- Today's Word
Gallivant
[GAL-uh-vant]
Definition
- (verb) To wander or travel around for pleasure, often in a carefree or irresponsible manner. It implies roaming or gadding about, usually without any specific purpose or destination in mind.
Example
Instead of studying for their final exams, the college friends decided to gallivant across Europe, hopping from one city to another on a whimsical adventure.
Fun Fact
The word “gallivant” is thought to have originated in the early 19th century as a colloquial term. It may be derived from “gallant,” referring to a dashing young man, combined with the suffix “-vant” from words like “extravagant.” Initially, it often had a negative connotation, implying frivolous or irresponsible behavior.
(adjective) Lacking substance, interest, or mature thought; naive and simplistic in a way that reveals inexperience.
The critic dismissed the debut novel as jejune — competently written, technically adequate, and utterly devoid of anything worth remembering.
Jejune derives from the Latin jejunus, meaning “fasting” or “empty” — literally describing a stomach that has not been fed. The same root gives us jejunum, the section of the small intestine named for its tendency to be found empty after death. It entered English in the 17th century carrying its literal sense of emptiness before acquiring its figurative meaning of something intellectually or creatively hollow — content that has the form of nourishment without any of the substance.