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Vocabulary

Today's Word "Rhabdomancy"

dowsing or witch wiggling on Aug 4, 2022

rhabdomancy \RAEB-deh-maen-see\ (noun) - Divination of the location of water, oil, etc. by means of a divining rod or stick; dowsing, witch-wiggling.

"I doubt, however, if he would find the children of Yankees more passive under his rhabdomancy than those of us Britishers." -- William Howitt, 'Woodburn Grange'

From Greek rhabdomanteia based on rhabdos "rod" + manteia "divination." The Proto-Indo-European root is werb- or werbh- "to turn, bend" that also developed into "warp" and "wrap." Other variants of this stem underlie "rhapsody" from Greek rhapsoidia based on rhapsis "stitching together" (from rhaptein "to sew") + oide "song, ode" + ia, a noun suffix. The suffix -mancy comes from Late Latin -mantia inherited from Greek manteia "divination." This relates today's word with an earlier Word of the Day, gastromancy "divination by means of stomach rumblings." They can cause a bit of wiggling, too.

More Vocabulary

Today's Word "bridewell"

Vocabulary / April 06, 2026

bridewell \BRYD-wel\ (noun) - A prison

"Men arrested for crimes such as trespass, public intoxication, lewdness, and domestic violence could be confined to the demiprison of the bridewell."

After a prison that formerly ...Read More

Today's Word "lackaday"

Vocabulary / April 05, 2026

lackaday \LAEK-eh-dey\ (adverb) - An archaic interjection used to express disapproval or regret.

"We got James's grades in the mail this afternoon. Lackaday, but that boy is lackadaisical about his studies."

Shortened ...Read More

Today's Word "landloper"

Vocabulary / April 04, 2026

landloper \LAND-lo-puhr\ (noun) - A wanderer; vagabond; vagrant ; also landlouper and landleaper

"Through a series of games and dreamlike fantasies, the dynamic of the lead character's struggle between good and evil ...Read More

Today's Word "immanent"

Vocabulary / April 03, 2026

immanent \I-meh-nehnt\ (adjective) - 1 : Permanently in-dwelling, inherent. 2 : Mental, subjective, residing in the mind only. Antonym: transcendent "beyond human knowledge."

"Steven felt that he might be guilty of an ...Read More

Today's Word "Sartorial"

Vocabulary / April 02, 2026

sartorial \sah(r)-TOR-i-yehl\ (adjective) - Related to tailors and tailoring and, more broadly, to clothes.

"Molly couldn't imagine even the Duke of Wales bedecked in more sartorial splendor than Thomas wore that ...Read More

Today's Word "Nympholepsy"

Vocabulary / April 01, 2026

nympholepsy \NIM-feh-lep-see\ (noun) - Frenzied emotions resulting from being captured by nymphs or, for weaker souls, simply seeing them. Hence, emotional anxiety brought on by attempts to attain the unattainable.

"...Read More