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Jan 12, 2010
This week's themeWords relating to religion This week's words sacerdotal precatory vatic canonical eremite Internet Anagram Server I, Rearrangement Servant May I try your name? 
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with Anu Gargprecatory
PRONUNCIATION:
(PREK-uh-tor-ee)
MEANING:
adjective:1. Expressing a request. 2. Nonbinding: only expressing a wish or giving a suggestion. ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin precari (to pray). Ultimately from the Indo-European root prek-
(to ask) that is also the source of words such as pray, precarious, deprecate,
and postulate.
USAGE:
"Even worse, [the proposed amendment] is a deception because it amounts
to nothing more than a precatory expression of pious hope."Robert C. Byrd; A Hollow and Dangerous Promise; The Washington Post; Oct 31, 1993. "'The laws are precatory as opposed to mandatory,' said Scott Sommer, 'They say the city "may", rather than "shall", enforce the housing code.'" Deborah Sontag; A Weak Housing Agency Seems to Be a Step Behind; The New York Times; Oct 7, 1996. See more usage examples of precatory in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings -- always darker, emptier, and simpler. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)
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