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.
a system of writing Japanese using the letters of the Latin alphabet.
Romaji is a borrowing of Japanese rōma, “Rome, Roman,” combined with ji, “character.” Japanese ji can also be found in emoji, kanji, and the Word of the Day kaomoji, and is related to Mandarin zì, “character, word.” Romaji was first recorded in English in the late 1880s. EXAMPLE OF ROMAJI USED IN A SENTENCE Once the Japanese text was rendered in romaji, gamers throughout Europe and the Americas were able to pronounce the game characters’ names.
not supporting or controlled by a political party, special interest group, or the like.
Nonpartisan is formed from the negative prefix non- and the adjective partisan, which comes from Latin pars, meaning “piece, portion, faction.” Pars is also the source of parcel and particle (both literally “little piece”), and compartment (“shared with”). For the origin of the -isan element, check out the Word of the Day bipartisan. Nonpartisan was first recorded in English in the early 1880s. EXAMPLE OF NONPARTISAN USED IN A SENTENCE Members of all parties banded together to release an independent, nonpartisan statement about the future of the economy.
liveliness; vitality; vigor.
Pizazz, which is also spelled pizzazz, pzazz, and even bezazz, is a term of unknown origin. Along with jazz, razzmatazz, and snazzy, pizazz belongs to a family of slang terms with double z’s that may reflect a longer trend of English speakers using the “zuh” sound to provoke a certain feeling or reaction. The first known instance of pizazz in writing dates to 1912, but it became popular when it appeared in the March 1937 issue of the magazine Harper’s Bazaar. EXAMPLE OF PIZAZZ USED IN A SENTENCE Though the singer hit every note, the director advised her to add some more pizazz to her performance to keep the audience’s attention.
the reasoning that, when a conditional statement (if X is red) is accepted as true, a subsequent statement, beginning with “then” (then Y is blue), is also affirmed as true.
Modus ponens is borrowed from Latin and literally means “affirming mode.” Modus, which means “manner, kind, tone, way” in Classical Latin, also appears in the terms modus operandi (literally “way of working”) and modus vivendi (“way of living”). Ponens comes from Latin pōnere, “to place, put,” which is also the source of opponent, position, and postpone. Modus ponens was first recorded in English in the late 1830s. EXAMPLE OF MODUS PONENS USED IN A SENTENCE A common saying that uses modus ponens, with some variation, is “If there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
an alignment of three celestial objects, as the sun, the earth, and the moon.
Syzygy ultimately comes from Ancient Greek syzygía, meaning “union, pair.” Sy- means “together,” as sym- in sympathy and as syn- in sync. Zyg-, meanwhile, is a distant relative of English yoke. Syzygy is not the only English word containing three y’s, but it may be the shortest. Others include hyponymy and mystifyingly. Syzygy was first recorded in English in the 1650s. EXAMPLE OF SYZYGY USED IN A SENTENCE The syzygy of the Sun, Earth, and Moon caused a shadow to fall on the lunar surface.
