Make Your Point > Archived Issues > OLIO
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Today we're checking a rare word that fits snugly into crossword puzzles: olio.
It's a close synonym of stew, soup, jumble, mishmash, b___ll_b__ss_, and s_lm_g_nd_.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"OLIO"
Strictly speaking, in Spanish and Portuguese cooking, an olio is a stew with spiced meat and vegetables.
So, in general, an olio is a dish made of lots of different ingredients, or any mixture of lots of different things.
Pronunciation:
OH lee oh
Part of speech:
Noun, the countable kind: "it's an olio," "that olio of emotions," "those olios."
Other forms:
Just the plural, "olios."
How to use it:
This term is rare, but easily understood in context.
It often has a positive tone. For that reason, it seems to be a popular choice for corporate names: "Olio" is, among other things, a panini shop, an app that helps neighbors share food to avoid waste, and a restaurant in Colorado that doubles as a venue for local art. (Neat!)
Still, the tone can be negative if you need it to be: "an olio of lies," "that olio of scandals."
Though you might talk about an olio of things, you can also just refer to something as an olio, or as "the whole olio," to call attention to the variety of its parts.
examples:
"The company were an olio of all sorts; peers, peeresses, honourables, and right honourables, jew brokers, demireps, lottery insurers, and quack doctors."
— Horace Walpole, as quoted in Private Letters of Edward Gibbon, 1896
"Finding ways to allow immediate, convenient access to medical care now includes an olio of options, from the doctor's office and urgent care centers to clinics in large retail chains. It also, of course, includes the old standby: the emergency room."
— Elaine Cox, US News, 14 December 2015
has this page helped you understand "olio"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "olio" without saying "stew" or "jumble."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "We used to subsist on _____; now we can sample from an olio of _____."
Example: "We used to subsist on basic cable channels; now we can sample from an olio of on-demand streaming services."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
In August, we're playing the time-honored Game of Venery!
We're inventing terms for groups of things: terms that James Lipton, the author of An Exaltation of Larks, calls "shards of poetry and truth." Example terms of venery include lovely ones like "a conflagration of fireflies" and silly ones like "a myopia of umpires," "a rash of dermatologists," and "an unemployment of graduates."
In each issue this month, I'll offer two templates. Have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family, being as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. In each subsequent issue, I'll list the actual terms that appear in Lipton's book.
From the previous issue:
1. A rictus of _____
2. A _____ of escort services
The terms listed in the book are "a rictus of beauty queens" and "a euphemism of escort services."
Try these today:
1. A retinue of _____
2. A _____ of nurses
review this word:
1. A near opposite of OLIO is
A. STRANGE GROUP.
B. FUNDAMENTAL GROUP.
C. HOMOGENEOUS GROUP.
2. Cluttering the shelves was an olio of figurines, _____.
A. soldiers and giraffes and fairies
B. a fragile menagerie of circus animals
C. chubby angelic children, all with pastel hair
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Today we're checking a rare word that fits snugly into crossword puzzles: olio.
"OLIO" Strictly speaking, in Spanish and Portuguese cooking, an olio is a stew with spiced meat and vegetables.
"The company were an olio of all sorts; peers, peeresses, honourables, and right honourables, jew brokers, demireps, lottery insurers, and quack doctors."
Explain the meaning of "olio" without saying "stew" or "jumble."
Fill in the blanks: "We used to subsist on _____; now we can sample from an olio of _____."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A near opposite of OLIO is
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