Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 15, 2018 is:pugnacious \pug-NAY-shus\ adjective: having a quarrelsome or combative nature : truculentExamples:"In almost all the Orders, the males of some species, even of weak and delicate kinds, are known to be highly pugnacious; and some few are furnished with special weapons for fighting with their rivals." — Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man,1871"[Coach Gregg] Popovich, whose interviews can be humorously pugnacious, wasn't in the mood to look back on the streak on Monday night, saying 'Awww, it's wonderful,' without further elaboration." — Victor Mather, The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2018Did you know?Pugnacious individuals are often looking for a fight. While unpleasant, at least their fists are packing an etymological punch. Pugnacious comes from the Latin verb pugnare (meaning "to fight"), which in turn comes from the Latin word for "fist," pugnus. Another Latin word related to pugnus is pugil, meaning "boxer." Pugil is the source of our word pugilist, which means "fighter" and is used especially of professional boxers. Pugnare has also given us impugn ("to assail by words or arguments"), oppugn ("to fight against"), and repugnant (which is now used primarily in the sense of "exciting distaste or aversion," but which has also meant "characterized by contradictory opposition" and "hostile").See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 14, 2018 is:defenestration \dee-fen-uh-STRAY-shun\ noun1 : a throwing of a person or thing out of a window2 : a usually swift dismissal or expulsion (as from a political party or office)Examples:Although defenestration may seem an appropriate response to an alarm clock set for too early an hour, the demise of the device does not change the hour of the day."It's possible that nobody in Hollywood works harder than Tom Cruise, who, in his latest turn as Ethan Hunt, once again finds himself in a race against time after a mission goes wrong. Expect defenestration, helicopter crashes, and exploding motorbikes." — Vogue (vogue.com), 22 May 2018Did you know?These days defenestration is often used to describe the forceful removal of someone from public office or from some other advantageous position. History's most famous defenestration, however, was one in which the tossing out the window was quite literal. On May 23, 1618, two imperial regents were found guilty of violating certain guarantees of religious freedom. As punishment, they were thrown out the window of Prague Castle. The men survived the 50-foot tumble into the moat, but the incident, which became known as the Defenestration of Prague, marked the beginning of the Bohemian resistance to Hapsburg rule that eventually led to the Thirty Years' War.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 13, 2018 is:mantic \MAN-tik\ adjective: of or relating to the faculty of divination : propheticExamples:The magician mesmerized the crowd with her sleight-of-hand tricks as well as her mantic predictions."Like everyone else, I was in awe of her mantic abilities, and I think she looked upon my storytelling endeavors with indulgence, having known both my father and my grandfather in their prime." — Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, The Storyteller of Marrakesh, 2011Did you know?The adjective mantic comes from the Greek word mantikos, which itself derives from mantis, meaning "prophet." The mantis insect got its name from this same source, supposedly because its posture—with the forelimbs extended as though in prayer—reminded folks of a prophet. Not surprisingly, the combining form -mancy, which means "divination in a (specified) manner" (as in necromancy and pyromancy), is a relative of mantic. A less expected, and more distant, relative is mania, meaning "excitement manifested by mental and physical hyperactivity, disorganized behavior, and elevated mood" or "excessive or unreasonable enthusiasm." Mania descends from Greek mainesthai ("to be mad"), a word akin to mantis and its offspring. And indeed, prophesying in ancient Greece was sometimes believed to be "inspired madness."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 12, 2018 is:epithet \EP-uh-thet\ noun1 : a characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing2 : a disparaging or abusive word or phrase3 : the part of a taxonomic name identifying a subordinate unit within a genusExamples:The school's policy makes it clear that derogatory epithets will not be tolerated."Herbert Hoover, who could justifiably campaign as a progressive Republican, pigeonholed Smith as an advocate of state socialism (the same epithet that a spiteful Smith would hurl at Roosevelt in 1936)." — Sam Roberts, The New York Times, 22 Apr. 2018Did you know?Nowadays, epithet is usually used negatively, with the meaning "a derogatory word or phrase," but it wasn't always that way. Epithet comes to us via Latin from the Greek noun epitheton and ultimately derives from epitithenai, meaning "to put on" or "to add." In its oldest sense, an epithet is simply a descriptive word or phrase, especially one joined by fixed association to the name of someone or something (as in "Peter the Great" or the stock Homeric phrases "gray-eyed Athena" and "wine-dark sea"). Alternatively, epithets may be used in place of a name (as in "the Peacemaker" or "the Eternal"). These neutral meanings of epithet are still in use, but today the word is more often used in its negative "term of disparagement" sense.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 11, 2018 is:abrogate \AB-ruh-gayt\ verb1 : to abolish by authoritative action : annul2 : to treat as nonexistentExamples:"U.S. deterrence in the Taiwan Strait used to resemble U.S. deterrence elsewhere: Washington had a formal alliance with the Republic of China and stationed troops in Taiwan. But the United States abrogated the alliance treaty when it broke official ties with the Republic of China in 1979." — Scott Kastner, The Washington Post, 30 Apr. 2018"While we must not engage in partisan political acts such as endorsing candidates and parties, to remain silent on the pressing issues of our time is to abrogate our moral responsibility." — Rabbi Dan Fink, The Idaho Statesman, 21 Apr. 2018Did you know?If you can't simply wish something out of existence, the next best thing might be to "propose it away." That's more or less what abrogate lets you do—etymologically speaking, at least. Abrogate comes from the Latin root rogare, which means "to propose a law," and ab-, meaning "from" or "away." We won't propose that you try to get away from the fact that rogare is also an ancestor in the family tree of prerogative and interrogate. Abrogate first appeared in English as a verb in the 16th century; it was preceded by an adjective sense meaning "annulled" or "cancelled," which is now obsolete.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 10, 2018 is:roseate \ROH-zee-ut\ adjective1 : resembling a rose especially in color 2 : overly optimistic : viewed favorablyExamples:"Sometimes mistaken for a flamingo, the roseate spoonbill has lots of pink shades that can fool you." — Lyle Johnson, The Gonzales Weekly Citizen (Ascension, Louisiana), 26 Apr. 2018"… the Catalan channels, richly funded by the local parliament and putting nationalist devotees in charge, has created a roseate picture of independence that simply doesn't fit the facts." — Peter Preston, The Observer (London), 10 Dec. 2017Did you know?"Everything's coming up roses." "He views the world through rose-tinted glasses." "She has a rosy outlook on life." In English, we tend to associate roses and rose color with optimism, and roseate is no exception. Roseate comes from the Latin adjective roseus, and ultimately from the noun rosa, meaning "rose." Figurative use of roseate (with the meaning "happy" or "smiling") began in the 18th century, but the literal sense of the term has been in the language since the 15th century. It's especially well-suited to literary descriptions of sunrises and sunsets: "through yon peaks of cloud-like snow / The roseate sunlight quivers," wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley in Prometheus Unbound. And in an early short story, Edith Wharton wrote, "The sunset was perfect and a roseate light, transfiguring the distant spire, lingered late in the west."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 9, 2018 is:shenanigan \shuh-NAN-ih-gun\ noun1 : a devious trick used especially for an underhand purpose2 a : tricky or questionable practices or conduct — usually used in pluralb : high-spirited or mischievous activity — usually used in pluralExamples:The CEO resigned amid accusations of financial shenanigans and dubious deals."And the protesters outside were just the start of the shenanigans. Inside the building, one person attended the hearing dressed in a Russian troll costume." — Kevin Roose, The New York Times, 16 Apr. 2018Did you know?The history of shenanigan is as tricky and mischievous as its meaning. Etymologists have some theories about its origins, but no one has been able to prove them. All we can say for certain is that the earliest known uses of the word in print appeared in the mid-1800s. Although the "underhanded trick" sense of the word is oldest, the most common senses in use now are "tricky or questionable practices" (as in "political shenanigans") and "high-spirited behavior" (as in "youthful shenanigans").See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 8, 2018 is:whelm \WELM\ verb1 : to turn (something, such as a dish or vessel) upside down usually to cover something : to cover or engulf completely with usually disastrous effect2 : to overcome in thought or feeling : overwhelm3 : to pass or go over something so as to bury or submerge itExamples:The hotel was adequate but we were far from whelmed by the view of the alley and the lack of hot water."By the time San Jose annexed the town to expand its sewage-treatment plant in 1968, nature had already begun to reclaim the bayside. The town of 2,500 splintered, rusted and sank as groundwater was over-pumped, sea water rose on all sides and storm surges whelmed the backed-up drains." — Jennifer Wadsworth, The San Jose (California) Inside, 8 Dec. 2016Did you know?In the film comedy Ten Things I Hate About You (1999), the character Chastity Church asks, "I know you can be underwhelmed and you can be overwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?" The answer, Chastity, is yes. Contemporary writers sometimes use whelm to denote a middle stage between underwhelm and overwhelm. But that's not how whelm has traditionally been used. Whelm and overwhelm have been with us since Middle English (when they were whelmen and overwhelmen), and throughout the years their meanings have largely overlapped. Both words early on meant "to overturn," for example, and both have also come to mean "to overpower in thought or feeling." After folks started using a third word, underwhelmed, for "unimpressed," whelmed began popping up with the meaning "moderately impressed."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 7, 2018 is:boondoggle \BOON-dah-gul\ noun1 : a braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief slide, hatband, or ornament2 : a wasteful or impractical project or activity often involving graftExamples:"It may be an urban legend that the Pentagon spent $600 on a hammer in the 1980s, but it's no secret that the Department of Defense has at times acquired a well-deserved reputation for boondoggles and profligate spending." — The National Review, 16 Oct. 2017"Conservatives often reflexively dismiss infrastructure spending as a boondoggle, and liberals, perhaps in reaction, often reflexively defend it, no matter how wasteful." — Jim Surowiecki, The New Yorker, 23 Jan. 2017Did you know?When boondoggle popped up in the early 1900s, lots of people tried to explain where the word came from. One theory traced it to an Ozarkian word for "gadget," while another related it to the Tagalog word that gave us boondocks. Another hypothesis suggested that boondoggle came from the name of leather toys Daniel Boone supposedly made for his dog. But the only theory that is supported by evidence is much simpler. In the 1920s, Robert Link, a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America, apparently coined the word to name the braided leather cords made and worn by scouts. The word came to prominence when such a boondoggle was presented to the Prince of Wales at the 1929 World Jamboree, and it's been with us ever since.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 6, 2018 is:1 : happening or existing without the knowledge of someone specified — usually used with to2 : not known or not well-known : unknownExamples:"… Travis was the one who paid the bills—and he often used credit cards to cover them, unbeknownst to Vonnie." — Penny Wrenn, Forbes.com, 9 Oct. 2013"… Senate Bill 15, approved unanimously by that House committee Thursday, hopes to help homeowners who find themselves the victim of 'squatting'—people who illegally move into a home, often unbeknownst to the homeowner." — Marianne Goodland, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado), 12 Apr. 2018Did you know?Unbeknownst is an irregular variant of the older unbeknown, which derives from beknown, an obsolete synonym of known. But for a word with a straightforward history, unbeknownst and the now less common unbeknown have caused quite a stir among usage commentators. In spite of widespread use (including appearances in the writings of Charles Dickens, A. E. Housman, and E. B. White), the grammarian H. W. Fowler in 1926 categorized the two words as "out of use except in dialect or uneducated speech." The following year, G. P. Krapp called them "humorous, colloquial, and dialectal." Our evidence, however, shows that both words are standard even in formal prose.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 5, 2018 is:fustigate \FUSS-tuh-gayt\ verb1 : to beat with or as if with a short heavy club : cudgel2 : to criticize severelyExamples:Matthew was thoroughly ­fustigated for failing to reserve a table large enough to accommodate all of the visitors from the corporate main office."Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt … fustigated them all, effectively characterizing the charges against Duffy as an abuse of power. " — Neil Macdonald, CBC.ca, 23 Apr. 2016Did you know?Though it won't leave a bump on your head, severe criticism can be a blow to your self-esteem. It's no wonder that fustigate, when it first appeared in the 17th century, originally meant "to cudgel or beat with a short heavy stick," a sense that reflects the word's derivation from the Latin noun fustis, which means "club" or "staff." The "criticize" sense is more common these days, but the violent use of fustigate was a hit with earlier writers like George Huddesford, who in 1801 told of an angry Jove who "cudgell'd all the constellations, ... / Swore he'd eject the man i' the moon ... / And fustigate him round his orbit."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 4, 2018 is:proficient \pruh-FISH-unt\ adjective: well advanced in an art, occupation, or branch of knowledgeExamples:"The audition process is intense. Rockettes must be proficient in ballet, tap, and jazz. Hundreds of women come to auditions and the line to get into Radio City Music Hall wraps around the building." — Melinda Farrell, USA Today, 1 Nov. 2017"However, for those looking to improve their performance in virtually every field, taking the time to improve your reading efficiency and vocabulary can pay dividends down the road. In fact, proficient readers usually have better paid jobs and are 2.5 times more likely to earn $850 or more a week." — Macworld, 20 Dec. 2017Did you know?If you are proficient or adept at something you are skillful—perhaps even expert. Proficient, adept, skillful, and expert are all synonyms, but subtle differences can be discerned between these terms as well. Proficient usually describes pure ability that comes from training and practice ("a proficient writer"). Adept suggests an innate ability as well as a learned skill ("an adept card player"). Skillful suggests being very able at a particular task ("a skillful surgeon"). Expert suggests having a thorough knowledge of a subject as well as being very skillful at working in it ("expert in the martial arts").See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 3, 2018 is:opportune \ah-per-TOON\ adjective1 : suitable or convenient for a particular occurrence2 : occurring at an appropriate timeExamples:Kristin seized upon the first opportune moment to approach her boss about a raise."We believe that the recent momentum and widespread recognition the concept has received makes it an opportune time to introduce the brand to Sacramento." — David Leuterio, The Sacramento (California) Bee, 5 Apr. 2018Did you know?To choose any port in a storm is sometimes the most opportune way of proceeding in a difficult situation—and appropriately so, etymologically speaking. Opportune descends from the Latin opportūnus, which means "favoring one's needs," "serviceable," and "convenient." Originally, opportūnus was probably used of winds with the literal meaning of "blowing in the direction of a harbor." The word is a combination of the prefix ob-, meaning "to," and portus, "port" or "harbor." Latin portus is also at the root of English port. Opportune and port both made their way to English via Anglo-French, with port arriving before the 12th century, and opportune arriving in the 15th century.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 2, 2018 is:ingenue \AN-juh-noo\ noun1 : a naive girl or young woman2 : the stage role of an ingenue; also : an actress playing such a roleExamples:"Aberra, a native of Ethiopia, helped to change the way that women presented themselves on their wedding day. She recognized that not all women wanted to promenade down the aisle looking like a Disney princess, a sweet ingenue or a modern-day Marie Antoinette." — Robin Givhan, The Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2018"Tina Fey wrote 'Mean Girls,' but she's no Regina George. On the first day of rehearsals for her new Broadway musical, based on the 2004 hit comedy, she had a message for her cast of ingenues: Avoid the trappings of fame. That meant no diva-like behavior in real life." — Ramin Setoodeh, Variety, 10 Apr. 2018Did you know?Although Becky Sharp, the ambitious heroine of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel Vanity Fair, is not usually thought of as innocent or naive, the author used ingenue to describe her as having those qualities. Thackeray's use was attributive: "When attacked sometimes, Becky had a knack of adopting a demure ingenue air, under which she was most dangerous." The word ingenue typically refers to someone who is innocent to the ways of the world, so you probably won't be too surprised to learn that it shares an ancestor—Latin ingenuus—with ingenuous, a word meaning "showing innocent or childlike simplicity and candidness." More directly, our ingenue comes from French ingénue, the feminine form of ingénu, meaning "ingenuous."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 1, 2018 is:mise-en-scène \meez-ahn-SEN\ noun1 a : the arrangement of actors and scenery on a stage for a theatrical productionb : stage setting2 a : the physical setting of an action (as of a narrative or a motion picture) : contextb : environment, milieuExamples:"For the night of his election last May …, he arranged a dramatic mise-en-scène: while loudspeakers played Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy,' the new president walked alone across the courtyard of the Louvre as spotlights threw his larger-than-life shadow on the façade of the former royal palace." — Tom Sancton, Vanity Fair, May 2018"The action … took place around me as if I were invisible, though that illusion was quickly dispelled when a large rectangular mirror was wheeled to within a few feet of where I sat. Gulp. The plot may not have thickened at that point, but my self-consciousness surely did. Like it or not, I was now part of the mise-en-scène…." — David Weiss, Newsweek, 17 Nov. 2017Did you know?In French, mise en scène literally means "the action of putting onto the stage." The term's use originated in stage drama, where it refers to the way actors and scenery props are arranged; as its usage expanded into other narrative arts, its meaning shifted. In film production, mise en scène refers to all of the elements that comprise a single shot; that includes, but is not limited to, the actors, setting, props, costumes, and lighting. The director of a play or film is called the metteur en scène—literally, "one who puts on the stage."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 31, 2018 is:chastise \chass-TYZE\ verb1 : to censure severely : castigate2 : to inflict punishment on (as by whipping)Examples:The boss eventually had to chastise certain employees for being consistently late."Strikingly, each time the company encounters another privacy outcry, its initial response is not to own up to the situation, explain, apologize and listen, but rather to chastise its users for daring to ask." — Kalev Leetaru, Forbes, 6 Apr. 2018Did you know?Chastise, castigate, chasten, correct, and discipline all imply the infliction of a penalty in return for wrongdoing. Chastise often applies to verbal censure or denunciation ("she chastised her son for neglecting his studies"). Castigate usually implies a severe, typically public censure ("an editorial was published castigating the entire city council"), while chasten suggests any affliction or trial that leaves someone humbled or subdued ("chastened by a landslide election defeat"). Correct implies punishment aimed at reforming an offender ("the function of prison is to correct the wrongdoer"), and discipline is a punishment intended to bring a wrongdoer under control ("parents disciplining their children").See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 30, 2018 is:indigence \IN-dih-junss\ noun: a level of poverty in which real hardship and deprivation are suffered and comforts of life are wholly lackingExamples:"But how do the poor minority fare? Perhaps it will be found that just in proportion as some have been placed in outward circumstances above the savage, others have been degraded below him. The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another." — Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854"Indigence isn't rare in Rochester and in Monroe County's towns, given the area's systemic poverty. And for the public defenders' clients, Donaher says, 'any amount of cash bail is an enormous obstacle, because they don't have cash.'" — Tianna Mañón, The Rochester (New York) City Newspaper, 11 Apr. 2018Did you know?Is your vocabulary impoverished by a lack of synonyms for indigence? We can help. Poverty, penury, want, and destitution all describe the state of someone who is lacking in key resources. Poverty covers the range from severe lack of basic necessities to an absence of material comforts ("the refugees lived in extreme poverty"). Penury suggests a cramping or oppressive lack of money ("illness condemned him to years of penury"). Want and destitution imply extreme, even life-threatening, poverty ("lived in a perpetual state of want"; "the widespread destitution in countries beset by famine"). Indigence, which descends from a Latin verb meaning "to need," implies seriously straitened circumstances and usually connotes the endurance of many hardships and the lack of comforts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 29, 2018 is:flummox \FLUM-uks\ verb: confuseExamples:"A computer glitch at the IRS knocked offline the agency's ability to process many tax returns filed electronically, a stunning breakdown that left agency officials flummoxed and millions of Americans bewildered." — Jeff Stein, Damian Paletta, and Mike DeBonis, The Washington Post, 17 Apr. 2018"The reason for math's bad rap is that the very same teachers and parents who have psychic scars from their own inability to correctly memorize their multiplication tables in the fourth grade are today completely flummoxed by elementary school kids' homework." — Esther J. Cepeda, The Record (Bergen County, New Jersey), 26 Apr. 2018Did you know?No one is completely sure where the word flummox comes from, but we do know that early use can be found in Charles Dickens' 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers and that it had become quite common in both British and American English by the end of the 19th century. One theory expressed by some etymologists is that it was influenced by flummock, a word of English dialectical origin used to refer to a clumsy person. This flummock may also be the source of the word lummox, which also means "a clumsy person."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 28, 2018 is:sacrosanct \SAK-roh-sankt\ adjective1 : most sacred or holy : inviolable2 : treated as if holy : immune from criticism or violationExamples:"Cowperwood's private office … was a solid cherry-wood box in which he could shut himself completely—sight-proof, sound-proof. When the door was closed it was sacrosanct." — Theodore Dreiser, The Titan, 1914"The launch of Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Center … was the latest in a series of milestones reviving interest in space. It happened on the sacrosanct stretch of sand along the Florida coast that has witnessed so many epic flights out of the atmosphere." — Christian Davenport, The Washington Post, 11 Feb. 2018Did You Know?That which is sacrosanct is doubly sacred. Sacrosanct is derived from the Latin sacrosanctus, which is probably from the phrase sacro sanctus ("hallowed by a sacred rite"). The first element of this phrase, sacro, is the ablative case of sacrum ("a sacred rite") and means "by a sacred rite" (sacrum lives on in English anatomy as the name for our pelvic vertebrae—a shortening of os sacrum, which literally means "holy bone"). The second element, sanctus, is the past participle of the Latin sancire, which means "to make sacred." Sanctus has also given English the words saint, sanctimony, sanctify, and sanctuary.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 27, 2018 is:arrogate \AIR-uh-gayt\ verb1 a : to claim or seize without justificationb : to make undue claims to having : assume2 : to claim on behalf of another : ascribeExamples:The city council has accused the mayor of arrogating decision-making authority to himself that rightly belongs with the council."Teenage girls rule in the tart but sweet new Broadway musical Mean Girls. But their system of high-school government is far from a democracy: It's a reign of terror, angst and mall fashions, where popularity is arrogated and then ruthlessly enforced." — Adam Feldman, TimeOut New York, 8 Apr. 2018Did you know?Arrogate comes from Latin arrogatus, a past participle of the verb arrogare, which means "to appropriate to one's self." The Latin verb, in turn, was formed from the prefix ad- ("to" or "toward") and the verb rogare ("to ask"). You may have noticed that arrogate is similar to the more familiar arrogant. And there is, in fact, a relationship between the two words. Arrogant comes from Latin arrogant- or arrogans, the present participle of arrogare. Arrogant is often applied to that sense of superiority which comes from someone claiming (or arrogating) more consideration than is due to that person's position, dignity, or power.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 26, 2018 is:riposte \rih-POHST\ noun1 : a fencer's quick return thrust following a parry2 : a retaliatory verbal sally : retort3 : a retaliatory maneuver or measureExamples:"A riposte to the stuffy awards shows in music-industry centers like Los Angeles and New York, the impetus behind the Bay Area Music Awards was to play it fast, loose and irreverent." — Aidin Vaziri, The San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Mar. 2018"Director Phyllida Lloyd delivers a riposte to the idea that cinema derived from theatre is somehow a static, inflexible affair with her vital all-female production of Julius Caesar." — Screen International, 25 June 2017Did You Know?In the sport of fencing, a riposte is a counterattack made after successfully fending off one's opponent. English speakers borrowed the name for this particular maneuver from French in the early 1700s, but the French had simply modified Italian risposta, which literally means "answer." Ultimately these words come from the Latin verb respondēre, meaning "to respond." It seems fitting that riposte has since come full circle to now refer to a quick and witty response performed as a form of retaliation.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 25, 2018 is:homogeneous \hoh-muh-JEEN-yus\ adjective1 : of the same or a similar kind or nature2 : of uniform structure or composition throughoutExamples:Stir in the flour, water, eggs, and sugar until it all blends together into one homogeneous mixture."The new makeovers also are being tailored to a store's community. That's a shift from the former homogeneous approach that stocked the company's 175 stores with the same inventory." — Shandra Martinez, The Grand Rapids (Michigan) Press, 4 Mar. 2018Did You Know?Homogeneous, which derives from the Greek roots homos, meaning "same," and genos, meaning "kind," has been used in English since the early 1600s. The similar word homogenous (originally created for the science of genetics and used with the meaning "of, relating to, or derived from another individual of the same species") can also be a synonym of homogeneous. The words need not be used exclusively in scientific contexts—one can speak of, for example, "a homogenous/homogeneous community."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 24, 2018 is:cajole \kuh-JOHL\ verb1 a : to persuade with flattery or gentle urging especially in the face of reluctance : coaxb : to obtain from someone by gentle persuasion2 : to deceive with soothing words or false promisesExamples:"Wertheim and the 60 Minutes crew were only permitted into the building's circular library, despite an attempt to cajole former Lampoon president Alice Ju to grant them further access." — Brit McCandless Farmer, CBSNews.com, 8 Apr. 2018"Designers call the ways marketers and developers cajole and mislead us into giving up our data 'dark patterns,' tactics that exploit flaws and limits in our cognition." — Christopher Mims, The Wall Street Journal, 22 Apr. 2018Did you know?Cajole comes from a French verb, cajoler, which has the same meaning as the English word. You might not think to associate cajole with cage, but some etymologists theorize that cajoler is connected to not one but two words for "cage." One of them is the Anglo-French word cage, from which we borrowed our own cage. It comes from Latin cavea, meaning "cage." The other is the Anglo-French word for "birdcage," which is gaiole. It's an ancestor of our word jail, and it derives from Late Latin caveola, which means "little cage." Anglo-French speakers had a related verb, gaioler, which meant "to chatter like a jay in a cage." It's possible that cajoler is a combination of gaioler and cage.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 23, 2018 is:petard \puh-TAHRD\ noun1 : a case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall2 : a firework that explodes with a loud reportExamples:"The metal walls of the narrow corridor would scatter ricochets and shrapnel in every direction, and any intact panels of reflex armor would ignite grenades and petards in counterfire…." — John C. Wright, The Judge of Ages, 2014"I ran back and seized a tin box which had been filled with candles. It was about the size of my busby—large enough to hold several pounds of powder. Duroc filled it while I cut off the end of a candle. When we had finished, it would have puzzled a colonel of engineers to make a better _petard_." — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard, 1896Did you know?Aside from historical references to siege warfare, and occasional contemporary references to fireworks, petard is almost always encountered in variations of the phrase "hoist with one's own petard," meaning "victimized or hurt by one's own scheme." The phrase comes from William Shakespeare's Hamlet: "For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his own petar." Hoist in this case is the past participle of the verb hoise, meaning "to lift or raise," and petar(d) refers to an explosive device used in siege warfare. Hamlet uses the example of the engineer (the person who sets the explosive device) being blown into the air by his own device as a metaphor for those who schemed against him being undone by their own schemes. The phrase has endured, even if its literal meaning has largely been forgotten.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 22, 2018 is:garrulous \GAIR-uh-lus\ adjective1 : given to prosy, rambling, or tedious loquacity : pointlessly or annoyingly talkative2 : using or containing many and usually too many words : wordyExamples:Bob's garrulous and outgoing nature is a stark contrast to his brother's more retiring demeanor."Travel impresses on the memory a kaleidoscope of disparate images…. Men in long gray shirts and trousers play cards. In a dusty, narrow street, an old woman sells vegetables. Garrulous gray and black crows look for food along the sewage canal." — Krista Kafer, The Denver Post, 1 Dec. 2017Did You Know?English has many adjectives that share the meaning "given to talk" or "talking." Talkative may imply a readiness to talk or a disposition to enjoy conversation, while loquacious suggests the power of expressing oneself articulately, fluently, or glibly. Voluble suggests a free, easy, and unending talkativeness, and garrulous implies talkativeness that is dull, rambling, or tedious. Garrulous, by the way, derives from the Latin verb garrīre, which means "to chatter" or "to talk rapidly."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 21, 2018 is:raillery \RAIL-uh-ree\ noun1 : good-natured ridicule : banter2 : an instance of joking or ridicule : jestExamples:"Hardin rarely got angry at anyone. Fuzz was always trying to get his goat with some unprovoked raillery, but Hardin understood that was the point and couldn't even force himself to be riled." — Michael MacLeod, The Antioch Review, Fall 2009"Indeed, the sense of camaraderie between cast members is striking. Charlotte Ritchie and Simon Bird in particular have a steady repartee that makes the interview feel more like a cosy chat, and it is clear that the wit and raillery that distinguish the play are equally prevalent off stage." — Katie Sayer and Emily Lawford, Cherwell (Oxford University), 5 June 2017Did you know?Raillery is the anglicized form of the French word raillerie, which stems from the Middle French verb railler, meaning "to mock." Railler, which probably comes from Old French reillier ("to growl" or "to mutter") and ultimately from Late Latin ragere ("to neigh"), also gave us our verb rail. But rail and raillery are quite different in tone. Rail means "to revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language," whereas raillery usually suggests cutting wit that pokes fun good-naturedly.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 20, 2018 is:besot \bih-SAHT\ verb1 : infatuate2 : to make dull or stupid; especially : to muddle with drunkennessExamples:"Anyone spending time watching Australian TV … must conclude that food and the cooking thereof besots our nation." — Garry Barker, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 26 June 2014"They debauch the spirit of the ignorant and credulous with mystical trash, as effectually as if they had besotted their brains with gin, and then pick their pockets with the same facility." — Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary, 1816Did You Know?Besot developed from a combination of the prefix be- ("to cause to be") and sot, a now-archaic verb meaning "to cause to appear foolish or stupid." Sot in turn comes from the Middle English noun sott, meaning "fool." Early print evidence of besot is found in a poem by George Turberville, published in 1567. In the poem, the narrator describes how he gazed at a beautiful stranger "till use of sense was fled." He then proceeds to compare himself to Aegisthus of Greek legend, the lover of Clytemnestra while Agamemnon was away at war, writing: "What forced the Fool to love / his beastly idle life / Was cause that he besotted was / of Agamemnon's Wife."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 19, 2018 is:unfettered \un-FET-erd\ adjective: free, unrestrainedExamples:The biographer has been given unfettered access to the family's collection of personal correspondence."We are both deeply committed to facilitating the restoration and preservation of open and unfettered political dialogue." — Howard Dean and Newt Gingrich, The Chicago Daily Herald, 17 Apr. 2018Did you know?A fetter is a chain or shackle for the feet (as used on a prisoner), or, more broadly, anything that confines or restrains. The word derives from Middle English feter and shares an ancestor with Old English fōt, meaning "foot." Fetter and unfetter both function as verbs in English with contrasting literal meanings having to do with the putting on of and freeing from fetters; they likewise have contrasting figurative extensions having to do with the depriving and granting of freedom. The adjective unfettered resides mostly in the figurative, with the word typically describing someone or something unrestrained in progress or spirit. This is how English poet and clergyman John Donne used the word in his early 17th-century work The Progress of the Soule: "To an unfetterd soules quick nimble hast / Are falling stars, and hearts thoughts, but slow pac'd."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 18, 2018 is:muliebrity \myoo-lee-EB-ruh-tee\ noun: the quality of being a woman : femininityExamples:Helene tried to convey to her daughter that muliebrity was best expressed not by dressing a certain way or conforming to others' expectations, but by being her own true, confident self."Wonder Woman has flaws.… It succeeds in spite of them, and that is to be admired, but we cannot start viewing this as the epitome of the female superhero motion picture. We will accomplish more, and faster, if we view this film as the starting point for muliebrity in the comic-book blockbuster." — Thomas Burns Scully, PopDust, 5 June 2017Did you know?Muliebrity has been used in English to suggest the distinguishing character or qualities of a woman or of womankind since the 16th century. (Its masculine counterpart, virility, entered the language at about the same time.) Muliebrity comes from Latin mulier, meaning "woman," and probably is a cognate of Latin mollis, meaning "soft." Mollis is also the source of the English verb mollify—a word that implies a "softening" of hurt feelings or anger.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 17, 2018 is:winsome \WIN-sum\ adjective1 : generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence  2 : cheerful, lightheartedExamples:"… the song's giddy piano licks and bass groove are so winsome and familiar, the whole thing's tough to place in any particular setting. Simply put, it's a pop song, in a very classic sense." — Chris Payne, Billboard, 17 May 2017"The winsome Canadian comedy 'Don't Talk to Irene' combines a high school misfit movie with a backstage musical and adds a few fantastical flourishes for an uplifting tale about an outsider finding her place in the world. It's so sweet it just might give you a cavity." — Katie Walsh, The Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2018Did you know?Winsome began as wynsum many centuries ago. It was formed from wynn, the Old English word for "joy" or "pleasure," and the suffix -sum, an older form of the -some we see today in many adjectives, such as awesome, irksome, and lonesome. Wynn later became win, meaning "pleasure," but that noun is now obsolete. We do, however, use another word that has a "pleasing" connection and is related, albeit distantly, to winsome. Winning ("tending to please or delight," as in "a winning smile" or "winning ways"), the present participle of the familiar verb win, is from Old English winnan, meaning "to struggle." Both winnan and wynn are thought to be related to Latin venus, which means, among other things, "charm."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 16, 2018 is:aggress \uh-GRESS\ verb: to make an attack : to act aggressivelyExamples:Certain indicators, such as irritability, can signify an animal's likelihood to aggress."Under-socialized dogs are risks to their owners and to others because they can become frightened by everyday things, making them more likely to aggress or bite." — Dottie Nelson, The Addison County (Vermont) Independent, 17 July 2017Did you know?Aggress and its more familiar relatives aggression and aggressive derive from the Latin verb aggredī, meaning "to approach, attack, or undertake." Although the modern word aggress carries only the second of these three meanings, the word could when it was first used in English in the 16th century also mean "to approach." That use is now obsolete. There also exists a noun aggress, which is too rare to qualify for entry in even our unabridged dictionary. It typically means "an attack," but also has an obsolete meaning of "an approach."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 15, 2018 is:layman \LAY-mun\ noun1 : a person who is not a member of the clergy2 : a person who does not belong to a particular profession or who is not expert in some fieldExamples:The Nobel laureate's book is an introduction to astrophysics that, despite its depth and detail, remains accessible to the layman."One of my favorite genres of Catholic literature is the book-length interview: the Pope or some other high-ranking churchman sits down with a reporter or other layman, both operating on the assumption that conversation tends toward truth." — Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 16 Apr. 2018Did you know?Layman began its run in English as the open compound lay man. In this context, lay is an adjective that can mean "belonging or relating to those not in holy orders," "not of the clergy," and "not ecclesiastical." The origins of lay and layman can be traced back through French and Late Latin to Greek laikos, meaning "of the people." Layman was originally used to distinguish between non-clerical people and the clergy, but it was soon also being used to distinguish non-professionals from professionals in a field (such as law or medicine). The phrase layman’s terms is used to refer to simple language about a topic that even non-experts in the field can understand.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 14, 2018 is:transpire \tran-SPYRE\ verb1 : to take place : go on, occur2 a : to become known or apparent : developb : to be revealed : come to light3 : to give off vaporous material; specifically : to give off or exude watery vapor especially from the surfaces of leaves4 : to pass in the form of a vapor from a living body5 : to pass off or give passage to (a fluid) through pores or intersticesExamples:Plants transpire more profusely under dry, hot weather conditions."The single best way to improve the vibe of a room is with candles. And for that you're going to want a good-looking set of candlesticks. They are … the easy upgrade, the little hint that something really fun is about to transpire." — _Bon Appétit_, December 2017Did you know?Transpire came to life in the late 16th century and was originally used in technical contexts to describe the passage of vapor through the pores of a membrane. From this technical use developed a figurative sense: "to escape from secrecy," or "to become known." That sense was often used in ambiguous contexts and could be taken to mean "to happen." (For example, Emily Dickinson wrote in a letter, "I long to see you once more ... to tell you of many things which have transpired since we parted.") Thus, the "to take place" sense developed. Around 1870, usage critics began to attack this sense as a misuse, and modern critics occasionally echo that sentiment. But the sense is commonly found today in serious and polished prose without concern.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 13, 2018 is:nascent \NASS-unt\ adjective: coming or having recently come into existenceExamples:"At this point, the scholarly reexamination of the Bible met up with another movement, the nascent Protestant Reformation." — James L. Kugel, How to Read the Bible, 2007"Bezos starts by upending the world of books with his start-up Amazon, using the nascent Internet to challenge brick-and-mortar book chains like Barnes and Noble." — Chris Impey, The Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2018Did you know?Nascent comes from nascens, the present participle of the Latin verb nasci, which means "to be born." It is a relative newcomer to the collection of English words that derive from that Latin verb. In fact, when the word nascent was itself a newborn, in the first quarter of the 17th century, other nasci offspring were already respectably mature. Nation, native, and nature had been around since the 1300s; innate and natal, since the 1400s. More recently, we picked up some French descendants of nasci: née in the 1700s and Renaissance in the 1800s. One of our newer nasci words is perinatology, which was first used in the late 1960s to name the specialized branch of medicine concerned with childbirth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 12, 2018 is:collaborate \kuh-LAB-uh-rayt\ verb1 : to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor2 : to cooperate with or willingly assist an enemy of one's country and especially an occupying force3 : to cooperate with an agency or instrumentality with which one is not immediately connectedExamples:"Everyone needs to know how to collaborate well, and you can practice that skill in many ways: by setting up working groups, lending a hand to your coworkers, and checking in to make sure your goals line up with your teammates." — Judith Humphrey, Fast Company, 21 Mar. 2018"The friends—Todd Anderson, a printmaking professor at Clemson University, and Bruce Crownover, a master printer at Tandem Press at the University of Wisconsin-Madison—collaborated on the oversized art book 'The Last Glacier,' which was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City earlier this year." — Carol Schmidt, The Billings (Montana) Gazette, 9 Apr. 2018Did you know?The Latin prefix com-, meaning "with, together, or jointly," is a bit of a chameleon—it has a tricky habit of changing its appearance depending on what it's next to. If the word it precedes begins with "l," com- becomes col-. In the case of collaborate, com- teamed up with laborare ("to labor") to form Late Latin collaborare ("to labor together"). Colleague, collect, and collide are a few more examples of the com- to col- transformation. Other descendants of laborare in English include elaborate, laboratory, and labor itself.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 11, 2018 is:otiose \OH-shee-ohss\ adjective1 : producing no useful result : futile2 : being at leisure : idle3 : lacking use or effect : functionlessExamples:"Ever since I was seven years old, I have been collecting books and articles on the Great Flood, hoping to write the full account myself. David McCullough's The Johnstown Flood (1968) was so brilliant that it rendered my own ambition otiose." — Michael Novak, National Review, 4 June 2014"He did not have the patience for otiose people like Gibson, whom he put in the same category as those rude reporters who continued to pester him daily with inane queries and ridiculous suggestions." — Godfrey Wray, Beyond Revenge, 2008Did you know?Otiose was first used in English in the late-18th century to describe things producing no useful result. By mid-19th century, it was being used in keeping with its Latin source otiosus, meaning "at leisure." There is also the noun form otiosity, which predates otiose by approximately three centuries. That noun is rarely found in writing today, but it makes an appearance on the occasional spelling bee word list.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 10, 2018 is:slumgullion \SLUM-gull-yun\ noun: a meat stewExamples:The slumgullion was hot, savory, and hearty, and on this rainy night we were all eager for seconds."She rode up a small dirt hill to a grassy clearing bordered by cabins, where she got a glimpse of the rock, big enough to seat at least a dozen campers, where she and her scouts had cooked slumgullion, a stew of meat and vegetables, over a camp fire." — Jodi Weigand, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, 9 Aug. 2007Did you know?Slumgullion may not sound like the most appetizing name for a dish, but that's part of its charm. The word's etymology doesn't necessarily do it any favors: while the origins of slumgullion are somewhat murky, the word is believed to derive from slum, an old word for "slime," and gullion, an English dialectical term for "mud" or "cesspool." The earliest recorded usages of slumgullion, including one from Mark Twain's Roughing It (1872), refer not to a stew but a beverage. The sense referring to the stew debuted a few decades later, and while there is no consensus on exactly what ingredients are found in it, that's the slumgullion that lives on today.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 9, 2018 is:jocose \joh-KOHSS\ adjective1 : given to joking : merry2 : characterized by joking : humorousExamples:"Mr. Battle has a pleasant, jocose style of public address, but Ms. Jamison's is without equal, exciting in rhythm and phrasing, hilarious in off-the-cuff remarks, generous in spirit." — Alastair Macaulay, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2015"His natural sound, the tone that rises when he is writing unself-consciously to friends, is nothing like the voice of his good fiction. He was naturally garrulous and jocose—indeed, by the time he was a celebrity he was so garrulous and jocose that it shocked people, though he was just being himself." — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 3 July 2017Did you know?When you need a word to describe something (or someone) that causes or is intended to cause laughter, you might pick jocose or a synonym such as humorous, witty, facetious, or jocular. Of those terms, humorous is the most generic and can be applied to anything that provokes laughter. Witty suggests cleverness and a quick mind, while facetious is a word for something that is not meant to be taken seriously. Jocose and jocular both imply a habitual waggishness and a fondness for joking.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 8, 2018 is:menagerie \muh-NAJ-uh-ree\ noun1 a : a place where animals are kept and trained especially for exhibitionb : a collection of wild or foreign animals kept especially for exhibition2 : a varied mixtureExamples:"Joe proved a quick country convert, taking ownership of the grounds and the growing menagerie, which now includes eight Icelandic sheep, eight Bantam chickens, and two collies." — Caroline Collins McKenzie, Country Living, December 2017"I can never find my keys in the four pockets in my pants. So the typical golf bag, with its menagerie of zippers and storage, presents a particular nightmare of lost essentials." — Tom Chiarella, Popular Mechanics, June 2017Did you know?Back in the days of Middle French, ménagerie meant "the management of a household or farm" or "a place where animals are tended." By the late 1600s, English speakers had adopted the word but dropped its housekeeping aspects, applying it specifically to the places where circuses and other exhibitions kept show animals. Later, menagerie was generalized to refer to any varied mixture, especially one that includes things that are strange or foreign to one's experience.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 7, 2018 is:decimate \DESS-uh-mayt\ verb1 : to select by lot and kill every tenth man of2 : to exact a tax of 10 percent from3 a : to reduce drastically especially in numberb : to cause great destruction or harm toExamples:Budget cuts have decimated public services in many towns and cities throughout the state."We must do everything we can to eliminate the diseases that have potential to decimate our population if we do not take action." — Kacie L. Pauls, The Kansas City (Missouri) Star, 22 Mar. 2018Did you know?The connection between decimate and the number ten harks back to a brutal practice of the army of ancient Rome. A unit that was guilty of a severe crime (such as mutiny) was punished by the selection and execution of one-tenth of its soldiers, thereby scaring the remaining nine-tenths into obedience. It's no surprise that the word for this practice came from Latin decem, meaning "ten." From this root we also get our words decimal and decade, as well as December, so named because it was originally the tenth month of the calendar before the addition of January and February. In its extended uses, decimate strayed from its "tenth" meaning and nowadays refers to the act of destroying or damaging a great quantity or large part of something.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 6, 2018 is:remuneration \rih-myoo-nuh-RAY-shun\ noun: the act or fact of paying an equivalent to for a service, loss, or expense : recompense, payExamples:The actor was offered a modest speaking fee by the host as remuneration for giving her speech at the awards ceremony."Travelers who are bumped from an overbooked flight can seek remuneration—as can people who were delayed more than three hours by a 'technical difficulty.'" — Melanie Lieberman, Travel + Leisure, 6 Mar. 2018Did you know?Our evidence shows remuneration to be most at home in writing that concerns financial matters, especially when large amounts of money—or other forms of compensation—are involved. Whether it's because money is often expressed in numerals, or simply because the "n" and "m" are adjacent to each other on our keyboards, "reMUNeration" often appears misspelled as "reNUMeration." (Renumeration, a very rare word, means "to enumerate [to count or list] again.") It pays to know that the -mun- in remuneration is from Latin munus, meaning "gift," a root it shares with munificent, an adjective which means "very liberal in giving."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 5, 2018 is:agonistic \ag-uh-NISS-tik\ adjective1 : of or relating to the athletic contests of ancient Greece2 : argumentative3 : striving for effect : strained4 : of, relating to, or being aggressive or defensive social interaction (such as fighting, fleeing, or submitting) between individuals usually of the same speciesExamples:Artie Kopelman … has also noticed non-hunting uses of bubbles in his humpback-whale encounters. In one instance last summer, he and a small group were drifting in a boat when suddenly a ring of bubbles surrounded them. 'This might have been an agonistic display, or an attempt to build a wall around us,' says Kopelman…." — Erica Cirino, The Atlantic, 28 June 2017"In agonistic discourse, a political rival is seen and talked about as an adversary—an adversary to be beaten, for sure—but still an adversary, with the same right to be in the political arena as one's self." — Eddie Glenn, The Tulsa (Oklahoma) World, 19 Oct. 2016Did you know?Agonistic has its roots in ancient Greece—specifically in the agonistic (to use the oldest sense of the word) athletic contests called agons featured at public festivals. From physical conflict to verbal jousting, agonistic came to be used as a synonym for argumentative and later to mean "striving for effect" or "strained." Common current use, however, is biological, relating to confrontational interaction among animals of the same species and the responsive behaviors—such as aggression, flight, or submission—they exhibit. Agonistic is also sometimes used to describe an agonist muscle, a muscle that on contracting is automatically checked and controlled by an opposing muscle, that other muscle being an antagonist. For example, during a bicep curl in weight lifting, the (contracted) bicep is the agonistic muscle and the (relaxed) triceps muscle is the antagonist.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 4, 2018 is:flocculate \FLAH-kyuh-layt\ verb: to aggregate or coalesce into small lumps or loose clustersExamples:During fermentation, yeast cells flocculate and either rise to the top or sink to the bottom of the vat."The polymer causes organics and dirt in the water to flocculate or collect together out of suspension." — Jill Pickett, The News-Enterprise (Elizabethtown, Kentucky), 2 May 2013Did you know?In the late 16th century, scientists noticed that the loose masses separated from a solution or suspension through precipitation often resembled tufts of wool, and they began to refer to them as flocks, using a word for "tufts" that comes ultimately from the synonymous Latin word floccus. (This flock is not related to the flock that refers to a group of animals, which comes from Old English flocc, meaning "crowd" or "band.") About two centuries later, the Late Latin term flocculus found its way into English and was also used with the meaning "a small loosely aggregated mass." By the end of the 19th century, a whole word family had been formed, including the adjective flocculent, the noun floccule, and the verb flocculate.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 3, 2018 is:beaucoup \BOH-koo\ adjectiveslang : great in quantity or amount : many, muchExamples:"Atlanta has beaucoup amenities for visitors, from one of the world's largest aquariums, to headier destinations such as the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library." — Michael Kahn, Curbed Atlanta, 12 July 2017"Two estranged sisters with beaucoup unresolved issues meet for a European holiday in Swedish writer-director Lisa Langseth's inauspicious English-language feature 'Euphoria.'" — Alissa Simon, Variety, 8 Sept. 2017Did you know?In French, as you may know, beaucoup is an adverb meaning "a lot" or "much" (as in merci beaucoup, meaning "thanks a lot"). Beaucoup isn't used on its own as an adjective in French; if you want to say "many" in French, you use the phrase beaucoup de. In other words, you would say beaucoup de livres ("a lot of books"), not beaucoup livres. But French grammar was thrown to the wind when English speakers borrowed this word. Beaucoup has been used as a playful slang adjective in English since at least the 19th century.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 2, 2018 is:palindrome \PAL-un-drohm\ noun: a word, verse, or sentence (such as "Able was I ere I saw Elba") or a number (such as 1881) that reads the same backward or forwardExamples:The teacher asked the class if anyone could think of a single word palindrome with 7 letters. After a couple minutes, Mia raised her hand and said "repaper.""He went on to create Noxon Tools, named for a small Montana town.… Noxon is a palindrome—spelled the same way forward or backward." — Cindy Hval, The Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington), 13 Mar. 2018Did you know?Palindromic wordplay is nothing new. Palindromes have been around since at least the days of ancient Greece, and our name for them comes from two Greek words, palin, meaning "back" or "again," and dramein, meaning "to run." Nowadays, we can all appreciate a clever palindrome (such as "Drab as a fool, aloof as a bard" or "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama"), or even a simple one like "race car," but in the past palindromes were more than just smart wordplay. Until well into the 19th century some folks thought palindromes were actually magical, and they carved them on walls or amulets to protect people or property from harm.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 1, 2018 is:eventuate \ih-VEN-chuh-wayt\ verb: to come out finally : result, come aboutExamples:The accident eventuated from a cascade of mistakes that could easily have been prevented with better operator training."Charles Dickens is at his best when he compares events in London and Paris during a period of revolution. While the historian may help us to understand the social context that eventuates in a revolution, it is a novel that shows the personal tragedies that come from the breakdown of social order." — Allan Powell, The Herald-Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland), 7 Apr. 2016Did you know?Eventuate started life as an Americanism in the late 18th century, and was stigmatized in the 19th century. One British commentator called it "another horrible word, which is fast getting into our language through the provincial press." Other British grammarians, and even some Americans, agreed that it was horrible. Eventuate is less controversial these days, though its use is still regarded by the occasional critic as pompous, ponderous, and unnecessary. In any case, eventuate has a perfectly respectable history. It is derived from the Latin noun eventus ("event"), which in turn traces to the verb evenire, meaning "to happen."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 30, 2018 is:chivalry \SHIV-ul-ree\ noun1 : mounted men-at-arms2 : gallant or distinguished gentlemen3 : the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood4 : the qualities of the ideal knight : chivalrous conductExamples:"Coutts was founded in 1692. Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702 to 1714, commissioned it to make ornate ceremonial chains and badges for the knights of the Thistle, an order of chivalry." — Simon Clark and Phillipa Leighton-Jones, The Wall Street Journal, 15 Mar. 2018"At the centre of the opera is Quixote's quest to retrieve the beautiful Dulcinea's stolen necklace from a gang of thieves. Quixote believes that if he can complete this act of chivalry, he will win her heart and hand in marriage." — Ben Neutze, Time Out Sydney (Australia), 21 Mar. 2018Did you know?In days of old when knights were bold, Anglo-French speakers used the word chevaler (an ancestor of our word chevalier) for a knight or horseman. By the 14th century, English speakers had adopted the slightly modified spelling chivalry to describe their own well-armored, mounted warriors. Nowadays, when we say that chivalry is not dead, we are alluding to the high standard of character and conduct typically associated with gallant knights. If you trace chevaler back to Late Latin, you'll find that it derives from caballarius, which is also the ancestor of another term for a daring medieval gentleman-at-arms: cavalier.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 29, 2018 is:redolent \RED-uh-lunt\ adjective1 : exuding fragrance : aromatic2 a : full of a specified fragrance : scentedb : evocative, suggestiveExamples:"Middle Eastern food, redolent with spices, is one of the world's most popular cuisines, yet home cooks are often intimidated by the sheer number of ingredients many dishes call for." — Publisher's Weekly Review, 2 Feb. 2015 "Art Deco objects from furniture to cocktail shakers, redolent of speed and mechanical efficiency, celebrate the modern with an optimism that seems divorced entirely from the economic realities of the 1930s, when they were all the rage." — Charles Desmarais, The San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Mar. 2018Did you know?Redolent traces back to the Latin verb olēre ("to smell") and is a relative of olfactory ("of, relating to, or connected with the sense of smell"). In its earliest English uses in the 15th century, redolent simply meant "having an aroma." Today, it usually applies to a place or thing impregnated with odors. It can also be used of something that reminds us of something else or evokes a certain emotional response, as in "a city redolent of antiquity."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 28, 2018 is:anathema \uh-NATH-uh-muh\ noun1 a : one that is cursed by ecclesiastical authorityb : someone or something intensely disliked or loathed — usually used as a predicate nominative2 a : a ban or curse solemnly pronounced by ecclesiastical authority and accompanied by excommunicationb : the denunciation of something as accursedc : a vigorous denunciation : curseExamples:"Diets were anathema to Julia because they implied that food was harmful." — Cook's Illustrated, November & December 2004"Preordaining a peaceful future, especially an apparently zombie-free one, should be anathema to a show that clings to week-by-week anticipation." — Charles Bramesco, The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2018Did you know?From a historical perspective, anathema can be considered a one-word oxymoron. When it first appeared in English in the 1500s, it was used to refer to something accursed. Shortly thereafter, however, people also began to use it to refer to something consecrated to divine use—generally a good thing. Why the contradiction? Anathema comes from Greek, where it initially meant "anything devoted" and later "anything devoted to evil." The "consecrated to divine use" sense of anathema comes from that earlier Greek use but is not widely used today. Modern English speakers are most likely to encounter anathema used as a predicate nominative in the sense of "someone or something that is intensely disliked," as in the example sentences below.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 27, 2018 is:querulous \KWAIR-yuh-lus\ adjective1 : habitually complaining2 : fretful, whiningExamples:"… the punch of her performance lies in its sheer nerve; even though her character has our sympathy from the start, she keeps asking for more, tugging at us like a querulous child until our patience cracks." — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 24 July 2017"And while ordinarily, he was not one who was inclined to be querulous, still now on occasion, he could be. He began by asking questions concerning his wife's appearance—irritating little whys which are so trivial and yet so exasperating and discouraging to a woman." — Theodore Dreiser, The Financier, 1912Did you know?English speakers have tagged fearful whiners querulous since late medieval times. The Middle English form of the word, querelose, was an adaptation of the Latin adjective, querulus, which in turn evolved from the Latin verb queri, meaning "to complain." Queri is also an ancestor of the English words quarrel and quarrelsome, but it isn't an ancestor of the noun query (meaning "question"). No need to complain that we're being coy; we're happy to let you know that query descends from the Latin verb quaerere, meaning "to ask."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.