This week's theme
Verbs

This week's words
subsume
discomfit
begrudge
avulse
machinate

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(dis-KUHM-fit)

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To confuse or embarrass.
2. To thwart the plans of.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French desconfit (defeated), past participle of desconfire (to defeat), from des- (not) + confire (to make), from Latin facere (to make). Earliest documented use: around 1230.

USAGE:

"Berlusconi accuses politically motivated prosecutors of leaking details of investigations to discomfit him."
Unbalanced Scales; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 8, 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: