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Jan 20, 2009
This week's theme
Words from Obama

This week's words
cohere
syncretic
endemic
abrogate
sui generis

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with Anu Garg

syncretic

PRONUNCIATION:
(sin-KREH-tik)

MEANING:
adjective: Combining different forms of belief or practice.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin syncretismus, Greek synkretismos (union), from synkretizein (to unite in the manner of the Cretan cities), from syn (together) + Kret-, Kres (Cretan).

USAGE:
"Traditionally, Indonesians practiced a tolerant, almost syncretic brand of faith, infused with the Buddhist, Hindu, and animist traditions of earlier periods."
Barack Obama; The Audacity of Hope; Crown Publishers; 2006.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. -Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the U.S. (1809-1865)

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