📕 Word of the Day: prerogative
prerogative • \prih-RAH-guh-tiv\ • noun
Prerogative means "right or privilege," and especially refers to a special right or privilege that some people have.
// If you'd rather sell the tickets than use them, that's your prerogative.
// Education was once only the prerogative of the wealthy.
📝 Examples:
"Successfully arguing an insanity defense, the prerogative of any defendant, is a difficult hurdle." — Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Jan. 2026
📜 Did you know?
In ancient Rome, voting at legal assemblies was done by group, with the majority in a group determining the vote. The word for the group chosen to vote first on an issue was praerogātīva, a noun rooted in the Latin verb rogāre, "to ask; to ask an assembly for a decision." When English adopted prerogative from Latin, via Anglo-French, in the 15th century, it took only the idea of the privilege the ancient Roman voting group enjoyed; the English word referred then, as it also does now, to an exclusive or special right, power, or privilege. Often such a prerogative is tied to an office, official body, or nation, but as Bobby Brown reminded us in his 1988 song "My Prerogative," the right to live as you like can also be referred to as a prerogative.
#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD
#MW
📕 Word of the Day: vertiginous
vertiginous • \ver-TIJ-uh-nus\ • adjective
Vertiginous is a formal adjective used to describe something that causes or is likely to cause a feeling of dizziness especially because of great height.
// As a window washer for some of the city’s tallest skyscrapers, Victor had to quickly master working at vertiginous heights.
📝 Examples:
“The climb is infamous for its heart-pumping switchbacks and vertiginous jaunt along a narrow sliver of crag. Those who fear heights, like me, typically avoid it.” — Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2025
📜 Did you know?
The climactic scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Vertigo features, appropriately, a dramatic climb—and fall—from a vertiginous bell tower. Vertiginous, which describes things that cause vertigo (a sensation of motion in which an individual or their surroundings seem to whirl dizzily) comes from the Latin adjective vertiginosus, which in turn comes from the Latin noun vertigo, meaning “a turning or whirling action.” Both words descend from the Latin verb vertere, meaning “to turn.” Vertiginous and vertigo are just two of an almost dizzying array of vertere offspring, from adverse to vortex. The “dizzying” sense of vertiginous is often used figuratively, as in “the vertiginous heights of cinematic legend.”
#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD
📕 Word of the Day: canoodle
canoodle • \kuh-NOO-dul\ • verb
To canoodle with someone is to hug and kiss them in a romantic way.
// Two lovers were canoodling on a park bench.
📝 Examples:
“In one dining room, ruby-colored tufted banquettes sit under vintage-inspired chandeliers. In a private room, purple-colored walls give way to cocktail tables where couples might canoodle, sipping martinis.” — Sarah Blaskovich, The Dallas Morning News, 28 Mar. 2025
📜 Did you know?
The origins of canoodle are uncertain, but may have their genesis in an English dialect noun of the same spelling meaning “donkey,” “fool,” or “foolish lover.” That canoodle may itself be an alteration of the word noodle, used to mean “a foolish person.” (The fool noodle likely comes from noddle, a word for the head.) The guess seems reasonable given that, since its appearance in the language around the mid-19th century, canoodle has been most often used lightheartedly for playful public displays of affection by couples who are head over heels in love.
#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD
повсеместные ЛГБТ #LGBTQ #literas #signboards #cafe #hypersemiotization #semioticvigilance #MW
Happy #WorldRadioDay :)
Listen to the #radio via #FM, #AM (#MW), #Longwave (#LW) or #shortwave (#SW) for a while today :)
Эмпокс в Москве и Подмосковье: в январе был один случай в общежитии Тимирязевки, сейчас три пациента в Домодедове: https://msk1.ru/text/health/2026/02/13/76263283/ 🧷 #mpox #queernews #Domodedovo #TimiryazevAcademy #MW #cruising
📕 Word of the Day: rapscallion
rapscallion • \rap-SKAL-yun\ • noun
The word rapscallion refers to someone who causes trouble, often in a mischievous way. It appears in the same sorts of contexts as rascal and scamp.
// The movie follows the story of a rambunctious young rapscallion who can’t seem to stay out of trouble.
📝 Examples:
“Charlie Brown evolved into a world-class underdog. ‘Originally, Charlie Brown was a bit of a rapscallion, a bit of a wiseass,’ [Chris] Mautner said. ‘There is a certain point, after a year or two, when he starts to become the butt of jokes, when he starts being a lonely kid. Once [Charles] Schulz hit upon that, Charlie Brown got it pretty bad for a long time.’” — Jim Beckerman, The Record (Bergen County, New Jersey), 9 Oct. 2025
📜 Did you know?
The word rascal has been part of English since the 15th century, but it apparently failed to fully capture the disagreeable nature of the wily knaves of yore: by the 16th century, English speakers had expanded rascal to rascallion. But it seems that even that term didn’t sound quite mischievous enough. Eventually, rascallion was further altered, resulting in the snappier, plosive-enhanced rapscallion. And although rapscallion has zero connection with scallion, it does add a figuratively spicy kick to one’s speech, not unlike chawbacon and other cheeky insults that may be of interest and use.
#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD
📕 Word of the Day: endemic
endemic • \en-DEM-ik\ • adjective
When used for a plant or animal species, endemic describes something that grows or exists in a certain place or area, and often specifically something restricted to a particular locality or region. Endemic is also used to describe diseases that persist over time in a particular region or population. It can also mean “common in a particular area or field.”
// Our children were excited to finally see wild giant pandas—endemic to just three provinces in south-central China—during our family vacation.
// He eventually learned that low wages were endemic to his line of work, but he continued nevertheless to pursue his passion.
📝 Examples:
“Though less charismatic than the improbably pastel pink birds, unique endemic plants have achieved impressive feats of resourcefulness and endurance. Indeed, scientists have called the region an ‘unparalleled natural laboratory’ to understand how plants adapt to ‘extreme environmental conditions.’” — Thea Riofrancos, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, 2025
📜 Did you know?
Ever wonder how endemic ended up in the English language? It arrived via French and New Latin, with its ultimate origin likely in the Greek adjective éndēmos, which describes (among other things) a disease confined to one area. Éndēmos was formed from en- ( “in”) and a form of the noun dêmos, meaning “district, country, people.” That word was also key to the formation of the earlier word on which éndēmos was modeled: epidēmia, meaning “disease affecting a large number of individuals.” English adopted epidemic (also via French) in the early 17th century, but endemic didn’t become, uh, endemic until a century and a half later. (The familiar relation pandemic slipped into the language in the mid 17th.) In current use, endemic characterizes diseases that are generally found in a particular area—malaria, for example, is said to be endemic to tropical and subtropical regions—while epidemic indicates a sudden, severe outbreak within a region or group. Endemic is also used by biologists to characterize plant and animal species that are found only in a given area.
#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD
📕 Word of the Day: tabula rasa
tabula rasa • \TAB-yuh-luh-RAH-zuh\ • noun
In general use, tabula rasa refers to something existing in an original pristine state. In philosophy, tabula rasa refers to the mind in its hypothetical primary blank or empty state before receiving outside impressions.
// The apartment was only just renovated, and everything is clean and white; it's a tabula rasa, ready for a new occupant.
📝 Examples:
“Bella, née Victoria, is a living breathing tabula rasa unfettered by societal pressures, propriety, or niceties.” — Ryan Lattanzio, Indie Wire, 16 June 2025
📜 Did you know?
Philosophers have been arguing that babies are born with minds that are essentially blank slates since the days of Aristotle. (Later, some psychologists took up the position as well.) English speakers have called that initial state of mental emptiness tabula rasa (a term taken from a Latin phrase that translates as “smooth or erased tablet”) since the 16th century, but it wasn't until British philosopher John Locke championed the concept in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1690 that the term gained widespread popularity in our language. In later years, a figurative sense of the term emerged, referring to something that exists in an original state and has yet to be altered by outside forces.
#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD
ii/ii • ...Так выглядит борьба за стоимость квартирного метра? (Почему тогда к ней подключились журналистские редакции без репутации?) Пытаюсь разгадать логику утаивания и только поэтому посвятил этой новости четверть часа. #fires #censorship #incidentdatabases #privacy #вопрос #Presnya #MW
i/ii • В новостях пишут про пожар в одном из 8-этажных домов на Пресненском валу. Номер дома никто не пишет, но пожар сфотографирован с разных сторон, и поэтому понятно, что горел первый подъезд дома № 5. Это такие игры с прайвеси — не говорить номер дома? Номер дома скрыт от автоматизированного сбора информации о пожарах?.. https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/8420829 🧷 #fires #censorship #incidentdatabases #privacy #вопрос #Presnya #MW
📕 Word of the Day: besmirch
besmirch • \bih-SMERCH\ • verb
To besmirch the reputation, name, honor, etc. of someone or something is to cause harm or damage to it.
// The allegations have besmirched the company's reputation.
📝 Examples:
"... in 1895, a ruthless public smear campaign hinging on [Oscar] Wilde's queerness led to the author's imprisonment, outing, and eventual exile. ... Famously, the British press conspired to draw the dramatist's name through the mud, besmirching his literary legacy for generations to follow." — Brittany Allen, LitHub.com, 20 Oct. 2025
📜 Did you know?
The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means "to make or cause to be." But what does smirch itself mean? Since the 1400s, smirch has been used as a verb meaning "to make dirty, stained, or discolored." Besmirch joined English in the early 1600s, and today smirch and besmirch are both used when something—and especially something abstract, like a reputation—is being figuratively sullied, i.e., damaged or harmed. Besmirch isn't unique in its journey; English has a history of attaching be- to existing verbs to form synonyms. For example, befriend combines be- in its "to make or cause to be" sense with the verb friend, meaning "to act as the friend of." Befuddle combines be- in its "thoroughly" sense with fuddle, meaning "to stupefy with or as if with drink." And befog combines be- in its "to provide or cover with" sense with fog, meaning "to cover with or as if with fog."
#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD
tradizionale tecnologia radiofonica, che può prescindere dalla connessione alle reti.
BTW lo spettro radiofonico in OM, lasciato libero dallo stop delle trasmissioni RAI, in Italia ha permesso la nascita di alcune radio private che trasmettono in modulazione d'ampiezza, piuttosto che in FM. Una che ascolto talvolta la notte opera sui 1188 kHz e credo si tratti di Radio Studio X, dalla prov. di Pistoia.
#dxing #shortwave #sw #shortwaveradio #mw #mediumwave #lw #longwave
📕 Word of the Day: fortuitous
fortuitous • \for-TOO-uh-tus\ • adjective
Fortuitous is a formal word that usually describes something that comes or happens by a lucky chance. It can also mean “happening by chance” and “fortunate, lucky.”
// The fact that we were both there was a fortuitous coincidence.
// You could not have arrived at a more fortuitous time.
📝 Examples:
“The timing of the hit’s resurgence proved fortuitous: She had nearly wrapped the recording for 2025 full-length Pressure ... and the scorching hot single provided a push in the lead-up.” — Mackenzie Cummings-Grady, Billboard, 11 Nov. 2025
📜 Did you know?
Before its meaning expanded, fortuitous meant one thing only: “happening by chance.” This was no accident; its Latin forebear, fortuitus, shares the same ancient root as fors, the Latin word for “chance.” But the fact that fortuitous sounds like a blend of fortunate and felicitous (“happily suited to an occasion”) likely led to a second meaning of “fortunate, lucky,” with the seeds of the newer sense perhaps planted by writers applying overtones of good fortune to something that is a random occurrence. The “lucky” use has been disparaged by critics, but it is now well established. Irregardless (cough), employing this sense in sterner company may be considered chancy.
#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD
2/2 • Но в этом году я увидел «медиацию», где за лжемедиаторкой следовало уже человек:инь 35, в два часа встречи было включено посещение трёх мастерских, двух галерей, одной групповой выставки в коллективной мастерской (25 художественных работ в подвале площадью 30 м²) и ещё одной скромной комнаты с книжными шкафами. #artmediation #museums #artstudios #artclusters #gatherings #MW
1/2 • До сего года меня бесила «медиация», когда медиатор:ка сбивает группу из 15 человек, в план двухчасовой встречи напихивает много всего, и потом в торопях это всё осуществляет. И, конечно, делает вид, что такая гурьба может комфортно перемещаться по коридорам и набиваться в малюсенькую мастерскую (самые микроскопические мастерские — у «Гаража»). #artmediation #museums #GarageMuseum #artstudios #artclusters #gatherings #MW
Высокая и худая старушка в клетчатых брюках и меховой ушанке долго держала свой взгляд в экране пассажира — соседа по скамье. И не только читала, рассматривала, но ещё и мимически демонстрировала отрицательное удивление. #females #undergroundpipl #mimica #mimic #MW
