exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace Park …. One newspaperman described the megalosaurus, the greatest of the “antediluvian monsters,” as a scaly dragon with the “head of a gryphon” and an “eye as big as a cheese-cake.” “These are the creatures,” he wrote, “that prove fairy tales to be more veracious than ancient history.”
Accuracy activists have more ways than ever to shine a veracious light on the scourge of misinformation. At the same time, digital platforms provide more efficient vectors than ever for falsehoods to spread. It’s the fact-checkers’ paradox: even as they gain new powers to hold politicians accountable, lies are more persistent than ever.
gens du monde
plural noun
people of the world; leaders in society; fashionable people.
More about gens du monde
Gens du monde “people of the world” is a borrowing from French comprising gens “people,” du “of the,” and monde “world.” Gens is a plural noun that comes from Latin gēns (stem gent-) “clan, nation, race,” which is also the source of gendarme, genteel, gentile, and gentle. The singular form of gens is gent, but only the plural gens is used in modern French; for perpetual plurals in modern English, compare binoculars, clothes, contents, jeans, outskirts, scissors, thanks, and trousers. French monde comes from Latin mundus, which originally meant “clean” before expanding to mean “elegant, decorated,” then “ornament, implement,” and finally “the heavens, world.” Gens du monde was first recorded in English at the turn of the 19th century.
how is gens du monde used?
Her unconstrained shabbiness in Rome consisted in living in a very picturesque palazzo with two maids brought with her from Russia, a male factotum, and a number of Italian assistants; … in the evening, receiving an amusing assembly of gens du monde and celebrities…
These literary gens du monde have the tact to observe, but not the patience, perhaps not the time, to investigate. They make the maxim, but they never explain to you the train of reasoning which led to it. Hence they are more brilliant than true.
ailurophile
noun
a person who likes cats.
More about ailurophile
Ailurophile “a person who likes cats” is a compound of two Ancient Greek-origin combining forms: ailuro- “cat” and -phile “lover of, enthusiast for.” Ailuro- comes from Ancient Greek aílouros “cat,” which is of uncertain origin, but a popular explanation is that it is based on aiólos “fickle, changeful” (compare aeolo-, as in aeolotropic) and ourá “tail” (compare uro-, as in uropod). The word aiólos also gives rise to the name Aeolus, the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology, and past Word of the Day aeolian “of or caused by the wind,” but it is not related to the combining form aero- “air.” Take care not to confuse uro- “tail” with uro- “urine,” which comes from Ancient Greek oûron. Despite the similar spelling, there does not appear to be any deeper connection between the two forms. Ailurophile was first recorded in English in the late 1920s.
how is ailurophile used?
There was a time when I managed to keep a lid on my love for all things feline …. Matters began to really get out of hand … when I married a fellow ailurophile.
Does Alicia have a dog or cat or nothing? I decide on a cat called Chestnut. An old cat with one blind eye. Alicia is not a serious ailurophile, however; she neglects Chestnut, and Chestnut knows it.