This week's theme
Words seen in their plural forms

This week's words
auspices
paparazzi
cognoscenti
mores
antipodes

Your antipodal point
Find it at antipodr.com

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(an-TIP-uh-deez)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Two places situated on the diametrically opposite sides of the earth.
2. The exact opposite of someone or something.
3. Australia and New Zealand.

ETYMOLOGY:

Via Latin from Greek antipodes (literally, those having the feet opposite, i.e. having feet on opposite sides of the earth), plural of antipous, from anti- (opposite) + pous (foot). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ped- (foot) which gave us peccadillo (alluding to a stumble or fall), pedal, impeccable, podium, octopus, and impeach. Earliest documented use: 1398.

USAGE:

"Tasmania's most celebrated attraction now is the Museum of Old and New Art, outside Hobart. Everyone in the antipodes knows its titillating backstory."
James Fallows; Tasmania: Maybe the Most Unforgettable Place Ever; The Atlantic Monthly (Boston); Jun 19, 2013.

"At no other time have the sensibilities of America's Atlantic and Pacific cosmopolitan antipodes stood in sharper contrast."
Peter Schjeldahl; Seeing and Disbelieving; The New Yorker; Jul 2013.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: