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Dec 15, 2020
This week’s theme
One thing leads to another ...

This week’s words
irrefutable
amnesia
psychogenic
polydipsia
propensity


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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

amnesia

PRONUNCIATION:
(am-NEE-zhuh)

MEANING:
noun: Loss of memory or a gap in one’s memory.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin amnesia, from Greek amnesia (forgetfulness), from a- (not) + mimneskesthai (to remember). Ultimately from the Indo-European root men- (to think), which also gave us mind, mental, mention, automatic, mania, money, praying mantis, monument, music, amnesty, mantra, remonstrate, monish, and mantic. Earliest documented use: 1786.

USAGE:
“‘Maybe I didn’t believe you had amnesia before. But voluntarily performing for a crowd?’ He tilted his fork toward her plate. ‘Not devouring chocolate cake? I believe now. You’ve shown irrefutable evidence of a total personality shift.’”
Rachelle Paige Campbell; Love Overboard; Wild Rose; 2020.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The universe is made of stories, not of atoms. -Muriel Rukeyser, poet and activist (15 Dec 1913-1980)

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Anu Garg on words

“A large vocabulary is like an artist having a big palette of colors. We don’t have to use all the colors in a single painting, but it helps to be able to find just the right shade when we need it.”

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