This week’s theme
Vocab words

This week’s words
onerous
torpor
welter
invective
reticence

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(WEL-tuhr)

MEANING:

noun: 1. A confused mass; a jumble. 2. A state of upheaval.
verb intr.: 1. To roll, writhe, or toss. 2. To lie soaked in something, such as blood.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Middle Dutch welteren or Middle Low German weltern (to roll). Ultimately from the Indo-European root wel- (to turn or roll), which also gave us waltz, revolve, valley, walk, vault, volume, wallet, helix, devolve, and voluble. Earliest documented use: 1400.

USAGE:

“For one reason or another I’ve found myself involved in several different operations lately in a positive welter of activity, disturbing me from my semi-retired torpor.”
Richard Vaughan-Davies; Tangle of Red Tape Strangling Enterprise; Daily Post (Liverpool, UK); May 9, 2007.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: