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Sep 21, 2026
This week’s themeWords with scene-stealing examples This week’s words 
The Sleeping Congregation, 1790s
Art: After William Hogarth Previous week’s theme Words that look like typos Wordsmith Games
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargDictionaries are like zoos for words: each specimen is neatly labeled and safely contained. But to truly understand a word, you have to observe it in the wild. I look for such sightings in newspapers, magazines, and books. Every so often, an example is so funny, surprising, revealing, or simply strange that it steals the show. This week’s five words have little else in common. Their examples do. soporiferous
PRONUNCIATION:
(sop-uh-RIF-uhr-uhs)
MEANING:
adjective: Inducing sleep.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin sopor (deep sleep) + -fer (bearing). Earliest documented use: 1583.
USAGE:
“The visiting preacher was a grey-haired woman. Her soporiferous sermon
induced instant lethargy until she gave a sudden shriek. ‘...and God went WOW!’ she shouted, and repeated this dubious claim twice. Incomprehension skittered among the congregation of six elderly ladies.” Angela Huth; Diary; The Spectator (London, UK); Dec 10, 2011. See more usage examples of soporiferous in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A time will come when a politician who has wilfully made war and promoted
international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the
noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble
with men's lives should not stake their own. -H.G. Wells, writer (21 Sep
1866-1946)
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