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Oct 1, 2010
This week's theme
Words related to censorship

This week's words
fatwa
custos morum
excommunicate
euphemism
samizdat

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

samizdat

PRONUNCIATION:
(SAH-miz-daht)

MEANING:
noun: An underground publishing system used to print and circulate banned literature clandestinely. Also, such literature.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Russian samizdat, from samo- (self) + izdatelstvo (publishing house), from izdat (to publish). Coined facetiously on the model of Gosizdat (State Publishing House).

USAGE:
"This remarkable little book (People Power Uli!) includes jokes, text messages, cartoons, and poems of the revolt. It is both funny and a valuable record of samizdat literature and Philippine popular culture."
Alastair Dingwall; Estrada's Fall From Grace; Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong); Jan 17, 2002.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Thank everyone who calls out your faults, your anger, your impatience, your egotism; do this consciously, voluntarily. -Jean Toomer, poet and novelist (1894-1967)

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