This week's theme
Words that have many unrelated meanings

This week's words
mensal
sconce
mortify
cloaca
confabulate

This week’s comments
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Next week’s theme
Yours to discover

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(kuhn-FAB-yuh-layt)

MEANING:

verb intr.:
1. To talk informally.
2. To replace fact with fantasy to fill in gaps in memory.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin confabulari (to talk together), from con- (with) + fabulari (to talk), from fabula (tale). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bha- (to speak) that is also the source of fable, phone, fame, boon, and infant. Earliest documented use: 1604.

USAGE:

"Senior party leaders from across the state were expected to attend the meet and confabulate on issues pertaining to tribals in the state."
Congress Takes a Diwali Break; The Indian Express (New Delhi); Oct 13, 2011.

"The majority of the subjects failed to notice the switch, and confabulated reasons why they chose the picture they had been given."
Neil Levy; Are You Racist? You May Be Without Even Knowing It; The Bundaberg News-Mail (Australia); May 31, 2013.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: