Word of the Day
: July 1, 2014germane
playWhat It Means
: being at once relevant and appropriate : fitting
germane in Context
While his comments were witty and entertaining, they weren't particularly germane to the overall discussion.
"They contend the Senate did not merely 'amend' the original House bill because the health care reform amendment was not germane to the original bill." - The New York Times, May 19, 2014
Did You Know?
"Wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the Lion." So wrote Shakespeare in Timon of Athens (circa 1607), using an old (and now obsolete) sense of "germane" meaning "closely akin." "Germane" derives from the Latin word "germen," meaning "bud" or "sprout," which is also at the root of our verb "germinate," meaning "to sprout" or "begin to develop." An early sense of "germane" referred specifically to children of the same parents, who were perhaps seen as being like buds on a single tree.
Test Your Vocabulary with M-W Quizzes
Name That Synonym
Fill in the blanks to create a synonym of "germane": priet. The answer is …
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