Make Your Point: RUNIC

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > RUNIC

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce RUNIC:

ROO nick

Hear it.

connect this word to others:

When something seems spooky, mysterious, and magical, like it's been conjured up with dark magic, you could call it runic, or t_l_smanic, or th__mat__gic, or if you want to get extra-extra dark, nec___antic.

Can you recall those synonyms?

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

definition:

The word "rune" comes from an Old English one meaning "a mystery, or a secret."

In English, for hundreds of years, we've referred to the characters in an early Germanic alphabet—and any others that look similar—as "runes," especially when they're carved into pieces of wood or stone. Traditionally, these mystical, mysterious-looking runes have been believed to hold magical powers, and to "cast runes" is to work magic with them.

(Source)

By extension, runes are also any mysterious, magical-sounding song or poem.

So, if you call something runic, you mean it's full of dark, magical mystery, like an ancient symbol, spell, song, or poem.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "a runic inscription," "this runic mystery."

Other forms:

Rune(s), runically.

how to use it:

"Runic" is a semi-common word with a scholarly, mysterious tone.

If that's the mood you're going for, then talk about runic carvings, inscriptions, symbols, messages, interpretations, etc.

examples:

"Everything else about [Julian Casablancas] remains open to runic interpretation. Interviewing Casablancas is like trying to play chess against a drum machine... He's an upper-echelon lead singer, a seemingly kind and concerned person, but once the tape recorder is turned on, he becomes purposely inscrutable and profoundly awkward."
— Jeff Weiss, Washington Post, 13 April 2018

"They are Ghouls:
        And their king it is who tolls...
          And he dances, and he yells;
          Keeping time, time, time,
          In a sort of Runic rhyme,
             To the pæan of the bells—"
— Edgar Allan Poe, "The Bells," 1850

has this page helped you understand "runic"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

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

study it:

Explain the meaning of "runic" without saying "mysterious" or "sorcerous."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Something) is no runic mystery. (Explain how it's pretty easy to understand.)"

Example 1: "Amazon's success is no runic mystery. They squeeze the maximum amount of money from buyers and sellers, as Cory Doctorow explains."

Example 2: "Treating Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina polls as some sort of runic mysteries is not necessary. Early state polls so far mostly track with national surveys, and once voting begins, national surveys will reflect the momentum shifts gained by February successes or setbacks."
— Chris Stirewalt, Fox News, 3 September 2019

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 for this month is Palindromes in Poems: Yay!

Check out the snippet of a poem, and supply the missing palindrome: the word spelled the same backward and forward, like "yay," "sees," or "racecar." Highlight the hints if you need them, and see the answer by scrolling all the way down. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

"Do not feel safe. The poet remembers.
You can kill one, but another is born.
The words are written down, the _____, the date."
— Czeslaw Milosz, translated by Richard Lourie, "You Who Wronged," 1950

To reveal the hints below, highlight the hidden white text.

Hint 1: The number of letters in this palindrome is... four.
Hint 2: The letter that this palindrome starts and ends with is... "D."

review this word:

1. One opposite of RUNIC is

A. MALEFICENT (evil).
B. PATENT (easy to see or interpret).
C. SENTIENT (thinking, feeling, and alive).

2. You're most likely to read about runic _____.

A. wishes, opinions, and theories
B. symbols, carvings, and tattoos
C. strings, percussion, and woodwinds

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...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

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.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > RUNIC Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > RUNIC

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.