restive
[email protected] 30 Sep 2007 09:56:04 -0000
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The Word of the Day for September 30 is:=20
restive \RES-tiv\ adjective
1 : stubbornly resisting control : balky=20
*2 : marked by impatience or uneasiness : fidgety=20
Example sentence:
The audience grew restive as the scholar introducing the accla=
imed poet droned on and on.
Did you know?
"Restive" ultimately comes from the Anglo-French word =E2=80=9Crest=
er,=E2=80=9D meaning "to stop, resist, or remain." In its earliest use, =
"restive" meant "sluggish" or "inactive," though this sense is no longer=
in use. Another early sense was "stubborn, obstinate." Specifically, "r=
estive" often referred to horses that refused to do as commanded. This g=
eneral application to unruly horses may have influenced the development =
of the "fidgety, impatient" sense of =E2=80=9Crestive.=E2=80=9D Some usa=
ge commentators have objected to this newer sense, but it has been in us=
e for well over a century, and is now the more common of the uses.
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