animadversion

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 22, 2009 is: animadversion • \an-uh-mad-VER-zhun\ • noun 1 : a critical and usually censorious remark -- often used with "on" 2 : adverse criticism Examples: The film critic seems to have offered animadversions on nearly every movie made this year. Did you know? "Animadversion" comes ultimately from the Latin phrase "animum advertere," meaning "to turn the mind to." It is easy to see how we also get "adverse" and "adversary" from "advertere," especially when we remember that "to turn to" easily becomes "to turn against." Other English words descended from "advertere" include "advert," meaning "to turn the attention (to)" or "to make reference (to)," and "advertise." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.