This week's theme
Verbs

This week's words
subsume
discomfit
begrudge
avulse
machinate

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(uh-VUHLS)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To pull off or tear away.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin avellere (to tear off), from a- (away from) + vellere (to pull, pluck). Earliest documented use: before 1765.

USAGE:

"The dog caught his paw in the grates and lacerated his paws and avulsed his nails."
Denise Baran-Unland; Animal Health Care Insurance Can Cut Down on Vet Bills; The Herald-News (Joliet, Illinois); Nov 7, 2011.

"[The Hoh River] chews, it gnaws and jumps around, avulsing in a tantrum of energy to new channels, taking anything in its way right along with it."
Lynda V. Mapes; Besieged by Water; The Seattle Times; Mar 8, 2010.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: