abecedarian ˌā-bē-(ˌ)sē-ˈder-ē-ən adjective and noun
adjective: alphabetically arranged (as for beginning readers)
noun: a novice learning the rudiments of some subject
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The word abecedarian has appeared in four articles on NYTimes.com in the past two years, including on Dec. 1, 2017 in the book review “In ‘It’s All Relative,’ A.J. Jacobs Shakes the Family Tree” by Daniel Menaker:
In a regularly best-selling way, A.J. Jacobs writes stunt books. Or quest-stunt books, is more like it. Or humorous quest-stunt books is most like it. “The Year of Living Biblically,” for example, described his efforts to abide by the over 700 rules he finds set down — by, well, Whom? — in the Old and New Testaments. In “The Know-It-All,” Jacobs told of his 18-month effort to read the entire “Encyclopaedia Britannica,” using its abecedarian entries as prompts for reflection and anecdotes. Etc.
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