A.Word.A.Day --mendicant

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mendicant

PRONUNCIATION:

(MEN-di-kuhnt)

MEANING:

adjective:

1. Living on alms.
2. Like a beggar.

noun:

1. A beggar.
2. A member of any of various orders of friars forbidden to own property and living on alms.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin mendicare (to beg), from mendicus (beggar), from mendum (defect).

USAGE:

"But Metro, a perennial mendicant with no dependable dedicated, long-term source of capital funding, could hardly afford to scrap or completely rebuild the older cars."
Common Sense at Metro; Washington Post; Sep 30, 2009.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

He who praises everybody, praises nobody. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)

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