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Jan 27, 2011
This week's theme
Words with no repeating letters

This week's words
benthic
captious
guerdon
procumbent
inosculate
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

procumbent

PRONUNCIATION:
(pro-KUM-buhnt)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Lying face down; prone; prostrate.
2. Of a plant: Growing along the ground without putting new roots.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin procumbent- (bending forward), present participle of procumbere (to lean forward), from pro- (forward) + cumbere (to lie down). Earliest documented use: 1668.

USAGE:
"You could lie procumbent on the beach, spot whales and dolphins at some remote shore or daydream of nasty officemates tripping and falling into that lovely volcano."
Aloha Tales; American Theatre (New York); May 2004.

"Ground covers and procumbent shrubs are ideal for embankments and low garden borders."
Valerie and Gerry Zwart; Tourism Blossoms; Sunshine Coast Daily (Australia); Aug 14, 2009.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. -Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (1883-1931)

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