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.
the ringing or sound of bells.
Tintinnabulation is based on the Latin verb tintinnāre, meaning “to ring.” Tintinnāre was created by mimicking the sound of ringing, similar to English ding-dong. Tintinnabulation is often credited to Edgar Allan Poe, who featured the word in his poem The Bells in 1848, but Charles Dickens used tintinnabulation a year prior in his novel Dombey and Son. EXAMPLE OF TINTINNABULATION USED IN A SENTENCE A tintinnabulation resounded from the front desk as the guests tried to alert the hotel staff of their arrival.
freedom; independence.
Uhuru is a loanword from Swahili, a Bantu language with substantial influence from Arabic. The u- element is a native Swahili term roughly meaning “-ity, -ness,” while huru, “free,” comes from Arabic ḥurr. This Arabic term is also the source of Spanish ahorrar, “to save, avoid.” Uhuru was first recorded in English in the late 1950s. EXAMPLE OF UHURU USED IN A SENTENCE Decades of dedicated political action resulted in uhuru for the newly founded country.
love conquers all.
Omnia, “all, everything,” is the neuter plural of omnis, “all, every,” while amor means “love.” Vincit is a form of vincere, “to conquer, win,” which is also the source of the Word of the Day victorine. Omnia vincit amor was first recorded in English in the late 16th century. EXAMPLE OF OMNIA VINCIT AMOR USED IN A SENTENCE “Omnia vincit amor,” declared the officiant, and the couple began to exchange vows.
a combination of closely linked DNA sequences on one chromosome that are often inherited together.
Haplotype is a compound of haplo-, meaning “single, simple,” and type, “kind, sort.” Both of these elements come from Ancient Greek. Haplotype was first recorded in English in the late 1960s, perhaps as a coinage by Italian geneticist Ruggero Ceppellini and his colleagues in 1967. EXAMPLE OF HAPLOTYPE USED IN A SENTENCE The Y-chromosome samples from subjects in southern Europe and the Middle East all had the same haplotype, pointing to a common ancestor in ancient Africa.
incapable of being measured; limitless.
Immensurable is easily confused with immeasurable, and the resemblance is no coincidence. Both come from Late Latin mēnsūrābilis, “that can be measured,” from earlier Latin mētīrī, “to measure.” Immensurable was first recorded in English around 1530, more than a century after immeasurable. EXAMPLE OF IMMENSURABLE USED IN A SENTENCE Without the use of sonar to detect distance, the furthest depths of the ocean would still seem immensurable to scientists today.
