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March 29, 2018

Word of the Day: Manticore

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Word of the Day : March 29, 2018

manticore \MAN-tih-kor\ noun

Definition

: a legendary animal with the head of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a dragon or scorpion

Did You Know?

A mythical creature of ancient fables, the manticore keeps company with the better-known unicorn, dragon, and griffin. Descriptions of the manticore's features sometimes differ (some accounts mention porcupine quills or poisonous spikes, for example; others depict the tail as having a serpent's head), but the animal is by all accounts a dreadful beast. The word manticore came to English through the Greek mantichōras and Latin mantichora, and is probably ultimately of Iranian origin. Etymologists think it is related to an Old Persian word for "man-eater."

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    Which is a synonym of lugubrious?




                                  plainspoken
                                  mournful
                                  homely
                                  sluggish








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Aired March 29, 2018

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