Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday October 16, 2007
quotidian \kwoh-TID-ee-uhn\
, adjective:
1. Occurring or returning daily; as, a quotidian fever.
2. Of an everyday character; ordinary; commonplace.
Erasmus thought More's career as a lawyer was a waste of a fine mind, but it was precisely the human insights More derived from his life in the quotidian world that gave him a moral depth Erasmus lacked.
-- "More man than saint", Irish Times, April 4, 1998
She also had a sense of fun that was often drummed out under the dull, quotidian beats of suburban life.
-- Meg Wolitzer, Surrender, Dorothy
In the world of the crematoriums hatred is a reckless and incontinent passion, incompatible with the humdrum nature of the quotidian task.
-- William Styron, Sophie's Choice
Quotidian is from Latin quotidianus, from quotidie, "daily," from quotus, "how many, as many, so many" + dies, "day."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for quotidian
