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Words That Don't Mean What You Think They Mean: WIZENED

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam Posted by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Vice President, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.



Wizened: Although wizened looks like a description for a wise vizier, it actually has nothing to do with either wisdom or wizardry. If something is wizened, it's dry and wrinkled with age. Granted, as someone ages and becomes more wizened, one hopes that they also become wiser, but the two aren't etymologically linked.

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