11 January 2013

moribund

[mawr-uh-buhnd, mor-]

adjective

1. in a dying state; near death.
2. on the verge of extinction or termination.
3. not progressing or advancing; stagnant: a moribund political party.

Origin:

1715–25; < Latin moribundus dying, equivalent to mori- (stem of morī to die) + -bundus adj. suffix

Related forms
mor·i·bun·di·ty, noun.
mor·i·bund·ly, adverb.
un·mor·i·bund, adjective.
un·mor·i·bund·ly, adverb.

Today’s aphorism

‘Any religion which professes to be concerned about the souls of men and women and is not concerned about the social and economic conditions that can scar the soul, is a spiritually moribund religion only waiting for the day to be buried’.

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

On this day

11 January 1986 – Brisbane’s Gateway Bridge opens.

11 January 2008 – death of Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. Hillary and sherpa Tbeenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mt Everest.