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Dec 20, 2007
This week's theme
Yours to discover

This week's words
anthropomorphize
kafkaesque
dysphagia
excursive
jabberwocky

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A.Word.A.Day--excursive

Pronunciation Sound Clip

excursive (ik-SKUR-siv) adjective

Tending to wander off; rambling.

[From Latin excurrere (to run out), from ex- (out) + currere (to run). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kers- (to run) that's also the source of car, career, carpenter, occur, discharge, and caricature. Why caricature? Because a caricature is a loaded or distorted picture of someone.]

"Through a succession of journeys shaped by the caprices of the bus companies, he conjures a narrative that is excursive, digressive and diverting beyond measure."
Man on an Omnibus; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Dec 3, 2006.

See more usage examples of excursive in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it. -Benjamin Franklin, statesman, author, and inventor (1706-1790)

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