Daily Content Archive

(as of Thursday, March 28, 2024)
Word of the Day

rampart

Definition:(noun) A fortification consisting of an embankment, often with a parapet built on top.
Synonyms:bulwark, wall
Usage: They stormed the ramparts of the city with ladders and catapults.
Daily Grammar Lesson

Defining the Third Conditional

Third conditionals are used to establish a hypothetical situation in the past, followed by a hypothetical outcome that did not really happen. Typically, what is the outcome? More...
Article of the Day

Allergies

An allergy is an abnormally high sensitivity to an otherwise harmless foreign substance, or allergen, that leads to an exaggerated response of the natural immune defense mechanism. Allergens can be airborne substances, infectious agents, foods, contactants, or physical agents; and reactions can range from the relatively benign runny nose to severe inflammation, anaphylactic shock, and even death. Why do some scientists believe that children with no siblings are more prone to allergies? More...
This Day in History

Constantinople Becomes Istanbul (1930)

The city now known as Istanbul was founded as the Greek colony of Byzantium in the 8th century BCE. Eventually passing to Alexander the Great, it became a free city under the Romans in the 1st century CE. Emperor Constantine I made the city the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire in 330, later naming it Constantinople. It remained the capital of the subsequent Byzantine Empire after the fall of Rome in the late 5th century and then changed hands several times. Why was it renamed Istanbul in 1930? More...
Today's Birthday

Aristide Briand (1862)

Briand was a French statesman who served as premier of France 11 times and held 26 ministerial posts between 1906 and 1932. After World War I, he emerged as a leading advocate of international peace. As foreign minister from 1925 to 1932, he was the chief architect of the Locarno Pact and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. An impressive orator, Briand was a prominent figure in the League of Nations and advocated for a United States of Europe. With whom did he share the 1926 Nobel Prize for Peace? More...
Quotation of the Day
I love good sense above all, perhaps because I have none.

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

Idiom of the Day

in all truthfulness

In one's sincere opinion; without any disingenuousness. More...
Today's Holiday

Teachers' Day in the Czech Republic (2024)

March 28 is the birthday of Jan Amos Komensky (or John Comenius; 1592-1670), a noted educational reformer and theologian in the former Czechoslovakia. Komensky was the first person to write an illustrated textbook for children, used for teaching Latin words; he was also a proponent of compulsory education. It has been traditional for children to honor him on Teachers' Day, or Komensky Day, by bringing flowers and gifts to their teachers. The day is also observed with lectures, music, and educational activities. More...
Word Trivia

Today's topic: unlucky

dismal - Comes from French dies mali, "evil days," and first meant the 24 evil or unlucky days of the medieval calendar (two per month). More...

infaust, infausting - Infaust is "unlucky" and infausting is "making unlucky." More...

left-handed - Had a meaning of "unlucky" or "unseasonable." More...

widdershins - Means "in a direction opposite of the usual one," but can also mean "unlucky." More...

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