Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 17, 2017 is: reciprocate • \rih-SIP-ruh-kayt\  • verb 1 : to give and take mutually 2 : to return in kind or degree 3 : to make a return for something done or given 4 : to move backward and forward alternately Examples: It was kind of Jake to give us a ride to the airport, and we'd like to find a way to reciprocate the favor. "The covenant only works if...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 16, 2017 is: interminable • \in-TER-muh-nuh-bul\  • adjective : having or seeming to have no end; especially : wearisomely protracted Examples: Hayley didn't think she would have the patience to sit through another interminable radio pledge drive without changing the station at least once. "Garrett Richards' first thought when he found out about his torn...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 15, 2017 is: pittance • \PIT-unss\  • noun : a small portion, amount, or allowance; also : a meager wage or remuneration Examples: "… chances are good that any snow that might fall in coming days could be like the pittance of flakes that fell Thursday—and then almost immediately melted." — Neil Johnson, The Janesville (Wisconsin) Gazette, 11 Mar. 2017 "I...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 14, 2017 is: magnanimous • \mag-NAN-uh-mus\  • adjective 1 : showing or suggesting a lofty and courageous spirit 2 : showing or suggesting nobility of feeling and generosity of mind Examples: Rather than gloat about her victory in the race, Michelle chose to be magnanimous and congratulated her opponents on their strong showings. "Of course, all TV shows...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 13, 2017 is: napery • \NAY-puh-ree\  • noun : household linen; especially : table linen Examples: The napery was laundered and starched and folded crisply for the next day's brunch guests. "Once upstairs, the sense of a solid, proper steakhouse, with low lighting, a busy bar, tufted chairs and banquettes, and snow-white napery on the tables, is clear and...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 12, 2017 is: snaffle • \SNAFF-ul\  • verb : to obtain especially by devious or irregular means Examples: A malicious code discovered in the computer system was designed to snaffle user names and passwords. "A quick-thinking and quick-catching baseball player has avoided a potential disaster in the dugout for his team, as he snaffled a bat careering towar...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 11, 2017 is: livelong • \LIV-lawng\  • adjective : whole, entire Examples: The farmhands worked hard all the livelong day and finally fell into their beds, exhausted, well past sundown. "They were part of a research study that showed how standing in the classroom (and not sitting all the livelong day) can help reduce body mass index…." — Leslie Barker, T...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 10, 2017 is: widdershins • \WID-er-shinz\  • adverb : in a left-handed, wrong, or contrary direction : counterclockwise Examples: "Who could fail to be charmed by Korda's account of how he met his wife, Margaret, in Central Park, where they both rode their horses early in the morning, one going clockwise, the other widdershins, until the fateful day when...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 9, 2017 is: hyperbole • \hye-PER-buh-lee\  • noun : extravagant exaggeration Examples: "There are those in the organization who believe Bryant might not only be the best receiver on the team, he could be the best in the league. Whether it's true or mere hyperbole is not the point. What it indicates is the immense ability Bryant possesses." — Gerry Dulac,...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 8, 2017 is: alow • \uh-LOH\  • adverb : below Examples: "She had studding-sails out alow and aloft, with a light but steady breeze, and her captain said he could not get more than four knots out of her and thought he should have a long passage." — Richard Henry Dana, Two Years Before the Mast, 1840 "Mr. Blunt remained seated, assessed them alow and aloft...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 7, 2017 is: flack • \FLACK\  • verb : to provide publicity : engage in press-agentry Examples: The singer spent two weeks on the talk-show circuit, flacking for her new memoir. "Celebrity endorsements for soda have been around for years.… More recently, Taylor Swift (Diet Coke), Beyonce (Pepsi) and Steve Harvey (Coke again) have flacked for soda." — Mich...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 6, 2017 is: cloying • \KLOY-ing\  • adjective : disgusting or distasteful by reason of excess; also : excessively sweet or sentimental Examples: "In Raymond Chandler's first novel The Big Sleep (1939), Philip Marlowe visits a client in his orchid house, where the air was thick, wet, steamy and larded with the cloying smell of tropical orchids in bloom."...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 5, 2017 is: defile • \dih-FYLE\  • verb : to march off in a line Examples: The generals gazed on impassively as the troops defiled past. "He watched as the troops defiled across the bridge; their thinned ranks made a noticeable impression on the monarch." — Michael V. Leggiere, Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany, 2015 Did you know? It's likely that wh...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 4, 2017 is: gimcrack • \JIM-krak\  • noun : a showy object of little use or value : gewgaw Examples: The harmonica that Carrie kept in her desk drawer was a gimcrack that she had won as a carnival prize many years ago. "He painted his office a deep crimson …, and then added period sconces, arrangements of pheasant feathers and various other gimcracks all...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 3, 2017 is: brachiate • \BRAY-kee-ayt\  • verb : to progress by swinging from hold to hold by the arms Examples: Sarah sat on the park bench and watched as her five-year-old son confidently brachiated along the monkey bars. "Designed to replicate the natural forest environment, Gibbon Forest encourages its animals to display their natural behaviours, whi...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 2, 2017 is: ignoble • \ig-NOH-bul\  • adjective 1 : of low birth or common origin : plebeian 2 : characterized by baseness, lowness, or meanness Examples: "Luthor has been hanging around Superman's arctic fortress … devising plans for world dictatorship and other ignoble acts." — Kevin Canfield, The Journal News, 27 Jun. 2006 "Suburbs are sometimes portr...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 1, 2017 is: vaticination • \vuh-tiss-uh-NAY-shun\  • noun 1 : something foretold : prediction 2 : the act of prophesying Examples: "In fact, origin stories are not about the past at all: they are not eyewitness reportage, they are not history, they are not diary entries detailing actual bygone events. Similarly, end-time stories are not about the future...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 31, 2017 is: munificent • \myoo-NIF-uh-sunt\  • adjective 1 : very liberal in giving or bestowing : lavish 2 : characterized by great liberality or generosity Examples: "On the hill, where kites used to be flown, stood the fine college which Mr. Laurence's munificent legacy had built." — Louisa May Alcott, Jo's Boys, 1886 "Each taco is $3, and each is mu...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 30, 2017 is: transpicuous • \tran-SPIK-yuh-wus\  • adjective : clearly seen through or understood Examples: "Measuring and studying a small business is not inherently different from doing it for a large corporation if its financial reports are set up to be transpicuous and to make its activities transparent and there is an incentive for making them so."...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 29, 2017 is: Occam's razor • \AH-kumz-RAY-zer\  • noun : a scientific and philosophic rule that entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily which is interpreted as requiring that the simplest of competing theories be preferred to the more complex or that explanations of unknown phenomena be sought first in terms of known quantities Examples: Invoking...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 28, 2017 is: retrospective • \reh-truh-SPEK-tiv\  • adjective 1 a : contemplative of or relative to past events : characterized by, given to, or indulging in retrospection b : being a generally comprehensive exhibition, compilation, or performance of the work of an artist over a span of years 2 : affecting things past : retroactive Examples: The audit re...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 27, 2017 is: sarcasm • \SAHR-kaz-um\  • noun 1 : a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain 2 a : a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual b : the use or language of sarcasm Examples: "I'm seeing more and more of my frien...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 26, 2017 is: perpend • \per-PEND\  • verb 1 : to reflect on carefully : ponder 2 : to be attentive : reflect Examples: Perpend: it is easier to build on a good first impression than it is to repair a bad one. "Okay folks, it looks like all is not lost. Electronic Arts is at least perpending their stance heading into the next-generation of console gaming...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 25, 2017 is: unreconstructed • \un-ree-kun-STRUK-tud\  • adjective : not reconciled to political, economic, or social change; also : holding stubbornly to a particular belief, view, place, or style Examples: "When Jane Austen wrote 'Pride and Prejudice' in the early years of the 19th century, there was no heroic place for the unreconstructed nerd in the...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 24, 2017 is: nightmare • \NYTE-mair\  • noun 1 : an evil spirit formerly thought to oppress people during sleep 2 : a frightening dream that usually awakens the sleeper 3 : something (such as an experience, situation, or object) having the monstrous character of a nightmare or producing a feeling of anxiety or terror Examples: Since starting the new medi...