A.Word.A.Day --stymie

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Jun 12, 2023

This week’s theme
Double-duty words

This week’s words
stymie
sluice
chirk
skeeve
souse

Overcoming a stymie

Video: GolfTV / Twitter

Previous week’s theme
Weather & climate

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Once upon a time, in the quaint town of Lexicon, lived an extraordinary group of residents. They were special, you see, because they didn’t just hold one job, they held two. They were the hardworking words of the English language, juggling multiple gigs.

Meet Dance, the graceful resident who could twirl you in a lively waltz and also serve as the waltz itself. One moment she’s whirling you across the floor -- an active verb in motion. But in the next, she transforms into the very rhythm and steps you move to -- a noun that encapsulates the essence of rhythmic movement.

Now, meet Display, the show-off of Lexicon. As a verb, he’s busy showing and exhibiting all that is fascinating. But when he turns into a noun, he becomes the very show or exhibition himself.

In the corner, you’ll find Charge, who’s full of energy. One moment, he’s rushing forward or attacking as a verb, and in the blink of an eye, he’s a noun, representing the responsibility or control he holds.

And these are just the beginning! This week, we’ll dive deeper into the world of Lexicon, exploring words living their double lives as verbs, nouns, and other parts of speech.

stymie

PRONUNCIATION:

(STY-mee)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To obstruct, thwart, stump, etc.
noun: A hindrance.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Scots stymie. The modern game of golf originated in Scotland from where both the game and the word stymie came to English. In golf, a stymie refers to one player’s ball obstructing another’s. Earliest documented use: noun: 1834, verb: 1857.

USAGE:

“The country has become a vetocracy, in which many people and agencies have the power to stymie any given development.”
Free the Bulldozers; The Economist (London, UK); Sep 3, 2022.

“The food comes to the table and to my benefit, puts a stymie to the conversation.”
Daniel Vincennie; Simple Minded; Lulu; 2018.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

No one has ever become poor by giving. -Anne Frank, Holocaust diarist (12 Jun 1929-1945)

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