Daily Content Archive
(as of Wednesday, December 8, 2021)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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diffident
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Nominal AdjectivesNominal adjectives perform the function of a noun in a sentence. They are preceded by the word "the" and can be the subject or object of a sentence or clause. What are some nominal adjectives that are used to refer to groups of people? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 BraconidaeHumans fear wasps for their sting, but some insects, like caterpillars, have a different reason to be wary: they are little more than prey to the more than 50,000 species of parasitoid wasp in the family Braconidae. Most braconids kill their hosts with viruses that suppress the immune system and allow the wasp's eggs to grow inside a host undetected. These polydnaviruses are actually produced by the wasps using viral genes that were integrated into their DNA how many million years ago? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Pope Pius IX Defines Immaculate Conception as Dogma (1854)The Immaculate Conception is the Roman Catholic dogma that asserts that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was preserved from the stain of original sin—the condition of sin that marks all humans as a result of Adam's first act of disobedience—at the moment of her conception. In 1709, Pope Clement XI made the feast of the Immaculate Conception a holy day of obligation—145 years before it became official church dogma. The Immaculate Conception is often confused with what other church doctrine? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Camille Claudel (1864)A skilled French sculptor in her own right, Claudel is best remembered for being a student, collaborator, model, and mistress of famed sculptor Auguste Rodin. The two had a tumultuous affair that began to crumble in the 1890s, and Claudel, who suffered from mental illness, became increasingly unstable and reclusive. She was committed in 1913 and remained institutionalized until her death 30 years later. Her work is highly valued by collectors, but little of it survives today. Why is this? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 An aching head soon makes one forget an aching heart.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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highbrowed— Of or pertaining to heightened intellectualism or superior learning or culture; especially erudite or sophisticated; appealing or suited to highbrows. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Uzbekistan Constitution Day (2023)On December 8, 1992, the new constitution of Uzbekistan was signed, creating a democratic system of government for the newly-independent country. Uzbekistan was created in 1924 by the communist government of the Soviet Union and became an independent nation in 1991. On Constitution Day, the country's president usually broadcasts a message of greeting to the Uzbekistan people, in which he reiterates the democratic ideals of the constitution and outlines what steps the government has taken to ensure that those ideals are carried out. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: seizingacatalepsy - Greek for "not thoroughly seizing" or "incomprehensibility." More... rapine - Means "the act or practice of seizing and taking away by force the property of others." More... ravishing - Can mean "seizing on prey." More... hend, hent - To hend is to seize or take; hent is the act of seizing. More... | |