Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

Oct 25, 2006

This week's theme
Words to describe people

This week's words
pertinacious
pixilated
oscitant
punctilious
pococurante

---

oscitant

(OS-i-tant) adjective:
1. Yawning, gaping from drowsiness.
2. Inattentive, dull, negligent.

From Latin oscitant, stem of oscitans, present participle of oscitare (to yawn), from os (mouth) + citare (to move).

"Southey, who has been my corrector, has been strangely oscitant, or, which I believe is sometimes the case, has not understood the sentences."
Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Kessinger Publishing; 2005.

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

X-Bonus