inveterate (in-VET-ehr-it) adjective Firmly established; habitual.
[From Middle English, from Latin inveteratus, past participle of inveterare (to grow old), in-, + vetus, stem of veter- (old). Ultimately from Indo-European root wet- (year) that is also the source of such words as veteran, veal (in the sense of yearling), and veterinary (relating to the beasts of burden, perhaps alluding to old cattle).] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=inveterate "Men met each other with erected look, The steps were higher that they took; Friends to congratulate their friends made haste, And long inveterate foes saluted as they pass'd." John Dryden; Threnodia Augustalis; 1685. This week's theme: words to describe people. Sponsors' Messages: The Desk Drawer: Tired of hiding your words in a closet? Need critiques? Ready for a nudge to write more? http://www.winebird.com/ TheFreeDictionary.com: Find additional information about inveterate http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inveterate in TheFreeDictionary.com ............................................................................ The first man to see an illusion by which men have flourished for centuries surely stands in a lonely place. -Gary Zukav, author (1942- ) Looking for a word/quotation previously featured in AWAD? Archives are at http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/inveterate.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/inveterate.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/inveterate.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
