In an age where AI and Donald Trump have left many doubting the truth, US dictionary Merriam-Webster has revealed 2023’s most looked-up word. Photo: Pexels
Word of the day: Lambent
Expand your vocabulary with The South African’s word of the day. Each day The South African offers you an opportunity to learn new words.
In an age where AI and Donald Trump have left many doubting the truth, US dictionary Merriam-Webster has revealed 2023’s most looked-up word. Photo: Pexels
Learn some of the most interesting English words from The South African’s WORD OF THE DAY!
If you are a wordsmith or want to learn a new word to impress that special someone, this content is for you!
Today’s word of the day is:
Lambent
When used literally, lambent can mean “softly bright or radiant” or “flickering.” Lambent is also often used to describe speech, writing, music, and even wine, that has a light, appealing quality.
Pronunciation: [LAM-bunt]
In his short story “The Word,” Vladimir Nabokov limned a dream-like landscape where “a wind, like the foretaste of a miracle, played in my hair” and grasses “lapped at the tree trunks like tongues of fire.” Both the wind and the grass in these passages might be described by one of the oldest senses of lambent: “playing lightly over a surface.” That Nabokov compared flames to tongues, as people often do, is doubly appropriate. Lambent, which first appeared in English in the 17th century, is a part of this tradition, coming from lambens, a form of the Latin verb lambere, meaning “to lick.
Example: Sitting around the campfire, we were mesmerized by the lambent flames dancing into the night.
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