noisome

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The Word of the Day for June 17 is: 

noisome   \NOY-sum\   adjective
    *1 : noxious, harmful 
     2 a : offensive to the senses and especially to the sense of smell b : 
highly obnoxious or objectionable

Example sentence: 
     "The streets were narrow and very dirty, the air smoky and noisome, the 
people mostly wretched." ( Ken Follett, _The Man from St. Petersburg_)

Did you know?
     Consider the two following sentences: "The babysitter tried to quiet the 
noisome children." "My son works at a fish market, and his clothes bring a 
noisome stench into the house when he comes home." Which sentence uses 
"noisome" correctly? If you picked the second one, you chose correctly. Though 
"noisome" sounds like it might be a synonym of "noisy," it's not. Something 
noisome is disgusting, like that fishy stench, or harmful, the way toxic fumes 
or waste can be. "Noisome" does not come from "noise," but from the Middle 
English word "noysome," which has the same meaning as "noisome." The "noy" of 
"noysome" means "annoyance," and comes from Anglo-French "anui," which also 
means "annoyance."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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