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ecstatic: msg#00003culture.language.word-of-the-day
***************************************************************** Spring fever? Watch your vocabulary grow by trying a free 14-day subscription to Merriam-WebsterCollegiate.com! http://www.merriam-webster.com/premium/ ***************************************************************** The Word of the Day for May 4 is: ecstatic \ek-STAT-ik\ adjective : of, relating to, or marked by a state of extreme emotional excitement or rapturous delight Example sentence: Carla was ecstatic when she received an acceptance letter from the college she had set her heart on attending. Did you know? "Ecstatic" has been used in our language since at least 1590, and the noun "ecstasy" is even older, dating from the 1300s. Both derive from the Greek verb "existanai" ("to put out of place"), which was used in a Greek phrase meaning "to drive someone out of his or her mind." That seems an appropriate history for words that can describe someone who is nearly out of his or her mind with intense emotion. In early use, "ecstatic" was sometimes linked to mystic trances, out-of-body experiences, and temporary madness. Today, however, it most typically implies a state of enthusiastic excitement or intense happiness. |
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