Current Events > CE Word of the day - deracinate

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After scanning CE for interesting words for over two years I have been impressed with the level of intelligence of many of the people that post regularly. Sometimes an interesting word stands out, and other times it takes a while to find something that can be considered interesting. Considering the source it is not unusual to have a word that was used as a word of the day previously. At times the word of the day is found in an article that is quoted or other quoted source. If you see an interesting word being used on CE please mention me in the topic.

If you want to post in this topic, try to use the word of the day in a sentence.

Today's word is deracinate.
As defined by Merriam-Webster:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deracinate

Get to the Root of Deracinate

There is a hint about the roots of deracinate in its first definition. Deracinate was borrowed into English in the late 16th century from Middle French and can be traced back to the Latin word radix, meaning "root." Although deracinate began life referring to literal plant roots, it quickly took on a second metaphorical meaning suggesting removal of anyone or anything from native "roots" or culture. Other offspring of radix include eradicate ("to pull up by the roots" or "to do away with as completely as if by pulling up by the roots") and radish (a crisp edible root). Though the second sense of deracinate mentions racial characteristics and influence, the words racial and race derive from razza, an Italian word of uncertain origin.

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I was just thinking about the word of the day topics. Thank you for keeping these going.

Would you be able to say that, "College deracinates students from their hometown culture."?

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Deracinator? I hardly know 'er!

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chaoyun2k posted...

After scanning CE for interesting words for over two years I have been impressed with the level of intelligence of many of the people that post regularly.

Are we looking at the same board, lol?

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Wii_Shaker posted...

Are we looking at the same board, lol?

I am a bit surprised that it took someone this long to make a comment like that, since I have been using that lead statement for a while. For Shotgunnova to hardly know 'er is also unusual, it seems, since they have posted in quite a few of these topics when the word is more uncommon than others...and suggested some interesting words as well.
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