Today's Word "Bona fides"
Published in Vocabulary
bona fides \boh-nuh-FYE-deez\ (noun) - Good faith or sincerity; evidence of one's good faith or genuineness -- often plural in construction; evidence of one's qualifications or achievements -- often plural in construction.
"Jenkins was the sort of professor who'd present his bona fides by listing the VIPs with whom he'd shaken hands."
While "bona fides" may look like a plural word in English, in Latin it's a singular noun that literally means "good faith." When it first entered common English usage (where it was found mostly in legal contexts and it meant "honesty or lawfulness of purpose") it initially stayed very close to its Latin use and also retained its singular construction. But by the 20th century, use of "bona fides" began to widen, and it began to appear with a plural verb in certain contexts.
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