A.Word.A.Day --topos

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Today's Word

topos

PRONUNCIATION:

(TOH-pohs/pahs)

MEANING:

noun: A traditional theme, literary motif, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek koinos topos (common place) which also gave us the word topic. Earliest documented use: 1948.

USAGE:

“That’s not surprising since the patriarchy has chosen to suppress her terrible tale, an all too familiar topos.”
Peter Innes; The Man with the Grasshopper Mind; iUniverse; 2008.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo. -Max Eastman, journalist and poet (4 Jan 1883-1969)

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