Opine

This is my new favorite word. This word is big on NPR, for obvious reasons. Dictionary.com's definition of it is:

v 1: speak one's opinion without fear or hesitation; "John spoke up at the meeting" [syn: speak up, animadvert, sound off] 2: expect, believe, or suppose; "I imagine she earned a lot of money with her new novel"; "I thought to find her in a bad state"; "he didn't think to find her in the kitchen"; "I guess she is angry at me for standing her up" [syn: think, suppose, imagine, reckon, guess]

I am trying to use it over and over mainly because when I tried to memorize this quote that Thurgood Marshall says about the death penalty, the word opine was the one I always forgot. It wouldn't stick.

Lexicon was the last word I was big on. It really spices up a sentance and folks think you're really smart!

Comments

[maura]

My writing instructor at the New School would read the students' pieces aloud. She had to stop herself once, and ask the class if she was pronouncing the word "opine" correctly.

That, and the fact that she had for the first time, now in her 50s/60s, read Dostoyevsky, made me question her credibility.

As I read my words -- I feel like such a snob. But, I only hold this judgement for our educators!