Word of the Week

com·plete

kəmˈplēt/

adjective

adjective: complete; comparative adjective: completer; superlative adjective:completest

1. 1.

   having all the necessary or appropriate parts.

   "a complete list of courses offered by the college"

   • entire; full.

     "I only managed one complete term at school"

     synonyms:

     entire, whole, full, total; More

   • having run its full course; finished.

     "the restoration of the chapel is complete"

     synonyms:

     finished, ended, concluded, completed, finalized; More

     antonyms:

     unfinished

2. 2.

   (often used for emphasis) to the greatest extent or degree; total.

   "a complete ban on smoking"

   synonyms:

   absolute, out-and-out, utter, total, real, downright, thoroughgoing,veritable, prize, perfect, unqualified, unmitigated, sheer, arrant, full-outMore

   antonyms:

   partial

   • humorous

     skilled at every aspect of a particular activity; consummate.

     adjective: compleat

     "these articles are for the compleat mathematician"

Word of the Week

aus·pi·cious

ôˈspiSHəs/

adjective

adjective: auspicious

1. 1.

   conducive to success; favorable.

   "it was not the most auspicious moment to hold an election"

   synonyms:

   favorable, propitious, promising, rosy, good, encouraging; More

   • giving or being a sign of future success.

     "they said it was an auspicious moon—it was rising"
   • archaic

     characterized by success; prosperous.

     "he was respectful to his auspicious customers"

Origin

late 16th cent.: from auspice + -ous.

Word of the Week

en·er·vate

verb

past tense: enervated; past participle: enervated

ˈenərˌvāt/

1. 1.

   cause (someone) to feel drained of energy or vitality; weaken.

   synonyms:

   exhaust, tire, fatigue, weary, wear out, devitalize, drain, sap, weaken,enfeeble, debilitate, incapacitate, prostrate; More

   antonyms:

   invigorate

Origin

early 17th cent.: from Latin enervat- ‘weakened (by extraction of the sinews),’ from the verb enervare, from e- (variant of ex- ) ‘out of’ + nervus ‘sinew.’

Word of the Week

ex·pe·di·tion

ˌekspəˈdiSHən/

noun

noun: expedition; plural noun: expeditions

1. 1.

   a journey or voyage undertaken by a group of people with a particular purpose, esp. that of exploration, scientific research, or war.

   "an expedition to the jungles of the Orinoco"

   synonyms:

   journey, voyage, tour, odyssey; More

   • the people involved in an expedition.

     "many of the expedition have passed rigorous courses"

     synonyms:

     group, team, party, crew, band, squad More

2. 2.

   informal

   a short trip made for a particular purpose.

   "a shopping expedition"
3. 3.

   formal

   promptness or speed in doing something.

   "the landlord shall remedy the defects with all possible expedition"

Origin

late Middle English: via Old French from Latin expeditio(n-), from expedire ‘extricate’ (see expedite). Early senses included ‘prompt supply of something’ and ‘setting out with aggressive intent’ The notions of ‘speed’ and ‘purpose’ are retained in current senses.Sense 1 dates from the late 16th cent.

Word of the Week

trav·e·logue

ˈtravəˌlôg,-ˌläg/

noun

noun: travelogue; plural noun: travelogues

1. 1.

   a movie, book, or illustrated lecture about the places visited and experiences encountered by a traveler.

Origin

early 20th cent.: from travel, on the pattern of monologue .

Word of the Week

trag·ic

ˈtrajik/

adjective

adjective: tragic

1. 1.

   causing or characterized by extreme distress or sorrow.

   "the shooting was a tragic accident"

   synonyms:

   disastrous, calamitous, catastrophic, cataclysmic, devastating,terrible, dreadful, awful, appalling, dismal, horrendous; More

   antonyms:

   fortunate, lucky

   • suffering extreme distress or sorrow.

     "the tragic parents reached the end of their tether"

     synonyms:

     sad, unhappy, pathetic, moving, distressing, depressing, painful,harrowing, heart-rending, piteous, wretched, sorry; More

     antonyms:

     joyful, happy

   • informal

     very bad or inadeqate.

     "on the other hand, I like degenerate, tragic food"
2. 2.

   of or relating to tragedy in a literary work.

Origin

mid 16th cent.: from French tragique, via Latin from Greek tragikos, from tragos ‘goat,’ but associated with tragōidia (see tragedy).

Word of the Week

car·tog·ra·phy

kärˈtägrəfē/

noun

noun: cartography

1. 1.

   the science or practice of drawing maps.

Origin

mid 19th cent.: from French cartographie, from carte ‘map, card’ (see card¹) + -graphie(see -graphy).