Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Distraught

Distraught--what's distraught?  It's to be deeply agitated about a problem--so agitated that it occupies all your attention, and forces you to become almost mad.

And the word has an interesting history.  It's the past participle of a Middle English verb for "distract."  So when you are deeply distracted by a problem, what do you become?

Simple!  Distraught!

(By the way, here's a link to the story that gave me today's word--read "Bernie Maddoff and his wife were so distraught, they attempted suicide...." below.)








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