- Today's Word
Multifarious
mul-tuh-FAIR-ee-uhs
Definition
- (adjective) Having great variety or diversity; numerous and varied.
Example
The multifarious talents of the artist ranged from painting to composing music and designing sculptures.
Fun Fact
“Multifarious” stems from the Latin multifarius, meaning “having many parts.” It has been used in English since the 17th century to emphasize variety and richness. The term is often employed to highlight the complexity of ideas, cultures, or individual abilities.
(adjective) Deliberately untrustworthy and deceitful; guilty of betraying trust or breaking faith.
The perfidious advisor had been leaking confidential strategy to competitors for years, all while accepting promotions and praise from the company he was quietly destroying.
Perfidious derives from the Latin perfidiosus, meaning “treacherous,” rooted in perfidia — “faithlessness” — built from per- (“through” or “away”) and fides (“faith” or “trust”). The same root fides gives us fidelity, confide, and fiduciary — making perfidious the dark twin of an entire family of words built on trust and loyalty. It entered English in the 16th century and has carried its sense of calculated, deliberate betrayal ever since.