coffer cof-fer / kô-fər, kŏf-ər noun 1. a strongly made box or safe designed to store valuables Study rather to fill your mind than your coffers; knowing that gold and silver were originally mingled with dirt, until avarice or ambition parted them.  Seneca the Younger, 4 BC – 65 2. funds; a supply of money; a treasury Once the coffers of the federal government are opened to the public, there will be... Read More

first first / fûrst adjective 1. corresponding to the number one in a series Please help us find an inspiring sample sentence for this meaning of first. 2. earliest; coming or occurring before others When you have read a book for the first time, you get to know a friend; read it for a second time and you meet an old friend.  Chinese Proverb 3. in a location or ranking that... Read More

fortuitous for-tu-i-tous / fôr-to͞o-ĭ-təs, fôr-tyo͞o-ĭ-təs adjective 1. accidental; happening by chance, often with a favorable outcome The plague as we of today have the happiness to know it is merely Nature’s fortuitous manifestation of her purposeless objectionableness.  Ambrose Bierce, 1842 – 1914 2. lucky; having or bringing good fortune Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped that some fortuitous circumstance might... Read More

fortunate for-tu-nate / fôr-chə-nĭt adjective 1. lucky, bringing or having good fortune The man who is always fortunate cannot easily have a great reverence for virtue. Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106 BC – 43 BC 2. favorable, advantageous, showing signs of success It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a millionaire.  Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 – 1894... Read More

august au-gust / ô-gŭst as an adjective; ô-gəst as a noun adjective 1. majestic; marked by grandeur; respected The august and mellow University, soaked with the richness of the western counties that it has served for a thousand years, appealed at once to the boy’s taste: it was the kind of thing he could understand, and he understood it all the better because it was empty.  From... Read More

depression de-pres-sion / dĭ-prĕsh-ən noun 1. the act of pressing down or causing to lower or the state of such Besides, the dilation of the hydrogen involved no danger, and only three-fourths of the vast capacity of the balloon was filled when the barometer, by a depression of eight inches, announced an elevation of six thousand feet.  From “Five Weeks in a Balloon” by Jules Verne, 1828... Read More

recession re-ces-sion / rĭ-sĕsh-ən noun 1. a period of economic decline characterized by high unemployment and low production It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose your own. Harry S. Truman, 1884 – 1972   2. the act of moving back or away from a point The recession of the polar ice has opened up the northern sea route, which... Read More

inflation in-fla-tion / ĭn-flā-shən noun 1. the act of causing something to expand by filling with air or gas One good thing can be said for inflation: without it there would be no football.  Marty Ragaway, 1923 – 1989 2. ever higher price levels or a decline in the purchasing power of money, caused when a government increases the money supply and credit compared with the availability... Read More

envelop en-vel-op / ĕn-vĕl-əp verb 1. to cover with a wrapping But now that he was enveloped in the old calico robes which had grown yellow in the same service, he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once–a parish child–the orphan of a workhouse–the humble, half-starved drudge–to be cuffed and buffeted through the world–despised by all, and pitied by none.  From “Oliver... Read More

envelope en-ve-lope / ĕn–və-lōp, ŏn-və-lōp noun 1. a folded paper cover like a pocket for a letter, usually having a method of closure Genius can write on the back of old envelopes but mere talent requires the finest stationery available. Dorothy Parker, 1893 – 1967 2. a covering or something that wraps around an item We are blessed with a place that is open to the universe... Read More