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Sep 24, 2014
This week's theme
Words made with combining forms

This week's words
fissiparous
teleology
xerophilous
dactyloscopy
plutomania

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

xerophilous

PRONUNCIATION:
(zee-ROF-uh-luhs)

MEANING:
adjective:
Adapted to a very dry or desert environment.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek xero- (dry) + -philous (liking). Earliest documented use: 1863.

USAGE:
"'We need to focus on the landscaping without using water,' said Plambeck ... She wants to turn the Castaic School site into a xerophilous garden."
Bhavna Mistry; Garden May Go on Site; Daily News (Los Angeles, California); Dec 25, 1999.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills of credit, and seldom draw to their full extent. -Horace Walpole, novelist and essayist (1717-1797)

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