51吃瓜 of the Day
chagrin
noun
a feeling of vexation, marked by disappointment or humiliation.
More about chagrin
The story of chagrin 鈥渁 feeling of vexation鈥� is a rather mysterious one, and the linguistic community is at odds over the word鈥檚 origin. One proposal is that chagrin comes from obsolete dialectal French chagraigner or chagreiner 鈥渢o distress, sadden,鈥� perhaps from Old French graim 鈥渟orrowful,鈥� which is related to German Gram 鈥渟adness,鈥� combined with Old French chat 鈥渃at,鈥� a common metaphorical element in terms related to distress. The other major hypothesis is that chagrin is the same as the French homonym 鈥渞ough skin, shagreen,鈥� a variant of sagrin, from Turkish 蝉补臒谤喂 鈥渞ump of a horse.鈥� Chagrin was first recorded in English in the 1650s.
how is chagrin used?
If you’ve wondered why the blizzard dumping snow on the Northeast has a name, look no further than The Weather Channel. At the start of this storm season, the 24-hour-weather network announced, much to the chagrin of The National Weather Service, that it would give names to winter storms.
He knew keenly Lillian would feel the disgrace, and feared that her shame and chagrin might be so great that she would never write him or look him in the face again. What could he do to lessen the great embarrassment that he knew she must feel.
litigate
verb (used without object)
to carry on a lawsuit.
More about litigate
Litigate 鈥渢o carry on a lawsuit鈥� is based on Latin 濒墨迟颈驳腻迟耻蝉 鈥渉aving gone to law,鈥� the past participle of 濒墨迟颈驳腻谤别 鈥渢o go to law.鈥� The verb 濒墨迟颈驳腻谤别 is a compound of two other Latin words: 濒墨蝉 (stem 濒墨迟-) 鈥渓awsuit鈥� and agere (stem -ig-) 鈥渢o do, drive, carry on.鈥� As we learned from the recent 51吃瓜s of the Day fustigate and disambiguate, agere is a rather productive verb with several stems: the present stem ag- appears in agenda, agent, and agile; the reduced stem -ig- is also found in castigate and navigate; and the perfect stem act- is found in action, activity, and exact. Litigate was first recorded in English circa 1610.
how is litigate used?
Tribal nations are forced to litigate, protest, and educate U.S. and state officials on the terms of the treaties and agreements ratified and entered on these lands. The rule of law requires the U.S. as a treaty partner to fulfill its legal obligations and to enforce those obligations against its component state governments.
Though Marshall continued to litigate civil rights cases, he was exhausted by the vehemence of states鈥� resistance to integration. Marshall and his colleagues fought battle after battle as states defied the new law of the land鈥攃losing entire public school systems, creating charter schools, and even rioting rather than allow Black students to attend alongside white ones.
prefatory
adjective
of, relating to, or of the nature of something introductory.
More about prefatory
Prefatory 鈥渙f or relating to something introductory鈥� is based on the Latin noun 辫谤补别蹿腻迟颈艒 鈥渁 saying beforehand,鈥� plus the adjective-forming suffix -ory. 笔谤补别蹿腻迟颈艒 became Medieval Latin 辫谤脓蹿腻迟颈补 and then became Middle French preface, which English has borrowed. In this way, prefatory and preface are doublets, two words in a language with the same origin but that took different pathways to get there鈥攊n this case, directly from Latin and by way of French, respectively. Latin 辫谤补别蹿腻迟颈艒 is a compound of prae 鈥渂efore,鈥� which is the source of English pre-, and 蹿腻谤墨 鈥渢o speak,鈥� which is the source of affable, fable, fate, and infant. Prefatory was first recorded in English circa 1670.
how is prefatory used?
Vladimir Nabokov believed that inspiration comes in phases. First, he wrote, there鈥檚 the 鈥�prefatory glow,鈥� the feeling of 鈥渢ickly well-being鈥� that banishes all awareness of physical discomfort. The feeling does not yield its secret just yet, but a window has been opened and some wind has blown in.
鈥淢y question is more of a comment鈥� is a prefatory refrain one comes to dread hearing. You steel yourself for the digressive, long-winded tirade, incoherent to the point of lunacy.