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Dec 14, 2010
This week's theme
Words made with combining forms

This week's words
exogamy
ventifact
tautology
leptorrhine
ontology

A ventifact from Huizen, the Netherlands
A ventifact from Huizen, Holland
Photo: Marco Langbroek

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

ventifact

PRONUNCIATION:
(VEN-tuh-fact)

MEANING:
noun: A stone shaped, polished, or faceted by windblown sand.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin venti- (wind), from ventus (wind) + factum (something made), from facere (to make or do). First recorded use: 1911. Also see yardang.

USAGE:
"On that last trip, I knelt by the river and took a stone from the deep pockets of my wind pants. It was a black ventifact, an igneous rock. During eons of exposure to the wind, its surface had become smooth and polished."
Bill Green; Adventure in Antarctica; The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio); Oct 1, 1995.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Nationalist pride, like other variants of pride, can be a substitute for self-respect. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983)

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