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Mar 30, 2011 This week's theme Words for body parts used figuratively This week's words accolade elbow grease pugnacious dauphin bumf Information overload? Sign off a few newsletters. Of course, we'd rather you stay with us. After all, it is only a word a day. (-: Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg pugnacious PRONUNCIATION: (puhg-NAY-shuhs) MEANING: adjective: Having a quarrelsome nature; belligerent. ETYMOLOGY: From Latin pugnare (to fight), from pugnus (fist). Ultimately from the Indo-European root peuk- (to prick) which is also the source of point, puncture, pungent, punctual, poignant, pounce, poniard, and impugn. Earliest documented use: 1642. USAGE: "Whitacre has earned a reputation for being pugnacious, stubborn, and willing to fight to the end." James S. Granelli; AT&T Chief Stays Focused; Los Angeles Times; Mar 7, 2006. Explore "pugnacious" in the Visual Thesaurus. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (1807-1882)

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