Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Jul 26, 2017
This week’s theme
There’s a word for it

This week’s words
unitasking
allision
middlescence
yeasayer
longlist

“Words are the small change of thought.” ~Jules Renard
Send some to friends & family
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

middlescence

PRONUNCIATION:
(mid-uhl-ES-uhns)

MEANING:
noun: The middle-age period of life.

ETYMOLOGY:
Patterned after adolescence. Earliest documented use: 1965 (adolescence is from 1425).

USAGE:
“Just as poor Alonso Quijano, in middle age, was so bewitched by the novels of chivalry that he declared himself Don Quixote ... so the skipper of ‘Rocinante Cuatro’ in his own middlescence, was led by his passion for Cervantes’s novel to identify himself with both its hero and, eventually, its author.”
John Barth; The Tidewater Tales; Putnam; 1997.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly rise and make them miserable. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (26 Jul 1894-1963)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith