Suffuse - plus, On ‘Infringe,’ ‘Encroach,’ and ‘Impinge’

[Merriam-Webster]( WORD OF THE DAY September 23, 2019 suffuse [Audio pronunciation]( verb | suh-FYOOZ Definition : to spread over or through in the manner of fluid or light : [flush]( [fill]( Scroll down for more about suffuse TRENDING NOW: [dastardly]( [stymie]( [what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander]( [prorogue]( [SEE ALL [>]]( PEOPLE ARE READING [On ‘Infringe,’ ‘Encroach,’ and ‘Impinge’]( [The Good, The Bad, & The Semantically Imprecise - 9/20/19]( [A Note on the Nonbinary 'They']( [The History of 'Meme']( WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE [The Exceptions Quiz III]( Which of these things doesn't belong? [PLAY NOW]( Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try! [TAKE ME THERE [>]]( Did You Know? The Latin word suffendere, ancestor to suffuse by way of Latin suffūsus, has various meanings that shed light on our modern word, among them "to pour on or in (as an addition)" and "to fill with a liquid, color, or light that wells up from below." Suffundere is a blend of the prefix sub- ("under" or "beneath") and the verb fundere ("to pour" or "to send forth"). Other English verbs related to fundere continue the theme of pouring or spreading: [diffuse]( ("to pour out and spread freely"), [effuse]( ("to pour or flow out"), [transfuse]( ("to cause to pass from one to another"), and the verb [fuse]( itself when it's used to mean "to meld or join." Examples of SUFFUSE "Also beguiling … are such installation works as 'Spatial Environment in Red Light'…. It's a walk-through enclosure containing six parallel corridors and suffused with a neon redness that, having saturated your optic nerves, turns the world green when you exit." — [Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2019]( "The dessert I still dream about from the summer of 2018 is … a creamy, multi-textured bonbon suffused … with the flavor of black licorice from Denmark. — [Jeff Gordinier, Esquire, 28 Nov. 2018]( Test Your Vocabulary Fill in the blanks to complete an adjective that describes something emitting or reflecting light: _ u _ in _ _ s. [VIEW THE ANSWER [>]]( MORE WORD FUN: [WORD GAMES [>]]( [TRENDING NOW [>]]( [WORDS AT PLAY [>]]( FOLLOW US: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( SHARE: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [View this email in a web browser]( You are receiving this email because you opted in to receive Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day. [Unsubscribe from Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day]( [Manage your subscription settings]( Merriam-Webster, Inc. 47 Federal Street, P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA, 01102, USA [www.merriam-webster.com]( | [Privacy Policy]( © 2019 by Merriam-Webster, Inc.