Wednesday word: disabuse

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

disabuse: [dis-uh-byooz]

verb:  To show someone that a belief is incorrect.  To free someone from deception or error.  To show someone the truth.

"The veterinarian disabused me of the notion that dry catfood is healther than canned catfood."


Origin: 1605-1615  French from désabuser.

Related forms: Noun: disabusal.

Thursday word: precarious

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

precarious (pri-KAIR-ee-uhs) - adj., dependent upon the will or favor of another person; dependent upon circumstances, uncertain, insecure, chancy.


I like this one because of the etymology: it was adopted in the 1640s from Latin precārius, originally meaning obtained by entreaty or mere favor, hence the sense of being uncertain, from precārī, to entreat, from prex, prayer.

Never had he been so fond of this body of his as now when his tenure of it was so precarious.

—Jack London, White Fang

---L.