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Aug 28, 2023
This week’s theme
Words with AI usage examples

This week’s words
egrote
zenzic
philomuse
delibate
secundan

egrote
“I’m sorry I can’t come in today. Yes, I’m afraid I’m very Sikh.”
Image: Quickmeme

Previous week’s theme
Terms used figuratively
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Picking unusual words to feature in A.Word.A.Day is only a small part of it. A typical entry includes not only the meaning, but also the origin, pronunciation, and an audio guide, illustration, and usage example or examples.

I look for usage examples that convey the meaning well. My ideal usage example is clear, concise, instructive, funny, and clever. As the words are uncommon, it’s hard to find an example that fits all the criteria.

Sometimes a word is so rare I’m lucky to find a usage example. From any source, from any author. Such is the case with this week’s words. So I recruited AI to come up with examples in the style of various authors. (To be absolutely clear, the examples are fake quotations from fake books.)

How would you write an example for this week’s words in the style of some well-known author? Share below or email us at words@wordsmith.org (include your location: city & state).

egrote

PRONUNCIATION:
(EE-groht)

MEANING:
verb intr.: To feign sickness.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin aegrotus (sick). Earliest documented use: c. 1721.

USAGE:
“Upon hearing of the impending visit of the talkative Lady Pennington, Miss Eliza Bennett decided to egrote, theatrically moaning and requesting tea every hour. Little did she know, Lady Pennington had the same idea and sent her regrets, citing a most ‘sudden and dramatic’ ailment.”
Jane Austen; The Convenient Colds of Highbury; Hartfield Publishing; 1814. [An AI-generated usage example]

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet, dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (28 Aug 1749-1832)

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