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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > AURA

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pronounce AURA:

OR uh
Your browser does not support the audio element.
That's the pronunciation that dictionaries seem to agree on.
I've also heard people say "ARE uh."


connect this word to others:

As we'll see in just a second, the oldest meaning of aura is breath or breeze, or in a fancier word, z_ph__. 

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  

definition:

"Aura" comes from Latin and Greek: in both languages, it means "a breath, a breeze, a soft wind."

That's the meaning we first used in English, going back to the 1300s.

By the 1700s, the meaning had become "a soft exhale, or a subtle scent."

By the 1800s, "aura" took on the meaning that we most commonly use today. Someone's aura, or something's aura, is a certain impression of its character that seems to mystically, magically surround it.

In other words, an aura is an invisible, mysterious "breath" or "aroma" that seems to envelop a certain person or thing. It's the vibes they give off, or the characteristics they exude.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

It's a noun, the countable kind: "She has an aura of glamour."

Other forms: 

The plural noun is "auras." Here's an example from the New York Times: "Electronic auras seem to swirl around the audience."

If you need an adjective, you can pick between "aural" and "auric." I love them both.

how to use it:

Pick the common word "aura"—instead of "quality," "character," "impression," "reputation," "mood," or "tone"—when you want to make your subject sound mystical, mysterious, delicate, and/or ancient, and you want to hint that your subject seems to be gently exhaling a certain quality that then swirls around them.

Say that someone or something has (or shows, displays, carries, etc.) an aura of some quality: "He has an aura of wealth and privilege;" "The building has an aura of mysticism;" "Even the titles of Edgar Allan Poe stories carry an aura of eeriness: The Black Cat. Loss of Breath. The Masque of the Red Death."

examples:

"The ladders that rose from one level of scaffold to the next had all the substance of matchsticks and imparted to the structure an aura of fragility." 
  — Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, 2003

"Everywhere there was the smell of vitality in clothes, the vital something in wool and flannel and corduroy which spring releases.... I kept wondering about next spring, about whether khaki, or suntans or whatever the uniform of the season was, had this aura of promise in it." 
   — John Knowles, A Separate Peace, 1959

has this page helped you understand "aura"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "aura" without saying "nimbus" or "emanation."

try it out:

In his book Big Science, Michael Hiltzik reflected on the state of nuclear physics in the 1920s:

"Physicists were forced to confront astonishing paradoxes roiling their conception of the natural world. Through much of the 1920s, they were wracked with doubt that they would be able to resolve them at all... For laypersons in the twenties, physics was invested with an aura of drama, even romance."

With this historical example in mind, could you describe something going on today that we've "invested with an aura of drama, even romance"? In other words, what is it that people are obsessed with today that they find mysterious, captivating, and compelling? How else would you describe this thing's aura?




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Idiom Savant."

Flex your facility with familiar phrases by quickly pairing them off with words closely associated in meaning.

For example, you might pair the idiom "a cat has nine lives" with the word "resilient;" "water under the bridge" with "inconsequential;" and "when it rains, it pours" with "proliferate."

Try these today:

Pair these idioms...

   1. in the fast lane
   2. in the same vein
   3. out of the frying pan and into the fire
   4. out of sight, out of mind
   5. out of the way

With these words...

   A. exacerbate
   B. myopic
   C. parodic
   D. precarious
   E. sideline

To see the answers, scroll all the way down. 

review this word:

1. A near opposite of AURIC could be

A. VISIBLE or TANGIBLE.
B. FRAGILE or FRANGIBLE.
C. HABITUAL or INCORRIGIBLE.

2. From Redwall, by Brian Jacques: "He halted by the first figure, unable to distinguish who it was, but _____ an aura of friendly kinship _____ it."

A. seeing .. hovering above
B. feeling .. emanating from
C. smelling .. lurking beneath




Answers to the review questions:
1. A
2. B

From the game:

   1. in the fast lane: precarious
   2. in the same vein: parodic
   3. out of the frying pan and into the fire: exacerbate
   4. out of sight, out of mind: myopic
   5. out of the way: sideline

Are your answers different? No worries, as long as you can explain the connections you see.


a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


From my blog:
On vocabulary...
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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