A.Word.A.Day		About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us

Home Today's Word Yesterday's Word Archives FAQ

May 24, 2012 This week's theme Metallic metaphors This week's words copperplate tin god brass ring iron curtain silver lining Roll the dice Get a random word from A.Word.A.Day archives Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg iron curtain PRONUNCIATION: (EYE-uhrn KUHR-tuhn) MEANING: noun: An impenetrable barrier to communication, marked by censorship, secrecy, and isolation. ETYMOLOGY: Popularized in a speech by Winston Churchill in 1946 referring to the separation between the Soviet Bloc and the West. Earliest documented use: 1794. USAGE: "'Egyptian police ruled the country from behind an iron curtain. They controlled all aspects of life,' says Mahmoud Qutri who retired as a police brigadier in 2001." Yolande Knell; Egypt's Police; BBC News (London, UK); Mar 4, 2012. "An iron curtain of fundamentalism risks falling over Iraq, with particularly grievous implications for girls and women." Nicholas Kristof; Cover Your Hair; The New York Times; Jun 24, 2003. Explore "iron curtain" in the Visual Thesaurus. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: I'm not at all contemptuous of comforts, but they have their place and it is not first. -E.F. Schumacher, economist and author (1911-1977)

A.Word.A.Day by email: Subscribe "The most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace." Sponsored by: Give the Gift of Words Share the magic of words. Send a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day. Anu on Words: Writer Magazine Globe & Mail Interact: Bulletin board Wordsmith Talk Moderated Chat Wordsmith Chat Readers' Voice AWADmail