Today's Word "Apoplectic"
Published in Vocabulary
apoplectic \AE-peh-plek-tik\ (adjective) - Causing or suffering from the symptoms of a brain attack or stroke (apoplexy); sudden abnormal blood-flow (hemorrhage) into an organ; furious, livid.
"Jeff was quick to say that the apoplectic media were suffering from a malaise that prevented them from responding to serious issues and events."
Today's word comes from Greek "apoplexia" via the usual route through Latin and French. Greek "apoplexia" is the noun from apoplessein "to cripple by a stroke," a composite of apo-, an intensive prefix, + plessein "to strike." The ultimate Proto-Indo-European source is *plak-/plank- with variable nasalization (the [n]), which came to English by the direct route as "fling" and to Old Norse as flengja "flog, whip." It appears in Latin without the [n] as plaga "a blow, stroke," which we borrowed as "plague."
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