Word of the Day for Thursday, November 1, 2012

beatitude \bee-AT-i-tood\,
noun:
1. Supreme blessedness; exalted happiness.
2. Any of the declarations of blessedness pronounced by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Still, they were remarkable photographs, and what made them so was Perry's expression, his look of unflawed fulfillment, of beatitude, as though at last, and as in one of his dreams, a tall yellow bird had hauled him to heaven.
-- Truman Capote, "In Cold Blood"

She stayed till Hannah came to take her home to dinner, but she had no appetite, and could only sit and smile upon everyone in a general state of beatitude.
-- Louisa May Alcott, "Little Women"

Beatitude derives from the Latin beatus, "happy, blessed," which in turn relates to the Latin prefix bene- "good."

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