Word of the Day

: January 13, 2021

rapport

noun ra-POR

What It Means

: a friendly, harmonious relationship; especially : a relationship characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy

rapport in Context

Once our daughter had developed a rapport with her piano teacher, she began to show some real enthusiasm for learning and practicing the piano.

"Johnson attests that the highlights in his career are centered on the rapport established with those he works with and works for." — Douglas Stutz, Dvidshub.net (The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service), 18 Nov. 2020

Did You Know?

The word rapport bears a resemblance to a more common English word, report, which is no coincidence: both words come ultimately from the Latin verb portare, meaning "to carry," and both traveled through French words meaning "to bring back" on their way to English. Report has been in use since the 14th century, when it entered Middle English by way of Anglo-French, the French language as it was spoken in medieval England. Rapport was first used in the mid-15th century as a synonym of report in its "an account or statement" meaning, but that meaning had become obsolete by the mid-19th century.