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A.Word.A.Day--catechumen

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catechumen (kat-i-KYOO-men) noun

1. One who is receiving religious instruction in preparation for baptism; a neophyte.

2. A person who is being given basic education of a subject.

[From Late Latin catechumenus, from Greek katechoumenos (one being taught orally).

"I gave him the manuscript of my first novel to read and awaited his verdict with the expectancy of a catechumen. And when I received his letter - generous, with approval and advice - I felt happy." Mario Vargas Llosa, The Trumpet of Deya, Review of Contemporary Fiction (McLean, Illinois), Spring 1997.

This week's theme: words to describe people.

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The heights by great men reached and kept / Were not attained by sudden flight, / But they, while their companions slept, / Were toiling upward in the night. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet (1807-1882)

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