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Sep 26, 2008
This week's theme
Words from geology and geography.

This week's words
archipelago
monadnock
shoal
col
isthmus

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Insults

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

isthmus

PRONUNCIATION:
(IS-muhs)

MEANING:
noun: 1. A narrow strip of land with water on each side, joining two larger land masses, for example, the Isthmus of Panama. 2. A narrow strip of tissue joining two large organs or cavities.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin isthmus, from Greek isthmos (a neck of land).

USAGE:
"As a young man [Nathaniel] Hawthorne had been a recluse. His gift of vision made him different, as he walked an isthmus between time and eternity."
Patrick J. Walsh; Hawthorne's God; Weekly Standard (Washington, DC); Jan 2, 2006.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Modern technology / Owes ecology / An apology. -Alan M. Eddison

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