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Feb 13, 2019
This week’s theme
Words that aren’t what they appear to be

This week’s words
bloodnoun
sodalist
reprobate
appurtenance
appose

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

reprobate

PRONUNCIATION:
(REP-ruh-bayt)

MEANING:
adjective: Depraved.
noun: A wicked person.
verb tr.: To disapprove or condemn.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin reprobare (to disapprove), from re- + probare (to test, approve), from probus (good). Ultimately from the Indo-European root per- (forward), which also gave us paramount, prime, proton, prow, probative, probity, reproof, reprove, German Frau (woman), and Hindi purana (old). Earliest documented use: 1532.

NOTE:
Remember, to reprobate does not mean to probate again.

USAGE:
“Russell Crowe plays Ben Wade, the boss of a gang of degenerate reprobates.”
Films of the Day; The Times (London, UK); Jun 23, 2018.

See more usage examples of reprobate in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In some circumstances, the refusal to be defeated is a refusal to be educated. -Margaret Halsey, novelist (13 Feb 1910-1997)

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