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Word of the Day for Friday October 7, 2005

onus \OH-nuhs\, noun:
1. A burden; an obligation; a disagreeable necessity.
2. a: A stigma. b: Blame.
3. The burden of proof.

And who knew what financial pressures he was under or how
desperate was his need to shed the onus of his past?
--Richard Lingeman, "The Last Party," [1]New York Times,
April 27, 1997

The onus of leadership fell on him.
--Scott Ritter, [2]Endgame

The critical point, however, was that the Times story freed
other publications from the onus of being the first to
print the gossip, and everyone felt freer to leap in.
--Gail Collins, [3]Scorpion Tongues

Nor has the onus of official displeasure fallen heavily
enough upon the offenders.
--Edmund Candler, "Mahatma Ghandi," [4]The Atlantic, July
1922

Mr. King is one of those writers who tries to fend off the
onus of a cliche by admitting or underlining it.
--Richard R. Lingeman, "Something Nasty in the Tub," [5]New
York Times, March 1, 1977

Where a claimant contracted asbestosis having been exposed
to asbestos dust over a period of years, approximately half
of which he had spent working for the defendants, and half
of which he had spent working for other employers, the onus
was upon him to prove causation.
--"Claimant to prove contribution to his disability,"
[6]Times (London), April 12, 2000
_________________________________________________________

Onus is adopted from Latin onus, "load, burden." The
derivative Latin adjective onerosus yields English onerous,
"burdensome, oppressive." The related Latin verb onerare has
the compound form exonerare, "to free from (ex-) an onus or
burden," which yields English exonerate, "to relieve, in a
moral sense, as of a charge, obligation, or blame."

References

1. http://www.nytimes.com/
2. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0788199404/ref=nosim/lexico
3. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156006502/ref=nosim/lexico
4. http://www.theatlantic.com/
5. http://www.nytimes.com/
6. http://www.the-times.co.uk/

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