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A.Word.A.Day--atticism

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atticism (AT-i-siz-em) noun

1. A characteristic feature of Attic Greek.

2. An expression characterized by conciseness and elegance

[After Attica, an ancient region of east-central Greece around Athens.]

"The syntactical simplicity of atticism characterizes the prose of Waugh's early novels."
Robert Frick, Style and structure in the early novels of Evelyn Waugh, Papers on Language & Literature, Fall 92.

(This week you discover the themes of the words. Each word belongs to one of the previous themes.)

X-Bonus

Because no battle is ever won he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. -William Faulkner, novelist (1897-1962) [The Sound and the Fury, 1929]

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