Word of the Day: intimation

The word intimation has appeared in eight articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 2 in the book review “When It Comes to Mothers, Fact and Fiction Blur” by Janice Y.K. Lee:

When is a memoir not a memoir? Maybe when the writer insists that it is not. “Perhaps you fear writing a memoir, reasonably,” Elizabeth McCracken writes at the beginning of her soulful, melancholy novel, “The Hero of This Book,” about a writer reminiscing about and missing her recently deceased mother.

… McCracken deftly evokes how so many of us feel about our mothers: that they are just there, and always there, and that any intimation that they were not always there or weren’t ever just as they are is an affront to the primacy of their connection to their child. Many children will never forget the moment they realized that their mother was a separate human being, who made mistakes and had faults and foibles all their own, separate from their own selves. This existential shock reverberates throughout McCracken’s book, coupled with the shock of that mother no longer being there.

Daily Word Challenge

Can you correctly use the word intimation in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.

If you want a better idea of how intimation can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.