Word of the Day

: May 15, 2016

eminently

adverb EM-uh-nunt-lee

What It Means

: to a high degree : very

eminently in Context

The candidate is so eminently qualified that it is difficult to imagine why she would not get the position.

"… in the interest of exercise and getting to know my town a little better, my New Year's resolution was this: Walk every block of this eminently walkable little city in 2016." — Tim Buckwalter, LancasterOnline.com (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 18 Mar. 2016

Did You Know?

When British physician Tobias Venner wrote in 1620 of houses "somewhat eminently situated," he used eminently in a way that now seems unusual. Venner meant that the houses were literally located in a high place, but that lofty use of eminently has since slipped into obsolescence. The term also formerly had the meaning "conspicuously," a use that reflects its Latin root, eminēre, which means "to stand out." That meaning, like the elevated one, is now obsolete. The figurative sense that is still prominent today also began appearing in English texts in the 1600s.