This week's theme
Metallic metaphors

This week's words
copperplate
tin god
brass ring
iron curtain
silver lining

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A.Word.A.Day

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.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: