This week’s theme
Exempli gratia

This week’s words
fruiterer
innumerate
pule
agon

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(AG-on), plural agones (AG-uh-neez)

MEANING:

noun: A conflict, contest, or struggle.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek agon (struggle, contest). Earliest documented use: 1592.

NOTES:

An agon is a tussle, especially one between major personalities. In ancient Greek drama, an agon was a formal debate or conflict between principal characters. It was also used to describe ancient Olympics. Some related words are agony, agonize, antagonist, protagonist, and agonistes, but not hexagon. The only agon in a hexagon is the one you have with your geometry homework.

USAGE:

“Not for Matisse ... his towering frenemy Picasso. (Who wins their lifelong agon? The question is moot. They are like boxing champions who can’t tag each other because they’re in separate rings.)”
Peter Schjeldahl; Going Flat Out; The New Yorker; May 16, 2022.

See more usage examples of agon in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: