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

dissilient

[ dih-sil-ee-uhnt ]

adjective

bursting apart; bursting open.

learn about the english language

More about dissilient

Dissilient, bursting apart or open, is primarily a botanical term referring to ripe pods or capsules of some plants bursting apart. Dissilient comes from Latin 餃勳莽莽勳梭勳襲紳莽 (inflectional stem dissilient-), the present participle of 餃勳莽莽勳梭蘋娶梗, to leap apart, a compound of the prefix dis– apart, asunder, away and –莽勳梭蘋娶梗, a derivative of the simple verb 莽硃梭蘋娶梗 to leap, jump, spurt. Dissilient entered English in the second half of the 17th century.

how is dissilient used?

Dissilient as milkweed, deprived of cohesion, I am a blown surface.

Joan Houlihan, "You Would Be Warm," The Mending Worm: Poems, 2006

The court was dissilient, generationally fractured, mannered (as it were) by an increasingly impatient and acquisitive nobility.

Eric S. Mallin, Inscribing the Time: Shakespeare and the End of Elizabethan England, 1995

Listen to the podcast

dissilient

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

picaresque

[ pik-uh-resk ]

adjective

of, relating to, or resembling rogues.

learn about the english language

More about picaresque

The English adjective picaresque, pertaining to or resembling rogues, is modeled on Spanish picaresco pertaining to or resembling a 梯穩釵硃娶棗 (i.e., a rogue or vagabond), which first appears in print in Spanish in 1569. Picaresque in the sense pertaining to a kind of narrative fiction first appears in print in English in 1810; Spanish picaresco in the same sense appears in 1836. The etymology of 梯穩釵硃娶棗 is contested: it may come from the verb picar to prick, pierce, from Vulgar Latin 梯勳釵釵櫻娶梗, and be related to Latin 梯蘋釵喝莽 w棗棗餃梯梗釵域梗娶. 捩穩釵硃娶棗 first appears in print in Spanish in the first half of the 16th century in the phrase 梯穩釵硃娶棗 de cozina kitchen knave; it was not a literary term. 捩穩釵硃娶棗 in the sense hero of a genre of novel first appears in English in the first half of the 17th century.

how is picaresque used?

Ronnie Cornwell was a picaresque, forceful, charming, world-class con man, and he is the obsession of his famous son to this day.

Timothy Garton Ash, "The Real le Carr矇," The New Yorker, March 15, 1999

The author … has composed meticulous biographies of each of the complete Gutenberg Bibles that have come down to us. Many have led picaresque lives. Harvards copy was briefly stolen, in 1969, by a troubled young man who smashed its glass encasement, took the book, climbed out a window, and knocked himself unconscious when he fell to the ground.

Cullen Murphy, "Our Predictions About the Internet Are Probably Wrong," The Atlantic, January/February 2020

Listen to the podcast

picaresque

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

51勛圖 of the day

ravelment

[ rav-uhl-muhnt ]

noun

entanglement; confusion.

learn about the english language

More about ravelment

Ravelment, entanglement; confusion, is a compound of the verb ravel to tangle, entangle and the noun suffix –ment, here denoting a resulting state. Ravel most likely comes from Dutch ravelen to become entangled or confused, (of fabric or thread) to fray. Ravelment entered English in the first half of the 19th century.

how is ravelment used?

We are prone to seek out one cause as the single cause, which by itself determines all later events in a chain of events. But historical causes are a ravelment and there can be no single turning point from which all events flow.

Gary Saul Morson, Hidden in Plain View, 1987

This jagged shard of American history has become a ravelment of an election, a tangle of confusion and complexity.

Francis X. Clines, "The Latest Stop on a Wild Ride: the Ballot Box, Again," New York Times, December 10, 2000

Listen to the podcast

ravelment

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