Saturday, November 10, 2012

word of the day: immiserate

The word of the day is immiserate:

1.  to make miserable.
2.  to cause to become impoverished. (dictionary.com)  (not sure why the OED doesn't have an entry on this, if it really is a real word)


"The final appearance at the United Nations General Assembly by the Iranian President, who will leave office after the elections next summer, reprised all the familiar numbers: anti-Israeli statements to the press; insinuations that the September 11, 2001, attacks were an inside job; a long sitdown with a TV interviewer (this time, Piers Morgan), in which he gleefully parried questions about Iran’s nuclear program and the threat of an attack from Israel; and a sanctimonious speech to the General Assembly, minus those delegates who walk out or absent themselves, about the perfidy of certain powerful Western nations that arrogate to themselves the authority to police a world they have aggressed, oppressed, and immiserated."

 - Laura Secor, "Road Show", 8 October 2012 The New Yorker

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