This week's theme: miscellaneous words.

acescent (uh-SES-uhnt) adjective

   Turning sour; slightly sour.

[From acescere to turn sour. Ultimately from the Indo-European root
ak- (sharp) that's also the source of acrid, vinegar, acid, acute,
edge, hammer, heaven, eager, oxygen, and mediocre.]

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

  "Heaven indeed must be a very dull place to inspire such saccharine
   chords from the composer of the acescent and biting Elektra."
   Carl Van Vechten; In the Garret; Kessinger Publishing; 2005.

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............................................................................
The most important scientific revolutions all include, as their only common
feature, the dethronement of human arrogance from one pedestal after
another of previous convictions about our centrality in the cosmos.
-Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist, biologist, author (1941-2002)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/acescent.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/acescent.ram

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