Word of the Day: VERACITY
Authenticity or rectitude
veracity (noun) - conformity with or devotion to the truth; accuracy or correctness [vuh-ras-i-tee]
BREAKDOWN: VER- (true) + -ACITY (state of)
veracious means truthful; honest; accurate
See also: verisimilitude, veritable
“The world is upheld by the veracity of good men: they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
The VER- root is one of my favorites because it shows up in such different contexts. Veracity for truthfulness, verdict for a judgment (literally 'spoken truth'), and even verify — all built on this Latin 'verus' foundation.
What gets me is how 'verisimilitude' shifts the goal from truth to the *appearance* of truth. Add a little '-similis' (likeness) and suddenly we're in the realm of fiction that feels real rather than reality itself. The root stays honest about its purpose.
The Emerson quote is a great pick too. 'The world is upheld by the veracity of good men' hits differently in an era of deepfakes and generated content. The stakes of truth-telling keep evolving even as the word stays fixed.