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Jan 20, 2015
This week’s theme
Insults

This week’s words
ultracrepidarian
mythomane
libertine
homunculus
vacuous

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

mythomane

PRONUNCIATION:
(MITH-uh-mayn)

MEANING:
noun: One having a tendency to exaggerate or lie.
adjective: Having a tendency to exaggerate or lie.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek mythos (myth) + -mania (excessive enthusiasm or craze). Earliest documented use: 1954.

USAGE:
“[Laura Cumming’s portrait] ... of the mythomane, egomaniac, and relentlessly self-promoting Gustave Courbet, who somehow nonetheless remains true to himself through all the lies, is hilarious and oddly heart-warming.”
Simon Callow; On Self-Portraits by Laura Cumming; The Guardian (London, UK); Jul 25, 2009.

See more usage examples of mythomane in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Is it [hunting] really a sport if you have all the equipment and your opponent doesn't know a game is going on? -Bill Maher, comedian, actor, and writer (b. 20 Jan 1956)

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