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Sep 13, 2019
This week’s theme
There’s an antonym for it

This week’s words
eustress
nullibiety
excarnation
dysphemism
nocebo

This week’s comments
AWADmail 898

Next week’s theme
Shakespearean insults
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

nocebo

PRONUNCIATION:
(no-SEE-bo)

MEANING:
noun: A substance producing harmful effects in someone because it is believed to be harmful, but which in reality is harmless.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin nocebo (I will harm), from nocere (to harm). Modeled after its antonym placebo (I will please). Earliest documented use: 1961.

USAGE:
“As Geoff Watts shows, the nocebo’s impact can be very harmful. Maybe it’s because fear is more powerful than hope.”
Gillian Reynolds; Radio: Review Pick of the Week; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Feb 14, 2015.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
To have and not to give is often worse than to steal. -Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, writer (13 Sep 1830-1916)

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