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ajar

[uh-jahr]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective, adverb

neither entirely open nor entirely shut; partly open: The door was ajar.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English on char on the turn; see a-¹, char³

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Ajar is always a great word to know.

So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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Example Sentences

The blast blew out windows and knocked the school's green doors ajar.

The door was left ajar to peremptory brawn-versus-brains prejudice.

Amazon has yet to make it clear whether it will slam the door shut, or leave it ajar.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

adverb, adjective

in contradiction to; at variance with: a story ajar with the facts.

Origin:
1545–55; for at jar at discord; compare jar³ (noun)

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

ajar¹ (əˈdʒɑː)

—*adj, —adv*
	(esp of a door or window) slightly open

[C18: altered form of obsolete on char, literally: on the turn; char, from Old English cierran to turn]

ajar² (əˈdʒɑː)

—*adj*
	(postpositive) not in harmony

[C19: altered form of at jar at discord. See jar²]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

ajar

1718, perhaps from Scottish dialectal a char "slightly open," earlier on char (early 16c.), from M.E. char, from O.E. cier "a turn."

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"The calm, the coolness, the silent grass-growing mood in which a man ought always to compose,—that, I fear, can seldom be mine. Dollars damn me; and the malicious Devil is forever grinning in upon me, holding the door ajar. My dear Sir, a presentiment is on me,—I shall at last be worn out and perish, like an old nutmeg-grater, grated to pieces by the constant attrition of the wood, that is, the nutmeg. What I feel most moved to write, that is banned,—it will not pay. Yet, altogether, write the other way I cannot. So the product is a final hash, and all my books are botches."

-Herman Melville

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ajar

a·jar

a·jar