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Word of the day November 18
The Word of the Day for November 18 is:
sententious • \sen-TEN-shuss\ • (adjective) 1. given to or abounding in aphoristic expression or excessive moralizing; 2. terse, aphoristic, or moralistic in expression
A little more information about today’s word:
Nowadays, "sententious" is usually uncomplimentary, implying banality, oversimplification, and excessive moralizing. But that hasn't always been the case, nor is it universally so even now. The original Middle English sense of "sententious" was "full of meaning," a sense adopted from Latin "sententiosus" (from "sententia," meaning "sentence" or "maxim"). In Modern English, too, "sententious" has sometimes referred to what is full of significance and expressed tersely. Or sometimes "sententious" simply suggests an affinity for aphorisms, as when it refers to the likes of Ben Franklin's Poor Richard (of almanac fame), the homespun philosopher given to such statements as "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
My sentence (using definition #2):
When her date launched into a sententious monologue on "the deplorable decline of Western culture," Meg wrote him off as an insufferable bore.
Based on Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 10th Edition.
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