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A.Word.A.Day--praetorian

Pronunciation Sound Clip

This week's theme: insults.

praetorian or pretorian (pree-TOR-ee-uhn) adjective

Corruptible; fraudulent.

[From Latin praetor, an elected magistrate in ancient Rome.]

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

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"If Nigeria is ever going to mature as a free and democratic society, the judiciary, nay, the various sitting tribunals must be ready and willing to demonstrate an unequal boldness as well as courage to curb electoral banditry by praetorian politicians that subverted the April 2007 elections." Mike Igini; Amaechi - Error or Good Reason?; Vanguard (Apapa, Nigeria); Oct 1, 2007.

X-Bonus

They were so strong in their beliefs that there came a time when it hardly mattered what exactly those beliefs were; they all fused into a single stubbornness. -Louise Erdrich, author (b. 1954)

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