word 24

This week's theme
Miscellaneous words
This week's words
anomie
simulacrum
avoirdupois
arrogate

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

arrogate

PRONUNCIATION:

(AIR-uh-gayt)

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To claim as a right for oneself presumptuously.
2. To claim on behalf of another: to attribute or assign.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin arrogatus (appropriated), past participle of arrogare, from rogare (to ask). Ultimately from the Indo-European reg- (to move in a straight line, to lead or rule) that is also the source of arrogant, regent, regime, direct, rectangle, erect, rectum, alert, source, surge, supererogatory, abrogate, and prorogue.

USAGE:

"Youth fills you with optimistic thoughts, bursts with energy, and brims with confidence. It is the stage where you feel that your calling in life is to change the existing order for betterment arrogating the role of the social arbiter."
Philip Fernando; Understanding the JVP; Daily News (Colombo, Sri Lanka); Dec 8, 2009.
Explore "arrogate" in the Visual Thesaurus.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Many demolitions are actually renovations. -Jalaluddin Rumi, poet and mystic (1207-1273)