cavalier ˌka-və-ˈlir adjective and noun
adjective: given to haughty disregard of a serious matter
noun: a gallant or courtly gentleman
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The word cavalier has appeared in 65 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Jan. 10 in “‘People Need to Be Reminded About Flu’” by Paula Span:
Jillian Gibson hasn’t gotten a flu shot in some 25 years.
“I don’t get the flu, and I’ve been exposed over and over,” said Ms. Gibson, 75, a mostly retired office manager for a medical practice in Beverly Hills.
… People like Ms. Gibson make physicians like Dr. William Schaffner very uneasy, especially this year. “The preoccupation with Covid and a certain vaccine fatigue mean that people need to be reminded about flu,” said Dr. Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Americans tend to sound cavalier about flu; falsely comparing Covid-19 to flu was a way of dismissing the new virus as no big deal. But deaths from influenza range from 12,000 nationally in an unusually mild year to 60,000 or more in a virulent one. An estimated 75 to 80 percent of flu-related deaths occur in people over 65, principally from pneumonia.
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word cavalier in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how cavalier can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
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Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
