Word of the Day for Friday June 24, 2005 commination \kom-uh-NAY-shuhn\, noun: 1. A denunciation. 2. A threat of punishment. Vishnevskaya's powerful story is full of ferocious, grandly operatic comminations of vicious authorities and toadying colleagues. --Terry Teachout, review of [1]Galina: A Russian Story, by Galina Vishnevskaya, [2]National Review, March 22, 1985 At last the leaders of the Democratic Party have moved decisively, hauling out their ripest comminations and hurling them at -- no, not at George Bush. --Alexander Cockburn, "No place in the Democratic Party," [3]The Nation, March 31, 2003 An early copy had been seen by Anne Fine, our retiring Children's Laureate, and, as one of her final acts..., she issued a commination against it in the [4]Guardian newspaper, buttressed by many spicy quotations. --Brian Alderson, "Message in a bottle," [5]Horn Book Magazine, September 1, 2003 _________________________________________________________ Commination is derived from Latin comminatio, commination-, from comminari, "to threaten," from com-, intensive prefix + minari, "to threaten." References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156343207/ref=nosim/lexico 2. http://www.nationalreview.com/ 3. http://www.thenation.com/ 4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/ 5. http://www.hbook.com/publications/magazine/default.asp Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=commination