'Allodoxaphobia': Tharoor drops 'word of the day' to take dig at BJP

New Delhi, Dec 12: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, known for his penchant for rarely used English words, took a dig at the BJP on Sunday with another head-scratcher - allodoxaphobia.

Tweeting his "word of the day", Tharoor explained that allodoxaphobia means an irrational fear of opinions. Giving an example of how to use the word, the Congress leader wrote, "The BJP government in UP slaps sedition and UAPA cases on people because its leadership suffers from allodoxaphobia."

"Word of the day, indeed of the last seven years: Allodoxaphobia. Meaning: an irrational fear of opinions. Usage: 'The BJP government in UP slaps sedition & UAPA cases on people because its leadership suffers from allodoxaphobia'," he tweeted. Explaining the word further, he wrote that in "Greek - Allo=different, doxo= opinion, phobos=fear".

This is not the first time Tharoor has sent Twitterati scurrying for their dictionaries. In the past, he has stumped people with rarely used English words such as "farrago" and "troglodyte".

While farrago means a confused mixture, a troglodyte means a person regarded as being deliberately ignorant or old-fashioned.