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Dec 26, 2018
This week’s themeNo el This week’s words morbidezza vociferate juxtapose hawkshaw quingentenary
While an announcer talks about who the next American Idol will be, a man on the street behind her eats from a garbage can. (Hollywood Blvd., May 2007)
Photo: Jeff
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargjuxtapose
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
verb tr.: To place side by side for comparison or contrast.
ETYMOLOGY:
Back-formation from juxtaposition, from Latin juxta (near, next) + French
poser (to place). Ultimately from the Indo-European root yeug- (to join),
which is also the ancestor of junction, yoke, yoga, adjust,
enjoin,
rejoinder,
junta,
junto,
syzygy,
jugular,
jugulate,
subjugate,
zeugma, and
rejoinder.
Earliest documented use: 1851.
USAGE:
“The NRA suggests limiting entry [in schools] to a single point; building
a prison-style fence (the report shows a photo of a deficient fence
juxtaposed with one that would have made GDR border guards proud); banning
greenery outside schools because intruders may hide in trees and bushes or
use them to cut through the aforementioned fence; and making do without
windows, or only small ones with ballistic protective glass. Front offices
should be protected with two sets of automatically locking doors to create
an ‘entrapment area’. “At the end of the report is a draft for a law to allow schools to arm their teachers.” Brutalism; The Economist (London, UK); Jun 30, 2018. See more usage examples of juxtapose in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I don't want to be a great leader; I want to be a man who goes around with
a little oil can and when he sees a breakdown, offers his help. To me, the
man who does that is greater than any holy man in saffron-colored robes.
The mechanic with the oilcan: that is my ideal in life. -Baba Amte, social
worker and activist (26 Dec 1914-2008)
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