This week’s theme
Words derived from body

This week’s words
gambit
propugnaculum
flatfooted
consanguineous
ham-handed

Send a gift that
keeps on giving,
all year long:
A gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day or the gift of books

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(praw-puhg-NAK-yuh-luhm)

MEANING:

noun: A fortress; defense; protection.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin propugnaculum (bulwark), from propugnare (to fight in defense of something), from pro- (toward) + pugnare (to fight), from pugnus (fist). Ultimately from the Indo-European root peuk- (to prick), which is also the source of point, puncture, pungent, punctual, poignant, pounce, poniard, oppugn, repugn, impugn, pugnacious, pugilist, and repugnant. Earliest documented use: 1773.

USAGE:

“Something rather paradoxical has been happening to this Self, this base camp of behaviorism, this propugnaculum of steadfastness, this command post of the soul.”
Philip Mirowski; Machine Dreams; Cambridge University Press; 2002.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: