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Today's Word "peremptory"

Putting an end to all debate on

Published in Vocabulary

peremptory \puh-REMP-tuh-ree\ (adjective) - 1 : Precluding or putting an end to all debate or action. 2 : Not allowing contradiction or refusal; absolute; decisive; conclusive; final. 3 : Expressive of urgency or command. 4 : Offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power; dictatorial; dogmatic.

"...Pressing my lips to hers for the first time, I picked her up bodily and tossed her to her seat behind Sola again, commanding the latter in peremptory tones to hold her there by force, and then, slapping the thoat upon the flank, I saw them borne away; Dejah Thoris struggling to the last to free herself from Sola's grasp." -- Edgar Rice Burroughs, "A Princess of Mars"

 

Peremptory comes from Latin peremptorius, "destructive," from peremptus, past participle of perimere, "to take thoroughly, to do away with, to destroy; hence, to thwart, to frustrate," from per-, "thoroughly" + emere, "to take, to obtain."


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