sine qua non: Word of the Day

sine qua non \sin-ih-kwah-NON; -NOHN; sy-nih-kway-\, noun: An essential condition or element; an indispensable thing. Women's enfranchisement was crucial to them -- indeed, a sine qua non, since all other progress for which they worked, such as higher education and entrance into the professions, would be meaningless if women continued to be second-class citizens. -- Lillian Faderman, To Believe in Women Of the various attributes we fiction-writers require, he said, "one of the most important is detachment. Of course tenacity of purpose is the sine qua non, otherwise we'd never keep on with it for the year or two years or longer that it takes to finish the work." -- Barry Unsworth, Sugar and Rum However we choose to define a classic, a sine qua non is that the material lend itself to reinterpretation in the light of changing circumstances. -- Matthew Gurewitsch, "A Country of Lesser Giants", New York Times, April 4, 1999 Sine qua non is from the Late Latin, literally "without which not."

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abominate: Word of the Day

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abominate \uh-BOM-uh-nayt\, transitive verb: To hate in the highest degree; to detest intensely; to loathe; to abhor. I had no wish to study or learn anything, and as for Latin, I abominated it. -- Charles Tyng, Before the Wind Sir Laurence, he said, smiling wanly, 'I detest literature. I abominate the theatre. I have a horror of culture. I am only interested in magic!' -- John Lahr (editor), The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan Abominate comes from Latin abominari, 'to deprecate as a bad omen, to hate, to detest,' from ab- + omen, 'an omen.'

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word of the day

Word of the Day for Tuesday, February 12, 2008

copacetic \koh-puh-SET-ik\, adjective:

Very satisfactory; fine.

Although all will seem copacetic on the CBS broadcast from Madison Square Garden in New York, there will be a big black cloud hanging over the glitzy proceedings.
-- Patrick MacDonald, "Major labels struggling with huge slump out of tune with listeners", Seattle Times, February 20, 2003

Everything seemed copacetic until a favorite store -- the anchor of the street -- closed suddenly.
-- Heidi Benson, "Yes, We Want No Banana", San Francisco Chronicle, September 30, 2001

Terry Glenn will return to the Patriots on Monday, but don't think that everything is copacetic as far as the oft-troubled receiver is concerned.
-- Michael Felger, "Glenn out to right wrongs; Ready to return to Pats, despite 'bad blood'", Boston Herald, October 3, 2001

The origin of copacetic is unknown.