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Dec 28, 2023
This week’s theme
No el

This week’s words
grandezza
aquaphobia
juxtapositive
swanky
cruciform

swanky
Illustration: Anu Garg + AI

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

swanky

PRONUNCIATION:
(SWANG-kee)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Stylish; fashionable; luxurious.
2. Pretentious; ostentatious.

ETYMOLOGY:
From swank (swagger), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Middle High German swanken (to sway). Earliest documented use: 1842.

USAGE:
“When beauty mogul and entrepreneur Mona Kattan invited you to her basement library at her swanky villa in Palm Jumeirah, you were forgiven for expecting rows of leather-bound books neatly stacked together under warm lighting.
‘We are in my perfume library basement right now,’ said Kattan.”
Manjusha Radhakrishnan; Dubai’s Beauty Mogul Mona Kattan’s Scent of Success; Gulf News (Dubai); May 9, 2023.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you. -Mortimer J. Adler, philosopher, educator, and author (28 Dec 1902-2001)

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