“During World War two, President Roosevelt made the most profound American strategic decision of the European war in direct contravention of his generals and admirals, and he based his fiat on instinct and a political calculation that the time was ripe.” From “An Army at Dawn” by Rick Atkinson
Fiat is a noun and is defined as “An authoritative or arbitrary order. A decree.”
“He runs the company by fiat.”
“The family decisions were made by the parents’ fiat”
Recently:
“Companies will have to grapple with a hodgepodge of foreign rules plus whatever parts of this project the Treasury can impose by regulatory fiat”. WSJ, June 6
Again, there are two pronunciations, neither pronounced like the car: One is pronounced FEE et. The other is FEYE at. (as in eye)
You can find both definitions here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiat.
I ran into this word three times this week, making it a hands-down winner for inclusion in the fabulous Word of the Week. Short and simple, it will make you appear intelligent, but not pretentious…..it will be even better if you pronounce it correctly….not like the car.
Note:
The introductory sentence to this post refers to the entry of the U.S. into WWII. The generals wanted the initial military thrust to come directly from England into Europe. President Roosevelt disagreed and issued his fiat that we would start the fight in North Africa. His decision worked out to be prescient. We entered Africa in November, 1942 and slugged it out victoriously then moved on to Italy. In 1942 we were not ready for the big invasion into Europe. That time period, between 1942 and D-Day, June 6, 1944, allowed us to build the force required for the final victory over Germany.
Interesting Phrase: Cut and Run
…..meaning get out of here fast. I learned the following recently at the School of Jeopardy.
It originally meant to cut the line and make sail instantly, without a waiting to raise the anchor.
A previous “Word of the Week” revisited:
laconic and laconic riposte – use of a minimum of words, and a short clever response to an insult or challenge. In response to a demand to immediately surrender he sent back the following: “Nuts”.
Quote of the Week:
“Sorry, the elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs one step at a time’” Joe Girard
Until next Saturday,
Gramps
Sixty weeks of great words:
1 – exacerbate – to make worse “Your input just exacerbates an already difficult situation.”
2- assuage – to make a situation or feeling less intense. “I pray our Heavenly Father may assuage you of the anguish of your grief.”.3 – force majeure’ – unforeseeable circumstance that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract. “The tenant will not be required to pay rent due to the force majeure’ clause.
4 – sanguine – optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad or difficult situation. “I’m trying to be sanguine about this, but I see a major roadblock”
5 – segue – (seg way) proceed to what follows without pause. “She has the skill to easily segue from political conversations into subjects less controversial.”
6 – bifurcate – to cause to divide into two branches or parts. “We have decided to bifurcate this large project.”
7 – indolent – habitually lazy – “His failure in life may stem from his indolent ways as a youth”.
8 – ameliorate – to make better or more tolerable – “this drug should ameliorate your pain”
9- truncate – to shorten by or as if by cutting off – “A truncated version of this report is on the web.”
10 – nascent – coming or having recently come into existence “His nascent idea for a business turned into a goldmine”
11 – béchamel – a rich white sauce – “He made a lump-free béchamel for her, and, in return, she gave him her love.”
12 – anarchy – absence of government – “The revolution began when anarchy took root in just one city”.
13 – rhetorical question – a question not intended to require an answer. “Is this a beautiful day or what?”
14 – milieu – the physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops.- “His discipline is a result of growing up as part of the military milieu”
15 – nadir – the lowest point – “The stock market reached its current nadir in March”
16 – black swan event – comes as a surprise and has a major effect. “This pandemic is considered by many to be a black swan event.”
17 – myopic – narrow in perspective and without concern for broader implications. “Your myopic view of this project is disturbing”.
18 – quixotic – foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals – “His quixotic pursuit for her affection was quite simply foolish.”
19 – prescience – human anticipation of the course of events – foresight. “His intuitive prescience helped to make him a success”
20 – laconic and laconic riposte – use of a minimum of words, and a short clever response to an insult or challenge. In response to a demand to immediately surrender he sent back the following: “Nuts”.
21 – protean – ability to change, versatile. “The coronavirus is protean in its ability to either make you sick or not.”
22 – ephemeral – lasting a very short time or perhaps only one day. “Custer was chasing an ephemeral Indian city.”
23 – catch-22 – a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions. From the novel “Catch-22”.
24 – arrogate – to take or claim something without justification. “In order to accomplish his dream he arrogated to himself controversial powers”.
25 – obtuse – difficult to understand, lacking intellect. “The responses to his remarks this week were even more obtuse.”
26 – purloin – to appropriate wrongfully (steal), often pertaining to a theft that is a breach of trust. “When she opened her new office she purloined one of my listings”.
27 – salience – the quality of being particularly noticeable or important. “It is not clear that raising the electoral salience of the Supreme Court will work to the president’s advantage.
28 – confabulate – to talk normally or to hold a discussion. “He likes to confabulate.”
29 – animus – a usually prejudiced and often spiteful or malevolent ill will. “I have no animus or agenda for the Affordable Care Act.”
30 – puerile – to act or communicate in a juvenile, silly or childish manner. “His puerile ways are giving a poor impression at his job interviews”.
31 – regnant – having the greatest influence – “The regnant belief”.
32 – roil – to be agitated or chaotic – “the politics of slavery was roiling the United States”.
33 – sonder – The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.
34 – inculcate – To instill or teach someone an attitude, idea, or habit by persistent instruction. “They will try to inculcate you with a respect for culture.”
35 – mendacity – untruthfulness, lying. “He blew the whistle on the mendacity of the politician.”
36 – pejorative – Expressing contempt or disapproval. Having negative connotations. “Permissiveness is often used a pejorative term”.
37 – dystopian – A world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized fearful lives, often associated with a totalitarian government or an environmentally degraded world. “The dystopian future of a society bereft of reason”.
38 – Occam’s razor – The simplest answer may be the preferred answer.
39 – execrate or execrable – very bad – “The execrable hotel food.”
40 – immutable – unchangeable – Do not make the mistake of assuming that public opinion is immutable.
41 – prurient – having or encouraging an excessive or unwholesome interest in matters of sex.
“She’d been the subject of much prurientcuriosity”.
42 – obsequious – exhibiting fawning attentiveness. Exaggerated deference of manner. “Waiters who are obsequious in the presence of celebrities.”
43 – iconoclast – a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions “He was a prolific writer with a reputation for iconoclasticinsight and irreverent prose.”
44 – oblique – something not parallel nor at a right angle to a specified or implied line – slanting.
“We sat on the settee oblique to the fireplace. Or something not done in a direct way such as “He issued an oblique attack on the president”.
45 – profligate – wasteful – wildly extravagant. “He has always been a profligate spender, which is why he is broke.”
46 – raconteur – a good teller of stories. “We always invite her to dinner because she is a fine raconteur”.
47 – taciturn – a person who is reserved or uncommunicative in speech…saying little. It usually connotes unsociability. “Nothing bothered the taciturn Hogan more that excessive praise.”
48 – fungible – capable of mutual substitution: interchangeable/ “The court’s postulate is that male and female jurors must be regarded as fungible.”
49 – filibuster – The use of tactics in an attempt to delay or prevent action especially in a legislative assembly. This currently requires a 60 vote Senate majority. “They stopped the bill from coming to a vote by the use of a filibuster”.
50 – hegemony – preponderant influence or authority over others: Domination. “They battled for hegemony in Asia.”
51 – de facto – being such in effect though not formally recognized or contrary to established law “a de facto state of war” for a war that has not been officially declared.
52 – blockchain – an open, distributed leger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.
53 – bête noire – A person or thing one particularly dislikes or is strongly detested. “The abuse of women was a bête noire for Lincoln.”
54 – evince -“to constitute outward evidence of….to display clearly: reveal. “He evinced a depraved mind.”
55 – virago – a loud overbearing woman. Domineering, violent, or bad tempered. “Democrats, on the other hand, saw Jessie as a Republican virago.”
56 – metonym – a name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. “Washington is a metonym for the federal government of the US.”
57 – ennui – a noun meaning a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement. Boredom. ” The drama is about ennui, malaise and the conflicts they create”. AHN wee
58 – felicitous is an adjective and is defined as well chosen or suited to the circumstances such as “a felicitous phrase”.
59 – Imprimatur – a noun meaning sanction or approval. “He gave the book his imprimatur.”
60 – fiat – An authoritative determination or decree. “He runs the company by fiat.”
–
*
Great word this week!