Things have been crazy recently. I'll try to get back into posting more often! I think I'm beginning to get into the swing of my new schedule.

Below are some Merriam Webster words of the day that I've used in an example. I pulled this from an e-mail thread from yesterday with a friend.

So the trick is to use all of these words in a sentence, or paragraph:

• coax (verb): to manipulate with great perseverance and usually with considerable effort toward a desired state or activity
• meliorism (noun): the belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment
• undulate (verb): to rise and fall in volume, pitch, or cadence
• Gotterdammerung (noun): a collapse (as of a society or regime) marked by catastrophic violence and disorder; broadly : downfall
• orchidaceous (adj): showy, ostentatious
• redux (adj): brought back
• ab initio (adverb): from the beginning
• theriac (noun): cure-all

Thus far, Iran continues to coax the United Nations' meliorism through undulating protocols. At times Iran is reserved and speaks of peace, only to oscillate to the orchidaceous antipodal Gotterdammerung that will destroy the West. This sparks redux Cold-Waresque talk of preemptive strikes from the United States, France and Israel. There is no theriac for proliferation, though we've known this ab initio.

It comes off as over-bearing, if not trite and elitist. I like the mental exercise, though, if for no other reason than to help commit the words and their usage to memory. My favorite is Gotterdammerung. Expect to see future usage of that word!

Resources
Merriam Webster

How appropriate is it that fissile is the word of the day??? I don't think it was a coincidence!

The Word of the Day for February 8 is:

fissile • \FISS-ul\ • adjective
1 : capable of being split or divided in the direction of the grain or along natural planes of cleavage
*2 : capable of undergoing fission

Example sentence:
The only fissile material that occurs in usable amounts in nature is uranium-235.

Did you know?
When scientists first used "fissile" back in the 1600s, the notion of splitting the nucleus of an atom would have seemed far-fetched indeed. In those days, people thought that atoms were the smallest particles of matter that existed and therefore could not be split. "Fissile" (which can be traced back to Latin "findere," meaning "to split") was used in reference to things like rocks. When we hear about "fissile materials" today, the reference is usually to nuclear fission: the splitting of an atomic nucleus that releases a huge amount of energy. But there is still a place in our language for the original sense of "fissile" (and for the noun "fissility," meaning "the quality of being fissile"). A geologist, for example, might refer to slate as "fissile."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

unctuous

Main Entry: unc·tu·ous
Pronunciation: '&[ng](k)-ch&-w&s, -ch&s, -shw&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French or Medieval Latin; Middle French unctueux, from Medieval Latin unctuosus, from Latin unctus act of anointing, from unguere to anoint
1 a : FATTY, OILY b : smooth and greasy in texture or appearance
2 : PLASTIC
3 : full of unction; especially : revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality
- unc·tu·ous·ly adverb
- unc·tu·ous·ness noun


Resources
Merriam Webster's - unctuous

seasonal affective disorder \SEE-zun-ul-a-FEK-tiv-dis-OR-der\ noun
: depression that tends to recur as the days grow shorter during the fall and winter

Resources
Merriam-Webster