Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 24, 2014 is: Job's comforter • \JOHBZ-KUM-fer-ter\  • noun : a person who discourages or depresses while seemingly giving comfort and consolation Examples: Danny, a reliable Job's comforter, assured Shane that the girl who'd broken his heart had always been out of his league. "It's a blessing for me, he said, that my joints are frozen solid with the a...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23, 2014 is: recusant • \REK-yuh-zunt\  • adjective : refusing to submit to authority Examples: Elizabeth's recusant streak was apparent even in elementary school, where she would frequently challenge the rules put forth by her teachers. "The third volume, covering the English Civil War and its aftermath, offers more of the same smoothly readable anal...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 22, 2014 is: shrive • \SHRYVE\  • verb 1 : to administer the sacrament of reconciliation to 2 : to free from guilt Examples: "Once every three months, Pancho took his savings and drove into Monterey to confess his sins, to do his penance, and be shriven and to get drunk, in the order named." - John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven, 1932 "Members of C...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 21, 2014 is: golden handcuffs • \GOHL-dun-HAND-kufs\  • noun : special benefits offered to an employee as an inducement to continue service Examples: It was in the company's interests to offer Janice a set of golden handcuffs in the form of company stock, since her connections and knowledge of industry secrets would not be easy to replace. "Coffey qui...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 20, 2014 is: weal • \WEEL\  • noun : a sound, healthy, or prosperous state : well-being Examples: The president spoke of devotion to the common weal and the hope of creating a better country. "'Higher healthcare costs'? No one could be for that, so the campaign [against it] looks like a flag-carrier for the public weal." - Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 19, 2014 is: officious • \uh-FISH-us\  • adjective 1 : volunteering one's services where they are neither asked nor needed : meddlesome 2 : informal, unofficial Examples: Staff members view the new consultant as an officious individual offering unwanted feedback, but she is simply doing her job. "During an interview this week with Morris News, Saxby,...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 18, 2014 is: leitmotif • \LYTE-moh-teef\  • noun 1 : a melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation in a music drama 2 : a dominant recurring theme Examples: The overcoming of obstacles and a love of theater are the two leitmotifs of her autobiography. "'Collaboration' is the author's supporting theme, an...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 17, 2014 is: rife • \RYFE\  • adjective 1 : prevalent especially to an increasing degree 2 : abundant, common 3 : copiously supplied : abounding Examples: After the newspaper's managing editor was fired, speculation was rife about who would replace him. "In the battle over Amendment 2, Drug Free Florida has decried the medical marijuana ballot initiat...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 16, 2014 is: meliorism • \MEE-lee-uh-riz-um\  • noun : the belief that the world tends to improve and that humans can aid its betterment Examples: The author's meliorism is evident in such statements as, "I believe that peace is inevitable." "Eric Schlosser's fine Fast Food Nation wavered between a pragmatic meliorism, devoted to reforming the meatpac...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 15, 2014 is: execrable • \EK-sih-kruh-bul\  • adjective 1 : deserving to be execrated : detestable 2 : very bad : wretched Examples: It turned out that the execrable odor was coming from a bag of onions rotting in the back of the pantry. "If the waiter laid my plate on the table and said, 'Eat!' I wouldn't mind. But 'Enjoy!' is another matter. There's...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 14, 2014 is: devise • \dih-VYZE\  • verb 1 a : to form in the mind by new combinations or applications of ideas or principles : invent b : to plan to obtain or bring about : plot 2 : to give (real estate) by will Examples: The author's childhood home was devised to the city and the Historical Commission will turn it into a museum devoted to her life....

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 13, 2014 is: threnody • \THREN-uh-dee\  • noun : a song of lamentation for the dead : elegy Examples: Christina wrote the poem as a threnody for her grandmother, who had died the previous spring. "Ian Hobson will lead the Sinfonia strings in Strauss' 'Metamorphosen,' his threnody on the destruction of German musical monuments at the end of World War I...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 12, 2014 is: hallowed • \HAL-ohd\  • adjective 1 : holy, consecrated 2 : sacred, revered Examples: "He who enters a university walks on hallowed ground," declared Harvard President James Bryant Conant on the celebration of that institution's 300th anniversary. "People pass Richards Memorial Park every day, many without knowing the amount of rich Talbo...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 11, 2014 is: anodyne • \AN-uh-dyne\  • adjective 1 : serving to alleviate pain 2 : not likely to offend or arouse tensions Examples: The group's latest album is a fairly anodyne affair; it contains a number of lively tunes that are easy on the ears, but which play it far too safe to ever be anything more than passing amusements. "British comics in the...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 10, 2014 is: egregious • \ih-GREE-juss\  • adjective : conspicuous; especially : conspicuously bad : flagrant Examples: It was an egregious breach of theater etiquette on Eugene's part when he left his cell phone on during the play and it rang during an important scene. "Stanford still leads in the nation in scoring defense, but had perhaps the most e...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 9, 2014 is: injunction • \in-JUNK-shun\  • noun 1 : the act or an instance of enjoining : order, admonition 2 : a court order requiring a party to do or refrain from doing a specified act Examples: The family gathered in the room to hear the matriarch's dying injunctions. "A Superior Court judge Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction preventing a San...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 8, 2014 is: Byzantine • \BIZ-un-teen\  • adjective 1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient city of Byzantium or of the Byzantine Empire 2 : of or relating to the churches using a traditional Greek rite and subject to Eastern canon law 3 often not capitalized : of, relating to, or characterized by a devious and usually surreptitious manne...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 7, 2014 is: prototype • \PROH-tuh-type\  • noun 1 : an original model on which something is patterned : archetype 2 : an individual that exhibits the essential features of a later type 3 : a standard or typical example 4 : a first full-scale and usually functional form of a new type or design of a construction (such as an airplane) Examples: It's not...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 6, 2014 is: chouse • \CHOWSS\  • verb : cheat, trick Examples: In Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, the miserable Mr. Cruncher fumes, "If I ain't … been choused this last week into as bad luck as ever a poor devil of a honest tradesman met with!" "The 18th fairway Saturday afternoon bore a scene only accessible in a gentrified sport such as golf; Polson...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 5, 2014 is: trenchant • \TREN-chunt\  • adjective 1 : keen, sharp 2 : vigorously effective and articulate; also : caustic 3 a : sharply perceptive : penetrating b : clear-cut, distinct Examples: The daily news satire show not only offers a healthy dose of laughs but also trenchant commentary on the current events of the day. "Nowhere was hayseed diale...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 4, 2014 is: demagogue • \DEM-uh-gahg\  • noun : a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power Examples: The nation's voters ousted their incumbent president for a demagogue who persuasively capitalized on fears of another recession. "Messrs. Cameron, Miliband and Clegg were personally far less popula...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 3, 2014 is: fusty • \FUSS-tee\  • adjective 1 : saturated with dust and stale odors : musty 2 : rigidly old-fashioned or reactionary Examples: We opened the windows to air out the fusty room. "Unlike so many fusty historical monuments, her statue appears alive, with the writer’s cloak blowing in the wind, a huge raven flying in his path and a trail of...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 2, 2014 is: malapropism • \noun\  • MAL-uh-prah-piz-um 1 : the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; especially : the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong in the context 2 : an example of malapropism : malaprop Examples: Unloosing one of his frequent malapropisms, grandfather...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 1, 2014 is: simplistic • \sim-PLISS-tik\  • adjective : excessively simple : not complete or thorough enough : not treating or considering all possibilities or parts Examples: The statistics are based on a simplistic study of a small, unrepresentative population and cannot be applied to the broader population. "Although the movie loses steam by its si...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 31, 2014 is: adduce • \uh-DOOSS\  • verb : to offer as example, reason, or proof in discussion or analysis Examples: "The arguments she had adduced rang true." - Agatha Christie, The Secret Adversary, 1922 "Morris asserts that productive war makes governments, which in turn ensure peace and prosperity. He adduces the Roman Empire as his prime example."...