This week’s theme
Words coined in comic strips and cartoons

This week’s words
skunkworks
sad sack
embiggen
Lower Slobbovia
cromulent

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(SAD sak)

MEANING:

noun: A well-meaning but hopelessly inept person.

ETYMOLOGY:

Named for the bumbling US Army private in George Baker’s (1915-1975) comic strip of the same name. See also: schlemiel.

USAGE:

“A sad sack living in a bedsit that serves as a halfway house for single men, Malcolm has been happily subservient, leaving him short of life skills.”
Craig Mathieson; Critic’s View; The Age (Melbourne, Australia); Dec 12, 2024.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: