Word of the Day
Learn a new word every day! The Dictionary.com team of language experts carefully selects each Word of the Day to add some panache to your vocabulary.
having the same ancestry or descent; related by blood.
Consanguineous comes from Latin con-, “together, with,” and sanguis, “blood.” Some linguists have connected sanguis to the rather unsavory Latin noun saniēs, “ichor, discharged fluid.” Sanguis is also the source of the Words of the Day sanguine and sanguivorous. William Shakespeare introduced consanguineous into English in his play Twelfth Night, written in 1602. EXAMPLE OF CONSANGUINEOUS USED IN A SENTENCE Though they called themselves blood brothers, the friends were in fact distant, albeit consanguineous, cousins.
to speak pompously.
Bloviate is strongly associated with President Warren G. Harding, who popularized the term but did not invent it. Bloviate is an alteration of blow in the sense “to boast,” as in blow-hard, perhaps on the pattern of abbreviate, deviate, or obviate. Bloviate was first recorded in English in the early 1850s. EXAMPLE OF BLOVIATE USED IN A SENTENCE When the poll revealed a high demand for shows relevant to modern audiences, the TV executive bloviated, insisting that the old ways were the best.
a compound noun or adjective in which the first word describes the person or object denoted by the second.
Bahuvrihi is from a Sanskrit word that literally means “having much rice.” In this rather meta way, bahuvrihi is itself a bahuvrihi. Sanskrit vrīhi and English rice may not look much alike, but they are indeed distantly related. Bahuvrihi was first recorded in English in the 1840s. EXAMPLE OF BAHUVRIHI USED IN A SENTENCE It was challenging to decide which bahuvrihi best described the hotheaded, dimwitted loudmouth.
a being or object having many legs.
Poly- comes from Ancient Greek polýs, meaning “many,” while -ped is from Latin pēs, “foot,” meaning that polyped is a blend of roots from two different languages. An all-Greek version would be “polypod,” while an all-Latin version would be “multipod” instead. Polyped was first recorded in English around 1820. EXAMPLE OF POLYPED USED IN A SENTENCE Centipedes, millipedes, and several other kinds of polypeds scurried across the forest floor.
to totally defeat or dominate, especially in a video or computer game.
Pwn is an intentional misspelling of the verb own, likely inspired by the adjacent O and P keys on QWERTY keyboards. Pwn is an example of leetspeak, a fanciful, tongue-in-cheek style of English spelling used online in informal contexts. Woot, also spelled w00t, is another example. Pwn was first recorded in English in the early 1990s. EXAMPLE OF PWN USED IN A SENTENCE “Ultimate pwnage,” the gamer remarked as she swiftly pwned the boss of the level.
