1-Million-Words

Balustrade (noun)
balustrade [bal-uh-streyd, bal-uh-streyd]

noun, Architecture.
1. a railing with supporting balusters.

Other Word Forms
balustraded adjective

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

Origin: 1635–45; < French balustre baluster + -ade -ade ; compare Spanish balaustrada, Italian balaustrata

Example Sentences
Holding on to wrought-iron balustrades, guests would then ascend thirty stairs that curved upward to the first- floor landing, whose sky-blue ceiling that Daddy had replicated at our house was like the heavens.
From Literature

The winning design for the memorial, chosen from a shortlist of five concepts, will feature a bridge with a balustrade made of glass, inspired by the shape of the late queen's wedding tiara.
From BBC

Lord Janvrin thought she would have approved of the proposed new bridge across the pond, with a reinforced glass balustrade, echoing the tiara worn on her wedding day in 1947.
From BBC

A plush, red velvet fauteuil tucked into the lower right corner of the picture is like an upscale launching pad, which has propelled the man to the balustrade along a tall French window.
From Los Angeles Times

Many original features have been restored, including the arch around the stage, the balustrades and red bricks.
From BBC

Now YOU come up with a sentence (or fic? or graphic?) that best illustrates the word.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Double-Edged Sword (noun)
double-edged sword [duhb-uhl-ejd sawrd]

noun
1. a sword whose blade has two cutting edges: This game character wields a wide double-edged sword to slice an enemy in two, armor and all, with brute strength.

2. something whose desirable effects are necessarily accompanied by undesirable ones: Studying from home is a double-edged sword—you can roll out of bed at 10 a.m. and attend class in your pajamas, but you can skip class with equal ease.

Origin: First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences
The railways could have been a double-edged sword.
From The Wall Street Journal

What is clear is that the Universal park could dwarf much of its competition if all goes to plan, and while the impacts can be a double-edged sword, many are excited to see what its opening brings.
From BBC

All of this could be a double-edged sword for stocks.
From Barron's

This double-edged sword of reductions on both sides often makes claiming early while still working an inferior strategy.
From MarketWatch

AI, he says, is a double-edged sword for the economy, as it has both “the potential to weaken employment further while boosting productivity gains.”
From Barron's

Now YOU come up with a sentence (or fic? or graphic?) that best illustrates the word.

WYSIWYG (adjective, noun)
WYSIWYG [wiz-ee-wig]

adjective
1. of, relating to, or noting a screen display that shows text exactly as it will appear in printed output, including underlining, various typefaces, as italics, line spacing, end-of-line breaks, and paragraph indentations.

noun
2. a WYSIWYG display: This program won't give you true WYSIWYG, but it does show boldface text and underlining.

acronym
3. what you see is what you get: referring to what is displayed on the screen being the same as what will be printed out

Origin: w(hat) y(ou) s(ee) i(s) w(hat) y(ou) g(et)

Example Sentences
The earliest Macs popularized "what you see is what you get," or WYSIWYG; formatting on the screen largely reflected how the page would look in print.
From Seattle Times

Describes a user interface under which "What You See Is All You Get"; an unhappy variant of WYSIWYG.
From Project Gutenberg

Now YOU come up with a sentence (or fic? or graphic?) that best illustrates the word.