This week’s theme
Words from science

This week’s words
radioactive
broad-spectrum
high-octane
viral
critical mass

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BRAWD-SPEK-truhm)

MEANING:

adjective: Effective in a wide variety of uses.

ETYMOLOGY:

From broad, from Old English braed + spectrum, from Latin spectrum (appearance), from specere (to look). Earliest documented use: 1950.

NOTES:

A spectrum is the range of colors that light decomposes into when passing through a prism. Over time, the word spectrum has come to refer to a range of anything. The term broad-spectrum was first used in the context of antibiotics: a broad-spectrum antibiotic can kill a wide range of bacteria. A broad-spectrum pesticide is effective against multiple types of pests and a broad-spectrum sunscreen protects against many types of UV rays.

USAGE:

“So far as Bellingham could tell some massive broad-spectrum spell had simply erased every trace of the network he had so laboriously assembled.”
David Mosey; Outlaws Are Optional; Xlibris; 2004.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: