Repine is a verb that means to complain or express regret.

The exact origin of our word of the day is unclear, but we can say with certainty that its prefix R-E refers to the past. When we repine something we regret past actions or behavior.

For example: After a while, it gets a little tedious hearing Charlie repine at his past mistakes. We tried to assure him that his decision to not go to clown college would not be his undoing.

Wrest is a verb that means to pull something away. It can also be used as a noun that refers to the act of pulling something away.

Originating in Old English, our word of the day means to take something away forcefully and sometimes with great effort. For example: Roscoe, our Boston Terrier really like to nibble on our remote control. We often have to wrest if from him when we want to change the channel.

Trilemma is a noun that refers to a difficult choice between three options.

Our word of the day is a variation of the word dilemma, which refers to a difficult choice made between two options. Just as dilemma begins with the prefix D-I for two, trilemma begins with T-R-I for three, indicating the number of choices a person has now is three.

For example. Our recent trip to the movies offered an uneasy trilemma. We could choice between an unfunny comedy, an action movie with no action, and an unromantic romantic drama. Faced with those three bad choices, we just went home and watched Netflix.

Careworn is an adjective that means exhausted from stress.

Our word of the day combines the common English words ‘care’ and ‘worn’ to describe someone who is worn down from prolonged worry.

All those unpaid bills left Debra in bad shape. She looked careworn the other day at work.

Demulcent is an adjective that means soothing or relieving irritation. It can also be used as a noun that refers to something that soothes.

The Latin prefix D-E means away, while mulcere (mool CHAIR ay) means ‘to soothe.’ This is the origin of our word of the day. When used as a noun it refers to something that soothes pain or irritation away. As an adjective, it describes the substance doing the soothing, for example: The cream didn’t have the demulcent effect I was hoping for. The irritation in my arm continued even after using it.

Disquisition is a noun that refers to an elaborate discussion of a particular subject.

Our word of the day originates from the Latin word quaerere (kwa WOAR ay) which means ‘seek’ or ‘ask.’ This word evolved into disquisition and referred to an investigation. But more recently the word has come to refer to a lengthy and elaborate discussion — the kind you might have in a college classroom, not in a bar. For example: When I asked about the video game my son was playing, I wasn’t expecting at disquisition on the history of video games. But two hours later, I learned the game he was playing was called Old West Shootout.

Stridor is a noun that refers to a harsh, grating sound.

The Latin word stridere (STREE dare ay) means ‘to creak.’ Around the mid 17th century, this word was imported into English and became our word of the day, which is a synonym of creak or other harsh sounds.

The stridor coming from my car’s engine irked me on the road trip. Imagine a harsh creak for four hours. That’s describes my road trip through South Dakota.

Attestation is a noun that refers to evidence or confirmation.

The Latin word testis (TESS dis) means ‘witness.’ It’s related to words like ‘testify’ and ‘attest.’ These are verbs that can describe things a person does to give evidence of the truth. Our word of the day is a noun that simply refers to the evidence of the truth. For example: It was difficult to accept the horrible events that took place that afternoon at the pool hall, but the video camera provided attestation of it all, so there was no denying the truth.

Opine is a verb that means to hold and or state as an opinion.

The Latin word opinari (oh pee NAR ee) means ‘think or believe.’ This word gave birth to our word of the day, which is closely related to the word ‘opinion.’ When a person opines, they are formulating or expressing what they think or believe.

For example: I wasn’t expecting our economics professor to opine on the latest bill in congress, but I had no problem with that. It is sometimes helpful to know what a professor believes in order to ingest the lesson.

Epochal is an adjective that means highly momentous or important.

Our word of the day has its origin in the Greek word epoche (EP oke) which means ‘a fixed point in time.’ When something is described as an epoch, we mean it is an important point in time. Epochal is the adjective version of that. For example: There was something epochal about that last day of school. I had the feeling that everything that followed that momentous occasion would be different.