Word of the Da‪y‬ Word of the Day

Sansculotte is a noun that refers to an extreme revolutionary.

Our word of the day comes from French, where its literal translation is ‘without knee breeches,’ a look you’d expect from a poor person. This is how sansculette came to refer to a French revolutionary from the lower classes. More recently, it has come to refer to any radical revolutionary regardless of class background or national origin.

In my college days, I organized a boycott of the cafeteria until they agreed to offer more than one flavor of pudding. That was as close as I came to being a sansculotte in my youth.

Obeisance is a noun that refers to deferential respect.

Coming from Middle English, our word of the day is related to the word ‘obey,’ as in ‘comply with the command.’ When we pay obeisance to someone we are paying our respects. For example: When visiting foreign countries, I didn’t understand the need to bow or curtsy to certain people. It was soon explained to me that it was custom to pay obeisance to individuals who were deemed royalty.

Inestimable is an adjective that means too valuable to be measured or calculated.

The root word of the our word of the day is estimate. It comes from the Latin word aestimare (eye ess team ARE ay) which means ‘to appraise’ or ‘determine.’ When we say something is inestimable, we say its value is too great to be determined.

For example: Amy’s contribution to the firm has been inestimable. We can’t begin to determine how much value her expertise and hard work have brought to us.

Snooker is a verb that means to entrap or hoodwink.

The origin of our word of the day is unknown, but it is generally used as a synonym of ‘hoodwink’ or ‘bamboozle.’

Chuck tried to snooker me into buying some Florida swamp land a few years ago, but I didn’t fall victim to that scam. By that time, I’d been hoodwinked into so many bogus opportunities that I could smell a swindle a mile away.

Raze is a verb that means to completely destroy.

The latin word radere (RAH dare ay) means ‘shave’ or ‘scrape.’ When something is shaven or scraped away, it is demolished or destroyed. The word is often used to describe property that is being demolished. For example: there was something sad about watching them bulldoze my old school. It was devastating to watch them raze the building where I spent so much of my childhood.

Accoutrement is a noun that refers to an additional item of dress.

Our word of the day comes directly from French, where it means ‘clothing.’ But its English counterpart refers more specifically to ‘additional clothing.’ For example: The difficult thing about being a boy scout is remembering to bring all those accoutrements to every meeting. I forgot to bring my bandana once and that people didn’t like that.