This week's theme
What a difference a letter makes

This week's words
palatine
collier
lares and penates
hyperbolic
debark

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(hy-puhr-BOL-ik)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Of or pertaining to hyperbole.
2. Of or pertaining to hyperbola.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek hyperbole (excess), from hyperballein (to exceed), from hyper- + ballein (to throw). Earliest documented use: 1646, 1676.

NOTES:

When you employ hyperbole in your discourse, you are doing what a devil does (to throw), etymologically speaking. The word devil ultimately comes from Greek diaballein (to throw across, slander). Some other words that share the same root are ballistic, emblem, embolism, metabolism, parable, problem, parabola, and symbol.

USAGE:

"'My objective is to build something sustainable that lasts 100 years,' says Mr Kotak, who is upbeat without being hyperbolic."
Kotak Moment; The Economist (London, UK); May 26, 2012.

"She's made a skirt to wear to conferences
with a crocheted hyperbolic hem.
Each of its ruffles ruffles."
Susan Blackwell Ramsey; A Mind Like This; University of Nebraska Press; 2012.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: