Word of the Day: PYROTECHNICS

A spectacular display

pyrotechnics (noun) - the science and craft of creating or using fireworks; a spectacular display of fireworks, skill, or anything else [pahy-ruh-tek-niks]

BREAKDOWN: PYRO- (fire) + TECHN- (craft) + -ICS (science of)

• pyrotechnic means of or pertaining to controlled exothermic chemical reactions

• a pyrotechnician or pyrotechnic engineer is someone who oversees the creation and deployment of fireworks arrangements and controlled explosions

“There is a homely directness about these rustic apothegms which makes them far more palatable than the strained and sophisticated epigrams of the characters of Oscar Wilde's plays, who are ever striving strenuously to dazzle us with verbal pyrotechnics.” —Brander Matthews