Words of the Day

Wordsmith's Word of the Day:

hierarch (HY-uh-rark) noun

A high-ranking person.

[From Latin hierarcha, from Greek hierarkhes (high priest), from hieros
(sacred) + arkhes (ruling), from arkhein (to be first, to rule).]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=hierarch

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"But the sense among delegates at Blackpool is good, the party hierarchs
are pleased - and the press has been kind."
Martin Kettle; Good in Parts; The Guardian (London, UK); Oct 3, 2007.

Merriam Webster Word of the Day:

pasquinade • \pass-kwuh-NAYD\ • noun

1 : a lampoon posted in a public place

*2 : satirical writing : satire

Example Sentence:
The article, a pasquinade mocking the proposed education reform, generated a lot of mail from readers.
Did you know?
In 1501, a marble statue from ancient times was unearthed in Rome and erected near that city's Piazza Navona. The statue depicted a male torso and was christened "Pasquino" by the Romans, perhaps after a local shopkeeper. It became a tradition to dress up the statue on St. Mark's Day, and in its honor, professors and students would write Latin verses that they would then post on it. Satires soon replaced these verses, and the Pasquino statue became a prime location for posting anonymous, bitingly critical lampoons. In the mid-17th century, these postings became known in English as "pasquinades" (from the Italian "pasquinata"). The term has since expanded in usage to refer to any kind of satirical writing.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.