*skirmish (n.)

An episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting, especially between small or outlying parts of armies or fleets:

Ex: the unit was caught in several skirmishes and the commanding officer was killed.

Middle English (as a verb): from Old French eskirmiss-, lengthened stem of eskirmir, from a Germanic verb meaning defend.

 

   *turbulent (adj.)

    1.Characterized by conflict, disorder, or confusion; not stable or calm:

    Ex: the country's turbulent history

her turbulent emotions

    2. (of air or water) moving unsteadily or violently:

Ex: the turbulent sea

Late Middle English: from Latin turbulentusfull of commotion, from turba crowd.

 

*cognizant (adj.)

formal

Having knowledge or awareness:

Ex: statesmen must be cognizant of the political boundaries within which they work.

 

*indigent (adj.)

Poor; needy:

Ex: a charity for the relief of indigent artists.

Late Middle English: via Old French from late Latin indigent- lacking, from the verb indigere, from indi- (strengthened form of in- into) + egere to need.

*reprehensible (adj.)

Deserving censure or condemnation:

Ex: his complacency and reprehensible laxity.

Late Middle English: from late Latin reprehensibilis, from reprehens- rebuked, from the verb reprehendere (see reprehend).

   

     *harbinger (n.)

      1. A person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another:

        Ex: witch hazels are the harbingers of spring.

 2. A forerunner of something:

Ex: these works were not yet opera but they were the most important harbinger of opera  

implacable (adj.)

"unappeasable," early 15c., from Old French implacable, from Latin implacabilis "unappeasable," from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + placabilis "easily appeased" (see placate). Related: Implacably.

 

paroxysm (n.)

"sudden attack, convulsion," early 15c., from Middle French paroxysme (16c.), earlier paroxime (13c.), from Medieval Latin paroxysmus "irritation, fit of a disease," from Greek paroxysmos "irritation, exasperation," from paroxynein "to irritate, goad, provoke," from para- "beyond" (see para- (1)) + oxynein "sharpen, goad," from oxys "sharp, pointed" (see acro-). Non-medical sense first attested c. 1600. Related: Paroxysmal.

 

reprehensible (adj.)

late 14c., from Old French reprehensible (14c.) or directly from Late Latin reprehensibilis, from reprehens-, past participle stem of Latin reprehendere "to blame, censure, rebuke; seize, restrain" (see reprehend). Related: Reprehensibly; reprehensibility.

 

jurisdiction (n.)

early 14c., jurisdiccioun, jurediction, etc., "administration of justice," from Old French juridicion (13c., Modern French juridiction) and directly from Latin iurisdictionem (nominative iurisdictio) "administration of justice, jurisdiction," from phrase iuris dictio, genitive of ius "law, right" (see jurist) + dictio "a saying" (see diction). Meaning "extent or range of administrative power, domain over which a legal or judicial authority extends" is from late 14c. Meaning "judicial authority, right of making and enforcing laws" is from early 15c. The form in English assimilated to Latin 16c. Related: Jurisdictional.

 

skirmish (n.)

late 14c., from Old French escarmouche "skirmish," from Italian scaramuccia, earlier schermugio, probably from a Germanic source (compare Old High German skirmen "to protect, defend"), with a diminutive or depreciatory suffix, from Proto-Germanic *skerm-, from PIE *(s)ker- (1) "to cut" (see shear (v.)).

harass (v.)

1610s, "to lay waste, devastate" (obsolete); 1620s, "to vex by repeated attacks," from French harasser "tire out, vex" (16c.), which is of uncertain origin; possibly from Old French harer "stir up, provoke; set a dog on," and perhaps blended with Old French harier "to harry, draw, drag" [Barnhart]. Related: Harassed; harassing.

 

monolithic (adj.)

1825, "formed of a single block," from monolith + -ic. Figurative use from 1920.

 

indigent (adj.)

c. 1400, from Old French indigent "poor, needy," from Latin indigentem "in want of, needing" (see indigence). As a noun, "poor person," from early 15c.

 

arbitrary (adj.)

early 15c., "deciding by one's own discretion," from Old French arbitraire (14c.) or directly from Latin arbitrarius "depending on the will, uncertain," from arbiter (see arbiter). The original meaning gradually descended to "capricious" and "despotic" (1640s). Related: Arbitrarily; arbitrariness.

 

fray (n.)

mid-14c., "feeling of alarm," shortening of affray (q.v.; see also afraid). Meaning "a brawl, a fight" is from early 15c. (late 14c. in Anglo-Latin). Fraymaker "fighter, brawler" is found in a 1530s statute recorded by Prynne ("Soveraigne Power of Parliaments and Kingdomes," 1643). Nares' "Glossary" has frayment (1540s).

stymie (v.)

1857, in golf, from stymie (n.) "condition in which an opponent's ball blocks the hole" (1834), perhaps from Scottish stymie "person who sees poorly," from stime "the least bit" (early 14c.), of uncertain origin. General sense of "block, hinder, thwart" is from 1902. Related: Stymied.

 

effigy (n.)

"image of a person," 1530s, from Middle French effigie (13c.), from Latin effigies "copy or imitation of something, likeness, image, statue," from or related to effingere "to mold, fashion, portray," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + fingere "to form, shape" (see fiction). The Latin word was regarded as plural and the -s was lopped off by 18c. Especially figures made of stuffed clothing; the burning or hanging of them is attested by 1670s. Formerly done by judicial authorities as symbolic punishment of criminals who had escaped their jurisdiction; later a popular expression against persons deemed obnoxious. Related: Effigial.

 

flout (v.)

"treat with disdain or contempt" (transitive), 1550s, intransitive sense "mock, jeer, scoff" is from 1570s; of uncertain origin; perhaps a special use of Middle English flowten "to play the flute" (compare Middle Dutch fluyten "to play the flute," also "to jeer"). Related: Flouted; flouting.

 

cognizant (adj.)

1820, back-formation from cognizance.

 

turbulent (adj.)

early 15c., "disorderly, tumultuous, unruly" (of persons), from Middle French turbulent (12c.), from Latin turbulentus "full of commotion, restless, disturbed, boisterous, stormy," figuratively "troubled, confused," from turba "turmoil, crowd" (see turbid). In reference to weather, from 1570s. Related: Turbulently.

terminate (v.)

early 15c., "bring to an end," from Latin terminatus, past participle of terminare "to mark the end or boundary," from terminus "end, limit" (see terminus). Intransitive sense of "to come to an end" is recorded from 1640s; meaning "dismiss from a job" is recorded from 1973; that of "to assassinate" is from 1975. Related: Terminated; terminating.

 

forthwith (prep.)

c. 1200, from forth + with. The Old English equivalent was forð mid. As an adverb, early 14c.

 

exacerbate (v.)

1650s, a back-formation from exacerbation or else from Latin exacerbatus, past participle of exacerbare "irritate, provoke." Related: Exacerbated; exacerbating.

 

revert (v.)

c. 1300, "to come to oneself again," from Old French revertir "return, change back," from Vulgar Latin *revertire, variant of Latin revertere "turn back, turn about; come back, return," from re- "back" (see re-) + vertere "to turn" (see versus). Of position or property from mid-15c.; application to customs and ideas is from 1610s.

 

oust (v.)

early 15c., from Anglo-French oster (late 13c.), Old French oster "remove, take away, take off; evict, dispel; liberate, release" (Modern French ôter), from Latin obstare "stand before, be opposite, stand opposite to, block," in Vulgar Latin, "hinder," from ob "against" (see ob-) + stare "to stand," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Related: Ousted; ousting.

emaciated (adj.)

1660s, past participle adjective from emaciate.

 

surge (v.)

1510s, "to rise and fall," from surge (n.), or from Middle French surgir "rise, ride (as a ship does a wave), spring up, arrive." Meaning "rise high and roll forcefully" is from 1560s. Related: Surged; surging.

 

tranquil (adj.)

mid-15c., a back-formation from tranquility or else from Latin tranquillus "quiet, calm, still." Related: Tranquilly

 

sanctuary (n.)

early 14c., "building set apart for holy worship," from Anglo-French sentuarie, Old French saintuaire "sacred relic, holy thing; reliquary, sanctuary," from Late Latin sanctuarium "a sacred place, shrine" (especially the Hebrew Holy of Holies; see sanctum), also "a private room," from Latin sanctus "holy" (see saint (n.)).

 

ascend (v.)

late 14c., from Latin ascendere "to climb up, mount, ascend," figuratively "to rise, reach," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + scandere "to climb" (see scan (v.)). Also in 15c. used with a sense "to mount (a female) for copulation." Related: Ascended; ascending. An Old English word for it was stigan.

malnutrition (n.)

1843, from mal- + nutrition.

 

afflict (v.)

late 14c., "to cast down" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French aflicter, from Latin afflictare "to damage, harass, torment," frequentative of affligere (past participle afflictus) "to dash down, overthrow," from ad "to" (see ad-) + fligere (past participle flictus) "to strike," from PIE root *bhlig- "to strike" (source also of Greek phlibein "to press, crush," Czech blizna "scar," Welsh blif "catapult").

 

besiege (v.)

c. 1300, from be- + siege. Related: Besieged; besieging.

 

privation (n.)

mid-14c., "action of depriving," from Old French privacion and directly from Latin privationem (nominative privatio) "a taking away," noun of action from past participle stem of privare "deprive" (see private (adj.)). Meaning "want of life's comforts or of some necessity" is attested from 1790.

 

sinister (adj.)

early 15c., "prompted by malice or ill-will, intending to mislead," from Old French senestre, sinistre "contrary, false; unfavorable; to the left" (14c.), from Latin sinister "left, on the left side" (opposite of dexter), of uncertain origin. Perhaps meaning properly "the slower or weaker hand" [Tucker], but Klein and Buck suggest it's a euphemism (see left (adj.)) connected with the root of Sanskrit saniyan "more useful, more advantageous." With contrastive or comparative suffix -ter, as in dexter (see dexterity).

ubiquitous (adj.)

"being, existing, or turning up everywhere," 1800, from ubiquity + -ous. The earlier word was ubiquitary (c. 1600), from Modern Latin ubiquitarius, from ubique (see ubiquity). Related: Ubiquitously; ubiquitousness.

 

remote (adj.)

mid-15c., from Middle French remot or directly from Latin remotus "afar off, remote, distant in place," past participle of removere "move back or away" (see remove (v.)). Related: Remotely; remoteness. Remote control "fact of controlling from a distance" is recorded from 1904; as a device which allows this from 1920.

 

thwart (v.)

"oppose, hinder," mid-13c., from thwart (adv.). Related: Thwarted; thwarting.

 

harbinger (n.)

late 15c., herbengar "one sent ahead to arrange lodgings" (for a monarch, an army, etc.), alteration of Middle English herberger "provider of shelter, innkeeper" (late 12c.), from Old French herbergeor "one who offers lodging, innkeeper," agent noun from herbergier "provide lodging," from herber "lodging, shelter," from Frankish *heriberga "lodging, inn" (cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German heriberga "army shelter"), from Germanic compound *harja-bergaz "shelter, lodgings," which is also the source of harbor (n.). Sense of "forerunner, that which precedes and gives notice of the coming of another" is mid-16c. The unetymological -n- is from 15c. (see messenger). As a verb, from 1640s (harbinge "to lodge" is late 15c.).

 

malignant (adj.)

1560s, in reference to diseases, from Middle French malignant and directly from Late Latin malignantem (nominative malignans) "acting from malice," present participle of malignare "injure maliciously" (see malign (v.)). Earlier in the church malignant "followers of the antichrist," from Latin ecclesiam malignantum in early Church writing, applied by Protestant writers to the Church in Rome (1540s). As an adjective, Middle English used simple malign (early 14c.). Related: Malignantly.

excruciating (adj.)

"extremely painful," 1590s, present participle adjective from excruciate. Related: Excruciatingly.

 

respite (n.)

mid-13c., from Old French respit "delay, respect" (Modern French répit), from Latin respectus "consideration, recourse, regard" (see respect (n.)).

 

reverberate (v.)

1570s, "beat back, drive back, force back," from Latin reverberatus, past participle of reverberare "strike back, repel, cause to rebound" (see reverberation). Meaning "re-echo" is from 1590s. Earlier verb was reverberen (early 15c.). Related: Reverberated; reverberating.

 

fretful (adj.)

1590s, "gnawing; disposed to fret," from fret (n.) (see fret (v.)) + -ful. Related: Fretfully; fretfulness.

 

succumb (v.)

late 15c., from Old French succomber "succumb, die, lose one's (legal) case," and directly from Latin succumbere "submit, surrender, yield, be overcome; sink down; lie under; cohabit with," from assimilated form of sub "under, beneath" (see sub-) + -cumbere "take a reclining position," related to cubare "lie down" (see cubicle). Originally transitive; sense of "sink under pressure" is first recorded c. 1600. As a euphemism for "to die," from 1849. Related: Succumbed; succumbing.

impresario (n.)

"one who organizes public entertainments," 1746, from Italian impresario "operatic manager," literally "undertaker (of a business)," from impresa "undertaking, enterprise, attempt," fem. of impreso, past participle of imprendere "undertake," from Vulgar Latin imprendere, from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, onto" (see in- (2)) + prehendere "to grasp" (see prehensile).

 

extortion (n.)

c. 1300, from Latin extortionem (nominative extortio) "a twisting out, extorting," noun of action from past participle stem of extorquere "wrench out, wrest away, to obtain by force," from ex "out" (see ex-) + torquere "to twist" (see torque (n.)).

 

adverse (adj.)

late 14c., "contrary, opposing," from Old French advers, earlier avers (13c., Modern French adverse) "antagonistic, unfriendly, contrary, foreign" (as in gent avers "infidel race"), from Latin adversus "turned against, turned toward, fronting, facing," figuratively "hostile, adverse, unfavorable," past participle of advertere "to turn toward," from ad "to" (see ad-) + vertere "to turn, turn back; be turned; convert, transform, translate; be changed" (see versus). For distinction of use, see averse. Related: Adversely.

 

bigot (n.)

1590s, "sanctimonious person, religious hypocrite," from French bigot (12c.), which is of unknown origin. Earliest French use of the word is as the name of a people apparently in southern Gaul, which led to the now-doubtful, on phonetic grounds, theory that the word comes from Visigothus. The typical use in Old French seems to have been as a derogatory nickname for Normans, the old theory (not universally accepted) being that it springs from their frequent use of the Germanic oath bi God. But OED dismisses in a three-exclamation-mark fury one fanciful version of the "by god" theory as "absurdly incongruous with facts." At the end, not much is left standing except Spanish bigote "mustache," which also has been proposed but not explained, and the chief virtue of which as a source seems to be there is no evidence for or against it.

blatant (adj.)

1596, in blatant beast, coined by Edmund Spenser in "The Faerie Queen" to describe a thousand-tongued monster representing slander; probably suggested by Latin blatire "to babble." It entered general use 1650s, as "noisy in an offensive and vulgar way;" the sense of "obvious, glaringly conspicuous" is from 1889. Related: Blatantly.

 

entourage (n.)

1832, "surroundings, environment," picked up by De Quincey from French entourage, from Middle French entourer "to surround" (16c.), from Old French entour "that which surrounds" (10c.), from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + tour "a circuit" (see tour). Specific sense of "attendant persons, persons among whom as followers or companions one is accustomed to move" recorded in English by 1860.

 

virulent (adj.)

c. 1400, in reference to wounds, ulcers, etc., "full of corrupt or poisonous matter," from Latin virulentus "poisonous," from virus "poison" (see virus). Figurative sense of "violent, spiteful" is attested from c. 1600. Related: Virulently.

 

venom (n.)

mid-13c., venim, venym, "poison secreted by some animals and transferred by biting," from Anglo-French and Old French venim, venin "poison; malice," from Vulgar Latin *venimen (source also of Italian veleno, Spanish veneno), from Latin venenum "poison," earlier (pre-classical) "drug, medical potion," also "charm, seduction," probably originally "love potion," from PIE *wenes-no-, from root *wen- (1) "to strive after, wish, desire" (see Venus). Variously deformed in post-Latin languages, apparently by dissimilation. Modern spelling in English from late 14c. The meaning "bitter, virulent feeling or language" is first recorded c. 1300.

 

spew (v.)

Old English spiwan "spew, spit," from Proto-Germanic *spiew- (source also of Old Saxon spiwan, Old Norse spyja, Old Frisian spiwa, Middle Dutch spijen, Dutch spuwen, Old High German spiwan, German speien, Gothic spiewan "to spit"), from PIE *sp(y)eu- "to spew, spit," probably ultimately of imitative origin (source also of Latin spuere; Greek ptuein, Doric psyttein; Old Church Slavonic pljuja, Russian plevati; Lithuanian spiauti). Also in Old English as a weak verb, speowan. Related: Spewed; spewing.

loath (adj.)

Old English lað "hated; hateful; hostile; repulsive," from Proto-Germanic *laithaz (source also of Old Saxon leth, Old Frisian leed "loathsome," Old Norse leiðr "hateful, hostile, loathed;" Middle Dutch lelijc, Dutch leelijk "ugly;" Old High German leid "sorrowful, hateful, offensive, grievous," German leid "hateful, painful"), from PIE root *leit- (1) "to detest."

 

solicit (v.)

early 15c., "to disturb, trouble," from Middle French soliciter (14c.), from Latin sollicitare "to disturb, rouse, trouble, harass; stimulate, provoke," from sollicitus "agitated," from sollus "whole, entire" + citus "aroused," past participle of ciere "shake, excite, set in motion" (see cite). Related: Solicited; soliciting.

 

astute (adj.)

1610s, from Latin astutus "crafty, wary, shrewd; sagacious, expert," from astus "cunning, cleverness, adroitness," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps from Greek asty "town," a word borrowed into Latin and with an overtone of "city sophistication" (compare asteism). Related: Astutely; astuteness.

 

advocate (v.)

"plead in favor of," 1640s, from advocate (n.) or from Latin advocatus, past participle of advocare. Related: Advocated; advocating.

 

ineffectual (adj.)

early 15c., from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + effectual. Related: Ineffectually; ineffectuality.