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Jan 13, 2009
This week's theme
"New" words

This week's words
pneuma
nugatory
newel
neuston
nubilous

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

A new year has begun and new things are in the offing around the world. In the US, we eagerly await a new president to assume office, a week from now.

In AWAD, we'll mark the new year with new words. Well, they aren't really that new, they just sound new. This week we'll feature five words that begin with the "new" sound.

nugatory

PRONUNCIATION:
(NOO-guh-tor-ee, NYOO-)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Of little value; trifling.
2. Having no force; ineffective.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin nugatorius (trifling), from nugari (to trifle).

USAGE:
"A profound shift in the balance of power between labour and capital over the past three decades has resulted in nugatory increases in real earnings for most but massive rewards for those at the top."
Larry Elliott; Why Obama Has to Find Answer to the Worst Economic Mess Since FDR's Day; The Guardian (London, UK); Nov 22, 2008.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another. -John Muir, Naturalist and explorer (1838-1914)

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