Word of the Day

indolent

Definition: (adjective) Disinclined to exert oneself; habitually lazy.

Synonyms: faineant, lazy, otiose, slothful, work-shy

Example: Their busy, lively ways made him ashamed of the indolent life he led

This Day in History

April 30, 1967        Muhammad Ali was stripped of his world heavyweight boxing championship when he refused to be inducted into the U.S. military service. Ali claimed his religion conflicted with being inducted into the military.

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Daily LaParable

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

– Ambrose Redmoon

Word of the Day

insensate

Definition: (adjective) Without compunction or human feeling.

Synonyms: cold-blooded, inhuman, cold

Example: He was known as a little demon, of insensate cruelty and viciousness.

This Day in History

April 29, 1429        Joan of Arc  entered the city of Orléans. She would end its months-long siege and would become known as the “Maid of Orléans.”

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Daily LaParable

It’s only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.

Joseph Conrad

Word of the Day

INIMICAL

Definition: hostile, unfriendly

Example: Even though a cease-fire had been in place for months, the two sides were still INIMICAL to each other.

Synonyms: cross, antagonistic

This Day in History

April 28, 1686         The first volume of Isaac Newton’s “Principia Mathamatic” was published.

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Good and evil do not befall men without reason.

Heaven sends them happiness or misery according to their conduct.

– Confucius

Word of the Day

frowsy

DEFINITION: musty; stale

EXAMPLE: Just a little effort and elbow grease applied to a frowsy courtyard, patio or side yard will reap rewards year round.

SYNONYM: slovenly; unkempt

This Day in History

April 27, 1937        The first U.S. Social Security checks were distributed.

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Daily LaParable

Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

– Carrie Fisher

Word of the Day

repartee

DEFINITION: a quick and witty reply;  a succession or interchange of clever retorts; amusing and usually light sparring with words

EXAMPLE: The talk show host is a skillful interviewer whose deft use of repartee and quick-witted banter keeps his show moving at a lively, almost manic, pace.

SYNONYM: banter; wordplay

This Day in History

April 26, 1865        John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln’s assassin, was surrounded by federal troops in a barn in Virginia. He was shot and killed, either by the soldiers or by his own hand, twelve days after felling the president in Ford’s Theater.

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You can find on the outside only what you possess on the inside.

– Adolfo Montiel Ballesteros

Word of the Day

LUMINOUS

Definition: bright, brilliant, glowing

Example: The park was bathed in LUMINOUS sunshine which warmed the bodies and the souls of the visitors.

Synonyms: radiant, illuminated

This Day in History

April 23, 1564        This date is assigned as the birth date of William Shakespeare.. There is no official record of his birth on April 23, but there is a baptismal record dated April 26, and the customary practice in Shakespeare’s day was to baptize three days after birth. Curiously, the poet and playwright died on April 23, 1616.

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Daily LaParable

Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one less scoundrel in the world.

– Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish Writer

Word of the Day

alacrity

DEFINITION: promptness in response

EXAMPLE: “The good-humoured little attorney tapped at Mr. Pickwick’s door, which was opened with great alacrity by Sam Weller.” (Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers)

SYNONYM: readiness; eagerness

This Day in History

April 22, 1864        The U.S. Congress mandated that all coins minted as U.S. currency bear the inscription “In God We Trust.”

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Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.

– Motto of the Special Olympics

Word of the Day

FOIST

Definition: to pass off as genuine

Example: The con man’s attempt to FOIST the imitation antique as genuine was unsuccessful.

Synonyms: defraud, palm

This Day in History

April 21, 1848        Noah Webster published the first American dictionary.

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Daily LaParable

Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to

Helen Keller, Louis Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.

– H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Word of the Day

CREDULOUS

Definition: too trusting; gullible

Example: Although some 4-year-olds believe in the Easter Bunny, only the most CREDULOUS 9-year-olds also believe in him.

Synonyms: naive, susceptible

This Day in History

April 20, 1841        The first detective story, Edgar Allen Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue was published.

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What we must decide is how we are valuable rather than how valuable we are.

– Edgar Z. Friedenberg

Word of the Day

DILATE

Definition: to make larger; to expand

Example: When you enter a darkened room, the pupils of your eyes DILATE to let in more light.

Synonyms: enlarge, swell

This Day in History

April 12, 1861        Fort Sumter was shelled by the Confederacy, starting America’s Civil War.

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Daily LaParable

First a person should put his house together, then his town, then the world.

– Rabbi Israel Salanter