Word of the Day

bromide \BROH-myd\, noun:
1. A compound of bromine and another element or a positive organic radical.
2. A dose of potassium bromide taken as a sedative.
3. A dull person with conventional thoughts.
4. A commonplace or conventional saying.

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." The words are in fact already a bromide when the pompous Malvolio finds and reads them.
--Marjorie Garber, Symptoms of Culture

He cannot resist the occasional bromide: "Ninety percent of diplomacy is a question of who blinks first."
--Gary J. Bass, "The Negotiator," New York Times, July 11, 1999

The next president could live up to that old political bromide "Let's run the government like a business" by staffing his cabinet with some leading figures from the new world of business.
--Daniel H. Pink, "Fast.Gov," Fast Company, October 2000

Bromide was formed from the first element of English bromine and the suffix -ide; the pair of bromine/bromide parallel chlorine/chloride. Bromine itself comes from French brome, from Greek bromos, "bad smell." The adjective form is bromidic (pronounced \broh-MID-ik\).

Trivia: The figurative sense of "a dull, conventional person or saying" was popularized by American humorist Gelett Burgess in his book Are You a Bromide? (1906).