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Nov 22, 2006
This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
exigent
subjacent
invidious
circumscribe
effrontery

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

invidious

(in-VID-ee-uhs) Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

adjective: Unjust, offensive, or hateful, and likely to arouse resentment, ill will, anger, etc.

From Latin invidiosus (envious, envied, hostile), from invidia (envy, hostility), from videre (to see). Ultimately from the Indo-European root weid- (to see) that is also the source of words such as guide, wise, vision, advice, idea, story, and history.

"A small wrinkle of worry crosses Sword Gusmao's brow as she discusses her husband's invidious position."
Steve Waldon; Kirsty's Crusade; The Age (Melbourne, Australia); Nov 1, 2006.

See more usage examples of invidious in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

At times it may be necessary to temporarily accept a lesser evil, but one must never label a necessary evil as good. -Margaret Mead, anthropologist (1901-1978)

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