Word of the Week: Ubiquitous

by Naomi L. | December 16, 2013 | Blog, Word of the Week | 0 comments

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

“Ubiquitous” is one of those words that I would hear and see fairly often, but that I never really bothered to look up. Maybe I was forgetful, maybe I was just plain lazy. After recently reading it again, though, I decided I might as well learn more about it. Interestingly, I actually regretted not looking it up sooner, because it seemed like a good word that could have been… “ubiquitous” in my stories all along.

Anything that’s “ubiquitous” is omnipresent, that is, it appears everywhere. The word comes from the modern Latin adjective ubiquitas, which in turn originates from the Latin adverb ubique, meaning “everywhere” or “anywhere”. The root of this word is the adverb/conjunction ubi “where”.

Honestly, even if I didn’t bother to look up this word, I’ve always liked the sound of it. It has kind of an exotic feel to it, and I wouldn’t mind including it in some of my descriptions to indicate feelings, objects or even people that are present everywhere. So if you enjoy learning new words, I’m sure you’ll be able to use this one well. Curiosity over new vocabulary is “ubiquitous” among writers, is it not?

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?