Thursday, 26 April 2012

Adenoidal

Word of the Day for Thursday, April 26, 2012

adenoidal \ad-n-OID-l\, adjective:

1. Being characteristically pinched and nasal in tone quality.
2. Of or pertaining to the adenoids; adenoid.
3. Having the adenoids enlarged, especially to a degree that interferes with normal breathing.

"Quite the good, old-fashioned type of servant," as Miss Marple explained afterward, and with the proper, inaudible, respectful voice, so different from the loud but adenoidal accents of Gladys.
-- Agatha Christie, Three Blind Mice

Then just as suddenly the sensation was gone and I heard a shrill, adenoidal voice that swallowed most of its soft consonants…
-- Charles Johnson, Middle Passage

Adenoidal only entered English in the 1910s, referring to the glands near the nasal passage.


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