mecca (MEK-uh) noun

   A place regarded as a center of some activity or one that many people
   visit.

[After Mecca, a city in western Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Muhammad,
and a place of pilgrimage for Muslims.]

   "The battlefield was my Mecca, and I dreamed about a trip there to see
   where those soldiers had made the ultimate sacrifice."
   Robert Lee Hodge, The New Battle for Gettysburg is to Save This Historic
   Shrine, America's Civil War (Leesburg) Jul 2001.

Some of the most popular weeks in AWAD are when the theme isn't disclosed
at the start. Instead, readers are challenged to discover the common thread
among the words. Each day's word brings another clue to unravel the hidden
theme. I'm afraid this week's puzzle is too easy, so I am not inviting you
to email your answers. Instead, try to find the pattern and wait for Friday's
word to arrive with the answer.                                        -Anu

............................................................................
If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable
impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him with a favorable
impression of himself. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet and philosopher
(1772-1834)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/mecca.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/mecca.ram