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scrutinize: msg#00001

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: scrutinize

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The Word of the Day for November 2 is:

scrutinize \SKROO-tuh-nyze\ verb
*1 : to examine closely and minutely
2 : to make a scrutiny

Example sentence:
Signora Bernasconi scrutinized the painting, said to be by
Fra Angelico, and declared it a fake.

Did you know?
A close look at the etymology of "scrutinize" reveals that
the word stems from the Latin verb "scrutari" (meaning "to
search" or "to examine"), which in turn probably comes
from "scruta" (meaning "trash," or more specifically "a mixture
of worthwhile articles and trash"). "Scrutari" gave us the
noun "scrutiny" in the 15th century, a word which originally
meant "a formal vote" and then "an official examination of
votes." "Scrutinize" retained reference to voting, with the
meaning "to examine votes," at least into the 18th century --
and even today in Britain a "scrutineer" is a person who counts
votes.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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