A.Word.A.Day --redoubtable

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Oct 26, 2012

This week's theme
Words that aren't what they appear to be

This week's words
predial
hibernian
histrionics
blousy
redoubtable

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Words that appear to have been coined after the 2012 US presidential candidates

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

redoubtable

PRONUNCIATION:

(ri-DOU-tuh-buhl)

MEANING:

adjective: Arousing fear or awe; evoking respect or honor.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French redoutable, from redouter (to dread), from re- (again) + douter (to doubt, fear). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dwo- (two) that also gave us dual, double, dubious, doubt, diploma, twin, between, and didymous. Earliest documented use: 1421.

USAGE:

"Even the redoubtable German economy now seems to be buckling."
Powering Down; The Economist (London, UK); Jul 7, 2012.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life -- the sick, the needy and the handicapped. -Hubert Horatio Humphrey, US Vice President (1911-1978)

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