Word for Wednesday: Ubiquitous

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This week’s word for Wednesday comes from the mid 19th century and, like many words in the English language has evolved from the merging of two Latin words.

Ubiquitous.

Let’s take a look at the Latin words that make up this compound: The Latin ‘ubi’ means ‘where’ and ‘ubique’ translates to ‘everywhere’.

Combining these two stems seems to pose a question before answering it: ‘Where?’ ‘Everywhere’. Ubiquitous has several synonyms that you might be more familiar with such as omnipresent or universal.

In the last 50 years or so, a usage of this word has risen significantly, so it is certainly worth understanding its meaning and origins and adding to your own vocabulary. Having multiple ways of expressing a similar definition is a useful skill to have in writing, speaking or reading – allow yourself to have a handful of words to select from in any given context!

I hope this helps. Remember to look out for the word ubiquitous because it is definitely becoming, well, more ubiquitous.

Hugh MacDermott


29 Jan 2014
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