vouchsafe
/ˌvaʊt͡ʃˈseɪf/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.73 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To graciously give, to condescendingly grant a right, benefit, outcome, etc.; to deign to acknowledge.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "If Brutus will vouchſafe that Antony / May ſafely come to him ..."
- "Wilt thou, whoſe will is large and ſpacious, / Not once vouchſafe to hide my will in thine?"
- "Elinor would not vouchsafe any answer. 'It would be something remarkable now,' he continued, 'something droll, if Fanny should have a brother and I a sister settling at the same time. And yet it is not very unlikely.'"
- "Needless to say, we have been vouchsafed no idea of what this might cost the innocent victims, the ratepayers."
- "The fundamentalist is concerned with what accords with some ultimate, sacred truth, as vouchsafed to an ancestral scribe or prophet, and not with traditions of human errancy."
- "Nancy's lips parted abruptly, as if there were angry words all ready to come; but her eyes, resting on Pollyanna's jubilantly trustful face, saw something that prevented the words being spoken. "Humph!" she vouchsafed. Then, showing her old-time interest, she went on: "But, say, it is queer, his speakin' to you, honestly, Miss Pollyanna. He don't speak ter no one; and he lives all alone in a great big lovely house all full of jest grand things, they say. Some says he's crazy, and some jest cross; and some says he's got a skeleton in his closet.""
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌvaʊt͡ʃˈseɪf/
- British English: /ˌvaʊt͡ʃˈseɪf/