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Jan 27, 2015
This week’s theme
Words for diseases, used metaphorically

This week’s words
scurvy
apoplectic
jaundiced
metastasize
scabrous

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

apoplectic

PRONUNCIATION:
(ap-uh-PLEK-tik)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Extremely angry.
2. Relating to or affected by apoplexy (stroke).

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin apoplecticus, from Greek apoplektikos (relating to a stroke), from apoplessein (to disable by a stroke). Ultimately from the Indo-European root plak- (to strike), which also gave us plague, plankton, fling, and complain. Earliest documented use: 1625.

USAGE:
“Union bosses’ reactions to Mr Miliband’s speech ranged from cool to apoplectic.”
Ed’s Big Chance; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 13, 2013.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that! -Lewis Carroll, mathematician and writer (27 Jan 1832-1898)

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