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Dec 7, 2007
This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
vilipend
adscititious
interpellate
serotine
superficies

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

superficies

(soo-puhr-FISH-ee-eez) Pronunciation Sound Clip

noun: Outer surface or appearance of something or someone.

[From Latin superficies, from super (over, above) + facies (form, face), from facere (to make or do). Ultimately from the Indo-European root dhe- (to set or put) that is also the source of do, deed, factory, fashion, face, rectify, defeat, sacrifice, satisfy, Sanskrit sandhi (literally, joining), Urdu purdah (literally, veil or curtain), and Russian duma (council).]

"You are elated to realise how close they are to Zanu-PF, beneath the superficies of perfunctory opposition."
When Home is Harder Than Away; The Herald (Harare, Zimbabwe); Nov 3, 2007.

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

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How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld, writer (1613-1680)

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