This week’s theme
Words that aren’t what they appear to be

This week’s words
dogmatic
lustrate
tourbillion
antigodlin
aggrate

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(LUHS-trayt)

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To purify by means of rituals or ceremonies.
2. To remove undesirable people from an organization, especially in an abrupt or violent manner.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin lustrare (to make bright). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leuk- (light), which also gave us lunar, lunatic, light, lightning, lucid, illuminate, illustrate, translucent, lux, lynx, pellucid, lucubrate, lutestring, limn, levin, and lea. Earliest documented use: 1623.

USAGE:

“Did the holy man lustrate this chamber ... It was lustrated by prayer and tears.”
John Buchan; The Blanket of the Dark; Hodder & Stoughton; 1931.

“The new Polish law was both very broadly and very badly drawn. Among the categories of people to be lustrated were all journalists and academics.”
Timothy Garton Ash; Cleansing Poland of the ‘Red’ Poison; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); May 25, 2007.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: