A favorite online reference of mine is dictionary.com. I use it frequently for this blog and when I come across unfamiliar words during my online reading.
Hey, it happens.
A feature on the site is Word of the Day. For the most part, I’ve ignored it. Why? So many of the words are quite obscure, which means I’ll rarely have occasion to use them. That’s aggravating, and I don’t need more aggravation in my life.
I felt out of character today, so I glanced at the Word of the Day – obtest – and was immediately stumped. I’ve never seen the word in textbooks, articles, editorials, periodicals, novels and others reading materials, nor have I heard it uttered in any context.
Have you?
The definition
obtest \ ob-TEST \ , verb;
- To supplicate earnestly; beseech.
- To invoke as witness.
- To protest.
- To make supplication; beseech.
Quite frankly, the first definition confuses me. Supplicate means to humbly entreat, petition or request; beseech conveys a sense of urgency. I think the tone of voice when one supplicates would be much more demure and deferential than when one urgently beseeches, which hints at subtle manipulation to bend another’s will in one’s favor.
Today I learned a word that confuses me. A word that confuses me is unusable. So much for avoiding more aggravation in my life.
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