Wiktionary:Word of the day/Archive/2020/July

2020
← Dec 2019	Jan • Feb • Mar • Apr • May • Jun • Jul • Aug • Sep • Oct • Nov • Dec	Jan 2021 →
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31

1

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 1

dromedary n

The single-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius). Any swift riding camel. Today is the Independence Day of Somalia, where most of Africa’s dromedaries can be found.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

2

3

4

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 4

freedom ride n

(US, politics, historical) In the United States in the 1960s (chiefly 1961), any one of a number of trips taken by bus or other forms of transport through parts of the southern U.S., made by groups of civil rights activists demonstrating their opposition to racial prejudice and segregation. (Australia, politics, historical, by extension) A similar excursion undertaken by protesters in Australia in 1965 in opposition to unfair discrimination against Indigenous Australians. Today is celebrated as Independence Day in the United States.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

5

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 5

shot across the bow n

(idiomatic) A warning that negative consequences will be faced if something is carried out or allowed to continue. Today, the first Sunday in July in 2020, is Navy Day in Ukraine.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

6

7

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 7

wolf in sheep's clothing n

(idiomatic) Someone who or something which is harmful or threatening but disguised as something peaceful or pleasant.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

8

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 8

overfired adj

(comparable, ceramics) Fired at a high (or excessively high) temperature. (not comparable, cooking) Of a cooker: having a heat source that is above the food being cooked.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

9

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 9

ebullience n

A boiling or bubbling up; an ebullition. (figuratively) The quality of enthusiastic or lively expression of feelings and thoughts.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

10

11

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 11

be gathered to one's fathers v

(biblical and literary, dated) To be buried together with one's forebears; hence, to die. Today is World Population Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to raise awareness about global population issues such as the importance of family planning, gender equality, human rights, maternal health, and the effects of poverty.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

12

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 12

languor n

(uncountable) A state of the body or mind caused by exhaustion or disease and characterized by a languid or weary feeling; lassitude; (countable) an instance of this. (uncountable) Melancholy caused by lovesickness, sadness, etc.; (countable) an instance of this. (uncountable) Dullness, sluggishness; lack of vigour; stagnation. (uncountable) Listless indolence or inactivity, especially if enjoyable or relaxing; dreaminess; (countable) an instance of this. (uncountable) Heavy humidity and stillness of the air. (uncountable, obsolete) Sorrow; suffering; also, enfeebling disease or illness; (countable, obsolete) an instance of this.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

13

14

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 14

nibling n

(chiefly anthropology, rare, often in the plural) Used especially as a gender-neutral term: the child of one's sibling or sibling-in-law; one's nephew or niece. Today is International Non-binary People’s Day, which recognizes people who have a non-binary gender identity – one that is not exclusively female or male.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

15

16

17

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 17

stand trial v

(law) To be put on trial in a court of law. (idiomatic) To sustain the trial or examination of a cause; not to give up without trial. Today is the Day of International Criminal Justice, which was instituted by the states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to recognize the importance of international criminal justice.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

18

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 18

bigamy n

The state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously. (ecclesiastical law, historical) A second marriage after the death of a spouse.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

19

20

21

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 21

ungodly adj

Of a person: lacking reverence for God; of an action: not in accordance with God's will or religious teachings. Immoral, sinful, or wicked. (informal) Extreme; unreasonable. ungodly adv (obsolete) In an impious, irreverent, or ungodly manner; ungodlily.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

22

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 22

geoglyph n

(chiefly archaeology) A large-scale drawing or image made on the ground by arranging lines of stones, scratching the earth, etc., and often only fully visible from a distance or the air.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

23

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 23

reticence n

(uncountable, also figuratively) Avoidance of saying or reluctance to say too much; discretion, tight-lippedness; (countable) an instance of acting in this manner. (uncountable) A silent and reserved nature. (uncountable) Followed by of: discretion or restraint in the use of something. (uncountable) Often followed by to: hesitancy or reluctance (to do something). (countable, uncountable, rhetoric, obsolete) Synonym of aposiopesis (“an abrupt breaking-off in speech”) reticence v (transitive, rare) To deliberately not listen or pay attention to; to disregard, to ignore.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

24

25

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 25

cutting n

(countable, uncountable) The action of the verb to cut. (countable) A section removed from a larger whole. (countable) A newspaper clipping. (countable, horticulture) A leaf, stem, branch, or root removed from a plant and cultivated to grow a new plant. (countable) An abridged selection of written work, often intended for performance. (countable, British) An open passage at a level lower than the surrounding terrain, dug for a canal, railway, or road to go through. (uncountable, cinematography, sound engineering) The editing of film or other recordings. (uncountable, machining) The process of bringing metals to a desired shape by chipping away the unwanted material. (uncountable, psychology) The act of cutting one's own skin as a symptom of a personality disorder; self-harm. The English pop rock band Cutting Crew released its debut single “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” in the United Kingdom on this day in 1986.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

26

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 26

lexicography n

The art or craft of compiling, writing, and editing dictionaries. (linguistics) The scholarly discipline of analysing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships within the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language and developing theories of dictionary components and structures linking the data in dictionaries. Scottish lexicographer and philologist Sir James Murray, the main editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1879 until his death, died on this day 105 years ago in 1915.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

27

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 27

woe betide v

(transitive, idiomatic, humorous or literary) Used to warn someone that trouble will occur if that person does something: bad things will happen to.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

28

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 28

merlon n

(architecture, military, historical) Any of the upright projections between the embrasures of a battlement, originally for archers to shield behind while shooting arrows over the embrasures, or through loopholes in the merlons. [...] Alternative spelling of merlin (“a small falcon, Falco columbarius”)

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

29

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 29

netball n (ball games)

(uncountable) A (usually women's) team sport derived from basketball, with seven players on each side who attempt to score goals by passing a ball and throwing it into the opponent's goal, which is a raised hoop with a net at one end of the playing area. Unlike basketball, a player in possession of the ball cannot move until the ball is passed to another player. (countable) The ball used in this sport. Swedish-born physical education instructor and women’s suffrage advocate Martina Bergman-Österberg died on this day 105 years ago in 1915. She played a pivotal role in the development of netball as she introduced a version of basketball to her students at Hampstead College, London, after returning from the United States in 1893 having seen that sport being played.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →

30

31

edit · refresh · view Word of the day for July 31

logorrhea n (American spelling)

(often humorous) Excessive talkativeness. (often humorous) Excessive use of words in writing; prolixity. (psychology) Excessive and often uncontrollable speaking due to a mental disorder.

← yesterday | About Word of the Day • Nominate a word • Leave feedback | tomorrow →