Today's Word

Truncate

TRUNG-kayt

Definition

(verb) To shorten something by cutting off the top or end; to reduce in extent or scope.

Example

The editor had to truncate the article to fit the page limit, removing several concluding paragraphs.

Word Origin

Late 15th century: from Latin “truncatus,” past participle of “truncare” meaning “to maim or cut off,” from “truncus” meaning “trunk” or “torso.”

Fun Fact

Truncate shares its origin with “trunk,” both referring to the main body after extremities are removed. Computer scientists truncate data by removing digits (3.14159 truncates to 3.14), distinguishing it from rounding which adjusts the final digit. Architects describe truncated pyramids and cones—shapes with tops sliced off. The geological term “truncated spur” describes mountain ridges cut short by glaciers. Writers sometimes deliberately truncate sentences for dramatic effect, leaving thoughts unfinished to create tension. Unlike “abbreviate,” which can shorten through various methods, truncate specifically means cutting something off, often leaving a sense of incompleteness. The abrupt ending distinguishes truncation from gradual tapering—truncated things end suddenly rather than fading away, creating that distinctly chopped-off feeling.

Previous Words

Dearth

Today's Word

Dearth

DURTH

Definition

(noun) A severe lack or scarcity of something; an inadequate supply that falls critically short of what is needed.

Example

The report revealed a striking dearth of qualified candidates — not because the field lacked talent, but because decades of underfunding had quietly hollowed out the pipeline entirely.

Word Origin

Dearth derives from the Old English dēorþ, meaning “dearness” or “costliness” — rooted in dēore, meaning “dear” or “precious.” The original sense was economic: something so scarce it had become expensive, its rarity driving up its price. It entered Middle English as derthe, used specifically to describe famines and food shortages, before broadening into its modern sense of any critical scarcity. The word carries its economic origin quietly — the idea that what is scarce becomes dear, and what is dear reveals a dearth.

Fun Fact

The Great Famine of 1845 to 1852 remains history’s most devastating modern example of dearth — a catastrophic scarcity of food that killed approximately one million people in Ireland and drove another million to emigrate within the first two years alone. What made it particularly devastating was not merely the failure of the potato crop but the simultaneous export of other food from Ireland to England throughout the famine, a political decision that transformed a natural disaster into a human one. Ireland’s population, which stood at around eight million before the famine, had fallen to just over four million by the early 20th century — a dearth whose demographic consequences lasted well over a century.

READ MORE...

Truncate

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Previous Words

Dearth

Dearth

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Dearth

Propitious

Surfeit

Malediction

Vacillate