Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 11, 2019 is: despot \DESS-putt\ noun 1 a : a ruler with absolute power and authority b : one exercising power tyrannically : a person exercising absolute power in a brutal or oppressive way 2 a : a Byzantine emperor or prince b Christianity : a bishop or patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church c : an Italian hereditary prince or military leader during t...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 10, 2019 is: Parthian \PAR-thee-un\ adjective 1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of ancient Parthia or its people 2 : relating to, being, or having the effect of a shot fired while in real or feigned retreat Examples: After being fired, the coach gave a Parthian shot to the general manager informing him that he was a churlish miser. "Although the exa...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 9, 2019 is: opusculum \oh-PUSK-yuh-lum\ noun : a minor work (as of literature) — usually used in plural Examples: The book is a collection of opuscula written by the author between her two major novels. "[Maria] Artamonova offers short summaries of most of Tolkien's satellite opuscula in roughly their order of composition—The Father Christmas Letters, Ro...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 8, 2019 is: cerebral \suh-REE-brul\ adjective 1 a : of or relating to the brain or the intellect b : of, relating to, affecting, or being the cerebrum 2 a : appealing to intellectual appreciation Examples: "All exercise is good for the brain. Physical activity increases cerebral blood flow, reduces brain-damaging plaques and works to promote brain health...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 7, 2019 is: sashay \sa-SHAY\ verb 1 : to make a chassé 2 a : walk, glide, go b : to strut or move about in an ostentatious or conspicuous manner c : to proceed or move in a diagonal or sideways manner Examples: "… our springs often seem more like a magical mystery tour than just another day on the calendar; life exploding out of the ground, flowers every...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 6, 2019 is: moiety \MOY-uh-tee\ noun 1 a : one of two equal parts : half b : one of two approximately equal parts 2 : one of the portions into which something is divided : component, part 3 : one of two basic complementary tribal subdivisions Examples: "They came from the sea—these members of the Eagle moiety—paddling their ceremonial canoes, singing tra...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 5, 2019 is: brummagem \BRUM-ih-jum\ adjective : not genuine : spurious; also : cheaply showy : tawdry Examples: The members of the bachelorette party stumbled out of the limousine with the bride wearing a brummagem tiara and sash. "Just as critics … conceived high culture in some antithetical relationship to 'middlebrow' or 'kitsch,' which imitated the i...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 4, 2019 is: rowel \ROWL\ verb 1 : to goad with or as if with a pointed disk at the end of a spur 2 : vex, trouble Examples: "He folded the book shut, touched his hat, moved to the wagon, and roweled the horses around." — Colum McCann, TransAtlantic, 2013 "Then suddenly he found himself at the end of his money.… Hunger rode him and roweled him. He was no...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 3, 2019 is: arduous \AHR-juh-wus\ adjective 1 a : hard to accomplish or achieve : difficult b : marked by great labor or effort : strenuous 2 : hard to climb : steep Examples: Every summer, right before the beginning of the new school year, the football team begins its season with "Hell Week," an arduous six days of conditioning and training. "The missio...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 2, 2019 is: fantod \FAN-tahd\ noun 1 plural fantods a : a state of irritability and tension b : fidgets 2 : an emotional outburst : fit Examples: The movie's graphic imagery gave me the fantods—I had to turn it off. "Orin's special conscious horror, besides heights and the early morning, is roaches. There'd been parts of metro Boston near the Bay he'd re...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 1, 2019 is: hoodwink \HOOD-wink\ verb : to deceive by false appearance : dupe Examples: All would be wise to remember that we're especially likely to be hoodwinked on April Fools' Day. "Madsen's fascination with space and rockets and technology could hoodwink you into thinking he was a man of the future; you could miss the fact that his obsession was roo...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 31, 2019 is: etiquette \ET-ih-kut\ noun : the conduct or procedure required by good breeding or prescribed by authority to be observed in social or official life Examples: "… the Victorians saw the role of etiquette as something closer to a behavioral amulet capable of protecting one from the polluting forces of vulgarity and vice." — Alice Gregory, The...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 30, 2019 is: scrumptious \SKRUMP-shus\ adjective : delightful, excellent; especially : delicious Examples: I prepared a scrumptious chocolate cake for our grandfather's 80th birthday. "The main dish was a scrumptious serving of noodles, chicken pieces and shrimp in a peanut-flavored sauce and some scallions." — Maria Cortes Gonzalez, El Paso Times, 11 Fe...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 29, 2019 is: comminute \KAH-muh-noot\ verb : to reduce to minute particles : pulverize Examples: "Type III fractures are comminuted (involve multiple broken pieces of bone), which lead to mechanical blocks to motion and significant elbow joint and ligament damage. Surgery would be required to fix or remove the broken pieces of bone and repair the soft-ti...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 28, 2019 is: polyglot \PAH-lee-glaht\ adjective 1 a : speaking or writing several languages : multilingual b : composed of numerous linguistic groups 2 : containing matter in several languages 3 : composed of elements from different languages 4 : widely diverse (as in ethnic or cultural origins) Examples: With vacationers arriving from all over Europe an...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 27, 2019 is: litmus test \LIT-mus-TEST\ noun : a test in which a single factor (such as an attitude, event, or fact) is decisive Examples: For Curtis, the litmus test of good barbeque ribs is whether or not they have that moist fall-off-the-bone quality. "But, then, this can of corn: How did it even get here? Nothing against canned corn, but it's not som...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 26, 2019 is: decoct \dih-KAHKT\ verb 1 : to extract the flavor of by boiling 2 : boil down, concentrate Examples: "Though the taste is a bonus, the real draw in this caffeine-free latte is the CBD, or cannabidiol, oil. The CBD served in the lattes is derived from Kentucky-grown hemp, decocted from the flowers and leaves with hot dairy or coconut milk." —...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 25, 2019 is: bower \BOW-er\ noun 1 : an attractive dwelling or retreat 2 : a lady's private apartment in a medieval hall or castle 3 : a shelter (as in a garden) made with tree boughs or vines twined together : arbor Examples: The couple's rendezvous was a secluded bower in the garden. "In retelling Shakespeare's story of mortal and immortal lovers lost...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 24, 2019 is: magniloquent \mag-NIL-uh-kwunt\ adjective : speaking in or characterized by a high-flown often bombastic style or manner Examples: The magniloquent sportscaster sometimes got so carried away with his monologues that he would forget to describe the action on the field. "It [the television series Billions] features two outsize, magniloquent pr...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 23, 2019 is: reverberate \rih-VER-buh-rayt\ verb 1 : to reflect or become reflected 2 : to repel or become driven back 3 : to continue in or as if in a series of echoes : resound Examples: "Inmates' relatives began protesting outside the jail. Inmates responded by banging on the inside of their windows, the clangs and thuds reverberating in the stre...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 22, 2019 is: purview \PER-vyoo\ noun 1 a : the body or enacting part of a statute b : the limit, purpose, or scope of a statute 2 : the range or limit of authority, competence, responsibility, concern, or intention 3 : range of vision, understanding, or cognizance Examples: "The Supreme Court had ruled that the House has purview over ordering a new elect...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 21, 2019 is: hamartia \hah-mahr-TEE-uh\ noun : a flaw in character that brings about the downfall of the hero of a tragedy : tragic flaw Examples: Greed was the hamartia that ultimately brought down the protagonist. "Characters in Greek tragedies usually had a hamartia, or fatal flaw. Hubris, pride, presumption and arrogance were some of the chief charac...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 20, 2019 is: canker \KANG-ker\ verb 1 : to become infested with erosive or spreading sores   2 : to corrupt the spirit of   3 : to become corrupted Examples: "Nevertheless, the self-absorption into which the lovers fall and the death and transfiguration with which the action ends have often been thought of as symptoms of a disease tha...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 19, 2019 is: orthography \or-THAH-gruh-fee\ noun 1 a : the art of writing words with the proper letters according to standard usage b : the representation of the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols 2 : a part of language study that deals with letters and spelling Examples: English orthography was not yet regularized in William Shakespeare'...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 18, 2019 is: parabolic \pair-uh-BAH-lik\ adjective 1 : expressed by or being a parable: allegorical 2 : of, having the form of, or relating to a curve formed by the intersection of a cone and a plane parallel to an element of the cone Examples: The batter launched the ball into a towering parabolic arc that carried it well over the center field fence. "I...