Word of the Day!

efflorescence [ef-luh-res-uhns]

noun:
1 the action or process of developing and unfolding as if coming into flower; blossoming
2 rapid growth or development
3 the migration of a salt to the surface of a porous material, where it forms a coating

Examples:

Then there were years as the impoverished, frustrated father of 12 children (six died), a period of grief after his wife's early death and his final efflorescence, at once unexpected and inevitable, as a clergyman who was swiftly promoted to dean of St Paul's. (Lara Feigel, Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell review - a deft portrait of John Donne, The Guardian, April 2022)

The appearance of the salt coating is usually referred to as efflorescence and many hills in the park have been coated with salt flowers, bringing about an effect not different from what it might appear like following a light snowfall. (Precious Smith, Rare 'Salt Flower' Blooms in Hills in Death Valley Park Thanks to Desert Rainfall, Nature World News, August 2021)

Julian supervised the project throughout in a highly professional manner, ensuring great diligence and care was taken with all the brickwork. This is a classic example of how brickwork should be done and how to avoid staining and efflorescence. (Award-winning York company completes £300k Cambridge contract, YorkMix, May 2021)

The popular expression has been evolving for decades leading to a creative efflorescence of inaccuracies. (I Would Spend 55 Minutes Defining the Problem and then Five Minutes Solving It, Quote Investigator, May 2014)

There was nothing to look at besides but a bare coast, the mud dy edge of the brown plain with the sinuosities of the river you had left, traced in dull green, and the Great Pagoda uprising lonely and massive with shining curves and pinnacles like the gorgeous and stony efflorescence of tropical rocks. (Joseph Conrad, Falk - A Reminiscence)

He picked his way to the seaward edge of the platform and stood looking down into the water. It was clear to the bottom and bright with the efflorescence of tropical weed and coral. (William Golding, Lord of the flies)

Origin:

1620s, 'a bursting into flower, act of blossoming out,' from French efflorescence, from Latin efflorescentem (nominative efflorescens), present participle of efflorescere 'to bloom, flourish, blossom,' from assimilated form of ex 'out' (see ex-) + florescere 'to blossom,' from flos 'flower' (from PIE root bhel -'to thrive, bloom'). Sense in chemistry is from 1660s. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

When Edgar Allan Poe spoke of an "efflorescence of language" in The Poetic Principle, he was referring to language that was flowery, or overly rich and colorful. This ties in to the garden roots of efflorescence, a word, like "flourish," that comes from the Latin word for "flower." More commonly, however, "efflorescence" refers to the literal or figurative act of blossoming much like a flower does. You could speak of "the efflorescence of nature in springtime," for example, or "the efflorescence of culture during the Renaissance." "Efflorescence" is also used in chemistry to refer to a process that occurs when something changes to a powder from loss of water of crystallization. (Merriam-Webster)