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obstreperous: msg#00026

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: obstreperous

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The Word of the Day for June 27 is:

obstreperous \ub-STREP-uh-russ\ adjective
1 : uncontrollably noisy
*2 : stubbornly resistant to control : unruly

Example sentence:
Keith admitted that he had been an obstreperous teenager
until he got his first summer job and learned some self-
discipline.

Did you know?
The handy Latin preposition "ob," meaning "in the
way," "against," or "toward," occurs as a prefix in many Latin
and English words. "Obstreperous" comes from "ob-"
plus "strepere," a verb meaning "to make a noise," so someone
who is obstreperous is literally making noise to rebel against
something, much like a protesting crowd or an unruly child. The
word has been used in English since around the 17th
century. "Strepere" has not played a role in the formation of
any other notable English words, but "ob-" words abound; these
include "obese," "obnoxious," "occasion," "offend," "omit," "oppr
ess," and "oust."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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