This week’s theme
Illustrated words

This week’s words
succulent
marmorean
afflatus
peregrination
ostentatious


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Next week’s theme
Usage examples from well-known authors

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(os-tuhn-TAY-shus)

MEANING:

adjective: Pretentious or vulgar display in an attempt to impress others.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin ostentare (to display), frequentative of ostendere (to show), from ob- (against) + tendere (to stretch). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ten- (to stretch), which is also the source of tense, tenet, tendon, tent, tenor, tender, pretend, extend, tenure, tetanus, hypotenuse, tenable, extenuate, countenance, tenuous, distend, pertinacious, and detente. Earliest documented use: 1590.

USAGE:

“Ghe moved ... through an ostentatious arch encased in gold leaf into a spacious cabin, onto the rich carpet.”
J. Gregory Keyes; The Waterborn; Del Rey; 2015.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: