1word1day | Entries tagged with a

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Avatar (noun)
avatar [av-uh-tahr, av-uh-tahr]

noun
1. Hinduism. the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.
2. an embodiment or personification, as of a principle, attitude, or view of life: Her complete loss of confidence was particularly unsettling, because generally she is the very avatar of hope.
3. Digital Technology. a static or moving image or other graphic representation that acts as a proxy for a person or is associated with a specific digital account or identity, as on the internet: My friend always chooses warriors as his video game avatars. | Now that spring's here I've switched my Instagram avatar from a stack of books to a robin's egg.
4. Also called avatar mouse,. Also called mouse avatar. a mouse that is implanted with cells or tissue freshly extracted from a human being, as to test drug therapies for an individual patient or to study a disease process: Researchers transplanted samples of the patient’s tumor into specially bred avatars.
5. (in science fiction) a hybrid creature, composed of human and alien DNA and remotely controlled by the mind of a genetically matched human being.

Related Words
apotheosis, archetype, epitome, exemplar, expression, personification, realization, symbol

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

Origin: First recorded in 1775–85; from Sanskrit avatāra “a passing down, descent,” from ava “down” + -tāra “a passing over” (akin to Latin trāns “across, beyond, through”; see also through ( def. ))

Example Sentences
The tool has a face and a name: Sky, an AI avatar that appears as a woman with short hair and a blazer in its first iteration.
From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

Kendi is an avatar for the battered and bruised fight for racial equality in this country.
From Slate • Apr. 13, 2026

A brainwave interface translating these signals into computer instructions then allowed her to convey which of these movements she wanted her mixed-reality avatar to dance in real-time.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026

The movie calls him the Lost Man, a bid for everyman philosophical relevance, and Ninomiya is indeed a sympathetic avatar.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

Aech’s avatar was a tall, broad-shouldered Caucasian male with dark hair and brown eyes.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

stonepicnicking_okapi

ansible [an-suh-buhl]

noun
(in science fiction) a device for instantaneous communication, or other purposes, across cosmic distances

examples
1. I could show them the ansible, but it didn’t make a very convincing Alien Artifact, being so incomprehensible to fit in with hoax as well as with reality. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
2. "What is an anisble, Shevek?"
"An idea." He smiled without much humor. "It will be a device that will permit communication without any time interval between two points in space." The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

origin
Shortening of answerable; coined by Ursula K. Le Guin in her novel Rocannon's World (1966)

“Ansible” – a science fiction word with Emory origins? – LITS Archive ...

“Ansible” – a science fiction word with Emory origins? – LITS Archive ...

stonepicnicking_okapi

althing [ahl-thing, awl-]

noun

the parliament of Iceland, consisting of an upper and a lower house.

examples

1....the hatreds and behind-backs
of the althing, lies and women,
exhaustions nominated peace,
memory incubating the spilled blood,,, "North" by Seamus Heaney

2.From the moment self-government lost touch with "self" -- departing the agora of Athens, the 'althing' of Reykyavik and the town meeting of New England -- it adapted itself to nations and peoples. "It Depends on What You Mean by Democracy" Simon Jenkins, Huffington Post, 2008

origin
from Icelandic Alþingi, from Old Norse alþingi, from allr (“all”) + þing (“Thing”).
althing

stonepicnicking_okapi

adze [adz]

noun

an axlike tool, for dressing timbers roughly, with a curved, chisel-like steel head mounted at a right angle to the wooden handle.

examples
1. It’s as if she’s been carved like an archetypal totem, but with matte and glossy house paint, charcoal and oil paint on canvas rather than with a chisel or an adze from stone or wood. "A stolen, horribly damaged De Kooning painting gets the Getty conservation treatment." The Los Angeles Times. 31 May 2022.

2. March 15 is a crucially important day in U.S. history. As the man who taught me to use a chainsaw said, it is immortalized by Shakespeare’s famous warning: “Cedar! Beware the adze of March!” He put it that way because the importance of March 15 is, of course, that it is the day in 1820 that Maine, the Pine Tree State, joined the Union. Heather Cox Richardson on substack. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-14-2026

origin
Middle English adse, adese, going back to Old English adesa, of obscure origin
adze

sallymn

arcana [ahr-key-nuh]

noun:
mysterious or specialized knowledge, language, or information accessible or possessed only by the initiate

Examples:

What became clear is that even publishers, agents, and retailers, who’ve rightly been focused on signing writers and selling books, didn’t appreciate how much the arcana of the business would matter in the move to digital platforms. (Tim Carmody, Why Metadata Matters for the Future of E-Books, WIRED, August 2010)

His novels move with kinetic energy, his plots are intricate puzzles shrouded in religious iconography, ancient cryptography and other obscure arcana. (Marc Weingarten, 'The Da Vinci Code' stunned the world. Now Dan Brown releases his most ambitious book yet, Los Angeles Times, September 2025)

And beyond all else he glimpsed an infinite gulf of sheer darkness, where solid and semi-solid forms were known only by their windy stirrings, and cloudy patterns of force seemed to superimpose order on chaos and hold forth a key to all the paradoxes and arcana of the worlds we know. (H P Lovecraft, 'The Haunter of the Dark')

We are the subjects, and so is everything around us, of all manner of subtle and inexplicable influences: and if our ancestors attached too much importance to these ill-understood arcana of the night-side of nature, we have attached too little. (Catherine Crowe, The Night Side of Nature)

"Under the impression," said Mr Micawber, "that your peregrinations in this metropolis have not as yet been extensive, and that you might have some difficulty in penetrating the arcana of the Modern Babylon in the direction of the City Road, - in short," said Mr Micawber, in another burst of confidence, "that you might lose yourself - I shall be happy to call this evening, and install you in the knowledge of the nearest way." (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield)

Indeed, it is to be feared that some of the more rustic and bashful youths of Devil's Ford, who had felt it incumbent upon them to pay their respects to the new-comers, were more at ease in this vestibule than in the arcana beyond, whose glories they could see through the open door. (Bret Harte, Devil's Ford)

Origin:
'hidden things, mysteries,' 1590s, a direct adoption of the Latin plural of arcanum 'a secret, a mystery,' an important word in alchemy, from neuter of adjective arcanus 'secret, hidden, private, concealed' (see arcane). It was occasionally mistaken for a singular and pluralized as arcanas, because arcana is far more common than arcanum. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

calzephyr

Apolausticism - noun.

The earliest use of apolausticism dates back to 1883 and describes a person or feeling of devotion to enjoyment, pleasure, learning and/or taste--perhaps a more polite version or definition of hedonism :-D

The origin is from the Greek word apolaustikos, meaning "enjoyable" or "to enjoy".

simplyn2deep

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Advent (noun)
ad·vent [ad-vent]

noun
1. a coming into place, view, or being; arrival: the advent of the holiday season.
2. (usually initial capital letter) the coming of Christ into the world.
3. (initial capital letter) the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.
4. (usually initial capital letter) Second Coming.

Related Words
arrival, coming, onset

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Synonyms
1. onset, beginning, commencement, start.

When To Use
What is Advent season?
Advent is the season before Christmas. In many branches of Christianity, Advent consists of the period starting four Sundays before Christmas. Among Christians, Advent is typically considered a season of preparation for the celebration of Christmas that also commemorates the coming of Jesus. The word Advent can also refer to the coming of Jesus into the world (it can also refer to what’s known as Jesus’s Second Coming). Religious rituals for Advent include the lighting of candles on an Advent wreath and the decoration of Jesse trees. Although Christmas is widely celebrated in both religious and secular (nonreligious) ways, Advent is primarily a religious observance. However, Advent calendars are a popular way of marking the days until Christmas even for those who do not celebrate it in religious ways. The similar season observed in anticipation of Easter is known as Lent.

Origin: First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Latin adventus “arrival, approach,” equivalent to ad- “toward” + ven- (stem of venīre “to come”) + -tus suffix of verbal action; ad-

Example Sentences
A foodbank is asking donors to consider trying a "reverse advent calendar" this year – giving 24 items to help provide Christmas hampers to families in need.
Read more on BBC

Many veteran American sailors no longer want to spend months at sea, where until recently they had been largely cut off from communications—though the advent of satellite-internet is changing that.
Read more on The Wall Street Journal

With the advent of increasingly powerful consumer computing devices, cloud computing, and high-bandwidth internet connections, the concept of the metaverse is materializing.
Read more on Barron's

That has brought huge technological leaps to everything from smartphones to cars, as well as the advent of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.
Read more on Barron's

The advent of less costly TPUs means it could be undercut on price if other companies were to establish an AI cloud competitor.
Read more on Barron's

simplyn2deep

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025

Akimbo (adjective)
akimbo [uh-kim-boh]

adjective
1. with hand on hip and elbow bent outward: to stand with arms akimbo.
2. (of limbs) splayed out in an awkward or ungainly manner: After the strenuous hike, she sat on the floor with her legs akimbo.
3. (of limbs) fully extended in opposite directions: The dancer warmed up with his arms and legs stretched akimbo
4. to one side; askew; awry: He woke up from his nap, hair akimbo: They wore their hats akimbo; He woke up from his nap, hair akimbo.

Related Words
jagged

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

Origin: First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English in kenebowe, from unattested Old Norse i keng boginn “bent into a crook” ( i “in,” keng, accusative of kengr “hook,” boginn, past participle of bjūga “to bend”)

Example Sentences
“Lay an egg, lay an egg, lay an egg!” her brothers teased as they watched her sink low, knees akimbo.
Read more on Literature

For Season 1, he gave Mark S. that burden, except Mark is holding a group of other Marks, limbs akimbo.
Read more on Los Angeles Times

A beat kicks in, and three women stand arms akimbo, bouncing their hips like a Motown girl group.
Read more on New York Times

The comedian then proceeds to hop ecstatically across the stage with one leg akimbo: “That song was penned with a toucan’s beak dipped in ink while riding a zebra side-saddle.”
Read more on Los Angeles Times

But the visible satisfaction of the model’s pose — arm akimbo, hand jauntily on hip, bottom thrust out with confidence — also marks a forceful break with the passivity of the female nude.
Read more on New York Times

sallymn

adumbral [a-duhm-bruhl]

adjective:
(poetic) shadowy; shady

Examples:

while it could be considered a distant sonic cousin to Selena Gomez's cooing 'Good For You' off Revival, it has an adumbral quality its predecessor doesn't quite possess, and an intensity Lindemann will hopefully lean into on forthcoming tracks. (Maggie Lindemann Cements Her Dark-Pop Princess Status With 'Things', Popcrush, February 2016)

Within the adumbral interiors of the temples you find statues to each of the Hindu trinity, while the Shiva temple's exterior is decorated with galleries of bas-reliefs that tell the Ramayana story. (John Borthwick, Beacons of faith rise from the ruins, The West Australian, September 2013)

According to this version of weird fiction, it primarily concerns itself with destabilizing revelations of the adumbral numinous. (B Colbert, James Machin on Weird Fiction, transculture, February 2019)

He can be an adumbral yet compelling presence (as in his brief appearances in The Looking Glass War and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold), as well as a figure who lives on beyond the confines of the printed page. (Jonathan Barnes, Coming in from the Cold, Literary Review, September 2013)

An opaque sky preens
diaphanous plumage
as I, like Narcissus,
ponder my reflection
in winter's adumbral waters. (Dale G Cozart, 'At a Lake in Winter')

He took a final drink of water from the creek and stood up, his sore, battered muscles protesting violently. Then he began to stumble through the adumbral forests to find a road. (Michael Knerr, Sex Life of the Gods)

Origin:
from Latin adumbratus 'sketched, shadowed in outline,' past participle of adumbrare 'cast a shadow over,' from ad 'to' + umbrare 'to cast in shadow' (from PIE root andho- 'blind, dark' (Online Etymology Dictionary)

sallymn

asphodel [as-fuh-del]

noun:
1 any of various southern European plants of the genera Asphodelus and Asphodeline, of the lily family, having white, pink, or yellow flowers in elongated clusters.
2 an everlasting flower said to grow in the Elysian fields

(click to enlarge)
Examples:

On that memorable trip, I wandered unexpectedly into a glade absolutely filled with bright asphodel. Crowded spires of luminous white, punctuating the misty evergreen dimness, was about the last thing I expected; the scene was remarkable. (Matt Collins, Why I've fallen in love with the asphodel – the glamorous bulb from the Med , Telegraph, August 2021)

Bosa was once renowned for its leather-making industry and is still filled with historical boutiques, where the art of tannery has been passed down across generations, as well as stores selling coral jewelry and asphodel baskets. (Silvia Marchetti, 20 of the most beautiful villages in Italy, CNN, August 2022)

So lovely is the asphodel that it was said to grow in the Elysian Fields: blessed fields of the afterlife in ancient Greek literature. (Katherine Wagner-Reiss, What’s in a Plant Name? Narcissus, Daffodils, and Jonquils, NYBG, April 2017)

I pity you, Milanion, for when thou dost race with me, the goal is assuredly the meadows of asphodel near where sit Pluto and Persephone on their gloomy thrones. (Jean Lang, A Book of Myths)

The Graces assembling seemed to have joined hands in meadows of asphodel to compose that face. (Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse)

Within a Hell of godless emptiness
submit yourself ever more to sleep's spell.
All is a dream, all is nothingness:
the flower of the world is the asphodel. (Gabriele D'Annunzio, 'Poema paradisiaco')

Origin:
late 14c, from Latin asphodelus, from Greek asphodelos, also sphodelos, spodelos, 'asphodel, king's spear, plant of the lily kind,' which is of unknown origin; 'A substrate word, as is shown by the variants' [Beekes]. It was the peculiar plant of the dead; and in Greek mythology and English poetic use it overspreads the Elysian meadows. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

simplyn2deep

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025

Avenge (verb)
avenge [uh-venj]

verb (used with object), avenged, avenging
1. to take vengeance or exact satisfaction for.: to avenge a grave insult.
2. to take vengeance on behalf of.: He avenged his brother.

Other Word Forms
avengeful adjective
avenger noun
avengingly adverb
unavenged adjective
unavenging adjective
unavengingly adverb

Related Words
vindicate

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Antonyms
1. forgive

Synonym Study
Avenge, revenge both imply to inflict pain or harm in return for pain or harm inflicted on oneself or those persons or causes to which one feels loyalty. The two words were formerly interchangeable, but have been differentiated until they now convey widely diverse ideas. Avenge is now restricted to inflicting punishment as an act of retributive justice or as a vindication of propriety: to avenge a murder by bringing the criminal to trial. Revenge implies inflicting pain or harm to retaliate for real or fancied wrongs; a reflexive pronoun is often used with this verb: Iago wished to revenge himself upon Othello.

Origin: First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English avengen, from Old French avengier, equivalent to a- prefix meaning “toward, increase” ( a- ) + vengier, from Latin vindicāre; vindicate

Example Sentences
The Pumas avenged last weekend's 41-24 defeat in Cordoba that had seen the All Blacks return to the top of the world rankings.
From BBC

The Highlanders ran the ball again and again in a 50-16 victory over North Hollywood on Thursday night, avenging a loss to the Huskies in last year’s City Section playoffs.
From Los Angeles Times

They have won six successive Six Nations Grand Slams, avenged that defeat by the Black Ferns in each of the teams' past three meetings and are well clear at the top of the world rankings.
From BBC

As long as the “Epstein files” existed more in the realm of fantasy, right-wingers could enjoy role-playing the avenging heroes without the worry that it could come back to haunt them.
From Salon

Mission: Helen seeks to avenge the murder of her secret lover, a government employee eliminated because he knew too much about the accidental murder of a Chinese diplomat.
From Los Angeles Times

calzephyr

Apophenia - noun

Similar to pareidolia, apophenia is the tendancy for people to see connections or meaningful patterns between random and/or unrelated things, whether they are objects, visuals or ideas.

I scheduled posts for the LJ community as I'm a little busy this month--DW doesn't have scheduling, so my posts here may be out of sync for a bit!

sallymn

anthropophagite [an-thruh-pof-uh-jahyt]

noun:
eater of human flesh; cannibal

Examples:

'Red Dragon,' which opens nationwide today, is a thriller too timid to thrill because it's the devil we not only know, but that audiences have come to love; it features the best known anthropophagite since Grendel stalked the world of Beowulf. (Elvis Mitchell, Film Review: Taking A Bite Out Of Crime, New York Times, October 2002)

Her prepublication party - an abstracted anthropophagite feast (the photo is by partygoer Bill Richert) - didn't include her dad's recipe for steak tartare, but given her point that we all have 'cannibals in our closets', I think it might come in handy if the global food crisis continues to worsen. (Mike Sula, Carole Travis-Henikoff's steak tartare, Chicago Tribune, June 2008)

The anthropophagites on 'The Walking Dead' on Sunday didn’t discriminate between Daryl the redneck and Rick, a sheriff’s deputy. (Elvis Mitchell, In a Hell, but in It Together, New York Times, October 2014)

The thoroughbred Anthropophagite usually begins with his own relations and friends; and so long as he confines his voracity to the domestic circle, the law interferes little, if at all, with his venerable propensities. (Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do With It)

Are not all those sovereigns, who to gratify the vanity of the priesthood, torment and persecute their subjects, who sacrifice to their anthropophagite gods human victims, men whom superstitious zeal has converted into tygers? (baron d' Paul Henri Thiry Holbac, The System of Nature, or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World)

Origin:

1807, from Greek anthrōpophagos 'man-eating,' from anthrōpos 'man, human' (see anthropo-) + phagos 'eating' (from PIE root bhag- 'to share out, apportion; to get a share') (Online Etymology Dictionary)

calzephyr

Amauti - noun.

An amauti, or ᐊᒪᐅᑎ is a traditional Inuit parka for women with a pouch for carrying and nurturing infants.

By Ansgar Walk - photo taken by Ansgar Walk, CC BY 2.5, Link

simplyn2deep

Tuesday, Apr. 1, 2025

Admonish (verb)
admonish [ ad-mon-ish ]

verb (used with object)
1. to caution, advise, or counsel against something.
2. to reprove or scold, especially in a mild and good-willed manner: The teacher admonished him about excessive noise.
3. to urge to a duty; remind: to admonish them about their obligations.

Other Words From
ad·mon·ish·er noun
ad·mon·ish·ing·ly adverb
ad·mon·ish·ment noun
pre·ad·mon·ish verb (used with object)

Related Words
advise, berate, censure, chide, enjoin, exhort, rebuke, reprimand, scold, upbraid, warn

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Synonyms
2. upbraid, censure, rebuke

Synonym Study
See warn. See reprimand.

Origin: First recorded in 1275–1325; late Middle English admonish, amonesche, admonesse, amoness, Middle English a(d)monest (with -t later taken as past participle suffix), from Anglo-French, Old French amonester, from Vulgar Latin admonestāre (unrecorded), apparently derivative of Latin admonēre “to remind, give advice to” (source of -est- is uncertain), equivalent to ad- ad- ( def ) + monēre “to remind, warn”; monitor ( def )

Example Sentences
Savage went on to empower our community to admonish naysayers of queer party-going, community enrichment, and quality time — however we choose to define those terms.
From Salon

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has been admonished after entering the private chambers of other judges and going through their papers and computers, according to the California Commission on Judicial Performance.
From Los Angeles Times

She was spared further punishment and admonished by Lord Beckett after he heard Gallagher had not offended over the last year.
From BBC

He admonished Joe Biden’s administration as “the worst in history” and he swore that countries across the globe were releasing gang members from prisons to invade our country.
From Salon

Spencer was years ahead of other Republicans in admonishing the GOP to be more welcoming to Latinos.
From Los Angeles Times

stonepicnicking_okapi

anaglypta

noun [a-nə-glip-tə]

1. embossed wallpaper, a type of wallpaper that has a permanent raised design [often used before another noun]

examples
1. Three coats of deep blue paint bring out the texture in the anaglypta wall covering. Barbara Hertenstein, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 29 Apr. 2000
2. These Victorian and Edwardian houses often conceal the evidence of earlier tastes in decoration—contoured Anaglypta wallpaper, dark varnishes, here and there the piece of stained glass that must have added to the general gloom. Alexander McCall Smith, Sunday Times (London), 27 Apr. 2008
3. The bed was a four-poster, hung with patterned drapes that matched the Anaglypta on the walls. Cabaret Macabre by Tom Mead

origin
earlier a trademark, borrowed from Latin, "vessels carved in low relief," from neuter plural of anaglyptus "carved in low relief"

simplyn2deep

Tuesday, Mar. 4, 2025

Auberge (noun)
auberge [ oh-bairzh; French oh-berzh ]

noun, plural auberges
1. an inn; hostel.

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Synonyms
caravansary, caravanserai, hospice, hostel, hostelry, hotel, inn, lodge, public house, tavern

Origin: 1770–80; < French, Middle French < Provençal, Franco-Provençal aubergo hostelry, Old Provençal alberga, alberja encampment, hut, noun derivative of albergar, dissimilated form of arbergar to lodge, shelter < Vulgar Latin < East Germanic *haribergōn to shelter an armed force ( hari- army + bergōn to shelter); harbinger, harbor < a West Germanic cognate of the same verb

Examples of auberge in a Sentence
they spent their honeymoon at a little French auberge that overflowed with charm

Recent Examples on the Web
But the five-star service aboard this sumptuous auberge on wheels, the novelty and literal ride of it, can make even the most worldly travelers feel giddy.
—Matt Ortile, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Aug. 2024

High up on an isolated bluff over the Pacific, the property that is part of The Ryokan Collection, combines a modern edge with traditional elements, all with the style and elegance of a French auberge.
—David Hochman, Forbes, 6 May 2023

stonepicnicking_okapi

arriviste

[ar-ee-veest; French a-ree-veest]

noun:
a person who has recently acquired unaccustomed status, wealth, or success, especially by dubious means and without earning concomitant esteem.

examples:
1. Twyla had made a career out of choreography. The arrivistes made her mad. Work of Art by Adam Moss.
2. Her circle includes an aunt who is a champion wrestler, a resident Goth named Isabel and sultry Penny Century, an arriviste married to a wealthy magnate with horns on his head. Los Angeles Times, 3 Jan. 2023
3. A local in Westchester County uses the word "arriviste" in a sentence explaining how Richard Gere cut down 200 trees in the neighbourhood without permission. Edmonton Sun, 2009

origin:
From French, dating back to 1900–05

simplyn2deep

Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025

Askance (adverb)
askance [ uh-skans ]

adverb
1. with suspicion, mistrust, or disapproval: He looked askance at my offer.
2. with a side glance; sidewise; obliquely.

Idioms and Phrases
see look askance.

Related Words
skeptically, suspiciously

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Synonyms
1. suspiciously, skeptically

Origin: First recorded in 1520–30; earlier a scanche, a sca(u)nce; of obscure origin

Example Sentences
“Often, people look askance at victims who come forward with allegations years after a crime,” Boyarsky said in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times

In their book, Passing on the Right, Jon Shields and Joshua Dunn noted that “conservative professors…look askance at the populism that has shaken up the Republican Party in recent years.”
From Salon

She looked mostly like this while saying it — eyes askance, either pre-or-post hand on chin — a vibe, nay, a mood that she carried throughout most of the debate.
From Salon

From the moment Saba hits Georgian soil, the police look askance at his family name — a warrant is out for Dad for attempted murder, he’s told — and seize his passport.
From Los Angeles Times

Such an approach is bound to be viewed askance by those expecting “Caste” to follow a classically prescribed narrative structure.
From Salon

stonepicnicking_okapi

ambigram [am-bə-ˌgram]

noun

1. something (such as an image of a written word or phrase) that is intended or able to be oriented in either of two ways for viewing or reading

examples
1. The extremely cool ambigram on the cover of the book is what initially intrigued me and led me to pick the book up when I found it on my parents' bookshelf. Angels and Demons Teaser Trailer | /Film 2008

2. The Princess Bride title art is an ambigram.
(20th anniversary collector's edition)

origin
The word was introduced by the author and cognitive scientist Douglas R. Hofstadter (born 1945) in chapter 13 of the book Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern (New York, 1985).

ambi- + -gram

ambi

a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin, meaning “both” and “around”

gram

a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “something written,” “drawing"

[Wordsmith's Note: I have seen tattoos with these, but I didn't know there was a name for it.}

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Word of the Day!

Entries tagged with a

Tuesday word: Avatar

Monday Word: Ansible

Monday Word: Althing

Monday Word: Adze

Sunday Word: Arcana

Thursday Word: Apolausticism

Tuesday word: Advent

Tuesday word: Akimbo

Sunday Word: Adumbral

Sunday Word: Asphodel

Tuesday word: Avenge

Wednesday Word: Apophenia

Sunday Word: Anthropophagite

Wednesday Word: Amauti

Tuesday word: Admonish

Monday Word: Anaglypta

Tuesday word:

Monday Word: Arriviste

Tuesday word: Askance

Monday Word: Ambigram

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