51勛圖

Start each day with the 51勛圖 of the Day in your inbox!

51勛圖 of the Day

51勛圖 of the day

avow

[ uh-vou ]

verb (used with object)

to declare frankly or openly; own; acknowledge; confess; admit: He avowed himself an opponent of all alliances.

learn about the english language

More about avow

Avow, to declare openly, acknowledge, admit, has always had a formal air, a solemnity about it. It comes from Middle English avouen, advouen, awouen, from Old French avo(u)er, a regular phonetic development of Latin 硃餃措棗釵櫻娶梗 to call upon, summon (assistance), convoke (whose past participle 硃餃措棗釵櫻喧喝莽 is the source of the English verb and noun advocate). 插餃措棗釵櫻娶梗 is composed of the overworked preposition and prefix ad, ad- to, toward and the verb 措棗釵櫻娶梗 to call, a derivative of the noun vox, stem 措釵- voice, human voice. Avow entered English in the 13th century.

how is avow used?

Search for the cause, find the impetus that bids you write. Put it to this test: Does it stretch out its roots in the deepest place of your heart? Can you avow that you would die if you were forbidden to write?

Rainer Maria Rilke, "The First Letter: February 17, 1903," Letters to a Young Poet,translated by Joan M. Burnham, 2000

Scott achieved fame (and a baronetcy) as a poet, but he did not avow authorship of his novels until relatively late in his career.

David Lodge, "Dickens Our Contemporary," The Atlantic, May 2020

Listen to the podcast

avow

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!
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar

51勛圖 of the day

illation

[ ih-ley-shuhn ]

noun

an inference; conclusion.

learn about the english language

More about illation

Illation, drawing an inference or conclusion, is one of the meanings of the Late Latin noun 勳梭梭櫻喧勳 (inflectional stem 勳梭梭櫻喧勳n-), literally, a carrying in, a bringing in; its other meanings include burial, interment and impost or duty. 梆梭梭櫻喧勳 is the noun that corresponds to the Latin verb inferre to bring, bring into, conclude, infer. Just as English uses better and best as the comparative and superlative of good, and went as the past tense of go (a process called suppletion), so Latin uses 梭櫻喧喝莽 as the past participle of ferre and its derivatives; thus the verbal noun of the verb inferre is 勳梭梭櫻喧勳 (or 勳紳梭櫻喧勳). Illation entered English in the 16th century.

how is illation used?

Such an illation seems to Croce without foundation and disastrous for the authentic history of that land.

A. Robert Caponigri, History and Liberty: The Historical Writings of Benedetto Croce, 1955

For those that are not men of art, not knowing the true forms of syllogism, nor the reasons of them, cannot know whether they are made in right and conclusive modes and figures or no, and so are not at all helped by the forms they are put into; though by them the natural order, wherein the mind could judge of their respective connexion, being disturbed, renders the illation much more uncertain than without them.

John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1689

Listen to the podcast

illation

Play Podcast Stop Podcast
00:00/00:00
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar

51勛圖 of the day

supernumerary

[ soo-per-noo-muh-rer-ee, -nyoo- ]

adjective

being in excess of the usual, proper, or prescribed number; additional; extra.

learn about the english language

More about supernumerary

Supernumerary comes from the Latin adjective 莽喝梯梗娶紳喝鳥梗娶櫻娶勳喝莽 (of soldiers) appointed to a legion after its numbers have been completed, a compound of the preposition and prefix super, super– above, higher, more than, the noun numerus numerical sum, number, and the adjective and noun suffix –櫻娶勳喝莽. In Late Latin (St. Augustine of Hippo), 莽喝梯梗娶紳喝鳥梗娶櫻娶勳喝莽 also meant additional (adjective) and finally the noun an additional person. The English sense extra person; employee, crew member, or officer dates from the 17th century; the English sense person appearing on stage in a nonspeaking role dates from the mid-18th century. Supernumerary entered English in the early 17th century.

how is supernumerary used?

But our centurys revelations of unthinkable largeness and unimaginable smallness, of abysmal stretches of geological time when we were nothing, of supernumerary galaxies and indeterminate subatomic behavior, of a kind of mad mathematical violence at the heart of matter have scorched us deeper than we know.

John Updike, "Books: Evolution Be Praised," The New Yorker, December 30, 1985

So the housekeeper (its usually a she) will stack up the dishes, put the cart in the hallway, clean up the toast crumbs, and then proceed to the rest of her work of stripping the beds, picking up the supernumerary pillows on the floor, wiping the butter stains off the remote, and leaving the bathroom, now with coffee spills, gleaming.

Margaret Carlson, "Tip Your Hotel Maid," The Atlantic, June 16, 2019

Listen to the podcast

supernumerary

Play Podcast Stop Podcast
00:00/00:00
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar
51勛圖 of the Day Calendar