Skip to main content

Word of the Day – Precarium

By February 23, 2020Word of the Day

Precarium (noun) (Scots)

prek-er-ee-um

(now historical). A loan granted on request but revocable whenever the lender wishes.

Late 17th century; earliest use found in James Dalrymple. From classical Latin precārium a thing granted or lent upon request at the will and pleasure of the grantor, property held during the pleasure of the superior, use as noun of neuter of precārius, adjective.

Example sentences

“the problem is they agreed the terms of the precarium before it happened.”

Word of the Day – Preponderant

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Preponderant (adj) pree-pon-duh-rant superior in weight, force, influence, numbers, etc.; prevailing. Preponderant was first recorded in 1650–60 and comes from the stem of the Latin word praeponderāns, which is the…

Word of the Day – Nebulous

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Nebulous (adj) neb-yu-lus Hazy, vague, indistinct, or confused. First recorded in 1375–1425 and comes via late Middle English from the Latin word nebulōsus, meaning “full of mist, foggy, cloudy.” (more…)

Word of the Day – Impediment

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Impediment (noun) im-ped-im-ent An obstruction, hindrance or obstacle. / any physical impairment or condition that impedes normal, fluent, or easy speech; a speech disorder. First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English,…

Word of the Day – Gamp

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Gamp (noun) gamp (British) (informal) Umbrella. 1860–65; after the umbrella of Mrs. Sarah Gamp in Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit (more…)

Word of the Day – Marabout

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Marabout (noun) ma-ra-boot (Islam) a hermit or holy man, especially in N Africa, often wielding political power and credited with supernatural powers./ the tomb or shrine of such a man.…

Word of the Day – Farrago

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Farrago (noun) far-ah-go A jumbled mixture of things. 1625–35; Latin: literally, mixed crop of feed grains, equivalent to farr- (stem of far ) emmer + -āgō suffix noting kind or…

Word of the Day – Firkin

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Firkin (noun) fer-kin a small wooden vessel or tub for butter, lard, etc. First recorded around 1400–50 and comes from the late Middle English word ferdkyn or firdekyn. (more…)

Word of the Day – Collocation

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Collocation (noun) coll-ok-ay-shun the arrangement, especially of words in a sentence. 1595–1605; Latin collocātiōn- (stem of collocātiō ), equivalent to collocāt (more…)

Word of the Day – Infelicitous

| Word of the Day | No Comments
Infelicitous (adj) in-fel-is-it-us inapt, inappropriate, or awkward; malapropos / not felicitous, happy, or fortunate; unhappy. First recorded in 1825–35 (more…)

Leave your vote

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.