July 17, 2008
- anniversary (noun)
- \an-uh-VER-suh-ree\
- What does it mean?
- 1 a : the annual return of the date of a special event b : a date that follows such an event by a specified period of time2 : the celebration of an anniversary
- How do you use it?
- "'I wanted to be extra good today because it's an anniversary. Do you remember what happened this day last year, Marilla?'" (Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables)
- Are you a word wiz?
Which word do you think is related to "anniversary"?
There's no controversy here—both "anniversary" and "controversy" come from the Latin root "vertere" meaning "to turn." "Anniversary" traces to the Latin word "anniversarius," meaning "returning annually." It was created through the combination of the Latin "annus," meaning "year," and "versus," a form of "vertere." "Controversy" means an often long or heated discussion of something about which there is great difference of opinion. It traces to the Latin "controversus," meaning literally "turned against."
