irroration means A sprinkling or wetting with dew. It carries an Arena rating of 1508, earned across 9 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, irroration ranks #517 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,544 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,616 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #2,058 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words.
Why “irroration” is a great word
The act of sprinkling with moisture or the resulting pattern of markings that resemble dew drops. From the English verb 'irrorate' (to bedew or moisten), which is from the Latin 'irroratus', past participle of 'irrorare' (to bedew), from 'in-' (upon) + 'ros, roris' (dew). First attested in English in 1623. Unlike bedewing, which denotes the simple act of moistening, or speckling, which suggests any random scatter of color, irroration carries within it both the tender action and its lingering trace. It is the jeweled map on a spider's web at dawn, the delicate beading on a glass of iced tea, the faint constellations of droplets on a shaded fern after a mist has lifted—each a fleeting record of moisture's brief habitation before the world dries and forgets.
noun
- A sprinkling or wetting with dew.e.g.“Generally, to the irroration of the body much use of sweet things is profitable, as of sugar, honey, sweet almonds, pineapples, pistachios, dates, raisins of the sun, corans, figs, and the like.” — 1638, William Rawley, History of Life and Death, translation of original by Francis Bacon:
- Markings reminiscent of spots or dew drops.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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