stillicidio

constant drip, slow torment

noun steel-lee-CHEE-dyoh Rare

Origin: From Latin stillicidium, 'dripping water', from stilla (drop) + cadere (to fall).

Usage Note

Stillicidio originally meant the dripping of water from a roof (a Roman legal concept about water rights). Today it is almost exclusively figurative: a relentless, slow stream of bad news, requests, or annoyances — uno stillicidio di domande (an unending barrage of questions). The literal dripping sense survives only in literary or technical writing.

Examples

"Lo stillicidio di notizie negative li ha demoralizzati."

Natural Translation

The constant drip of negative news demoralised them.

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