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A.Word.A.Day--babbitt

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: eponyms.

babbitt (BAB-it) noun

A self-satisfied narrow-minded person who conforms to conventional ideals of business and material success.

[After the main character in Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt.]

See more usage examples of babbitt in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

"'I've learned to be a merchant without being a Babbitt,' [David Schwartz] told Journal Sentinel book editor."
Jim Higgins; Bookseller Sought to Feed the Soul; The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; Jun 8, 2004.

X-Bonus

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. -M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist and author (1936-2005)

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