veridical

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 28, 2010 is: veridical • \vuh-RID-ih-kul\ • adjective 1 : truthful, veracious 2 : not illusory : genuine Examples: "All psychotherapies are based on the fact that memory is not veridical, that unconscious desires and fantasies exert their force on us all.…" (Henry Kaminer, Weekly Standard, July 31, 2000) Did you know? We'll tell only the truth here: "veridical" comes from the Latin word "veridicus," which itself is from two other Latin words: "verus," meaning "true," and "dicere," meaning "to say." "Verus" is an ancestor of several English words, among them "verity," "verify," and "very" (which originally meant "true"). The word "verdict" is related to "veridical" on both sides of the family: it also traces back to "verus" and "dicere." "Veridical" itself is the least common of the "verus" words. You're most likely to encounter it in contexts dealing with psychology and philosophy. ]> See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.