Synonym a Day

[This term derives from the custom of horsemen from Parthia, an ancient kingdom in West Asia, of firing arrowsback at the enemy while retreating, or pretending to be retreating]. [F]ormer Bush aide John Dilulio . . . complained in his Parthian shot that the Bush White House paid far more attention to politics and message management than policy. “In eight months, I heard many, many staff discussions, but not three meaningful, substantive policy discussions,” he wrote in a memo published by Esquire magazine. (Ron Hutcheson, “Insiders Portray President as Deaf to Outside Voices,”Miami Herald, 3/28/2004.)