This week’s theme
Miscellaneous words

This week’s words
piacular
demotic
parsimony
gaucherie
valence

This week’s comments
AWADmail 713

Next week’s theme
Well-traveled words

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(VAY-luhns)

MEANING:

noun:
1. The combining capacity of an atom or a group of atoms to form molecules.
2. The capacity of someone or something to affect another.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin valentia (power, worth, or strength), from valere (to be well or strong). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wal- (to be strong) that also gave us valiant, avail, valor, value, wieldy, countervail, valetudinarian, and valorize, Earliest documented use: 1425.

USAGE:

“Bernie Sanders sought common ground by adding new valences to one or two of his standard arguments.”
Margaret Talbot; The Populist Prophet; The New Yorker; Oct 12, 2015.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: