This week’s theme
Words that turn into another word when beheaded

This week’s words
scop
junto
hauteur
astringent
futilitarian

---

Follow us on

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(uh-STRIN-juhnt)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Contracting or constricting.
2. Caustic; pungent.
3. Stern; austere.
noun: A substance that constricts body tissues.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin astringere (to bind fast), from ad- (toward) + stringere (to bind). Ultimately from the Indo-European root streig- (to stroke or press), which is also the source of strike, streak, strict, stress, strain, and strait. Earliest documented use: 1541.

USAGE:

“However, unlike the apple and its other cousin the pear, quince flesh is hard and astringent and cannot be eaten raw.”
Jan Bilton; Quinces, the Perfect Accompaniments; Hawke’s Bay Today (New Zealand); Apr 25, 2014.

“Young Ajay Mishra, whose family carries with it a wound that will not heal, reads Ernest Hemingway and finds in that astringent language a way out.”
Amrita Dutta; Remains of the Day; The Indian Express (New Delhi); May 10, 2014.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: