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operose

operose

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

August 25, 20142m 8s

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Show Notes

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 25, 2014 is: operose • \AH-puh-rohss\  • adjective : tedious, wearisome Examples: The operose volume offers up considerably more verbiage than useful information. "But now competitors face an operose task: it is not enough that they know how to spell a tongue-twister, they should also know its meaning." - Economic Times, April 16, 2013 Did you know? "Operose" comes from the Latin "operosus" (meaning "laborious," "industrious," or "painstaking"). That word combines the noun "oper-," "opus," which means "work," with "-osus," the Latin equivalent of the English "-ose" and "-ous" suffixes, meaning "full of" or "abounding in." In its earliest uses, beginning in the mid-1500s, the word was used to describe people who are industrious or painstaking in their efforts. Within a little over 100 years, however, the word was being applied as it more commonly is today: to describe tasks and undertakings requiring much time and effort. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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