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Mar 15, 2012
This week's theme
18-letter words to mark Wordsmith.org's octodecennial

This week's words
preantepenultimate
gedankenexperiment
reductio ad absurdum
plurisignification
princesse lointaine

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

plurisignification

PRONUNCIATION:
(ploo-ri-sig-ni-fi-KAY-shuhn)

MEANING:
noun: The use of a word to convey multiple meanings at the same time.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin pluri- (plus) + significare (to signify), from signum (sign). Earliest documented use: 1940.

USAGE:
"The Norwegian Dahle understood that ambiguity and plurisignification were essential to Merina ways of speaking."
Lee Haring; Stars and Keys; Indiana University Press; 2007.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Hate is a dead thing. Who of you would be a tomb? -Kahlil Gibran, poet and artist (1883-1931)

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