This week’s theme
Lesser-known counterparts of words

This week’s words
earwitness
diachronic
consanguinity
plebeian
allopatric

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(dy-uh-KRON-ik)

MEANING:

adjective: Relating to changes occurring over time.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek dia- (across) + khronos (time). Earliest documented use: 1857.

NOTES:

Diachronic analysis considers how something, such as a language or culture, evolves over time. This contrasts with a synchronic approach, which examines a phenomenon at a specific point in time.

USAGE:

“Kagan is relentlessly, refreshingly diachronic in his thinking, and he’s fond of describing ‘cascades’ of events.”
Kaja Perina; Prophesy and Retrodiction; Psychology Today (New York); Mar/Apr 2016.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: