14 September 2010

My new word...

quo·tid·i·an [kwoh-tid-ee-uhn] 

– adjective

1. daily: a quotidian report.

2. usual or customary; everyday: quotidian needs.

3. ordinary; commonplace: paintings of no more than quotidian artistry.

4. (of a fever, ague, etc.) characterized by paroxysms that recur daily.

– noun

5. something recurring daily.

6. a quotidian fever or ague.

Origin:
1300–50;  < L quotīdiānus, cottīdiānus daily, equiv. to cottīdi ( ē )every day (adv.) ( *quot ( t ) ī a locative form akin to quot however many occur, every + diē, abl. of diēs day; cf. meridian) + -ānus -an; r. ME cotidien  < OF < L, as above

— Related forms

quo·tid·i·an·ly, adverb

quo·tid·i·an·ness, noun


Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010

And now to see it used in a sentence...

"Spirituality now wanders from sex to drugs to art to revolution to violence —whatever seems to promise deliverance from the quotidian."

Mason Cooley (whoever he is...)

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