A.Word.A.Day --unavailing

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May 11, 2012

This week's theme
Miscellaneous words

This week's words
tenable
casuistry
discrepant
consuetudinary
unavailing

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Words with allusions to geometrical shapes

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

unavailing

PRONUNCIATION:

(uhn-uh-VAY-ling)

MEANING:

adjective: Futile.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin a- (intensive prefix) + valere (to be of worth). Earliest documented use: 1672.

USAGE:

"President Obama made the Palestine/Israel issue one of his foremost priorities when he assumed office, but all international efforts have been unavailing."
Salman Haidar; Special Article; The Statesman (New Delhi, India); Oct 1, 2011.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have. -Lee Iacocca, automobile executive (b. 1924)

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