Word of the Day

: May 27, 2016

aureate

adjective OR-ee-ut

What It Means

1 : of a golden color or brilliance

2 : marked by grandiloquent and rhetorical style

aureate in Context

The poems display the writer's mastery of both colloquial and aureate diction.

"… the sunlight burned upon his medal, giving him an aureate, convincing—but false—appearance." — David Ebershoff, Pasadena, 2003

Did You Know?

Aureate is among several adjectives in English pertaining to gold that derive from the Latin name for the metal, aurum. While its relatives auriferous and auric are more likely to appear in scientific contexts to describe substances containing or made from gold (or Au, to use its chemical symbol), aureate has tended to have a more literary allure since it was first used in English in the early 15th century. Over time, the word's use was extended from "golden" to "resplendent," and it finally lost some of its luster as it came to mean "grandiloquent."