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Aug 15, 2012
This week's themeLatin terms in English This week's words corpus delicti ex officio ne plus ultra ex post facto cui bono Internet Anagram Server I, Rearrangement Servant May I try your name? Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargne plus ultra
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: The ultimate or the perfect example of something.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin, literally, not further beyond. Earliest documented use: 1637.
NOTES:
It's said that the Pillars of Hercules at the entrance to the
Strait of Gibraltar had this Latin phrase inscribed. It served as
a warning to sailors not to go beyond the limit of the known world.
The national motto of Spain, on the other hand, is "Plus ultra".
USAGE:
"The greatest car in the world, the automotive ne plus ultra." Jonathan Carroll; The Ghost in Love; Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2008. See more usage examples of ne plus ultra in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you. -Annie Dillard, author (b. 1945)
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