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Apr 22, 2020
This week’s themeAdverbs This week’s words perforce totes cumbrously askance natch Image: BBC/Giphy
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargcumbrously
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
adverb: In an awkward or ponderous manner.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Old French encombrer (to hinder), from combre (dam). Earliest
documented use: 1401.
USAGE:
“Mr. Chadband moves softly and cumbrously, not unlike a bear who has
been taught to walk upright.” Charles Dickens; Bleak House; Bradbury & Evans; 1853. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it
is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it. -Madame De Stael,
writer (22 Apr 1766-1817)
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