Word of the Day
Word
Diversion (n.)
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Difficulty
B — Levels range from A to J. What is my level?
Definition
Amusement, play, pastime, recreation, sport, relaxation, entertainment that turns one from a serious and regular occupation.
Details
In the test phrase: "An unusual DIVERSION," the word is thought by 5% of adult readers to mean VARIETY. DIVERSITY is VARIETY, many-sidedness, lack of uniformity, lack of monotony; DIVERSION is amusement. Both DIVERSION and DIVERSITY come from the Latin DIVERSUS, the past participle of the verb DIVERTERE, which means to turn in different directions, go separate ways, diverge; hence, to be different. The Latin DIVERTERE is a combination of DI-, apart, and VERTERE, to turn. The noun DIVERSITY stresses the basic differences in any given group, and so means variety, dissimilarity, as: "DIVERSITY of languages," "DIVERSITY of opinions." A DIVERSION, on the other hand, is the act of turning in a new and different direction. A DIVERSION may be either the act of DIVERTING, a turning aside from some course or purpose; or that which DIVERTS; in the words of Noah Webster's dictionary of 1844: "That which turns the mind from care, business, or study, and thus relaxes and amuses; whatever unbends the mind." In this last sense DIVERSION is synonymous with sport, amusement, recreation, pastime. Under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, the English mathematician C.L. Dodgson wrote ALICE IN WONDERLAND as a DIVERSION. The solution of a mathematical problem, the writing of a book, the making of a valuable collection, may all be DIVERSIONS, recreations, pastimes. Listen
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