This week’s theme
Tosspot words

This week’s words
scofflaw
killjoy
sawbones
spoilsport
dreadnought

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(SPOIL-sport)

MEANING:

noun: One who ruins other people’s enjoyment.

ETYMOLOGY:

From spoil, from Old French espoille, from Latin spoliare (to rob), from spolium (booty, skin, hide) + sport, from disport (diversion), from Old French desport, from desporter, from des (away) + porter (to carry), from Latin portare (to carry). Earliest documented use: 1801.

USAGE:

“The most common misconception about the Puritans is that they were uptight spoilsports.”
Ralph Young; Dissent: The History of an American Idea; NYU Press; 2015.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: