ensconce

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Literature, Language Courses, Education

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🗓️ 4 September 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 4, 2024 is:

ensconce • \in-SKAHNSS\ • verb

Someone or something ensconced is firmly placed or hidden. Ensconce can be a synonym of shelter and conceal, or of establish and settle.

// The sculpture is safely ensconced behind glass.

// He ensconced himself in the library's back room for the afternoon.

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Examples:

"Portraying the autocratic chancellor of an unnamed Central European country ... is Kate Winslet, whose increasingly delusional strongwoman is also a germaphobe ensconced in a luxury hotel that she’s turned into her personal palace." — Andy Meek, BGR.com, 4 Mar. 2024

Did you know?

You might think of a sconce (the word that when combined with the prefix en- forms ensconce) as a type of candleholder or lamp, but the word can also refer to a defensive fortification, usually one made of earth. Originally, then, a person who was ensconced was enclosed in or concealed by such a structure, out of harm's way. One of the earliest writers to apply the verb ensconce with the general sense of "hide" was William Shakespeare. In The Merry Wives of Windsor the character Falstaff, hoping to avoid detection when he is surprised during an amorous moment with Mrs. Ford, says "She shall not see me; I will ensconce me behind the arras."

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Merion Webster's Word of the Day for September 4th.
0:08.8	Hey podcast listeners, have you heard? You can listen to your favorite podcast, Ad Free.
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0:39.6	without the ads. Today's word is ensconce spelled ENSConc,
0:48.0	ensconce is a verb.
0:49.8	Someone or something ensconced is firmly placed or hidden.
0:54.0	ensconce can be a synonym of words like shelter or conceal or of words like
0:59.2	establish and settle.
1:01.8	Here's the word used in a sentence from BGR.com by Andy Meek.
1:06.4	Portraying the autocratic Chancellor of an unnamed Central European country is Kate Winslet, whose increasingly delusional strongwoman is also a germaphobe
1:16.4	ensconced in a luxury hotel that she's turned into her personal palace.
1:22.4	You might think of a sconce, the word that when combined with the prefix
1:27.0	EN forms in sconce, as a type of candle holder or lamp, but the word can also refer to a defensive fortification, usually one made of earth.
1:37.0	Originally then, a person who was ensconced was enclosed in or concealed by such a structure out of harm's way.
1:45.6	One of the earliest writers to apply the verb and sconce with the general sense of
1:50.3	Hyde was Shakespeare.
1:52.1	In the Mary Wives of Windsor, the character Falstaff hoping to avoid
	...

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