Word of the Day for Tuesday, December 27, 2011
adventive \ad-VEN-tiv\, adjective:
1. Not native and usually not yet well established, as exotic plants or animals.
noun:
1. A not native and usually not yet well established plant or animal.
The B.O. was stunned at the sudden change of events. He had never envisioned the ObamaStar, HIS ObamaStar, crashing down to earth like so much space rubble. Yet, here he was standing on the south lawn of the White House wondering what to do next. Things were looking bleak - no teleprompters, no Chief of Staff to tell him what to do, no SEIU to protect him, and now here he was standing out in the open at the place that he had escaped from and feeling a bit adventive since he had rarely been there even from the beginning. He missed his vacations in Hawaii, France, Germany, Switzerland, Botswana, Iraq, Dubai, Venezuala, North Korea, China, Viet Nam, Iran, and especially his Fatherland. "Oh well," he mused as he headed off toward the White House. "Say, I wonder where everyone is, anyway. There should be someone here to greet me." He walked over to the door by the dining room and it was locked; he then tried several other doors and they were all locked. Next he went to the front door and rang the door bell. To his amazement, someone opened it, but he didn't recognize him. In fact, he could sort of see through him. "Who are you?" the B.O. demanded!
--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog
I'm sure it's hard to be adventive, temporarily naturalized, that is.-- Gish Jen, World and Town
Carrion beetles usually avoid competition with blowflies by visiting the carcasses at a later, dried stage of decomposition. Next come the omnivores, such as wasps and ants, and finally there are the adventive insects, like spiders.-- David Shobin, The Provider
Adventive, like adventure, is derived from the Latin word adventus meaning “an advance.” The suffix -ive denotes a noun that comes from an adjective, like detective or active.
No comments:
Post a Comment