Friday word: Tantamount

[med_cat]

tan·ta·mount adjective \ˈtan-tə-ˌmau̇nt\: equivalent in value, significance, or effect

Examples:

His statement was tantamount to an admission of guilt.
They see any criticism of the President as tantamount to treason.

"...Life and I are not convivial,

Life is real, life is earnest, while I only think I am real, and know I am trivial.

In this imponderable world I lose no opportunity

To ponder on picayunity.

I would spend either a round amount or a flat amount

To know whether a puma is only tantamount to a catamount or paramount to a catamount,

It is honey in my cup,

When I read of a sprinter sprinting the hundred in ten seconds flat, to think:

Golly, suppose he stood up!

I guess I am not really reprehensible,

Just dispensable."

(Ogden Nash)

Etymology:
obsolete tantamount, noun, equivalent, from Anglo-French tant amunter to amount to as much

First Known Use: 1641