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Nov 30, 2018
This week’s theme
Verbs

This week’s words
actuate
parley
impignorate
declaim
divaricate

divaricate
Photo: manhhai

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

divaricate

PRONUNCIATION:
(dy-VAR-uh-kayt, -kit for adjective)

MEANING:
verb intr.: To branch off or diverge.
adjective: Branched off or diverging widely.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin divaricare, from dis- (apart) + varicare (to straddle), from varicus (straddling). Earliest documented use: 1623.

USAGE:
“After a 3,000-mile journey across five national borders, [Mekong], the mother of rivers divaricates into a complex delta network.”
Ben Mauk; The Floating World; The New York Times Magazine; Apr 1, 2018.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (30 Nov 1835-1910)

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