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Monday December 27, 2004

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brackish \BRAK-ish\ , adjective:
1. Somewhat salty.
2. Distasteful; unpalatable.

Just a few villages dot the dangerous beaches where the Sepik [River] meets the sea, a brackish zone where sharks and saltwater crocodiles lurk.
-- Dennis Lewon, "Learning to Receive", Islands

I gagged, and tasted something metallic and brackish in the back of my throat.
-- Lance Armstrong and Sally Jenkins, It's Not About the Bike

And yet his decision still leaves that brackish aftertaste.
-- Tom Block, review of The Sorrow and the Pity (1971), Culturevulture.net

Brackish derives from Dutch brak, "salty." It is especially used to describe a mixture of seawater and fresh water.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for brackish

 

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