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Sep 9, 2022
This week’s theme
Flowers

This week’s words
roseate
daisy-chain
orchidacity
tall poppy
wallflower

wallflower
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AWADmail 1055

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

wallflower

PRONUNCIATION:
(WAL-flou-uhr)

MEANING:
noun
1. Someone who does not mingle at a social event, such as a party, dance, etc.
2. A person or an organization that is forced to stay at the sidelines of some activity.

ETYMOLOGY:
From wall, from Old English weall, from Latin vallum (rampart), from vallus (stake) + flower, from Old French flor (flower, flour, the best of anything). Earliest documented use: 1578.

USAGE:
“Virgin has been like a wallflower at a wedding reception, watching everyone else pair off.”
Always the Bridesmaid: Virgin Atlantic; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 15, 2012.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The epitaph that I would write for history would say: I conceal nothing. It is not enough not to lie. One should strive not to lie in a negative sense by remaining silent. -Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (9 Sep 1828-1910)

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