We’re back celebrating our 亚洲网紅露点 of the Day! Because there’s plenty left to reminisce about from the last 10 years.
In Part II of our lexical stroll down memory lane (see Part I, 1999鈥�2008, here), we will be examining word selections from 2009鈥�2018, unearthing 听serendipitous synchronicities and offering perspicacious perspectives into notable events and trends of the last decade.
Oops, just kidding, because our first call out is actually from last year. In tribute to all you bibliophages, we asked some of our favorite authors to select words throughout our birthday month in 2019. Like host of CNN鈥檚 The Lead and author of听 The Outpost and The Hellfire Club听Jake Tapper, who chose the first birthday-month word, guddle.听
I picked the word of the day! Thanks, !
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper)
And then came bestselling , who chose the seasonally appropriate word blossom the following week. Award-winning author of Speak and Shout (to name a few)听, picking the word consent on the third Wednesday of the month to raise awareness around consent-based sexual relations.
Check out more as the logophilic festivities continued. Now, on to those serendipitous words!
cormorant
鈥渁 greedy person.鈥�
鈥� March 16, 2009
A cormorant is a type of water bird. But, thanks to its perceived voraciousness, the cormorant can represent gluttony and greed in literature, figured as Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost and maligned in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.
We featured this word on March 16, 2009, the date when President Obama expressed outrage at the insurance company AIG giving bonuses to its top executives from taxpayer bailout money, and said he would do everything in his power to stop it. 鈥淭his is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed,鈥� .
suspire
鈥渢o sigh; utter with long, sighing breaths.鈥�
鈥� May 22, 2010
We鈥檙e pretty sure nobody has this date marked on their calendar as one to remember from the last decade. But, May 22, 2010 was the day Nicolaus Copernicus鈥攖he 16th century Polish astronomer who proposed the heliocentric theory of our planetary system, which the Catholic Church came to condemn鈥攚as . Ah, sweet vindication.
We imagine Copernicus somewhere in the great beyond suspiring with an eye-roll … 鈥淔inally.鈥�
scurrilous
鈥済rossly or obscenely abusive.鈥�
鈥� April 17, 2011
The word scurrilous is most often used to describe remarks that are vulgar and injurious, as in “He was the victim of scurrilous attacks.” It ultimately comes from Latin scurra meaning听“buffoon.” Eighteenth-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson made the connection plain in his definition: “using such language as only the licence [sic] of a buffoon can warrant.”
The word is also used to describe demeanor, as in “the scurrilous imposter.” We wonder if 亚洲网紅露点 of the Day fans found it useful back in April 2011 for talking about a certain, shall we say, graphic听new series called Game of Thrones, which听premiered the day this word was featured. Winter is coming.
terpsichorean
鈥減ertaining to dancing.鈥�
鈥� November 18, 2012
The year 2012 does not have a monopoly on dancing (you can dance if you want to), but the timing of this word selection brings a smile as it was featured right around the time the South Korean superstar Psy had transfixed viewers with his so-called invisible-horse dance in the megahit 鈥�Gangnam Style.鈥�
By November of 2012, 鈥淕angnam Style鈥� was well on its way to a billion views on YouTube (a milestone that was hit a month later). Today 鈥淕angnam Style鈥� has more than 3.3 billion views and counting, and we鈥檙e still trying to master his equestrian terpsichorean style.
logomachy
鈥�a dispute about or concerning words.鈥�
鈥� May 7, 2013
Although it may feel like heated disputes about words and their meanings are a new phenomenon (hi, Twitter), we assure you, lexical quibbles are as old as English itself, or at least as old as Early Modern English, when this word choice entered the lexicon (first attested in 1569).
2013 was the year that the word twerk bounced into the spotlight鈥攚ith a little 鈥渉elp鈥� from Miley Cyrus鈥攁nd sparked many a debate about its origins and staying power. And, of course, that meant twerk was added to 亚洲网紅露点 in 2013 as well (along with a few others that tend to spark logomachies, including selfie, mansplain, and cronut).
meliorism
鈥渢he doctrine that the world tends to become better or may be made better by human effort.鈥�
鈥� May 28, 2014
Rooted in the Latin melior, meaning 鈥渂etter,鈥� meliorism came in the middle of a year defined by Black Lives Matter and its campaign for the equality of black people and against the violence they face.
The movement might be considered a powerful example of meliorism. Whether in protests on the streets or through hashtags on social media, its activism seeks to make the world a better place for the marginalized.
e pluribus unum
鈥渙ut of many, one.鈥�
鈥� July 4, 2015
This unofficial motto of the US, meaning 鈥渙ut of many, one鈥� in Latin and featured on our Great Seal and currency, dates back to the early days of the country, when the original 13 colonies united into a single nation.
Since then, e pluribus unum has evolved to express an idea of American unity in diversity. That belief rang a lot truer for many people when we featured this expression on Independence Day 2015. Just over a week before, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that same-sex marriage is a legal right from sea to shining sea.
suffrage
鈥渢he right to vote, especially in a political election.鈥�
鈥� November 8, 2016
Perhaps you鈥檝e noticed a theme as we鈥檝e moved into the mid-2010s. Politics, identity, and language. Increasingly in the news, culture, and social media environment of the 2010s, 亚洲网紅露点 of the Day has become a lens for many users, a way of looking at or reflecting on the affairs of the day. Like suffrage, which we featured on Election Day 2016, marked by the election of Donald Trump to the White House. What did y’all see in this word choice? Is it any different now?
multitudinous
鈥渆xisting, occurring, or present in great numbers; very numerous.鈥�
鈥� January 21, 2017
The day after the inauguration of Donald Trump met the Women鈥檚 March, where over 200,000 people gathered in the nation鈥檚 capital鈥攁nd many millions more across the US and world鈥攊n protests for the rights of women and other oppressed groups.
Considered the largest single-day protest in the US, the Women鈥檚 March can truly be described as multitudinous, or 鈥渧ery numerous,鈥� the adjective form of multitude.
Minerva
鈥渁 woman of great wisdom.鈥�
鈥� March 8, 2018
Speaking of women鈥檚 rights, March 8 is International Women鈥檚 Day, an apt occasion for Minerva. This word for a wise woman takes up the mantle of the Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts, Minerva, an analog to Athena of ancient Greece. Minerva is also the namesake of Minerva McGonagall, who became Headmistress of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter universe.听
Minerva = A woman of great wisdom.
Also Minerva = Headmistress of Hogwarts.
— 亚洲网紅露点 (@Dictionarycom)
No matter how far the technology has come since the antediluvian dial-up days of 1999, the appetite鈥攖he appetence, edacity, the maw鈥攆or 亚洲网紅露点 of the Day remains Brobdingnagian.
Plus, there’s all of you. , who are sharing your favorite 亚洲网紅露点 of the Day selections with us on social media. Your reactions to 亚洲网紅露点 of the Day make it truly great.
Thanks for 20 years, and we look forward to many more. We certainly think they’ve made us … all the wiser.
