This week’s theme
Fossil words

This week’s words
fettle
kilter

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KIL-tuhr)

MEANING:

noun: Proper or usual state or order.

ETYMOLOGY:

Of unknown origin. Earliest documented use: 1582.

NOTES:

This term is the quintessential negative fossil. We constantly find things off-kilter or out of kilter, but you rarely hear of something being in kilter.

USAGE:

“He remained stable on his bar, and I was sent spinning. Knocked off-kilter, I was completely lost in the air and totally unprepared for how to handle this type of situation.”
Carolyn Pioro; Finding Light in the Dark; Chatelaine (Toronto, Canada); Mar 2013.

See more usage examples of kilter in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: