Start each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!

Word of the Day

Word of the day

prerogative

[ pri-rog-uh-tiv, puh-rog- ]

noun

a right, privilege, etc., limited to a specific person or to persons of a particular category.

learn about the english language

More about prerogative

Prerogative “a right limited to a specific person” derives via Middle English from Latin praerogātīvus “voting first,” a compound of the preposition prae “before” and the verb rogāre “to ask, propose.” Prae is the source of the prefix pre-, which appears in three other words in this paragraph, while rogāre gives rise to several question- and claim-related words, such as arrogant (originally meaning “presuming”), interrogate, and surrogate (originally meaning “to nominate as a substitute”). Prerogative was first recorded in English in the late 1300s.

how is prerogative used?

“The law of Treasure Trove, as we call it in this country, is in a most chaotic state …. The law, such as it is, seems to rest on Royal Prerogative; but what the base of that prerogative is, no one seems exactly to know.”

Bram Stoker, The Mystery of the Sea, 1902

It’s a president’s prerogative to replace the chair of the Federal Reserve Board, if desired, when that person’s four-year term runs out. But most presidents reappoint if the chair wants to stay on the job.

"Keep Jerome Powell as Fed chair", Star Tribune, November 9, 2021

Listen to the podcast

prerogative

Play Podcast Stop Podcast
00:00/00:00
quiz icon
WHAT'S YOUR WORD IQ?
Think you're a word wizard? Try our word quiz, and prove it!
TAKE THE QUIZ
arrows pointing up and down
SYNONYM OF THE DAY
Double your word knowledge with the Synonym of the Day!
SEE TODAY'S SYNONYM
Word of the Day Calendar

Word of the day

fortuitous

[ fawr-too-i-tuhs ] [ fɔrˈtu ɪ təs ] Show IPA Phonetic Respelling

adjective

happening or produced by chance; accidental.

learn about the english language

More about fortuitous

Fortuitous “happening or produced by chance” ultimately comes from the Latin noun fors (stem fort-) “chance, luck.” Though chance and luck are not quite one and the same, the overlap between the two is why fortuitous evolved a second, more common sense of “lucky, fortunate.” Also derived from fors is the noun fortūna, which is the source of English fortune. The Roman goddess Fortūna was the goddess of luck as well as fate, and the Romans celebrated a festival in her honor, Fors Fortūna, annually on June 24. Note that Latin fors is not related to the English words forte “a person’s strength” and fortify “to strengthen against attack,” which come instead from Latin fortis “strong, brave” (compare Spanish fuerte). Fortuitous was first recorded in English circa 1650.

how is fortuitous used?

“My meeting you was merely a fortuitous accident …. Well, you will find this difficult to believe, but we collided. We came around a corner in one of the clinic corridors, you going full speed in one direction and me in the other, and you ran into me. Actually, into my shins,” he said. “You were much shorter in those days.”

Mia Marko, The Delicate, Passionate World of Gregory Morgan and Vivien Prevette, Book 1: The Accident, 2018

My unhappiness did leave me in a vulnerable emotional condition and laid the groundwork for my fortuitous meeting with Janet Opal Jeppson. The first meeting took place in 1956, and I didn’t even know it. Janet has a younger brother, John, who had gone to Boston University Medical School and who had been in the last biochemistry class I had helped teach. He was a science fiction fan and he had converted his sister, Janet, to the true faith. He also told her about me and what a terrific lecturer and eccentric fellow I was. It roused her curiosity.

Isaac Asimov, I. Asimov: A Memoir, 1979
Word of the Day Calendar

Word of the day

vanguard

[ van-gahrd ] [ ˈvænˌgɑrd ] Show IPA Phonetic Respelling

noun

the forefront in any movement, field, activity, or the like.

learn about the english language

More about vanguard

Vanguard “the forefront in any movement” comes from the same source as the recent Word of the Day avant-garde: the Middle French terms avant “to the front” and garde “guardianship.” Avant, which means “before” in modern French, comes from Latin ab ante, literally “from before.” The preposition ab “from” can be found in numerous English words that signify movement away from something, such as abduct (literally “to lead away”) and abstain (“to hold back”), while ante “before” appears in antechamber (“before a room”) and antediluvian (“before a flood”). Middle French garde is related both to English guard and ward, as the w sound in Germanic languages corresponds to g or gu in French; compare the recent Word of the Day guerdon. Vanguard was first recorded in English in the 1480s.

how is vanguard used?

MOOCs had exploded into the academic consciousness in summer 2011, when a free artificial-intelligence course offered by Stanford University in California attracted 160,000 students from around the world—23,000 of whom finished it …. Science, engineering and technology courses have been in the vanguard of the movement, but offerings in management, humanities and the arts are growing in popularity.

M. Mitchell Waldrop, “Online learning: Campus 2.0,” Nature, March 13, 2013

In the Gold Rush, Northern California attracted prospectors looking for financial independence. Now, this area is at the vanguard of a new movement—people seeking to use only the energy they produce themselves. Angry over blackouts, wildfires caused by utilities and rising electricity bills, a small but growing number of Californians in rural areas and in the suburbs of San Francisco are going off the grid.

Ivan Penn, “Frustrated With Utilities, Some Californians Are Leaving the Grid,” New York Times, March 13, 2022
Word of the Day Calendar
Word of the Day Calendar