A.Word.A.Day --eftsoons

A.Word.A.Day

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Jan 13, 2020

This week’s theme
Adverbs

This week’s words
eftsoons
faute de mieux
amain
certes
alfresco

“All words are pegs to hang ideas on.” ~Beecher
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Previous week’s theme
Unusual synonyms

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

A few weeks ago we had featured words that ended in -ly and looked liked adverbs, except they weren’t. As we said, not all -ly words are adverbs and not all adverbs end in -ly. July is a month, lily is a flower, and ugly bully is a president.

So this week we have found five uncommon adverbs, none ending in -ly. Give them a try. Rely on them to bring nuance to your verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

eftsoons

PRONUNCIATION:

(eft-SOONZ)

MEANING:

adverb:
1. Soon after.
2. Again.
3. From time to time.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English ęft (again) + sona (soon). Ultimately from the Indo-European root apo- (off or away), which is also the source of after, off, awkward, post, puny, appose, and apposite. Earliest documented use: 1000.

USAGE:

“Eftsoons we turned to the volume of Shakespeare that we had at hand.”
Al Sicherman; Al’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’; Minneapolis Star and Tribune (Minnesota); Aug 9, 1987.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

To move freely you must be deeply rooted. -Bella Lewitzky, dancer (13 Jan 1916-2004)

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