- Today's Word
Cavort
kuh-VORT
Definition
(verb) To jump or dance around excitedly; to behave in a lively or exuberant way.
Example
The children cavorted through the sprinklers, shrieking with joy.
Fun Fact
“Cavort” likely originated as a variation of “curvet,” a term used to describe a leaping movement by horses. It’s now used to convey carefree joy, frolicking, or exuberant celebration, often with a sense of unrestrained glee. Whether it’s kids playing, pets bounding around, or partygoers dancing freely, to cavort is to throw caution (and perhaps decorum) to the wind.
(adjective) Relating to a distinctive habit, mannerism, or characteristic peculiar to an individual.
Her idiosyncratic habit of color-coding every notebook she owned was odd to others but essential to her.
Idiosyncratic traces back to the Greek idiosynkrasia, a combination of idios (“one’s own”), syn (“together”), and krasis (“mixture” or “temperament”). The word was originally used in medicine to describe a patient’s unique physical constitution or reaction to substances — a blend of qualities belonging only to that individual.