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Mar 23, 2026
This week’s themeWriters painting with words This week’s words 
A red-billed oxpecker on an impala. Sometimes a mammal’s tick is a bird’s treat.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Previous week’s theme Words used figuratively Wordsmith Games
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargWriting can march in, deliver the facts, and leave without touching the furniture. Or it can kick open the paint box, scatter a few bright images around, and have a bit of fun on the way. This week we feature five words chosen from usage examples that do exactly that. They communicate, yes, but they also paint an image, sketching, sparkling, and occasionally smirking. Each reminds us that good writing does not merely tell us something. It shows us something. symbiosis
PRONUNCIATION:
(symbiosis)
MEANING:
noun: A close, often mutually beneficial relationship between different species, groups, or people.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek symbiosis (living together), from sym- (with, together) +
bio- (life) + -sis (action, state). Earliest documented use: 1622.
USAGE:
“Watching [weed-eating goats] for only five minutes, a spectator is
reminded that one creature’s trash is another’s dinner, one beast’s
toil is another’s reward. Our lives revolve and intersect in fur-covered
symbiosis, turning meh into mehhhhhhh.” Josh Shaffer; An Army of Goats Arrives at Dix Park, Drawing Crowds While Landscaping; The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina); Jun 9, 2025. See more usage examples of symbiosis in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very
often. -Erich Fromm, psychoanalyst and author (23 Mar 1900-1980)
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