Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Today's Word "disconsolate"


Disconsolate \dis-KON-suh-lut\ (adjective) - 1 : Being beyond consolation; deeply dejected and dispirited; hopelessly sad; filled with grief; as, "a bereaved and disconsolate parent." 2 ": Inspiring dejection; saddening; cheerless; as, "the disconsolate darkness of the winter nights."

"An eighteenth-century Fairfax, Thomas, lost the last of the land in the South Sea Bubble and the Fairfaxes were all but forgotten -- except for Lady Mary who was occasionally sighted, dressed all in green, disconsolate and gloomy, and occasionally with her head under her arm for good effect." -- Kate Atkinson, 'Human Croquet'

Disconsolate comes from Medieval Latin disconsolatus , from Latin dis- + consolatus , past participle of consolari , "to console," from com- , intensive prefix + solari , "to comfort, to soothe, to relieve."

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