Thursday, September 18, 2014

word of the day: panegyric

The word of the day is panegyric:


noun
1. a lofty oration or writing in praise of a person or thing; eulogy.
2. formal or elaborate praise.
< Latin, noun use of panēgyricus of, belonging to a public assembly
< Greek panēgyrikós, equivalent to panḗgyr (is) solemn assembly (pan- + -ēgyris, combining form of ágyris gathering) (dictionary.com)


"One evening, I went to see Aleksandr Prokhanov, a far-right newspaper editor and novelist, whom I've known since the late eighties.  In the Soviet period, he was known as the Nightingale of the General Staff, a writer commissioned to ride and chronicle the glories of nuclear subs and strategic bombers and to visit the Cold War battlefields of Kampuchea and Angola.  He was a panegyrist of Stalin's military-industrial state and the achievements of Sovietism.  'No one,' he told me, 'could describe a nuclear reactor like I could.'"

 - David Remnick, "Watching the eclipse: Ambassador Michael McFaul was there when the promise of democracy came to Russia - and when it began to fade", 11 & 18 August 2014 The New Yorker

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