"Geographers had already noticed that rivers tend to avulse at the foot of mountains, where slopes change dramatically and sediment settles out, silting up the bed. \u2014 Fred Pearce, Science | AAAS , 13 May 2021"
],
"history_and_etymology":{
"Latin avulsus , past participle of avellere to tear off, from ab- + vellere to pluck \u2014 more at vulnerable":""
},
"first_known_use":{
"1734, in the meaning defined above":""
},
"time_of_retrieval":"20220715-094358"
},
"avulsion":{
"type":[
"noun"
],
"definitions":{
": a forcible separation or detachment: such as":[],
": a tearing away of a body part accidentally or surgically":[]
},
"pronounciation":[
"\u0259-\u02c8v\u0259l-sh\u0259n"
],
"synonyms":[],
"antonyms":[],
"synonym_discussion":"",
"examples":[
"Recent Examples on the Web",
"Hamidou Diallo will miss the rest of the 2021-22 season with a left index finger avulsion fracture, the Detroit Pistons announced Friday. \u2014 Omari Sankofa Ii, Detroit Free Press , 25 Mar. 2022",
"The Phoenix Suns are without Paul, who's expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a right thumb avulsion fracture, and Booker, who missed the last two games in the NBA's health and safety protocols. \u2014 Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY , 6 Mar. 2022",
"The Suns gave an official release that Paul has suffered a right thumb avulsion fracture in Wednesdays\u2019 game against Houston and will be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks. \u2014 Duane Rankin, USA TODAY , 21 Feb. 2022",
"The Suns gave an official release that Paul has suffered a right thumb avulsion fracture in Wednesdays\u2019 game against Houston and will be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks. \u2014 Duane Rankin, USA TODAY , 21 Feb. 2022",
"Paul, who hasn\u2019t missed a game this season, sustained the break, known as an avulsion fracture, against Houston on Wednesday night and had an MRI exam Thursday. \u2014 San Francisco Chronicle , 20 Feb. 2022",
"The Suns gave an official release that Paul has suffered a right thumb avulsion fracture in Wednesdays\u2019 game against Houston and will be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks. \u2014 Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic , 20 Feb. 2022",
"The surgery to repair Zeller\u2019s right patellar avulsion fracture was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. \u2014 oregonlive , 25 Jan. 2022",
"Garoppolo\u2019s avulsion fracture occurred when a small piece of his bone attached to his UCL ligament was pulled away from the bone. \u2014 Eric Branch, San Francisco Chronicle , 3 Jan. 2022"
],
"history_and_etymology":{},
"first_known_use":{
"1622, in the meaning defined above":""
},
"time_of_retrieval":"20220710-171841"
},
"avuncular":{
"type":[
"adjective",
"adverb",
"noun"
],
"definitions":{
": suggestive of an uncle especially in kindliness or geniality":[
"avuncular indulgence",
"Jovial and avuncular , the President's chief of staff seems oblivious to the pressures that accompany what is arguably the second most powerful job in the land.",
"\u2014 Craig Unger"
],
": of or relating to an uncle":[
"Two weeks of poker had led to his writing to his uncle a distressed, but confident, request for more funds; and the avuncular foot had come down with a joyous bang.",
"\u2014 P. G. Wodehouse"
]
},
"pronounciation":[
"\u0259-\u02c8v\u0259\u014b-ky\u0259-l\u0259r"
],
"synonyms":[],
"antonyms":[],
"synonym_discussion":"",
"examples":[
"a man known for his avuncular charm",
"Recent Examples on the Web",
"With his avuncular white beard and commanding voice, Mr. Thompson, 74, has established the committee\u2019s serious, and almost solemn, tone. \u2014 New York Times , 17 June 2022",
"Carter turned instead to the San Francisco Symphony\u2019s distinguished, avuncular German music director, Alfred Hertz. \u2014 Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times , 2 June 2022",
"Cruise\u2019s Maverick flashes a mischievous avuncular grin beneath his helmet and chases his young charges in F/A-18s all over the Mojave Desert, teaching them new moves while wasting no chance to reassert his own superiority. \u2014 Justin Changfilm Critic, Los Angeles Times , 12 May 2022",
"Colin Firth is uncanny as Peterson, mimicking his avuncular bonhomie, and hinting at the stormy temper and dangerous narcissism that lurks beneath it. \u2014 Taylor Antrim, Vogue , 5 May 2022",
"The grizzled and avuncular Admiral Karl L. Schultz, the current Coast Guard Commandant, is legally required to leave his post by June 1. \u2014 Craig Hooper, Forbes , 21 Apr. 2022",
"Set around a conference table, the play offers a portrait not of an avuncular artist whose childlike imagination took over the world but of a megalomaniac who cannot brook dissent. \u2014 Charles Mcnultytheater Critic, Los Angeles Times , 5 Apr. 2022",
"No, my siblings Brother X and Brother XX are smart enough to keep a continent between our sons Zane and Aidan and their avuncular duties. \u2014 Kevin Fisher-paulson, San Francisco Chronicle , 15 Mar. 2022",
"Each morning during the Senate Watergate hearings, chaired by Democrat Sam Ervin, the avuncular senator could be seen briefly studying a book held open in front of him by an aide. \u2014 Washington Post , 18 Feb. 2022"
],
"history_and_etymology":{
"Latin avunculus maternal uncle \u2014 more at uncle":""
},
"first_known_use":{
"1831, in the meaning defined at sense 2":""
},
"time_of_retrieval":"20220711-111310"
},
"avunculate":{
"type":[
"noun"
],
"definitions":{
": a special relationship obtaining among some tribal peoples between a nephew and his maternal uncle":[],
": authority of a man over his sister's family affairs but especially over her children and the reciprocal rights and responsibilities associated therewith \u2014 compare amitate":[]
},
"pronounciation":[
"-\u02ccl\u0101t"
],
"synonyms":[],
"antonyms":[],
"synonym_discussion":"",
"examples":[],
"history_and_etymology":{
"Latin avuncul us + English -ate":""
},
"first_known_use":{},
"time_of_retrieval":"20220711-180200"
},
"avunculicide":{
"type":[
"noun"
],
"definitions":{
": the killing of an uncle by his nephew or niece":[
"This is not the place to relate the circumstances of every case of Fratricide, but some are of more particular interest. The first may more properly be described as \" avunculicide ,\" for it was his uncle \u2026 whom Osman I got rid of in 1298 \u2026",
"\u2014 Anthony Dolphin Alderson , The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty , 1956"
