Today's Word

Fulminate

FULL-mih-nayt

Definition

(verb) To express vehement protest or criticism; to explode violently or flash like lightning.

Example

The senator fulminated against the proposed legislation during a heated press conference.

Word Origin

Late Middle English: from Latin “fulminatus,” past participle of “fulminare” meaning “to strike with lightning,” from “fulmen” meaning “lightning.”

Fun Fact

Fulminate originally described literal lightning strikes before evolving to describe explosive anger. The chemistry connection remains strong: fulminating compounds are highly unstable explosives that detonate from the slightest disturbance. Mercury fulminate was used in blasting caps and firearm primers precisely because it explodes so violently. When someone fulminates verbally, they’re essentially detonating—their words strike with lightning speed and explosive force. The Pope can issue a fulmination, a formal denunciation accompanied by excommunication, keeping the word’s most dramatic ecclesiastical use alive.

Previous Words

Gourmand

Today's Word

Gourmand

GOR-mand

Definition

(noun) A person who takes excessive pleasure in eating and drinking, often to the point of overindulgence.

Example

The restaurant critic was a gourmand in the truest sense — not merely knowledgeable about food but physically incapable of leaving anything on the plate.

Word Origin

Gourmand comes from the Old French gourmant, meaning “glutton” or “one who eats greedily,” of uncertain further origin. It entered English in the 15th century carrying its French sense of someone defined by appetite rather than discernment. The word is frequently confused with gourmet — a person of refined culinary taste — but the distinction is meaningful: a gourmet selects carefully and savors deliberately, while a gourmand simply wants more. One is defined by quality, the other by quantity.

Fun Fact

The most celebrated gourmand in history may be Honoré Beauharnais, or more likely the legendary figure of Tarrare — an 18th century Frenchman whose appetite was so extreme it became a medical curiosity. Tarrare could reportedly consume a meal intended for fifteen people in a single sitting, swallow live animals whole, and was observed eating things that cannot be printed in a family newsletter. Military surgeons attempted to study him as a potential courier — reasoning that documents hidden inside him would be impossible to intercept. The experiment failed when he ate a fellow patient’s dinner. And reportedly the patient.

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Fulminate

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Previous Words

Gourmand

Gourmand

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Gourmand

Proscribe

Apocryphal

Redoubtable

Disrepute