incommunicado

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 1, 2012 is: incommunicado • \in-kuh-myoo-nuh-KAH-doh\  • adverb or adjective : without means of communication : in a situation or state not allowing communication Examples: Human rights groups continue to petition the government to allow them access to prisoners who are being held incommunicado. "Spirit has been incommunicado for more than a year despite daily calls by NASA. The cause of Spirit's silence may never be known, but it's likely the bitter Martian winter damaged its electronics, preventing the six-wheel rover from waking up." -- From an Associated Press article by Alicia Chang, May 25, 2011 Did you know? "Incommunicado" ultimately comes from Latin but made its way into English via Spanish. We borrowed the word (with a slightly modified spelling) from the past participle of the Spanish verb "incomunicar," meaning "to deprive of communication." The Spanish word, in turn, derives from the Latin prefix "in-" and the verb "communicare," meaning "to communicate." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.