This week’s theme
Unfamiliar cousins of everyday words

This week’s words
chicane
derogate
ludic
altercate
complot

Discuss this week’s words
in our discussion forum Wordsmith Talk

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(AL-tuhr-kayt)

MEANING:

verb intr.: To argue or dispute heatedly.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin altercari (to quarrel with another), from alter (other). Earliest documented use: 1530.

USAGE:

“Been altercating forever. What I got to do is make sure neither of them wins.”
Mike Ashley; The Mammoth Book of Sorceror’s Tales; Constable & Robinson; 2004.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: