Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Jan 24, 2025
This week’s theme
Words to describe people

This week’s words
nefandous
minacious
perfidious
prickmedainty
cumberworld

cumberworld
“People like you should be mandated to carry around potted plants, solely to replace the oxygen you waste.”
Image: someecards

Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

cumberworld

PRONUNCIATION:
(KUHM-buhr-wurld)

MEANING:
noun: A useless person.

ETYMOLOGY:
A cumberworld is one who encumbers the world, literally speaking. From cumber (hinder), from Anglo-French acumbrer (hinder), from combre (dam, barrage) + world. Earliest documented use: 1374. Another way to describe a cumberworld might be a waste of oxygen.

USAGE:
“I don’t have to accept your coin, cumberworld. I don’t have time to accept anything at all from you -- not lies, not threats, not anything.”
N.M. Zoltack; Keepers of the Flames; N.M. Zoltack; 2022.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. -Edith Wharton, novelist (24 Jan 1861-1937)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2025 Wordsmith