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May 12, 2025
This week’s themeInteresting usage examples This week’s words 
Illustration: Anu Garg + AI Previous week’s theme Words with all the vowels 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargA dictionary definition is like a passport photo of a word: flat, official, and a little lifeless. It captures the essence of a word. A great usage example, on the other hand, catches the word in action. Rather than rely on contrived sentences, we comb the real world for organic usage examples. Ones that do more than explain a word. Sometimes they go beyond the mundane: they tell a clever story, reveal something about the human condition, or simply bring a smile. This week we’ll share five words with such usage examples. renunciatory
PRONUNCIATION:
(ri-NUHN-see-uh-tor-ee)
MEANING:
adjective: Relating to giving up, renouncing, or rejecting.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin renuntiare (renounce or report). Earliest documented use: 1667.
USAGE:
“Six pages in [the book Deep Work], I powered down my laptop. Twenty
pages in, I left the house to buy an alarm clock so that I wouldn’t
have an excuse to sleep next to my phone. A hundred pages in, I asked
my brother to change my Twitter password so that I could no longer
log in to my account. Nothing like starting the new year off with a
renunciatory spree!” Molly Young; Help Desk; The New York Times Book Review; Jan 31, 2016. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great
moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. -Dante Alighieri, poet (c. May
1265-1321)
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