Monday, June 11, 2012

ADUMBRAL

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 11 June 2012

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Word of the Day: 
ADUMBRAL  (adj.)

Definition(s):
  1. (adj.) shadowy; shady; dark

Useful info for word game players:
  • Front hooks: (none)
  • Back hooks: (none)
  • Anagrams: (none)
  • Longer extensions: (none)
  • Wraparounds: (none)
  • Other Spellings: (none)
  • Related Forms: (none)

Current theme:
Unpack Your Adjectives

Epilogue:
The word ADUMBRAL is usually employed in literary or poetic writing, where it suggests a dark, shadowy feeling:
Gloom settled on him as he trudged along. It was a gloom, too, adumbral in its depth, its density.
~ Maximilian Foster, Shoestrings (1917)

The dark shape of the Tor rose behind him, a brooding presence commanding all his attention and then drawing his eyes upward toward the vast adumbral sky, far and far above the wind-rustled boughs of the mysterious oak grove at the mountain’s base.
~ Donna Fletcher Crow, Glastonbury: The Novel of Christian England (1992)
The Latin umbra, meaning “shadow,” is the source of ADUMBRAL, as well as a number of other shadowy words, such as UMBRA (a dark area), UMBRAGE (a feeling of resentment), PENUMBRA (a partial shadow), and ADUMBRATE (to foreshadow, to suggest).

In recent weeks we’ve focused a lot on unusual things and concepts — such as symbols, dances, language, and foods — all interesting, but almost all nouns.  Now, in the memorable words of Schoolhouse Rock, it is time to “unpack our adjectives,” those handy words that help us describe, modify, or quantify nouns.  This week we will focus on some intriguing adjectives, along with examples of how they have been put to good use by writers — for adjectives are best appreciated and understood in context.

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