Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 26, 2019 is: doldrums \DOHL-drumz\ plural noun 1 : a spell of listlessness or despondency 2 often capitalized Doldrums : a part of the ocean near the equator abounding in calms, squalls, and light shifting winds 3 : a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or slump Examples: "A vacation on a tropical island could be just the thing you need to fight...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 25, 2019 is: myopic \mye-OH-pik\ adjective 1 : affected by myopia : of, relating to, or exhibiting myopia : nearsighted 2 : lacking in foresight or discernment : narrow in perspective and without concern for broader implications Examples: "This is, on the whole, an encouraging finding. If children became myopic due to looking at objects too closely, th...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 24, 2019 is: adjudicate \uh-JOO-dih-kayt\ verb 1 : to make an official decision about who is right in (a dispute) : to settle judicially 2 : to act as judge Examples: "… Nichols said in addition to the nine dogs brought to the shelter, it is housing 31 dogs that were confiscated in animal cruelty or neglect cases. She said the shelter has to board the...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 23, 2019 is: imbroglio \im-BROHL-yoh\ noun 1 a : an acutely painful or embarrassing misunderstanding b : a circumstance or action that offends propriety or established moral conceptions or disgraces those associated with it : scandal c : a violently confused or bitterly complicated altercation : embroilment d : an intricate or complicated situation (as...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 22, 2019 is: cumulate \KYOO-myuh-layt\ verb 1 : to gather or pile in a heap 2 : to combine into one 3 : to build up by addition of new material Examples: "In the alternative, the company may provide greater input to minority shareholders by allowing shareholders to cumulate their votes and cast them all for one director." — Gregory Monday, The Milwauke...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 21, 2019 is: substantive \SUB-stun-tiv\ adjective 1 : having substance : involving matters of major or practical importance to all concerned 2 : considerable in amount or numbers : substantial 3 a : real rather than apparent : firm; also : permanent, enduring b : belonging to the substance of a thing : essential c : expressing existence 4 a : having th...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 20, 2019 is: wherewithal \WAIR-wih-thawl\ noun : means or resources for purchasing or doing something; specifically : financial resources : money Examples: If I had the wherewithal, I'd buy that empty lot next door and put in a garden. "Typically, when a person makes more money and has more savings, they add credit such as signing up for a new card or...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 19, 2019 is: gargantuan \gahr-GAN-chuh-wuhn\ adjective : tremendous in size, volume, or degree : gigantic, colossal Examples: "In 1920, the town council of Chamonix … decided to change the municipality's name to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, thus forging an official link to the mountain … with a summit that soars 12,000 feet above the town center. The council's...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 18, 2019 is: teetotaler \TEE-TOH-tuh-ler\ noun : one who practices or advocates teetotalism : one who abstains completely from alcoholic drinks Examples: "… he is one of those fit older people who have redefined what 74 can look like. It probably helps that he is a teetotaler, a choice he made as a young man, having been disturbed by the effect that al...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 17, 2019 is: farouche \fuh-ROOSH\ adjective 1 : unruly or disorderly : wild 2 : marked by shyness and lack of social graces Examples: "Though she wrote three 'novels' (more extended free associations than novels as we know them), she is best thought of as a poet of small, farouche poems illustrated with doodles…." — Rosemary Dinnage, The New York Revie...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 16, 2019 is: nomothetic \nah-muh-THET-ik\ adjective : relating to, involving, or dealing with abstract, general, or universal statements or laws Examples: "Moreover, there is the often-incorrect assumption that crimes and offenders are sufficiently similar to be lumped together for aggregate study. In such cases the resulting nomothetic knowledge is no...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 15, 2019 is: liaison \LEE-uh-zahn\ noun 1 : a binding or thickening agent used in cooking 2 a : a close bond or connection : interrelationship b : an illicit sexual relationship : affair 3 a : communication for establishing and maintaining mutual understanding and cooperation (as between parts of an armed force) b : a person who establishes and ma...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 14, 2019 is: mea culpa \may-uh-KOOL-puh\ noun : a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error Examples: The mayor's public mea culpa for his involvement in the scandal didn't satisfy his critics. "The internal investigation ended with a mea culpa from the sheriff's department and a reprimand and reassignment for a deputy overseeing the property ro...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 13, 2019 is: clement \KLEM-unt\ adjective 1 : inclined to be merciful : lenient 2 : not severe : mild Examples: The judge decided to be clement and said she would forgive the young defendants so long as they paid back the money they stole from the fundraiser. "Eagle Scout Michael Eliason completed his project by literally blazing a trail: he created a...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 12, 2019 is: boycott \BOY-kaht\ verb : to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (a person, a store, an organization, etc.) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions Examples: "Chinese boycotted Norwegian salmon over the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the late dissident writer Liu Xiaobo. They stoppe...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 11, 2019 is: syllogism \SIL-uh-jiz-um\ noun 1 : a deductive scheme of a formal argument consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion 2 : a subtle, specious, or crafty argument 3 : deductive reasoning Examples: "Plato's pupil Aristotle developed the techniques of logical analysis that still enable us to get at the knowledge hidden within u...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 10, 2019 is: venal \VEE-nul\ adjective 1 : capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration : purchasable; especially : open to corrupt influence and especially bribery : mercenary 2 : originating in, characterized by, or associated with corrupt bribery Examples: "We have to prove that our institutions are more important th...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 9, 2019 is: behest \bih-HEST\ noun 1 : an authoritative order : command 2 : an urgent prompting Examples: "Let's be clear on this, in the case of a foreclosure sale, while you might not think of it as a 'sale' because it is not a voluntary action taken by the homeowner, but rather a forced action at the behest of the lender, for tax purposes a foreclos...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 8, 2019 is: malinger \muh-LING-gur\ verb : to pretend or exaggerate incapacity or illness (as to avoid duty or work) Examples: Sarah's prospects for promotion aren't helped by her well-known tendency to malinger. "[Writer Jaroslav] Hašek's meandering, unfinished comedy tells the story of a dog thief turned soldier, who blusters, pranks and malingers hi...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 7, 2019 is: demotic \dih-MAH-tik\ adjective 1 : of, relating to, or written in a simplified form of the ancient Egyptian hieratic writing 2 : of or relating to people and especially their speech : popular, common 3 : of or relating to the form of Modern Greek that is based on everyday speech Examples: "[The Rosetta Stone] features three columns of the...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 6, 2019 is: paradigm \PAIR-uh-dyme\ noun 1 : example, pattern; especially : an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype 2 : an example of a conjugation or declension showing a word in all its inflectional forms 3 : a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 5, 2019 is: eclectic \ih-KLEK-tik\ adjective 1 : composed of elements drawn from various sources; also : heterogeneous 2 : selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles Examples: The new downtown restaurant offers an eclectic menu of items at reasonable prices. "Since December 2016, including the most recent property deal,...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 4, 2019 is: abominable \uh-BAH-muh-nuh-bul\ adjective 1 formal : worthy of or causing disgust or hatred : detestable 2 : very bad or unpleasant Examples: The children were informed that they had lost all television and computer privileges for a week because of their abominable treatment of the babysitter. "In the original [movie "Overboard"], Goldie Ha...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 3, 2019 is: rapporteur \ra-por-TER\ noun : a person who gives reports (as at a meeting of a learned society) Examples: "The rapporteur was particularly scathing about bungled efforts to streamline the way welfare payments are made to individual recipients after delays in a shift to a new system … led thousands of people to fall into poverty." — Patrick...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 2, 2019 is: campestral \kam-PESS-trul\ adjective : of or relating to fields or open country : rural Examples: "Just about any amateur naturalist who pays attention to the birds … in campestral Maine will find an eye-opener or two here." — Dana Wilde, The Bangor (Maine) Daily News, 26 Oct. 2009 "When in Southeast England, depriving yourself of a chance...