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flair
Episode 4643

flair

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day · Merriam-Webster

July 9, 20191m 47s

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Show Notes

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 9, 2019 is:


flair \FLAIR\ noun

1 : a skill or instinctive ability to appreciate or make good use of something : talent; also : inclination, tendency

2 : a uniquely attractive quality : style


Examples:

"Chef Rohan is proficient in handling specialty restaurants and has a flair for culinary art trends." — Business World, 1 Apr. 2019

"It's rare for a pop artist's signature single to encapsulate all of their respective strengths, but 'Bad Romance' manages to do so for Gaga, capturing her grandiose aesthetic, daring songwriting, lyrical flourishes and dramatic vocal flair." — Jason Lipshutz, Billboard.com, 28 Mar. 2019


Did you know?

In the 14th century, if someone told you that you had flair (or flayre as it was then commonly spelled), you might very well take offense. This is because in Middle English flayre meant "an odor." The word is derived from the Old French verb flairier ("to give off an odor"), which came, in turn, from Late Latin flagrare, itself an alteration of fragrare. (The English words fragrant and fragrance also derive from fragrare.) The "odor" sense of flair fell out of use, but in the 19th century, English speakers once again borrowed flair from the French—this time (influenced by the Modern French use of the word for the sense of smell) to indicate a discriminating sense or instinctive discernment.

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