A.Word.A.Day --euphoria

A.Word.A.Day

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Nov 23, 2020

This week’s theme
Supervocalic words

This week’s words
euphoria
quaternion
urticaceous
autotelic
vinaceous

Previous week’s theme
Words from body

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

A word that makes use of only one of the vowels (example: strengthlessness) is called a univocalic. In the same way, when a word or phrase makes use of all the vowels, it’s known as a supervocalic. This week we’ll feature supervocalic words.

CONTEST: What supervocalic news headline (real or imagined) can you come up with?

PRIZES: Winners will receive their choice of any of the following:
A copy of any of my books
A copy of the word game Word Up!

FINE PRINT: The vowels can be in any order.
Use as many of each vowel as you need.
Send your entries by Friday.
Mention your location.
Email your entries to contest@wordsmith.org or post them below.

EXAMPLE:
Here’s a supervocalic news headline I came up with: Trump Is A Loser.
(I think it’s a winning entry, but the contest officials tell me that I’m not eligible to enter the contest. No worries, my elite team of high-priced lawyers is filing an emergency petition with the US Supreme Court as we speak.)

RESULTS:
See results here.

euphoria

PRONUNCIATION:

((yoo-FOHR-ree-uh)

MEANING:

noun: A feeling or state of elation or well-being.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek eu- (well) + pherein (to bear). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bher- (to carry, to bear children) that gave birth to words such as basket, suffer, fertile, burden, bring, bear, offer, prefer, birth, adiaphorism, delate, opprobrious, sufferance, and paraphernalia. Earliest documented use: 1684.

USAGE:

“What is different, though, is the absence of euphoria. Few seem to want to cheer the rally in risky eurobonds.”
Still Crazy After Falling Yields; The Economist (London, UK); Aug 12, 2017.

“When they finally reached it a fraction of a moment later, a shower of euphoria rained on them, drenching them both.”
Marie Ferrarella; Christmas Cowboy Duet; Harlequin; 2014.

See more usage examples of euphoria in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Poetry is a sort of homecoming. -Paul Celan, poet and translator (23 Nov 1920-1970)

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