August vs august

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Grammarist

August and august are two words that are spelled identically but are pronounced differently and have different meanings, which makes them heteronyms. We will examine the definitions of the words August and august, where these words came from, and a few examples of their use in sentences.

August (AW gust) is the eighth month of the year. In the northern hemisphere, August is the last month of summer. In the southern hemisphere, August is the last month of winter. The noun August to mean a month of the year came into use in the eleventh century. The month is named for Augustus Caesar. August may also be a proper name for a man. Note that August is capitalized, in either use.

August (aw GUST) is an adjective that means impressive, inspiring, something or someone to be venerated. The adjective august is derived from the Latin word augustus, which means venerable, noble, inspiring.

Examples

On Saturday morning, President Trump held a conference call with most but not all of the nation’s sports leaders and reportedly said on the call that he hopes to have fans back in stadiums and games played by August and September. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Midday Thursday marked the deadline to file petitions to run for office in the state and federal primary and county general election in August. (The Tennessean)

“The august body across the rotunda gave us some very clear signals this morning as to what they were willing to do on property taxes.” (The Idaho State Journal)

Told in cinematic interludes, structured somewhat like a delicately balanced sequence of related short stories, only with music, “The Band’s Visit” centers on the band’s elegant and august leader, Tewfiq (Sasson Gabay, the Israeli actor who starred in the film) and the bored and rather unlucky-in-love Dina (the excellent Janet Dacal), who runs a tiny cafe in Bet Hatikva. (The Atlanta Journal Constitution)