A.Word.A.Day --nictitate

A.Word.A.Day

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Nov 6, 2015

This week’s theme
Unusual synonyms for everyday acts

This week’s words
sternutate
eruct
flatulate
ingurgitate
nictitate

Photo: David Shabun

This week’s comments
AWADmail 697

Next week’s theme
Words having all five vowels

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

nictitate

PRONUNCIATION:

(NIK-ti-tayt)

MEANING:

verb intr.: To wink or blink.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin nictitare, frequentative of nictare (to wink). Earliest documented use: 1822.

USAGE:

“‘So why don’t we tell each other tonight? I’ll be playin’ at a tango bar.’ He nictitated.”
Isabella and Irena de Wardin; The Humming Bird; Xlibris; 2012.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

I don't think that combat has ever been written about truthfully; it has always been described in terms of bravery and cowardice. I won't even accept these words as terms of human reference any more. And anyway, hell, they don't even apply to what, in actual fact, modern warfare has become. -James Jones, novelist (6 Nov 1921-1977)

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