Word: unfamiliar
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...would have been difficult for even the most agile politician to wage a war in such unfamiliar territory, especially on so many fronts: waging an uphill battle with the legal system, closing the ranks of a Democratic Party whose support for him had always been tenuous and quelling the perception that George W. Bush had won the election--one thing Gore's advisers blame on the television networks' erroneous declaration of Bush's win on election night. Just as difficult, Gore strategist Carter Eskew says, were "the odds of fighting a system that has a perhaps understandable desire for finality...
...assigning them pat philosophical summaries of everything from Kant to Huxley in lieu of giving them actual thoughts. It is not rare that one encounters such grand generalities as, "He was surprised at how miserable he felt. Far removed from Christian notions of grace and redemption, unfamiliar with the concepts of freedom and compassion, Michel's worldview had grown pitiless and mechanical." Such a statement flounders in the context of a work of fiction, and unfortunately is not redeemed by any breathtaking originality...
Latin enthusiasts believe that if young students learn word roots, they will be able to decipher unfamiliar words. (By some estimates, 65% of all English words have Latin roots.) Latin is an almost purely phonetic language. There are no silent letters, and each letter represents a single sound. That makes it useful in teaching reading. And once kids master the grammatical structure of Latin--which is simple, logical and consistent--they will more easily grasp the many grammatical exceptions in English...
German-born Rolf Schulte is one of those rare musicians who combines his considerable skill with a devotion to new and unfamiliar music. That commitment was at its best at the Merrill Recital in Paine Hall...
...petition did present some potentially interesting and difficult federal questions involving federal statutes that most people were unfamiliar with," he said. "People might be a little surprised if the Supreme Court refused, without opinion, to do something. The court just doesn't do that," he added...