Word of the Day : February 10, 2022
Peremptory
adjective puh-REMP-tuh-ree
What It Means
Peremptory means “expressive of urgency or command” or “marked by arrogant self-assurance.”
// The soldiers were given a peremptory order to abandon the mission.
// The company’s president has a peremptory manner about her especially at the negotiating table.
PEREMPTORY in Context
“Celeste had work e-mails flooding in. Her assistant had taken the entire fall off with a mysterious—even suspect—leg injury and now e-mailed Celeste fifteen times a day demanding, in peremptory and vaguely hostile tones, that Celeste fill out paperwork.” — Greg Jackson, The New Yorker, 22 Apr. 2019
Did You Know?
Peremptory comes from Latin perimere, which means “to take entirely” or “to destroy.” The prefix per- means “thoroughly,” and emere means “to take.” Implying the removal of one’s option to disagree or contest something, peremptory stays close to its roots.
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