Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 21, 2015 is: war story • \WOR-STOR-ee\ • noun : a story of a memorable personal experience typically involving an element of danger, hardship, or adventure Examples: When asked what was most difficult about her present job, the interviewee freely shared some rather entertaining and impressive war stories. "Now, we old veterans of an educational system that has gone extinct sit back and tell war stories of that time." — Peter Devlin, The Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gazette, 27 July 2015 Did you know? People have been telling stories about real wars since long before Washington Irving wrote the following in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: "folks … sat smoking at one end of the piazza, … drawing out long stories about the war." But today's tellers of "war stories" need not have experienced a literal battlefield. In the latter half of the 20th century, war story took on a more figurative meaning, and nowadays such accounts can encompass challenges in the workplace, on the campaign trail, in sports, in one's travels—wherever difficulties need to be overcome. 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 September 20, 2015 is: peruse • \puh-ROOZ\ • verb 1 a : to examine or consider with attention and in detail : study b : to look over or through in a casual or cursory manner 2 : read; especially : to read over in an attentive or leisurely manner Examples: Dmitri perused the menu while we waited for a table. "She comes about five days a week, does Internet research for her online business management classes and peruses the bookstore run by the Friends of the Library." — Greg Mellen, The Orange County (California) Register, 13 Aug. 2015 Did you know? Peruse has long been a literary word, used by such famous authors as Shakespeare, Tennyson, and Thomas Hardy, and it tends to have a literary flavor even in our time. Peruse can suggest paying close attention to something, but it can also simply mean "to read." The "read" sense, which is not especially new and was in fact included in Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, has drawn some criticism over the years for being too broad. Some commentators have recommended that peruse be reserved for reading with great care and attention to detail. But the fact remains that peruse is often used in situations where a simple "read" definition could be easily substituted. It may suggest either an attentive read or a quick scan. 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 September 19, 2015 is: incandescent • \in-kun-DESS-unt\ • adjective 1 a : white, glowing, or luminous with intense heat b : marked by brilliance especially of expression c : characterized by glowing zeal : ardent 2 a : of, relating to, or being light produced by incandescence b : producing light by incandescence Examples: The attic was lit by a single incandescent bulb, but that was all the light we needed to read the labels on the storage boxes. "Anyone who's ever perused books of late-19th-century British art will instantly recognize the idyllic image of a young woman in a sheer, incandescent orange dress curled up in sleep on piles of drapery on a marble bench, with a sunstruck Mediterranean in the distance." — Ken Johnson, The New York Times, 11 June 2015 Did you know? Incandescent came into the English language toward the end of the 18th century, at a time when scientific experiments involving heat and light were being conducted on an increasingly frequent basis. An object that glowed at a high temperature (such as a piece of coal) was "incandescent." By the mid-1800s, the incandescent lamp—a.k.a. the lightbulb—had been invented; it contains a filament which gives off light when heated by an electric current. Incandescent is the modern offspring of a much older parent, the Latin verb candēre, meaning "to glow." Centuries earlier, the word for another source of light, candle, was also derived from candēre. 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 September 18, 2015 is: circumlocution • \ser-kum-loh-KYOO-shun\ • noun 1 : the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea 2 : evasion in speech Examples: Mr. Harvey was notorious for his tendency to engage in endless circumlocution when a simple, brief explanation would suffice. Did you know? In The King's English, grammarian H.W. Fowler advised, "Prefer the single word to the circumlocution." Alas, that good advice was not followed by the framers of "circumlocution." They actually used two terms in forming that word for unnecessarily verbose prose or speech. But their choices were apt; "circumlocution" derives from the Latin "circum-," meaning "around," and "locutio," meaning "speech" -- so it literally means "roundabout speech." Since the 15th century, English writers have used "circumlocution" with disdain, naming a thing to stop, or better yet, to avoid altogether. Charles Dickens even used it to satirize political runarounds when he created the fictional Circumlocution Office, a government department that delayed the dissemination of information and just about everything else. 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 September 17, 2015 is: quondam • \KWAHN-dum\ • adjective : former, sometime Examples: A quondam rodeo champ, circuit preacher, and peanut farmer, Baxter has settled into his new life as a stand-up comedian. Did you know? Looking for an unusual and creative way to say "former"? "Quondam" (which came to English in the 16th century from Latin quondam, meaning "at one time" or "formerly") certainly fits the bill. Or maybe you'd prefer one of its synonyms: "whilom," "ci-devant" or "preterit." Or you could really go crazy with "umquhile," a word that is extremely rare even in its more natural Scots English setting. "Quondam" itself isn't exactly ubiquitous, but it's used more than any of the other words above. If you're looking for something a bit more pedestrian, you might try yet another synonym: "erstwhile." Despite its wonderfully archaic flavor, "erstwhile" is a highly favored alternative. 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 September 16, 2015 is: haptic • \HAP-tik\ • adjective 1 : relating to or based on the sense of touch 2 : characterized by a predilection for the sense of touch Examples: Katy could tell one kind of yarn from another purely by haptic clues. Did you know? "Haptic" (from the Greek "haptesthai," meaning "to touch") entered English in the late 19th century as a medical synonym for "tactile." By the middle of the 20th century, it had developed a psychological sense, describing individuals whose perception supposedly depended primarily on touch rather than sight. Although almost no one today divides humans into "haptic" and "visual" personalities, English retains the broadened psychological sense of "haptic" as well as the older "tactile" 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 September 15, 2015 is: modicum • \MAH-dih-kum\ • noun : a small portion : a limited quantity Examples: If you had possessed a modicum of sense, you would have paused to think before accepting such a dangerous job. "If that piece isn't covered with a swath of dressing, a modicum of blue cheese and a crumble of bacon, maneuver your knife to make that happen." - David Hagedorn, The National Post, 11 Aug. 2015 Did you know? What does modicum have to do with a toilet? It just so happens that modicum shares the same Latin parent as commode, which is a synonym of "toilet." Modicum and commode ultimately derive from the Latin noun modus, which means "measure." Modicum (which, logically enough, refers to a small "measure" of something) has been a part of the English language since the 15th century. It descends from the Latin modicus ("moderate"), which is itself a descendant of modus. Modus really measures up as a Latin root-it also gave us mode (originally a kind of musical "measure"), modal, model, modern, modify, and modulate. More distant relatives include mete, moderate, and modest. 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 September 14, 2015 is: neoteric • \nee-uh-TAIR-ik\ • adjective : recent in origin : modern Examples: The book's dialogue is peppered with neoteric slang and jargon that can be challenging for the reader to decode. "… he has put together a string of projects with the same modern ethos that seemed avant-garde to the point of risky at their conception-until customers began clamoring for his neoteric stamp.…" - Anita Chabria, Sactown Magazine, October/November 2014 Did you know? The word neoteric is not itself neoteric; it's been part of English since at least 1577, and its roots go back even further-to ancient Greek. We adapted the word from Late Latin neotericus, which also means "recent." Neotericus in turn comes from Late Greek neōterikos and ultimately from Greek neos, meaning "new" or "young." As old as its roots are, however, neoteric itself entered English later than its synonyms novel (which appeared in the 15th century) and newfangled (which was being used to describe things of the newest style or kind almost 50 years prior). 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 September 13, 2015 is: druthers • \DRUH-therz\ • noun : free choice : preference - used especially in the phrase if one had one's druthers Examples: If I had my druthers, I'd be relaxing at the beach this weekend instead of cleaning out my garage. "If Hammond had his druthers, the jail would move out of downtown, an idea that has taken hold in cities across the country, from Baltimore to Napa, Calif." - Clint Cooper, Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times Free Press, 7 June 2015 Did you know? Druther is an alteration of "would rather." "Any way you druther have it, that is the way I druther have it," says Huck to Tom in Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, Detective. This example of metanalysis (the shifting of a sound from one constituent of a phrase to another) had likely been around for some time in everyday speech when Twain put those words in Huck's mouth. By then, in fact, druthers had already become a plural noun, so Tom could reply, "There ain't any druthers about it, Huck Finn; nobody said anything about druthers." Druthers is essentially a dialectal term and it tends to suggest an informality of tone, but in current use it doesn't necessarily suggest a lack of sophistication or education. 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 September 12, 2015 is: scupper • \SKUP-er\ • verb : (British) to defeat or put an end to : do in Examples: "Arsenal's hopes of signing summer target William Carvalho appear to have been scuppered after the Sporting Lisbon midfielder was ruled out for three months." - The Telegraph (London), 15 July 2015 "The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party could scupper plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport after he came out against the project." - Andrew Grice, The Independent (London), 1 Aug. 2015 Did you know? All efforts to figure out where this verb came from have been defeated, including attempts to connect it to the noun scupper, a 600-year-old word for a drain opening in the side of a ship. (One conjecture, that the blood of shipboard battle was "scuppered" when it was washed down the scuppers, unfortunately lacks backing in the form of any actual evidence of the verb used this way.) All we know for sure is that scupper meant "to ambush and massacre" in 19th-century military slang and developed its extended uses of "defeat" and "do in" in the early-mid 20th century. The more common modern application to things rather than people being done in or defeated didn't appear until the second half of the 20th 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 September 11, 2015 is: obverse • \AHB-verss\ • noun 1 : the side of a coin or currency note bearing the chief device and lettering; broadly : a front or principal surface 2 : a counterpart having the opposite orientation or force; also : something that is opposed to some other often specified thing : an opposite 3 : a proposition inferred immediately from another by denying the opposite of what the given proposition affirms Examples: The artist credited with inventing the modern commemorative medal, 15th-century Italian painter Antonio Pisano, made his medals following a design formula still used today: an obverse graced with a profile portrait and a reverse adorned with an allegorical or pictorial scene. "When parents are monitoring their children, students do well in school. The obverse is also true: When parents are not involved, students' success is at stake." - Robert Waldron, The Boston Globe, 28 Jan. 2015 Did you know? Heads or tails? If you called heads, obverse is the word for you. Since the 17th century, we've been using obverse for the front side of coins (usually the side depicting the head or bust of a ruler). The opposite of this sense of obverse is reverse, the back or "tails" side of a coin. Since the 19th century, obverse has also had the extended meaning "an opposing counterpart" or "an opposite." Additionally, it can be an adjective meaning "facing the observer or opponent" or "being a counterpart or complement." 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 September 10, 2015 is: ersatz • \AIR-sahts\ • adjective : being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation Examples: If I'm going to eat ice cream, I want the real thing, not some non-fat ersatz version of it. "Re-enactors dressed as British redcoats confront a group of ersatz militiamen, demanding they 'disperse at once.'" - Chris McDaniel, The Peninsula Daily News (Port Angeles, Washington), 17 July 2015 Did you know? Ersatz can be traced back in English to 1875, but it really came into prominence during World War I. Borrowed from German, where Ersatz is a noun meaning "substitute," the word was frequently applied as an adjective in English to items like ersatz coffee (from acorns) and ersatz flour (from potatoes)-products resulting from the privations of war. By the time World War II came around, bringing with it a resurgence of the word along with more substitute products, ersatz was wholly entrenched in the language. Today, ersatz can be applied to almost anything that seems like an artificial imitation, as in this quote from the August 10, 2012, issue of The Week: "The whole movie feels ersatz and expedient.…" 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 September 9, 2015 is: foodie • \FOO-dee\ • noun : a person having an avid interest in the latest food fads Examples: As a foodie, Molly gets excited whenever a new restaurant opens in the area. "Compared with other rice types, basmati is a low-yielding crop; increased demand by foodies all over the world has led to higher prices." - Ruth Taber, The El Paso (Texas) Times, 5 Aug. 2015 Did you know? Foodie is a relatively recent addition to our language (dating from the early 1980s), but it derives from a much older word, food, which has been with us for as long as there has been anything that could be called English. Food can be traced back through Middle English to the Old English form fōda, which is itself related to Old High German fuotar, meaning "food" or "fodder," and Latin panis, meaning "bread." Panis is the source for empanada (a turnover with a sweet or savory filling), panatela (a type of cigar), panettone (a kind of bread containing raisins and candied fruit), and pantry (a room used for the storage of provisions). 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 September 8, 2015 is: contiguous • \kun-TIG-yuh-wus\ • adjective 1 : being in actual contact : touching along a boundary or at a point 2 : adjacent 2 - used of angles 3 : next or near in time or sequence 4 : touching or connected throughout in an unbroken sequence Examples: At 14,494 feet, Mount Whitney, in California's Sierra Nevada range, is the highest peak in the 48 contiguous states of the U.S. "Genghis Khan is undoubtedly one of the most successful military leaders of all time. As leader of the Mongol Empire, which at its height stretched from China to Europe, he controlled the largest contiguous empire in history." -Jacob Davidson, Time (online), 30 July 2015 Did you know? You probably won't be surprised to learn that the word contact is a relative of contiguous, but would you believe that contagion and contingent are too? All of those words derive from the Latin contingere, meaning "to have contact with." The words contact and contiguous are fairly easy to connect with contingere, but what of the other two? In its early use, contingent was a synonym of "touching," and if you remember that touching something can pollute it (and that another meaning of contingere was "to pollute"), then contagion logically ties in, too. 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 September 7, 2015 is: ampersand • \am-pər-sand\ • noun : a character & that is used for the word and Examples: The company coming out of this merger will have a name that combines elements of each of the original companies' names with an ampersand. "The techies attempt to log in as me. They fail.… They are flummoxed.… Did I log in too many times? Did the ampersand in my password (NTTAisGREAT&) throw off the system?" -Dave Lieber, The Dallas Morning News, 25 July 2015 Did you know? Despite appearances, the history of ampersand owes nothing to amp or sand. The familiar character & derives from a symbol that was used in place of the Latin word et, which also means "and." In the late Middle Ages, single letters used as words-words like I-were, when spelled, incorporated into a phrase that clarified that they were in fact individual words. For I the phrase was I per se, I, which in Latin means "I by itself (is the word) I." In early lists of the alphabet, Z was followed by the symbol &, which was rendered & per se, and, meaning "& by itself (is the word) and." Over the years, that phrase (which when spoken aloud was pronounced "and per se and") was shortened by English speakers to ampersand. 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 September 6, 2015 is: turbid • \TER-bid\ • adjective 1 : cloudy or discolored by suspended particles 2 : confused, muddled Examples: The speed of the water flowing over the dam becomes obvious only when one observes the turbid water roiling below. "Overall, once white bass have spawned, they move out into the main lake and can be found in areas with a turbid layer over ultra-clear water." -Mitch Eeagan, The Sioux City (Iowa) Journal, 1 Aug. 2015 Did you know? Turbid and turgid (which means "swollen or distended" or "overblown, pompous, or bombastic") are frequently mistaken for one another, and it's no wonder. Not only do the two words differ by only a letter, they are often used in contexts where either word could fit. For example, a flooded stream can be simultaneously cloudy and swollen, and badly written prose might be both unclear and grandiloquent. Nevertheless, the distinction between these two words, however fine, is an important one for conveying exact shades of meaning, so it's a good idea to keep them straight. 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 September 5, 2015 is: gargoyle • \GAR-goy-ul\ • noun 1 a : a spout in the form of a grotesque human or animal figure projecting from a roof gutter to throw rainwater clear of a building b : a grotesquely carved figure 2 : a person with an ugly face Examples: Erin drew a series of hilarious caricatures of her family portrayed as gargoyles. "I followed to the cathedral façade and set up my camera equipment. I couldn't find the peregrine at first but then I saw feathers floating down on the breeze. He was perched on a gargoyle high near the top of the tower…." -Robert E. Fuller, The Gazette & Herald (Ryedale, England), 1 July 2015 Did you know? In the 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux reportedly complained about the new sculptures in the cloisters where he lived. "Surely," he is quoted as saying, "if we do not blush for such absurdities we should at least regret what we have spent on them." St. Bernard was apparently provoked by the grotesque figures designed to drain rainwater from buildings. By the 13th century, those figures were being called gargoyles, a name that came to Middle English from the Old French gargoule. The stone beasts likely earned that name because of the water that gargled out of their throats and mouths; the word gargoule is imitative in origin. 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 September 4, 2015 is: affront • \uh-FRUNT\ • verb 1 a : to insult especially to the face by behavior or language b : to cause offense to 2 : to face in defiance : confront 3 : to appear directly before Examples: The challenge going ahead is to initiate the necessary changes to the organization without making those who established it feel affronted. "Would architectural and design leaders here or nationally be affronted if the Michael Graves-designed building were to be demolished or repurposed or sold-and if so, should that matter?" - The Oregonian, editorial, 26 July 2015 Did you know? The Middle English afronten, the ancestor of the Modern English verb affront, was borrowed from the Anglo-French afrunter, a verb which means "to defy" but which also has the specific meaning "to strike on the forehead" or "to slap on the face." These more literal senses reveal the word's Latin origins, a combination of the Latin prefix ad-, meaning "to" or "towards," and front-, frons, which means "forehead" (and which is also the source of the English word front). While the striking or slapping sense of afrunter was not adopted by English, it is alluded to in the oldest use of the Modern English word: "to insult especially to the face." 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 September 3, 2015 is: bluestocking • \BLOO-stah-king\ • noun : a woman having intellectual or literary interests Examples: "The author is a bluestocking, with a weakness for etymology and archaic religious texts…." -Kathryn Harrison, The New York Times Book Review, 21 Dec. 2008 "Most New Yorkers, of course, will want to spend more than five minutes talking to a bluestocking-after all, this is nothing if not a town that attracts literary, witty types." -Christie Wright, The New York Observer, 7 Oct. 2014 Did you know? In mid-18th century England, a group of women decided to replace evenings of card playing and idle chatter with "conversation parties," inviting illustrious men of letters to discuss literary and intellectual topics with them. One regular guest was scholar-botanist Benjamin Stillingfleet. His hostesses willingly overlooked his cheap blue worsted stockings (a type disdained by the elite) in order to have the benefit of his lively conversation. Those who considered it inappropriate for women to aspire to learning derisively called the group the "Blue Stocking Society." The women who were the original bluestockings rose above the attempted put-down and adopted the epithet as a name for members of their society. 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 September 2, 2015 is: immaculate • \ih-MAK-yuh-lut\ • adjective 1 : having no stain or blemish : pure 2 : containing no flaw or error 3 a : spotlessly clean b : having no colored spots or marks Examples: Even a minor scandal has the power to tarnish an immaculate reputation. "After showing me the different levels and rooms to choose from, and showing me the process by which the pods are fully cleaned after each use (the entire place was absolutely immaculate), David gestured towards a door behind the reception desk: 'Now one last very important part: the restroom!'" -Lindsay Robertson, Gothamist (gothamist.com), 28 July 2015 Did you know? The opposite of immaculate is maculate, which means "marked with spots" or "impure." The Latin word maculatus, the past participle of a verb meaning "to stain," is the source of both words and can be traced back to macula, a word that scientists still use for spots on the skin, on the wings of insects, and on the surface of celestial objects. Maculate has not marked as many pages as immaculate, but it has appeared occasionally (one might say "spottily"), especially as an antithesis to immaculate. We find the pair, for example, in an article by Peter Schjeldahl in an April 2004 issue of The New Yorker: "Rob's apartment, with its immaculate ranks of album spines and its all too maculate strewing of everything else…." 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 September 1, 2015 is: rigmarole • \RIG-uh-muh-rol\ • noun 1 : confused or meaningless talk 2 : a complex and sometimes ritualistic procedure Examples: Rather than go through the annual rigmarole of filling out tax forms, Maureen would rather pay an accountant to do her taxes for her. "After years of procrastinating, I logged on to my retirement account. Just working my way through the rigmarole of retrieving lost passwords and locating my investments was bad enough." -Sendhil Mullainathan, The New York Times, 11 July 2015 Did you know? In the Middle Ages, the term Rageman or Ragman referred to a game in which a player randomly selected a string attached to a roll of verses and read the selected verse. The roll was called a Ragman roll after a fictional king purported to be the author of the verses. By the 16th century, ragman and ragman roll were being used figuratively to mean "a list or catalog." Both terms fell out of written use, but ragman roll persisted in speech, and in the 18th century it resurfaced in writing as rigmarole, with the meaning "a succession of confused, meaningless, or foolish statements." In the mid-19th century rigmarole (also spelled rigamarole, reflecting its common pronunciation) acquired its most recent sense, "a complex and ritualistic procedure." 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 August 31, 2015 is: vaudeville • \VAUD-vil\ • noun 1 : a light often comic theatrical piece frequently combining pantomime, dialogue, dancing, and song 2 : stage entertainment consisting of various acts (such as performing animals, comedians, or singers) Examples: Andrew's interest in vaudeville can be traced to his grandparents, who met as performers in the 1920s. "This show is a throwback to vaudeville, with cheesy humor, plenty of audience participation, classic card tricks, flying arrows, colored live birds, fire, snow, choreography and just plain fun." -Tom Wharton, The Salt Lake Tribune, 25 June 2015 Did you know? In the 15th century, several amusing songs became popular across France. These songs were said to have been written by a man named Olivier Basselin who lived in the valley of the river Vire in northwest France. The songs eventually became known as chansons du vau-de-Vire, meaning "songs of the valley of Vire." Other people began writing and performing similar songs, and as this form of entertainment became more widespread, the link to vau-de-Vire was forgotten, and the nickname was shortened to one word: vaudevire. As the phenomenon spread beyond France, further changes in pronunciation and spelling shifted vaudevire into vaudeville. The meaning also broadened to include humorous performances and variety shows. 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 August 30, 2015 is: moot • \MOOT\ • adjective 1 a : open to question : debatable b : subjected to discussion : disputed 2 : deprived of practical significance : made abstract or purely academic Examples: Since the team would have lost anyway, it's a moot point whether the umpire's call was right or not. "… all such discussions are moot until both parties are willing to discuss the issue realistically and compromise." -John Melton, letter in The Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader, 1 Aug. 2015 Did you know? Moot derives from gemōt, an Old English name for a judicial court. Originally, moot named either the court itself or an argument that might be debated by one. By the 16th century, the legal role of judicial moots had diminished, and the only remnant of them were "moot courts," academic mock courts in which law students could try hypothetical cases for practice. Back then, moot was also used as a synonym of debatable, but because the cases students tried in moot courts were simply academic exercises, the adjective gained another sense, "deprived of practical significance." Some commentators still frown on the use of moot to mean "purely academic," but most editors now accept it as standard. 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 August 29, 2015 is: testimonial • \tess-tuh-MOH-nee-ul\ • noun 1 : evidence, testimony 2 a : a statement testifying to benefits received b : a character reference : letter of recommendation 3 : an expression of appreciation : tribute Examples: The contractor's website included a photo gallery of his past work and testimonials from satisfied clients. "Macari and Richichi brought to light the testimonies of Stamford's immigrants and war veterans and the city's history in the documentary. More than 40 on-camera testimonials were made by citizens and celebrities…." -Frank MacEachern, The Stamford (Connecticut) Daily Voice, 29 July 2015 Did you know? In 1639, Scottish poet William Drummond responded to the political scene of his day by writing a facetious set of new laws, among them that "no man wear a . . . periwig, unless he have a testimonial from a town-clerk, that he is either bald, sickly, or asham'd of white hairs." Testimonials take different forms, but always, like in Drummond's recommended law, they provide affirmation or evidence. (Our word traces to Latin testimonium, meaning "evidence, witness.") In the 19th century, a gift presented to someone as a public expression of appreciation for service rendered became the newest version of a testimonial. Then, it was likely to be a statue or portrait. In the 20th century, we came up with testimonial dinners to show our appreciation or esteem. Testimonials (usually solicited) that endorse products or services are also a 20th-century phenomenon. 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 August 28, 2015 is: prevaricate • \prih-VAIR-uh-kayt\ • verb : to deviate from the truth : equivocate Examples: In Henry Fielding's novel Tom Jones, Squire Allworthy demands of Mr. Dowling, "Do not hesitate nor prevaricate; but answer faithfully and truly to every question I ask." "Some … do a good job informing voters of issues while others exaggerate, obfuscate and prevaricate." -Bill Bauer, The Santa Monica (California) Daily Press, 3 Nov. 2014 Did you know? Prevaricate and its synonyms lie and equivocate all refer to playing fast and loose with the truth. Lie is the bluntest of the three. When you accuse someone of lying, you are saying he or she was intentionally dishonest, no bones about it. Prevaricate is less accusatory and softens the bluntness of lie, usually implying that someone is evading the truth rather than purposely making false statements. Equivocate is similar to prevaricate, but it generally implies that someone is deliberately using words that have more than one meaning as a way to conceal the truth. 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 August 27, 2015 is: sycophant • \SIK-uh-funt\ • noun : a servile self-seeking flatterer Examples: Rosemary has little use for sycophants in her office, so if you want that promotion, do your best and let your work speak for itself. "'Have I just surrounded myself with sycophants who are just telling me whatever I want to hear, regardless of the truth?' [Silicon Valley character Gavin Belson] asks his spiritual advisor, whose gulping response is a perfect 'No.'" -Caleb Pershan, SFist (sfist.com), 18 May 2015 Did you know? In the language of ancient Greece, sykophantēs meant "slanderer." The word derives from two other Greek words, sykon (meaning "fig") and phainein (meaning "to show or reveal"). How did fig revealers become slanderers? One theory has to do with the taxes Greek farmers were required to pay on the figs they brought to market. Apparently, the farmers would sometimes try to avoid making the payments, but squealers-fig revealers-would fink on them, and they would be forced to pay. Another possible source is a sense of the word fig meaning "a gesture or sign of contempt (such as thrusting a thumb between two fingers)." In any case, Latin retained the "slanderer" sense when it borrowed a version of sykophantēs, but by the time English speakers in the 16th century borrowed it as sycophant, the squealers had become flatterers. 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 August 26, 2015 is: draconian • \dray-KOH-nee-un\ • adjective 1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of Draco or the severe code of laws held to have been framed by him 2 : cruel; also : severe Examples: The editorial asserts that a life sentence for any non-violent crime is draconian. "As electronic highway signs implore Californians to 'Save Water' and municipalities impose increasingly draconian conservation measures, we are seeing a phenomenon known as 'drought-shaming'-the humiliation of water-wasters among both the rich and famous and more ordinary residents." -Henry I. Miller, Forbes.com, 1 July 2015 Did you know? Draconian comes from Draco, the name of a 7th-century B.C.E. Athenian legislator who created a written code of law. Draco's code was intended to clarify existing laws, but its severity is what made it really memorable. In Draco's code, even minor offenses were punishable by death, and failure to pay one's debts could result in slavery. Draconian, as a result, became associated with things cruel or harsh. Something draconian need not always be as cruel as the laws in Draco's code, though; today the word is used in a wide variety of ways and often refers to measures (steep parking fines, for example) that are relatively minor when compared with the death penalty. 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 August 25, 2015 is: grog • \GRAHG\ • noun : alcoholic liquor; especially : liquor (such as rum) cut with water and now often served hot with lemon juice and sometimes sugar Examples: The reviewer praised the restaurant for serving an eclectic range of beers and wines and not just any old grog. "In 1917 the Historical Society of the Town of Warwick held its first George Washington Day Picnic to celebrate and commemorate the visit of Washington and his entourage to Warwick's Baird's Tavern. A meticulous record keeper, Washington recorded this 1782 visit in his journal along with an itemized purchase of grog." - Roger Gavan, The Warwick (New York) Advertiser, July 16, 2015 Did you know? Eighteenth-century English admiral Edward Vernon reputedly earned the nickname "Old Grog" because he often wore a cloak made from grogram (a coarse, loosely woven fabric made of silk or silk blended with mohair or wool). In Old Grog's day, sailors in the Royal Navy were customarily given a daily ration of rum, but in 1740 the admiral, concerned about the health of his men, ordered that the rum should be diluted with water. The decision wasn't very popular with the sailors, who supposedly dubbed the mixture grog after Vernon. Today, grog can be used as a general term for any liquor, even undiluted, and someone who acts drunk or shaky can be called groggy. 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 August 24, 2015 is: cannibalize • \KAN-uh-buh-lyze\ • verb 1 : to take salvageable parts from (as a disabled machine) for use in building or repairing another machine 2 : to take (sales) away from an existing product by selling or being sold as a similar but new product usually from the same manufacturer; also : to affect (as an existing product) adversely by cannibalizing sales 3 : to practice cannibalism Examples: The company is risking cannibalizing sales of its flagship truck with this impressive-and less expensive-new model. "Of the 71 buses in the district's current fleet, three are no longer operational but are being cannibalized for parts-everything from mirrors and batteries to compressors and alternators." - Pat Maio, The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 2, 2015 Did you know? During World War II, military personnel often used salvageable parts from disabled vehicles and aircraft to repair other vehicles and aircraft. This sacrifice of one thing for the sake of another of its kind must have reminded some folks of cannibalism by humans and animals, because the process came to be known as cannibalizing. The armed forces of this time were also known to cannibalize-that is, to take away personnel from-units to build up other units. It didn't take long for this military slang to become civilianized. Since its demobilization, the term has been used in a variety of contexts. 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 August 23, 2015 is: august • \aw-GUST\ • adjective : marked by majestic dignity or grandeur Examples: "But a great deal of life goes on without strong passion: myriads of cravats are carefully tied, dinners attended, even speeches made proposing the health of august personages without the zest arising from a strong desire." - George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, 1876 "When the Académie Française, the most august literary institution in France, inducted Dany Laferrière last month, it insisted that that Haitian-Québécois novelist was the first non-French citizen to enter its ranks." - Rachel Donadio, The New York Times, June 17, 2015 Did you know? August comes from the Latin word augustus, meaning "consecrated" or "venerable," which in turn is related to the Latin augur, meaning "consecrated by augury" or "auspicious." In 8 B.C. the Roman Senate honored Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor, by changing the name of their month Sextilis to Augustus. Old English speakers inherited the name of the month of August, but it wasn't until the late 1500s that august came to be used generically in English, more or less as augustus was in Latin, to refer to someone with imperial qualities. 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 August 22, 2015 is: netiquette • \NET-ih-kut\ • noun : etiquette governing communication on the Internet Examples: "It's good netiquette to link to the article from which you borrow and to name your source." - John D. Farmer, Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, May 30, 2011 "Good netiquette includes not using all caps when typing, as it comes across as shouting.… Netiquette also involves respecting the privacy of others online, and not sharing or forwarding emails and personal messages of others." - John DeGarmo, Keeping Foster Children Safe Online, 2014 Did you know? When the first computer networks were being developed in the 1950s and 60s, few people could have predicted the extent to which the Internet would revolutionize our culture-and our language. These days, you don't have to be a computernik (a computer expert or enthusiast) or a mouse potato (someone who spends a great deal of time using a computer) to be familiar with words like blog, download, or the verb google. And even computerphobes are likely to know that in modern jargon, a "mouse" isn't necessarily a small furry rodent and the newest "virus" may be more of a threat to your computer than to your health. Netiquette, a blend of net (as in Internet) and etiquette, joined our language in the early 1980s. 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 August 21, 2015 is: beholden • \bih-HOHL-dun\ • adjective : being under obligation for a favor or gift : indebted Examples: "I am thankful for myself, at any rate, that I can find my tiny way through the world, without being beholden to anyone…." - Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850 "Such voices would indicate that we are a nation of independent thinkers, inspired by the grand principles of the Revolution that created the modern political system, not beholden to narrow partisan interests or affiliations." - Anouar Majid, The Portland (Maine) Press Herald, July 5, 2015 Did you know? Have you ever found yourself under obligation to someone else for a gift or favor? It's a common experience, and, not surprisingly, many of the words describing this condition have been part of the English language for centuries. Beholden was first recorded in writing in the 14th century poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Indebted, which entered English through Anglo-French, is even older, first appearing in the 13th century. English speakers in the 14th century would also have had another synonym of beholden to choose from: bounden. That word, though obscure, is still in use with the meaning "made obligatory" or "binding" (as in "our bounden duty"), but its "beholden" sense 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 August 20, 2015 is: obeisance • \oh-BEE-sunss\ • noun 1 : a movement of the body made in token of respect or submission : bow 2 : acknowledgment of another's superiority or importance : homage Examples: "They took their hats off and made obeisance and many signs, which however, I could not understand any more than I could their spoken language …" - Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897 "College presidents and school officials frequently explain their obeisance to their athletic departments by saying that without big-time sports programs, they'd never get any money out of their alumni." - Murray A. Sperber, The Washington Post, March 15, 2015 Did you know? When it first appeared in English in the late 14th century, obeisance shared the same meaning as obedience. This makes sense given that obeisance can be traced back to the Anglo-French verb obeir, which means "to obey" and is also an ancestor of our word obey. The other senses of obeisance also date from the 14th century, but they have stood the test of time whereas the obedience sense 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 August 19, 2015 is: exculpatory • \ek-SKUL-puh-tor-ee\ • adjective : tending or serving to clear from alleged fault or guilt Examples: The DNA found at the crime scene proved to be exculpatory; it did not match that of the defendant, and so he was acquitted. "Authorities also were faulted for withholding exculpatory evidence from the defense, including an initial statement by Herrington to police that two men he identified as Jim and Ed were the real killers." - Jim Dey, The News-Gazette (Champaign, Illinois), July 19, 2015 Did you know? Exculpatory is the adjectival form of the verb exculpate, meaning "to clear from guilt." The pair of words cannot be accused of being secretive-their joint etymology reveals all: they are tied to the Latin verb exculpatus, a word that combines the prefix ex-, meaning "out of" or "away from," with the Latin noun culpa, meaning "blame." The related but lesser-known terms inculpate and inculpatory are antonyms of exculpate and exculpatory. Inculpate means "to incriminate" and inculpatory means "incriminating." A related noun, culpable, means "meriting condemnation or blame for doing something wrong." 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 August 18, 2015 is: jog trot • \JAHG-TRAHT\ • noun 1 : a horse's slow measured trot 2 : a routine habit or course of action Examples: The weekly Friday-night dances provided the townsfolk with a few hours of respite from the jog trot of life. "The speed of the trot can vary between the very slow jog trot at less than four miles per hour to the very fast racing trot of the Standardbred, at well over fifteen miles per hour." - Lee Ziegler, Easy-Gaited Horses, 2005 Did you know? The jog trot is a type of gait that is sometimes required at horse shows. It appears to have been so named because the horse's often jolting movement is certainly "jogging," and the gait itself is actually a kind of careful, deliberate trot. The term first appeared in print in 1796 and rapidly came to be used in a figurative sense as well, referring to a steady and usually monotonous routine, similar to the slow, regular pace of a horse at a jog trot. There is a suggestion with the generalized sense that the action is uniform and unhurried, and perhaps even a little dull. 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 August 17, 2015 is: refractory • \rih-FRAK-tuh-ree\ • adjective 1 : resisting control or authority : stubborn, unmanageable 2 : resistant to treatment or cure 3 : capable of enduring high temperatures Examples: "In patients with severe asthma that is refractory to standard treatment, intravenous magnesium sulfate is widely used…." - Stephen C. Lazarus, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine, August 19, 2010 "This, 2012, is Louis' moment. Rewind a couple of years and his voice was higher, his face narrower and more worried. He was connecting, but only just. Now he's expansive, authoritative, with bags of rough-edged charm. After years … of small clubs and refractory crowds, Louis has experience." - James Parker, The Atlantic, May 2012 Did you know? Refractory is from the Latin word refractarius. During the 17th century, it was sometimes spelled as refractary, but that spelling, though more in keeping with its Latin parent, had fallen out of use by the century's end. Refractarius, like refractory, is the result of a slight variation in spelling. It stems from the Latin verb refragari, meaning "to oppose." Although refractory often describes things that are unpleasantly stubborn or resistant (such as diseases and unruly audiences), not all senses of refractory are negative. Refractory clays and bricks, for example, are capable of withstanding high temperatures. 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 August 16, 2015 is: shill • \SHIL\ • verb 1 : to act as a decoy (as for a pitchman or gambler) 2 : to act as a spokesperson or promoter Examples: A long line of A-list actresses have shilled for the company's perfumes over the decades. "In recent years, people who hawked ice cream or hot dogs, taught yoga or shilled other goods and services in Los Angeles parks were [legally] in the clear." - Emily Alpert Reyes, Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2015 Did you know? Although some who shill are legitimately employed to extol the wonders of legitimate products, this was not always the case. In the first documented uses of the word shill, in the early 1900s, it was more likely that anyone hired to shill was trying to con you into parting with some cash. Practitioners were called shills (that noun also dates from the early 1900s), and they did everything from faking big wins at casinos (to promote gambling) to pretending to buy tickets (to encourage people to see certain shows). Shill is thought to be a shortened form of shillaber (an obscure noun synonymous with shill), but etymologists have found no definitive evidence of where that longer term originated. 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 August 15, 2015 is: lodestone • \LOHD-stohn\ • noun 1 : magnetite possessing polarity 2 : something that strongly attracts Examples: "The Miami thoroughfare formally known as Southwest Eighth Street is the heart of Little Havana. It's the next-best-thing to visiting Cuba for many Americans, the lodestone of the large Cuban-American community that settled in Miami in waves after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution." - John Borsden, Charlotte News & Observer, June 13, 2015 "The map shows the distribution of high-tech manufacturing firms in the southeastern United States. Viewing the information this way allows Jim and Deb to see where these firms are clustered, helping to identify towns and cities that are lodestones of high-tech entrepreneurialism." - John Tierney, The Atlantic, February 18, 2014 Did you know? Lodestone (also spelled loadstone) is made up of distinctly English components, ones that have been part of our language since before the 12th century. Lode comes from the Old English lād, which meant "way," "journey," or "course." The word stone derives from the Old English stān, which had the same meaning as the modern term. When the two ancient words were combined to form lodestone around 1518, the new term referred to magnetite, an oxide of iron that forms a natural magnet. Later, the word came to describe anything that strongly attracts. 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 August 14, 2015 is: quaggy • \KWAG-ee\ • adjective 1 : marshy or boggy 2 : flabby or soft Examples: "Today is the opening of 'Expedition Alaska: Dinosaurs,' the latest installation at the museum chronicling the reptilian behemoths-and even the little ones, too-that once spanned the state from the frozen North Slope to the quaggy Southeast." - Gary Black, Newsminer.com (Fairbanks, Alaska), May 23, 2015 "Life is a never-ending succession of tasks, some with quaggy deadlines, others with strict ones." - Hayley Mortimer, Gloucestershire Echo, June 6, 2015 Did you know? Quaggy is related to quag, a word for a marsh or bog, and quagmire-which can refer to wet, spongy land that gives way underfoot or, figuratively, to a predicament. Etymologists claim no firm footing when it comes to the origin of the syllable the words share in common, though it's been suggested that quag is imitative, echoing the soft, mushy sound that wet ground makes when you walk on it. The words are all roughly the same age, with earliest evidence of quagmire, quag, and quaggy dating to 1566, 1589, and 1596, respectively. 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 August 13, 2015 is: contumely • \kahn-TOO-muh-lee\ • noun : harsh language or treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt; also : an instance of such language or treatment Examples: Deeply hurt by the contumely directed at her, Charlotte burst into tears and ran out of the room. "She occupied the outer margins of established theater and wore that status as a badge of honor, refusing to join Actors' Equity until the late 1980s and often seeming to revel in the contumely of the mainstream press." - Ben Brantley, New York Times, October 13, 2013 Did you know? English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote about the sin of contumelie, as it was spelled in Middle English, while composing "The Parson's Tale" back in the late 1300s. The word is a borrowing from Middle French (whence it had earlier arrived from Latin contumelia), and it has since seen wide literary use. Perhaps its most famous occurrence is in Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy (in which it is pronounced \KAHN-tyoom-lee\ or \KAHN-chum-lee): "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, / Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely...." 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 August 12, 2015 is: kindred • \KIN-drud\ • adjective 1 : of a similar nature or character : like 2 : of the same ancestry Examples: Jessica found a kindred songwriting spirit in Brigid, and soon the two women were collaborating on a new album. "The boys were well-behaved and inseparable. Kindred souls, as preschoolers they spoke to each other in 'twin language,' their mother said, using words that no one else understood." - Clare Ansberry, Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2015 Did you know? If you believe that advice and relatives are inseparable, the etymology of kindred will prove you right. Kindred comes from a combination of kin (a word for one's relatives) and the Old English word ræden ("condition"), which itself comes from the verb ræden, meaning "to advise." Kindred entered English as a noun first, in the 12th century. That noun, which can refer to a group of related individuals or to one's own relatives, gave rise to the adjective kindred in the 14th 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 August 11, 2015 is: zydeco • \ZYE-duh-koh\ • noun : popular music of southern Louisiana that combines tunes of French origin with elements of Caribbean music and the blues Examples: The restaurant, with architecture that looks like it's straight from the French quarter of New Orleans, features authentic Cajun cuisine and live zydeco music. "Prepare your palates for a mouthful of Cajun and Creole fare and your dancing feet for a weekend of zydeco and blues beats, because the Long Beach Bayou Festival, now in its 29th year, has just announced its 2015 lineup." - Asia Morris, Long Beach (California) Post, April 28, 2015 Did you know? You might say that the lively form of music known as zydeco is full of beans, etymologically speaking. Legend has it that the word zydeco originated in the lyrics of Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés, a popular Cajun dance tune. Loosely translated, the song's title means "the beans are not salty," and when spoken in French Creole, les haricots (French for "beans") sounds something like zydeco. Zydeco first appeared in print in 1949 and has been used to describe this kind of music 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 August 10, 2015 is: multifarious • \mul-tuh-FAIR-ee-us\ • adjective : having or occurring in great variety : diverse Examples: John listed his multifarious interests and activities on his college application. "The report presents a convincing case that the agency has been stretched too thin in its multifarious duties-from combating counterfeiters and computer criminals to standing guard over presidents present and past and their widows…." - editorial, New York Times, December 29, 2014 Did you know? Dictionary makers have dated the first appearance of multifarious in print as 1593-and rightly so-but before that time another word similar in form and meaning was being used: multifary, meaning "in many ways" and appearing (and disappearing) in the 15th century. Before either of the English words existed, there was the Medieval Latin word multifarius (same meaning as multifarious), from Latin multifariam, meaning "in many places" or "on many sides." Multi-, as you may know, is a combining form meaning "many." A relative of multifarious in English is omnifarious ("of all varieties, forms, or kinds"), created with omni- ("all") rather than multi-. 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 August 9, 2015 is: pseudonym • \SOO-duh-nihm\ • noun : a fictitious name; especially : pen name Examples: Instead of using his real name, Edward signed his letter to the editor with the pseudonym "Jack Cramer." "Author J. K. Rowling announced on Twitter that she has written a third installment of her Cormoran Strike mystery series under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith." - Kaitlin Miller, The Sun-Times (Florida), June 16, 2015 Did you know? Pseudonym, has its origins in the Greek word pseudōnymos, which means "bearing a false name." Greek speakers formed their word by combining pseud-, meaning "false," and onyma, meaning "name." French speakers adopted the Greek word as pseudonyme, and English speakers later modified the French word into pseudonym. Many celebrated authors have used pseudonyms. Samuel Clemens wrote under the pseudonym "Mark Twain," Charles Lutwidge Dodgson assumed the pseudonym "Lewis Carroll," and Mary Ann Evans used "George Eliot" as her pseudonym. 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 August 8, 2015 is: abstain • \ub-STAYN\ • verb : to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from an action or practice Examples: The nurse advised Jacob to abstain from alcohol while he was on the medication. "Messick let the council know he would abstain from all votes regarding this downtown property …." - Aaron Little, Santa Rosa (Florida) Press, July 7, 2015 Did you know? If you abstain, you're consciously and usually with effort choosing to "hold back" from doing something that you would like to do. One may abstain from a vice, for example, or in parliamentary procedure, one might abstain from placing a vote. So it's no surprise that abstain traces back through Middle English and Anglo-French to the Latin abstinēre, which combines the prefix ab- ("from, away, off") with tenēre, a Latin verb meaning "to hold." Tenēre has many offspring in English-other descendants include contain, detain, maintain, obtain, pertain, retain, and sustain, as well as some words that don't end in -tain, such as tenacious. Abstain, like many of its cousins, has been used by English speakers since at least the 14th 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 August 7, 2015 is: euphemism • \YOO-fuh-miz-um\ • noun : the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant; also : the expression so substituted Examples: Aunt Helen would never say that someone had "died"; she preferred to communicate the unpleasant news with euphemisms like "passed on." "Jane Grigson is sometimes described as 'the food writer's food writer,' which is probably a euphemism for 'the food writer all other food writers would secretly like to be.' I'm sure I'm not alone in the wide-eyed admiration and green-eyed envy with which I read her work." - Felicity Cloake, The New Statesman, July 9, 2015 Did you know? Euphemism derives from the Greek euphemos, which means "auspicious, sounding good." The first part of that root is the Greek prefix eu-, meaning "good." The second part is phēmē, a Greek word for "speech" that is itself a derivative of the verb phanai, meaning "to speak." Among the numerous linguistic cousins of euphemism on the eu- side of the family are eulogy, euphoria, and euthanasia; on the phanai side, its kin include prophet and aphasia (loss of the power to understand words). 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 August 6, 2015 is: titanic • \tye-TAN-ik\ • adjective : having great magnitude, force, or power : colossal Examples: The slugger launched a titanic home run that landed in the parking lot beyond the stadium's center-field wall. "Murray has withstood a titanic challenge from Ivo Karlovic to reach his eighth consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final." - Stuart Bathgate, Evening Times (Glasgow), July 6, 2015 Did you know? Before becoming the name of the most famous ship in history, titanic referred to the Titans, a family of giants in Greek mythology who were believed to have once ruled the earth. They were subsequently overpowered and replaced by the younger Olympian gods under the leadership of Zeus. The size and power of the Titans is memorialized in the adjective titanic and in the noun titanium, a chemical element of exceptional strength that is used in the production of steel. 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 August 5, 2015 is: hermitage • \HER-mih-tij\ • noun 1 : the habitation of a hermit 2 : a secluded residence or private retreat; also : monastery 3 : the life or condition of a hermit Examples: "At a Catholic hermitage near Lac Saint-Jean, the Franciscan Capuchin friar Sylvain Richer told me he grew up saying 'Beam me up, Scotty.'" - Associated Press, June 29, 2015 "The facility will include a convent, a chapel, a library, a Rosary Walk area, coffee shops, hermitages or small cottages, and areas for larger retreat groups and for people or couples to stay." - Rebecca McKinsey, Daily Times Herald (Carroll, Iowa), December 22, 2014 Did you know? Hermitage is of course related to hermit, a word for one who retreats from society to live in solitude, often for religious reasons. The origins of hermitage and hermit are found in Greek. Erēmos (meaning "desolate") gave rise to erēmia (meaning "desert") and eventually to the noun erēmitēs, which was used for a person living in the desert, or, more broadly, for a recluse. The word journeyed from Greek to Latin to Anglo-French to Middle English, where it eventually transformed into hermit. The related hermitage was borrowed into English from Anglo-French in the 14th century. A hermitage can be the dwelling of a hermit (e.g., a mountain shack or a monastery) or simply a secluded home. 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 August 4, 2015 is: infrangible • \in-FRAN-juh-bul\ • adjective 1 : not capable of being broken or separated into parts 2 : not to be infringed or violated Examples: He declared firmly that he lived his life by a set of infrangible ethical principles. "[James Bond] is content enough with his new freedom on the fringe to make it a permanent lifestyle, but it's his infrangible sense of duty to country and M that brings him back to the fold when both are threatened." - Kirk Baird, Toledo (Ohio) Blade, November 9, 2012 Did you know? Infrangible comes to us via Middle French from the Late Latin infrangibilis, and it is ultimately derived from the prefix in- and the Latin verb frangere, meaning "to break." (Believe it or not, our break is ultimately derived from the same ancient word that gave rise to frangere.) Infrangible first appeared in print in English in the 16th century with the literal meaning "impossible to break"; it was later extended metaphorically to things that cannot or should not be broken. 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 August 3, 2015 is: doppelgänger • \DAH-pul-gang-er\ • noun 1 : a ghostly counterpart of a living person 2 a : a person who closely resembles another living person b : the opposite side of a personality : alter ego c : a person who has the same name as another Examples: Throughout the movie, the main character is frequently mistaken for someone else, and the plot thickens when this doppelgänger turns out to be a wanted criminal. "Astonished, frightened and fascinated, Finkel arranges to meet his deceiving doppelgänger in an Oregon prison." - Dann Gire, Chicago Daily Herald, April 17, 2015 Did you know? According to age-old German folklore, all living creatures have a spirit double who is invisible but identical to the living individual. These second selves are perceived as being distinct from ghosts (which appear only after death), and sometimes they are described as the spiritual opposite or negative of their human counterparts. In 1796, German writer Johann Paul Richter, who wrote under the pseudonym Jean Paul, coined the word Doppelgänger (from doppel-, meaning "double," and -gänger, meaning "goer") to refer to such specters. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.