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Mar 26, 2014
This week's theme
Words derived from card games

This week's words
euchre
vole
house of cards
spoof
trump card

Bryan Berg
Bryan Berg, who makes houses of cards for a living

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

house of cards

PRONUNCIATION:
(hous uv kardz)

MEANING:
noun: Something insecure or insubstantial that is subject to imminent collapse.

ETYMOLOGY:
Alluding to a flimsy structure made with playing cards. Earliest documented use: 1645.

USAGE:
"'We have to find a new balance,' the pope said. 'Otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards.'"
Michael Gerson; Francis the Troublemaker; The Washington Post; Sep 24, 2013.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Mistakes are part of the dues that one pays for a full life. -Sophia Loren, actress (b. 1934)

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