ars-, ard-

Warmth of passion or affection; eagerness; love and zeal: Norbert has an ardency for history and, as a result, he has a massive number of books on the subject in his library.

1. Expressing or characterized by warmth of feeling; passionate: Jake has an ardent desire to help homeless people find a safe place to sleep and to have food.
2. Displaying or characterized by strong enthusiasm or devotion; fervent: Fay is an ardent and dedicated believer in her religion. © ALL rights are reserved.

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Translation: "Words that burn."

With warmth; affectionately; passionately: The nurses are ardently dedicated to making their patients feel comfortable and to give them the medical attention that they need.

1. Intense heat: The ardentness of the summer caused many people and creatures to suffer.
2. Warmth, passion, or feeling; eagerness: Brian's ardency or zeal for gambling made it very difficult for him to maintain any financial stability.

1. Great warmth of feeling; fervor; passion; fiery intensity of feeling: The speaker spoke with ardor about how more people should get jobs so they can take care of their financial needs.
2. Intense devotion, eagerness, or enthusiasm; zeal: The tennis player always showed great ardor when she was striving to win each game. © ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

The crime of maliciously, voluntarily, and willfully setting fire to a building, buildings, or other property for illegal purposes: One of the reasons arsons take place is so someone can collect payments from insurance companies for the damages that are done.

A reference to deliberately setting a fire or fires: A group of terrorists made an arson attack against people in Jerry's neighborhood.

Someone who commits an act or crime of willfully, wrongfully, and unjustifiably setting property on fire often for the purpose of committing fraud: The arsonist threw gasoline on a pile of old rags and tossed a lit match onto the pile, hoping to destroy the building so he could collect an insurance payment that would be worth more than the property.

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An excessive fear of fire or of setting something on fire: Those who suffer from arsonophobia usually avoid striking matches, cigarette lighters, or attending places that involve the action of cooking outdoors over a campfire.

Historically, blazing flames have been a source of both fear and awe, with both divine and evil interpretations, and such evil associations sometimes exist for anyone who suffers from arsonophobia.

Obviously, the arsonist shown here is NOT suffering from arsonophobia!