Word for Today - May 31, 2009

mitigate - MIT-ih-GATE - to lessen, diminish, alleviate, soften

Example: "Today on National Public Radio, controversial writer Toni Morrison hoped to mitigate the severity of the title of her recent collection of works, 'Burn this Book.'"

Word for Today - May 30, 2009

sang-froid - sahn-FRAH - cold-blooded coolness

Example: "World nations are stumped by North Korea's sang-froid atomic testing."

Word for Today - May 29, 2009

ameliorate - uh-MEEL-ee-oh-RATE - to make better, to improve

Example: "A Chilean earth group avowed (openly declared) that the USA could ameliorate environmental corruption by following President Obama's goal in nature preservation."

Word for Today - May 28, 2009

denigrate - DEN-ih-GRATE - belittle, put down

Example: "At a recent Alice Neel's art exhibit, a historian claimed that her portrait paintings rose to fame only after she stopped denigrating herself and her art."

Word for Today - May 27, 2009

Word for Today: palpable - PAL-pub-ULL - able to be felt or touched

Example: "The hint of controversy over Obama's selection for the Supreme Court, judge Sonia Sotomayor, between liberal Democrats & right wing Republicans, was subtle but palpable."

Word for Today

tantamount - TANT-uh-MOUNT - the same as, identical

Example: "North Korea has announced that South Korea's joining with the world powers against the recent missile testings as tantamount to a declaration of war with North Korea."