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A.Word.A.Day--prudential

(proo-DEN-shuhl) Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: What does that company name mean?

adjective: 1. Of or relating to prudence. 2. Exercising good judgment, common sense, forethought, caution, etc.

[From Middle English prudence, from Middle French, from Latin prudentia, contraction of providentia, from provident-, the present participle stem of providere (to provide). The words improvise, provide, provident, proviso, purvey, all derive from the same root.]

"When every artless bosom throbs with truth,
Untaught by worldly wisdom how to feign
And check each impulse with prudential rein."
George Gordon Byron; Childish Recollections.

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

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Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. -Elie Wiesel, writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1928)

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