Reading time: Less than 1 minute
Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: ineluctably.
As a longtime fan of the book The War of Art, I was delighted to discover that author Steven Pressfield has a delightful and active blog.
And in reading a recent entry, I saw that he had used one of my favourite words: ineluctably.
Here’s how Pressfield used it:
He knows his obsessive pursuit has led ineluctably to his own extinction.
The word is an adverb meaning “unavoidably” or “inescapably.” Of Latin origin the word can be traced to ineluctabilis meaning “unavoidable, inevitable,” from in- “opposite of” and eluctari “to struggle out of.”
I don’t normally enthuse over five-syllable words (or over adverbs for that matter) but I love the sound of this one. Those Ls — punctuated by the sharp T and firm B — glitter and glisten in a way I find terribly attractive. Searching for the name of the sound they create, I consulted Dr. Google and stumbled upon something called Rachel’s English, which taught me about the difference between dark Ls and light Ls.
Did you know there were dark Ls? I certainly didn’t! You can read about it here or watch Rachel’s video in the same place, if you like.
