This week’s theme
Words of nautical origins

This week’s words
copper-bottomed
flotsam
leeway
jetsam
groggy

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(LEE-way)

MEANING:

noun: The amount of freedom to do something: margin or latitude.

ETYMOLOGY:

In nautical terminology, leeway is the sideways drift of a ship to leeward (away from wind). From Old English hleo (shelter) + way. Earliest documented use: 1669.

USAGE:

“And a lack of standard practices gives some firms leeway to cut corners.”
Companies’ Green Strategies; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 30, 2016.

See more usage examples of leeway in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: