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Oct 31, 2008
This week's theme
Contranyms, or words with an opposite set of meanings.

This week's words
cleave
continuance
asperse
copemate
quiddity

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

quiddity

PRONUNCIATION:
(KWID-i-tee)

MEANING:
noun:
1. The essence of someone or something.
2. A trifling point.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin quid (what), which also gave us quidnunc and quid pro quo.

USAGE:
"Pondering this reversal of fortune, Anicius Manlius Boethius composed a soliloquy in which, queried by Philosophy as to his quiddity, he replied: 'I am a man, a rational and mortal animal.'"
Alvin Moore Jr.; The Noble Traveler; Parabola (New York); Jun 1996.

"Any kind of lackadaisical activity, any sort of diverting quiddity to take a person's mind off mundane, everyday, small-change troubles."
Guy Friddell; Perfect Day is Fine Excuse For Lackadaisical Activity; The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia); May 27, 2004.

See more usage examples of quiddity in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Conscience is the still, small voice which tells a candidate that what he is doing is likely to lose him votes. -Anonymous

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