Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 23, 2009 is: pleonasm • \PLEE-uh-naz-um\  • noun 1 : the use of more words than those necessary to denote mere sense : redundancy 2 : an instance or example of pleonasm Examples: "One pleonasm that bugs me is 'free gift,'" said Donna. "After all, how can anything be a gift if it isn't free?" Did you know? "Pleonasm," which stems via Late Latin from th...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 22, 2009 is: exorbitant • \ig-ZOR-buh-tunt\  • adjective 1 : not coming within the scope of the law 2 : exceeding the customary or appropriate limits in intensity, quality, amount, or size Examples: I asked what the rent was for the apartment, and my jaw dropped open when they quoted me an exorbitant sum. Did you know? The first use of "exorbitant" in...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 21, 2009 is: fugleman • \FYOO-gul-mun\  • noun : one at the head or forefront of a group or movement Examples: Yemelyan Pugachov emerged in 18th-century Russia as fugleman of a mass rebellion among his fellow Cossacks, serfs, factory workers, and religious dissidents. Did you know? A fugleman (adapted from the German "Flügelmann," literally "wing man"...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 20, 2009 is: spume • \SPYOOM\  • noun : frothy matter on liquids : foam, scum Examples: The spume and sea spray from the rising tide made the rocks along the beach slick and treacherous. Did you know? "Spume" is a word for froth or foam that has been a part of the English lexicon for more than 600 years. An early example is found in a 14th-century quo...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 19, 2009 is: whipsaw • \WIP-saw\  • verb 1 : to saw with a whipsaw 2 : to beset or victimize in two opposite ways at once, by a two-phase operation, or by the collusive action of two opponents Examples: "Wage earners have been whipsawed by inflation and high taxes for too long," proclaimed the Senator. Did you know? A whipsaw is a type of handsaw work...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 18, 2009 is: diminution • \dim-uh-NOO-shun\  • noun : the act, process, or an instance of diminishing : decrease Examples: After seeing a diminution in his restaurant’s profits for the third quarter in a row, George reluctantly set about revising his business model. Did you know? We find "diminution" in print for the first time in Geoffrey Chaucer's p...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 17, 2009 is: hackle • \HACK-ul\  • noun 1 : one of the long feathers on the neck or back of a bird 2 : hairs (as on a dog's neck) that can be erected 3 : temper, dander Examples: The Senator's aggressive stance toward illegal immigration has raised some hackles. Did you know? In its earliest uses in the 15th century, "hackle" denoted either a bird's n...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 16, 2009 is: gadarene • \GAD-uh-reen\  • adjective : headlong, precipitate Examples: Ross has criticized his company for joining the gadarene rush into the global market. Did you know? Gadara, in Biblical times, was a steep hill town just southeast of the Sea of Galilee. In the account given in the book of Matthew (8:28), Jesus, on a visit there, exor...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 15, 2009 is: myriad • \MEER-ee-ud\  • noun 1 : ten thousand 2 : a great number Examples: The newspaper office received a myriad of e-mails telling them about the three incorrect clues in Sunday's crossword puzzle. Did you know? In English, the "ten thousand" sense of "myriad" mostly appears in references to Ancient Greece, such as the following from T...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 14, 2009 is: spoony • \SPOO-nee\  • adjective 1 : silly, foolish; especially : unduly sentimental 2 : being sentimentally in love Examples: It was Valentine's Day and spoony couples were enjoying romantic candlelit dinners at the city's many fine restaurants. Did you know? In 19th-century British slang, "spoon" meant "simpleton" (a meaning that may ha...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 13, 2009 is: keelhaul • \KEEL-hawl\  • verb 1 : to haul under the keel of a ship as punishment or torture 2 : to rebuke severely Examples: "The movie gives voice to the growing number of people who are concerned with corporate abuses but do not want to keelhaul Wall Street." (Alan Saracevic, The San Francisco Chronicle, May 30, 2004) Did you know? In...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 12, 2009 is: slumgullion • \SLUM-gull-yun\  • noun : a meat stew Examples: On Monday nights at the mess hall, the enlisted men and women could expect a meal of slumgullion made from the previous week’s leftovers. Did you know? "Slumgullion" may not sound like the most appetizing name for a dish, but that’s part of its charm. The word’s etymology doesn...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 11, 2009 is: lexical • \LEK-sih-kul\  • adjective 1 : of or relating to words or the vocabulary of a language as distinguished from its grammar and construction 2 : of or relating to a lexicon or to lexicography Examples: As stated in the catalog, the university’s second-year language courses were designed to emphasize lexical skills. Did you know? Th...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 10, 2009 is: anecdote • \AN-ik-doht\  • noun : a usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident Examples: Pastor Andrews often included light-hearted anecdotes from his personal experience in his Sunday sermons. Did you know? The Byzantine official Procopius wrote three historical works in Greek. In the first two, he deal...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 9, 2009 is: metathesis • \muh-TATH-uh-sis\  • noun a : a change of place or condition: as b : transposition of two phonemes in a word c : a chemical reaction in which different kinds of molecules exchange parts to form other kinds of molecules Examples: When I listened to the recording of the child's speech, I noticed several instances of metathesis....

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 8, 2009 is: kinesics • \kuh-NEE-siks\  • noun : a systematic study of the relationship between nonlinguistic body motions (as blushes, shrugs, or eye movement) and communication Examples: Marianne has enrolled in a class in kinesics this semester to fulfill a requirement for her theater major. Did you know? Anthropologists began to take serious intere...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 7, 2009 is: quantal • \KWAHN-tul\  • adjective 1 : of, relating to, or having only two experimental alternatives (as dead or alive, all or none) 2 : of or relating to a quantum Examples: The experiment with the herbicide will generate a quantal response -- either the plant to which it is applied will survive, or it will die. Did you know? In Latin, "q...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 6, 2009 is: clepe • \KLEP\  • verb : to name or to call Examples: The Maxwells' boat was a beautiful old wooden sloop, yclept "True Love." Did you know? "Clepe" itself is a word that is considered archaic and nearly obsolete, but its past participle "yclept" (pronounced ih-KLEPT) continues to be used, albeit rarely. In Old English, the prefix "ge-" de...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 5, 2009 is: girandole • \JEER-un-dohl\  • noun 1 : a radiating and showy composition (as a cluster of skyrockets fired together) 2 : an ornamental branched candlestick 3 : a pendant earring usually with three ornaments hanging from a central piece Examples: "I sat in my usual nook, and looked at him with the light of the girandoles on the mantelpiece...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 4, 2009 is: cognate • \KAHG-nayt\  • adjective 1 : of the same or similar nature 2 : related; especially : related by descent from the same ancestral language Examples: Sean is a professor of astronomy whose background includes extensive work in the cognate fields of mathematics and physics. Did you know? The story of "cognate" is all relative: that i...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 3, 2009 is: unreconstructed • \un-ree-kun-STRUK-tud\  • adjective : not reconciled to some political, economic, or social change; also : holding stubbornly to a particular belief, view, place, or style Examples: My uncle, a self-designated unreconstructed liberal who wrote frequent letters to the editor, was never one to keep his opinions to himself....

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 2, 2009 is: cyberpunk • \SY-ber-punk\  • noun 1 : science fiction dealing with future urban societies dominated by computer technology 2 : an opportunistic computer hacker Examples: Cyberpunk -- with its androids and cyborgs and human-electronic networks -- almost turns reading into a computer game. Did you know? In science fiction circles, "cyberpunk...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 1, 2009 is: preternatural • \pree-ter-NATCH-uh-rul\  • adjective 1 : existing outside of nature 2 : exceeding what is natural or regular : extraordinary 3 : inexplicable by ordinary means; especially : psychic Examples: Louis Armstrong's preternatural talent set him apart from the other musicians of his day, and his style and compositions have influen...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 31, 2009 is: cryptic • \KRIP-tik\  • adjective 1 : secret, occult 2 : meant to be puzzling or mysterious Examples: The note that Mrs. Drake confiscated from her students contained a cryptic message that she could not decipher. Did you know? The history of "cryptic" starts with "kryptein," a Greek word meaning "to hide." Can you uncover other "kryptein"...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 30, 2009 is: garble • \GAR-bul\  • verb 1 : to sift impurities from 2 a : to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression or change the meaning b : to introduce textual error into (a message) by inaccurate encipherment, transmission, or decipherment Examples: Jim's stage debut was a success, for the most part, though he did garble a few of his l...