PLAY PODCASTS
schadenfreude

schadenfreude

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day · Merriam-Webster

August 7, 20171m 27s

Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (rss.art19.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.

Show Notes

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 7, 2017 is:


schadenfreude \SHAH-dun-froy-duh\ noun

: enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others 


Examples:

Elaine couldn't help but feel a tinge of schadenfreude when her chief rival was kicked off the soccer team.

"Much attention (and a decent amount of schadenfreude) has been paid to the relative erosion of the NFL's massive television ratings in recent years…." — Chad Finn, The Boston Globe, 26 May 2017


Did you know?

Schadenfreude is a compound of the German nouns Schaden, meaning "damage" or "harm," and Freude, meaning "joy," so it makes sense that schadenfreude means joy over some harm or misfortune suffered by another. "What a fearful thing is it that any language should have a word expressive of the pleasure which men feel at the calamities of others," wrote Richard Trench of Dublin, an archbishop with literary predilections, of the German Schadenfreude in 1852; perhaps it was just as well he didn't live to see the word embraced by English speakers before the century was out.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Topics

WEBSTERDICTIONARYWORD OF THE DAYVOCABULARYLANGUAGEWORD A DAYMERRIAMENGLISHMERRIAM-WEBSTERWORDWORDS