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Showing posts with the label Latin stem of ablūtiō

Today's Words: Repine, Bafflegab and Ablution

Repine (ri-pahyn) verb to be fretfully discontented; fret; complain. First recorded in 1520–30. More about Repine Constituted of re-, “in the case of,” and pine, “to yearn deeply.” The slightly more common related word, unrepining means “not complaining.” Examples of Repine The disgruntled customer seemed to always repine about the service at the restaurant. It’s hard to be around people who constantly repine without taking any action to improve their situation. Bafflegab (baf-uhl-gab) noun confusing or generally unintelligible jargon; gobbledegook. More about Bafflegab First recorded in 1950–55. Formed from the words baffle, “to confuse, bewilder,” and gab, “to talk or chat idly.” It was possibly invented by American lawyer Milton A. Smith. Examples of Bafflegab As a beginner in the field, I found the technical manual to be full of bafflegab that made learning difficult. The company’s financial report was so laden with bafflegab that even seasoned analysts struggled to make sense of i