clairvoyant

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The Word of the Day for November 27 is: 

clairvoyant   \klair-VOI-unt\   adjective
          1 : having the ability to see beyond the range of ordinary perception 
    *2 : of or relating to the power or faculty of discerning objects not 
present to the senses
 

Example sentence:
          Minna has such an uncanny ability to predict which books will be 
bestsellers, I’d swear she’s clairvoyant.

Did you know?
          In French, "clairvoyant" literally means "clear-seeing," mentally or 
optically. The term made a brief appearance in English in the 17th century, as 
an adjective suggesting a keen sense of perception, but it did not become 
firmly established in the language until the 19th century. Today we most often 
apply this adjective to someone who essentially has ESP, an unexplainable 
ability to know or perceive things that others cannot. (We also now use 
"clairvoyant" as a noun for a person who has this ability.) But although 
“clairvoyant" is nearly always used in the ESP sense these days, the allusion 
to special powers frequently isn’t dead serious. ("Are you clairvoyant? How did 
you know I was going to wear my flamingo shirt?")





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