1.
A host, master of ceremonies, or the like, especially of a stage revue or television program.
verb:
1.
To act as compère for: to compère the new game show.
Origin:
Compère literally means "godfather" in French. It entered English in the 1730s.
2. Bathetic
1.
Displaying or characterized by insincere emotions: the bathetic emotionalism of soap operas.
Origin:
Based on the more common word pathetic , bathetic entered English in the 1830s. It comes from the Greek word bathos which meant "depth."
As art, it's last-gasp Conceptualism, a toothless blend of symbolic politics, stale entertainment and bathetic grandstanding.
3. Truncate
1.
To shorten by cutting off a part; cut short: Truncate detailed explanations.
2.
Mathematics, Computers. To shorten (a number) by dropping a digit or digits: The numbers 1.4142 and 1.4987 can both be truncated to 1.4.
1.
Truncated.
2.
Biology . A. Square or broad at the end, as if cut off transversely. B. Lacking the apex, as certain spiral shells.
Origin:
Truncate comes from the Latin word truncātus which meant "to lop." The mathematical and computer usage arose in the 1950s.
An impressive tower, now somewhat truncated, rose above the center of the building.
4. Crucible
4. Crucible
1.
A severe, searching test or trial.
2.
A container of metal or refractory material employed for heating substances to high temperatures.
3.
Metallurgy. A hollow area at the bottom of a furnace in which the metal collects.
Origin:
Crucible stems from the Old French word croisol which referred to a night lamp.
The specter of civil war still hangs over the nation, and Iraq has become a crucible of militant terrorism.
No comments:
Post a Comment