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Jul 3, 2008
This week's theme
Words from medicine

This week's words
costive
roborant
catholicon
atrabilious
linctus

“Words are the small change of thought.” ~Jules Renard
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with Anu Garg

atrabilious

PRONUNCIATION:
(at-ruh-BIL-yuhs)

MEANING:
adjective: 1. Gloomy. 2. Ill-tempered.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin atra bilis (black bile), translation of Greek melankholia.

USAGE:
"A couple of nights ago on BBC Two they scheduled an amusing programme, called Grumpy Old Women at Christmas, in which a lot of atrabilious female semi celebs of a certain age moaned about the festive season."
Jane Shilling; Not a Card Sent or a Bauble Hung; The Times (London, UK); Dec 23, 2004.

See more usage examples of atrabilious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect. -Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)

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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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