epigram

****************************************************************
Put the whole realm of human knowledge on Dad's desktop
with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Encyclopedia. 
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?collency.htm&9
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for June 12 is:

epigram   \EP-ih-gram\   noun 
     1 : a concise poem dealing pointedly and often satirically with a single 
thought or event and often ending with an ingenious turn of thought 
   *2 : a terse, sage, or witty and often paradoxical saying 
     3 : epigrammatic expression

Example sentence: 
     Ever the master of insightful epigram, Oscar Wilde once observed: "In this 
world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the 
other is getting it." 

Did you know? 
     Ancient Greeks and Romans used the word "epigramma" (from Greek 
"epigraphein," meaning "to write on") to refer to a concise, witty, and often 
satirical verse. The Roman poet Martial (who published eleven books of these 
"epigrammata," or epigrams, between the years 86 and 98 AD) was a master of the 
form: "You puff the poets of other days, / the living you deplore. / Spare me 
the accolade: your praise / Is not worth dying for." English speakers adopted 
the "verse" sense of the word when we first used "epigram" in the 15th century. 
In the late 18th century, we began using "epigram" for concise, witty sayings, 
even if they didn't rhyme.  

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.