This week’s theme
Eclipse

This week’s words
umbra
occultation
penumbra
umbrageous
totality


This week’s comments
AWADmail 1136

Next week’s theme
Words from chem lab

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(toh-TAL-i/uh-tee)

MEANING:

noun:
1. The condition or quality of being complete or whole.
2. An aggregate amount or sum.
3. The phase of an eclipse when an obscuring body completely blocks the light source, e.g., when the moon completely blocks the view of the sun.

ETYMOLOGY:

From total, from Latin totus (entire). Earliest documented use: 1598.

USAGE:

“The ‘I’ we experience is smaller than, and different from, the totality of who and what we are.”
Joshua Rothman; As Real as It Gets; The New Yorker; Apr 2, 2018.

“The next total solar eclipse after Apr 8 occurs Aug 12, 2026. However, because its path of totality is short-lived and mostly in secluded areas, it might be a less popular target. It will touch Greenland, Iceland, and northern Russia, as well as a small part of Portugal and Spain.”
Michael E. Bakich; The Next 20 Years of Eclipses; Astronomy (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Apr 2024.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: