nisus | Word of the Day

July 29, 2019 nisus [nahy-suhs] noun 1. an effort or striving toward a particular goal or attainment; impulse. We Can Thank Alexander Hamilton For Giving Us These Words word-trends The Most Surprisingly Serendipitous Words Of The Day WORD OF THE DAY nisus continued... QUOTES The accumulation of wealth into a few hands is the nisus of all bad governments ... -- "Ireland in 1832," The Metropolitan, Vol. 5, No. 18, October 1832 ORIGIN The rare noun nisus, a technical word used in various branches of philosophy and theology, comes directly from Latin nīsus, a derivative of the verb nītī and meaning "a resting of one's weight on the ground, planting one's feet firmly, a strong muscular effort, pressure (of forces), an endeavor, strong effort." Nisus in the sense "effort" first appears at the end of the 17th century in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. In later usage nisus simply means "impulse." MORE FOR YOU 1 Spanish Expressions You May Have Overheard In Casual Conversations We've rounded up some less familiar Spanish terms abuzz in popular culture or conversation (you know, how people actually talk). A quick warning: There will be some strong language and adult content ahead. 2 Do You Know How To Speak DoggoLingo? - Everything After Z by Dictionary.com In DoggoLingo, a puppy is called a pupper. A teeny doggo is called smol. A big one is a woofer. Did you follow all that? 3 Unique Ways To Laugh Online More Amusing Than LOL It's no surprise that different communities and languages have developed all sorts of ways to show when we're in stitches on social and in text messages, from internet acronyms like ROFL to the number 555. Do you know them all? 4 English Could Really Use These 9 Wunderbar German Words Many intimidating German terms actually pack in some truly amazing concepts—all in a single word. So, we think it would be wunderbar ("wonderful") if English embraced these nine (not nein!) German gems. 5 The Important Rise Of "#DemThrones" "#DemThrones" is an unofficial, unlicensed, and organically created social television hashtag, largely used by another cultural phenomenon: Black Twitter. So how did it get started? © 2019 Dictionary.com, LLC. ABOUT CONTACT You are subscribed to the Word of the Day as: matzom229@gmail.com Subscriber since: September 06, 2017 Unsubscribe Dictionary.com, LLC. 555 12th Street Suite 400 Oakland CA 94607 Manage your subscription Terms & Privacy