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Dec 10, 2020
This week’s theme
Words derived from metals

This week’s words
brazen
auricomous
philargyry
tinpot
lead balloon

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tinpot

PRONUNCIATION:
(TIN-pot)

MEANING:
adjective: Unimportant; of little worth.

ETYMOLOGY:
Alluding to a tin pot, in quality or sound, broadly from a reference to tin as a base metal compared to precious metals. Earliest documented use: 1838.

USAGE:
“Every little prince and duke and archbishop up there is a lord of his own domain, with a tinpot army and his own coins and postage stamps and custom inspectors.”
Harry Turtledove; Through Darkest Europe; Tom Doherty Associates; 2018.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
There is no frigate like a book / To take us lands away, / Nor any coursers like a page / Of prancing poetry. -Emily Dickinson, poet (10 Dec 1830-1886)

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