This week, a dear friend of mine, Donna Conrad, gave me one of those “word-a-day” desk calendars. She knows I’m obsessed with words. She’d also enjoyed my Write Away posts and hoped I’d get back to them one day. Maybe the calendar could help?

Well, it seems to have worked! Today, I’m enjoying the word, “Panoptic.” What does it mean?

– being or presenting a comprehensive or panoramic view (derived from the Greek panoptés, meaning “all seeing”) 

How cool is that? Panoptic kind of rolls off the tongue. You can imagine it spoken in a deep voice, maybe by James Early Jones. “Luke, I am your father. And the universe is panoptic.”

How cool is that? The word is somewhat fluid. It rolls off the tongue (panoptic…panoptic…). You can also imagine it spoken in a deep voice, perhaps by James Earl Jones. (“Luke, I am your father. And the universe is panoptic.“)

Here’s the sentence from the desk calendar: Loaded with careful details and telling imagery, the documentary is a panoptic portrayal of the lives of traveling circus workings.

Here’s mine: Loaded with books that tell stories from the time of Christ, to modern days, and through an envisioned future, my Kindle account is a panoptic experience of the real and imagined world.

Now you try!

Read about other words and more at JD-Sullivan.com.

Today’s word comes from Workman Publishing and the editors of Merriam-Webster, 365 New Words-A-Year 2021