Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 21, 2026 is: laconic • \luh-KAH-nik\  • adjective Laconic describes someone or something communicating with few words. Laconic can more narrowly mean "concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious." // The stand-up comedian is known for his laconic wit and mastery of the one-liner. See the entry > Examples: "Elijah did not enjoy all my choices. ... But my son listened closely to every selection. He remembered plot points better than I did and assessed historical figures concisely. 'Mean,' he said of Voltaire. 'Creepy,' summed up Alexander Hamilton. ... Most surprising, my laconic teenager shared my love of Austen. Those hours listening to Pride and Prejudice were some of the happiest of my parenting life." — Allegra Goodman, LitHub.com, 4 Feb. 2025 Did you know? We'll keep it brief. Laconia was once an ancient province in southern Greece. Its capital city was Sparta, and the Spartans were famous for their terseness of speech. Laconic comes to us by way of the Latin word laconicus ("Spartan") from the Greek word lakōnikos. In current use, laconic means "terse" or "concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious," and thus recalls the Spartans' tight-lipped taciturnity.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 20, 2026 is: encapsulate • \in-KAP-suh-layt\  • verb Encapsulate literally means “to enclose in or as if in a capsule,” but the word is more often used figuratively as a synonym of summarize, to talk about showing or expressing a main idea or quality in a brief way. // Can you encapsulate the speech in a single paragraph? // The first song encapsulates the mood of the whole album. // The contaminated material should be encapsulated and removed. See the entry > Examples: “While choosing a single film to encapsulate a quarter-century of cinema is an impossible task, Bong Joon Ho’s dark comedy certainly belongs in the conversation. A scathing satire that links two families of vastly different means, the film’s stars thinly smile through the indignities and social faux pas before a climactic and inevitable eruption of violence.” — Kevin Slane, Boston.com, 2 Jan. 2026 Did you know? We’ll keep it brief by encapsulating the history of this word in just a few sentences. Encapsulate and its related noun, capsule, come to English (via French) from capsula, a diminutive form of the Latin noun capsa, meaning “box.” (Capsa also gave English the word case as it refers to a container or box—not to be confused with the case in “just in case,” which is a separate case.) The earliest examples of encapsulate are for its literal use, “to enclose something in a capsule,” and they date to the late 19th century. Its extended meaning, “to give a summary or synopsis of something,” plays on the notion of a capsule being something compact, self-contained, and often easily digestible.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 19, 2026 is: syllogism • \SIL-uh-jiz-um\  • noun Syllogism refers to a formal argument in logic that is formed by two statements and a conclusion which must be true if the two statements are true. // An example of a syllogism is “All men are mortal; no gods are mortal; therefore no men are gods.” See the entry > Examples: “The Dallas area was a hotbed of competitive debate, and, at first, the oratorical polish of [Rebecca F.] Kuang’s teammates was intimidating. She spent months being coached on the art of the syllogism, a kind of logical argument in which one deduces a conclusion from a set of premises. ‘The idea that you could take something that seemed up to personal charisma or rhetorical choice and map it to this very rigid, argumentative structure was mind-blowing,’ she said.” — Hua Hsu, The New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025 Did you know? For those trained in formal argument, the syllogism is a classical form of deduction, specifically an argument consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion. One example is the inference that “kindness is praiseworthy” from the premises “every virtue is praiseworthy” and “kindness is a virtue.” Syllogism came to English through Anglo-French from the Latin noun syllogismus, which in turn can be traced back to the Greek verb syllogizesthai, which combines logizesthai (meaning “to calculate,” and coming from logos, meaning “word” or “reckoning”) with syl-, which comes from syn-, meaning “with” or “together.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 18, 2026 is: Goldilocks • \GOHL-dee-lahks\  • adjective Goldilocks describes something that has or produces an optimal balance usually between two extremes. In astronomy, it specifically designates an area of planetary orbit neither too hot nor too cold to support life. // The couple, undecided between country and city living, took the Goldilocks option and moved to a bustling college town surrounded by nature. See the entry > Examples: "It's a well-known fact that the time between 3 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon is a liminal space. ... It's too late for lunch, too early for dinner. But it's the Goldilocks hour for a little treat." — Nikita Richardson, The New York Times, 8 May 2025 Did you know? English has always drawn inspiration from fables and fairy tales, stories bursting with metaphors that help users get their verbiage just right: one may fall down a rabbit hole (thank you, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), cry wolf (we see you, Aesop's Fables), or hope one day to meet one's Prince Charming (brava, Cinderella). The adjective Goldilocks is borrowed, of course, from Goldilocks and the Three Bears, a perennial favorite in which a little girl so-named for her golden hair finds the perfect balance between hot and cold, soft and hard, small and large—all in the home of unknowing strangers. Since the mid-1960s, English speakers have applied Goldilocks to all things regarded as perfectly balanced or happily medium. The word has specific applications in astronomy, with the phrase "Goldilocks zone" designating an area of planetary orbit in which temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold to support life.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 17, 2026 is: abdicate • \AB-dih-kayt\  • verb Abdicate usually means “to renounce a position of power, such as a throne, high office, dignity, or function.” It can also mean “to fail to do what is required by (a duty or responsibility).” // I know many challenges lie ahead, but I take this role on willingly, and will not abdicate my responsibility. See the entry > Examples: “The story revolves around a plan by dark forces to kidnap the royal heirs and force the prince to abdicate his throne to an evil wizard.” — Screen Daily, 5 Jan. 2026 Did you know? Give it up for abdicate, a word powerful enough to undo a coronation. If you need a term to describe formally throwing in the towel, this one should prove—perhaps ironically—a royal success. Coming from the Latin verb abdicāre, “to resign, renounce, withdraw,” (which traces back to the verb dīcere, meaning “to speak, state”), abdicate is used primarily for those who give up sovereign power or who evade a very serious responsibility. English has dīcere to thank for a variety of other words, among them dictate, contradict, prediction, and the crown jewel of them all: dictionary.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 16, 2026 is: prerogative • \prih-RAH-guh-tiv\  • noun Prerogative means "right or privilege," and especially refers to a special right or privilege that some people have. // If you'd rather sell the tickets than use them, that's your prerogative. // Education was once only the prerogative of the wealthy. See the entry > Examples: "Successfully arguing an insanity defense, the prerogative of any defendant, is a difficult hurdle." — Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Jan. 2026 Did you know? In ancient Rome, voting at legal assemblies was done by group, with the majority in a group determining the vote. The word for the group chosen to vote first on an issue was praerogātīva, a noun rooted in the Latin verb rogāre, "to ask; to ask an assembly for a decision." When English adopted prerogative from Latin, via Anglo-French, in the 15th century, it took only the idea of the privilege the ancient Roman voting group enjoyed; the English word referred then, as it also does now, to an exclusive or special right, power, or privilege. Often such a prerogative is tied to an office, official body, or nation, but as Bobby Brown reminded us in his 1988 song "My Prerogative," the right to live as you like can also be referred to as a prerogative.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 15, 2026 is: vertiginous • \ver-TIJ-uh-nus\  • adjective Vertiginous is a formal adjective used to describe something that causes or is likely to cause a feeling of dizziness especially because of great height. // As a window washer for some of the city’s tallest skyscrapers, Victor had to quickly master working at vertiginous heights. See the entry > Examples: “The climb is infamous for its heart-pumping switchbacks and vertiginous jaunt along a narrow sliver of crag. Those who fear heights, like me, typically avoid it.” — Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2025 Did you know? The climactic scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Vertigo features, appropriately, a dramatic climb—and fall—from a vertiginous bell tower. Vertiginous, which describes things that cause vertigo (a sensation of motion in which an individual or their surroundings seem to whirl dizzily) comes from the Latin adjective vertiginosus, which in turn comes from the Latin noun vertigo, meaning “a turning or whirling action.” Both words descend from the Latin verb vertere, meaning “to turn.” Vertiginous and vertigo are just two of an almost dizzying array of vertere offspring, from adverse to vortex. The “dizzying” sense of vertiginous is often used figuratively, as in “the vertiginous heights of cinematic legend.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 14, 2026 is: canoodle • \kuh-NOO-dul\  • verb To canoodle with someone is to hug and kiss them in a romantic way. // Two lovers were canoodling on a park bench. See the entry > Examples: “In one dining room, ruby-colored tufted banquettes sit under vintage-inspired chandeliers. In a private room, purple-colored walls give way to cocktail tables where couples might canoodle, sipping martinis.” — Sarah Blaskovich, The Dallas Morning News, 28 Mar. 2025 Did you know? The origins of canoodle are uncertain, but may have their genesis in an English dialect noun of the same spelling meaning “donkey,” “fool,” or “foolish lover.” That canoodle may itself be an alteration of the word noodle, used to mean “a foolish person.” (The fool noodle likely comes from noddle, a word for the head.) The guess seems reasonable given that, since its appearance in the language around the mid-19th century, canoodle has been most often used lightheartedly for playful public displays of affection by couples who are head over heels in love.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 13, 2026 is: rapscallion • \rap-SKAL-yun\  • noun The word rapscallion refers to someone who causes trouble, often in a mischievous way. It appears in the same sorts of contexts as rascal and scamp. // The movie follows the story of a rambunctious young rapscallion who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. See the entry > Examples: “Charlie Brown evolved into a world-class underdog. ‘Originally, Charlie Brown was a bit of a rapscallion, a bit of a wiseass,’ [Chris] Mautner said. ‘There is a certain point, after a year or two, when he starts to become the butt of jokes, when he starts being a lonely kid. Once [Charles] Schulz hit upon that, Charlie Brown got it pretty bad for a long time.’” — Jim Beckerman, The Record (Bergen County, New Jersey), 9 Oct. 2025 Did you know? The word rascal has been part of English since the 15th century, but it apparently failed to fully capture the disagreeable nature of the wily knaves of yore: by the 16th century, English speakers had expanded rascal to rascallion. But it seems that even that term didn’t sound quite mischievous enough. Eventually, rascallion was further altered, resulting in the snappier, plosive-enhanced rapscallion. And although rapscallion has zero connection with scallion, it does add a figuratively spicy kick to one’s speech, not unlike chawbacon and other cheeky insults that may be of interest and use.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 12, 2026 is: endemic • \en-DEM-ik\  • adjective When used for a plant or animal species, endemic describes something that grows or exists in a certain place or area, and often specifically something restricted to a particular locality or region. Endemic is also used to describe diseases that persist over time in a particular region or population. It can also mean “common in a particular area or field.” // Our children were excited to finally see wild giant pandas—endemic to just three provinces in south-central China—during our family vacation. // He eventually learned that low wages were endemic to his line of work, but he continued nevertheless to pursue his passion. See the entry > Examples: “Though less charismatic than the improbably pastel pink birds, unique endemic plants have achieved impressive feats of resourcefulness and endurance. Indeed, scientists have called the region an ‘unparalleled natural laboratory’ to understand how plants adapt to ‘extreme environmental conditions.’” — Thea Riofrancos, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism, 2025 Did you know? Ever wonder how endemic ended up in the English language? It arrived via French and New Latin, with its ultimate origin likely in the Greek adjective éndēmos, which describes (among other things) a disease confined to one area. Éndēmos was formed from en- ( “in”) and a form of the noun dêmos, meaning “district, country, people.” That word was also key to the formation of the earlier word on which éndēmos was modeled: epidēmia, meaning “disease affecting a large number of individuals.” English adopted epidemic (also via French) in the early 17th century, but endemic didn’t become, uh, endemic until a century and a half later. (The familiar relation pandemic slipped into the language in the mid 17th.) In current use, endemic characterizes diseases that are generally found in a particular area—malaria, for example, is said to be endemic to tropical and subtropical regions—while epidemic indicates a sudden, severe outbreak within a region or group. Endemic is also used by biologists to characterize plant and animal species that are found only in a given area.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 11, 2026 is: tabula rasa • \TAB-yuh-luh-RAH-zuh\  • noun In general use, tabula rasa refers to something existing in an original pristine state. In philosophy, tabula rasa refers to the mind in its hypothetical primary blank or empty state before receiving outside impressions. // The apartment was only just renovated, and everything is clean and white; it's a tabula rasa, ready for a new occupant. See the entry > Examples: “Bella, née Victoria, is a living breathing tabula rasa unfettered by societal pressures, propriety, or niceties.” — Ryan Lattanzio, Indie Wire, 16 June 2025 Did you know? Philosophers have been arguing that babies are born with minds that are essentially blank slates since the days of Aristotle. (Later, some psychologists took up the position as well.) English speakers have called that initial state of mental emptiness tabula rasa (a term taken from a Latin phrase that translates as “smooth or erased tablet”) since the 16th century, but it wasn't until British philosopher John Locke championed the concept in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1690 that the term gained widespread popularity in our language. In later years, a figurative sense of the term emerged, referring to something that exists in an original state and has yet to be altered by outside forces.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 10, 2026 is: besmirch • \bih-SMERCH\  • verb To besmirch the reputation, name, honor, etc. of someone or something is to cause harm or damage to it. // The allegations have besmirched the company's reputation. See the entry > Examples: "... in 1895, a ruthless public smear campaign hinging on [Oscar] Wilde's queerness led to the author's imprisonment, outing, and eventual exile. ... Famously, the British press conspired to draw the dramatist's name through the mud, besmirching his literary legacy for generations to follow." — Brittany Allen, LitHub.com, 20 Oct. 2025 Did you know? The prefix be- has several applications in English; in the case of besmirch, it means "to make or cause to be." But what does smirch itself mean? Since the 1400s, smirch has been used as a verb meaning "to make dirty, stained, or discolored." Besmirch joined English in the early 1600s, and today smirch and besmirch are both used when something—and especially something abstract, like a reputation—is being figuratively sullied, i.e., damaged or harmed. Besmirch isn't unique in its journey; English has a history of attaching be- to existing verbs to form synonyms. For example, befriend combines be- in its "to make or cause to be" sense with the verb friend, meaning "to act as the friend of." Befuddle combines be- in its "thoroughly" sense with fuddle, meaning "to stupefy with or as if with drink." And befog combines be- in its "to provide or cover with" sense with fog, meaning "to cover with or as if with fog."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 9, 2026 is: fortuitous • \for-TOO-uh-tus\  • adjective Fortuitous is a formal word that usually describes something that comes or happens by a lucky chance. It can also mean “happening by chance” and “fortunate, lucky.” // The fact that we were both there was a fortuitous coincidence. // You could not have arrived at a more fortuitous time. See the entry > Examples: “The timing of the hit’s resurgence proved fortuitous: She had nearly wrapped the recording for 2025 full-length Pressure ... and the scorching hot single provided a push in the lead-up.” — Mackenzie Cummings-Grady, Billboard, 11 Nov. 2025 Did you know? Before its meaning expanded, fortuitous meant one thing only: “happening by chance.” This was no accident; its Latin forebear, fortuitus, shares the same ancient root as fors, the Latin word for “chance.” But the fact that fortuitous sounds like a blend of fortunate and felicitous (“happily suited to an occasion”) likely led to a second meaning of “fortunate, lucky,” with the seeds of the newer sense perhaps planted by writers applying overtones of good fortune to something that is a random occurrence. The “lucky” use has been disparaged by critics, but it is now well established. Irregardless (cough), employing this sense in sterner company may be considered chancy.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 8, 2026 is: meme • \MEEM\  • noun Meme is used popularly to refer to an amusing or interesting picture, video, etc. that is spread widely online. It can also refer to an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture. // Though the two friends now live on opposite coasts, they still keep in touch constantly, texting and sending their favorite funny cat memes back and forth. See the entry > Examples: “Shane Hinton, a meteorologist for CBS News Miami, posted a Facebook meme earlier this week that showed a 70-degree spread between Miami’s near record 85 and Minneapolis’ 15.” — Howard Cohen, The Miami Herald, 5 Dec. 2025 Did you know? In his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, British scientist Richard Dawkins defended his newly coined word meme, which he defined as “a unit of cultural transmission.” Having first considered, then rejected, mimeme, he wrote: “Mimeme comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like gene.” (The suitable Greek root was mim-, meaning “mime” or “mimic.” The English suffix -eme indicates a distinctive unit of language structure, as in grapheme, lexeme, and phoneme.) Like any good meme, meme caught on and evolved, eventually developing the meaning known to anyone who spends time online, where it’s most often used to refer to any one of those silly captioned photos that the Internet can’t seem to get enough of.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 7, 2026 is: imbue • \im-BYOO\  • verb Imbue has two common meanings: "to permeate or influence as if by dyeing" and "to provide with something freely or naturally." In the second use it is usually used with with. // A deep sense of history imbues the artist's work. // The children were imbued with a passion for nature by their parents, both biologists. See the entry > Examples: "Aged cachaça, like fine whiskey, derives its complexity from the barrels it's matured in. There are dozens of different Brazilian woods cachaça can be aged in, and each imbues the spirit with its distinct flavor, resulting in varieties that are more floral or herbal, nutty or woody, savory or spiced." — Rebekah Peppler, The New York Times, 5 Dec. 2025 Did you know? Like its synonym infuse, imbue implies the introduction of one thing into another so as to affect it throughout. Someone's voice can be imbued with pride, for example, or a photograph might be imbued with a sense of melancholy. In the past imbue was also used synonymously with imbrue, an obscure word meaning "to drench or stain," but the two words are likely unrelated. Imbue comes from the Latin verb imbuere, meaning "to dye, wet, or moisten," while imbrue has been traced back through Anglo-French and Old French to the Latin verb bibere, meaning "to drink."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 6, 2026 is: sartorial • \sahr-TOR-ee-ul\  • adjective Sartorial broadly means “of or relating to clothes,” but it often more specifically means “of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes.” // This particular English teacher is known both for engaging students deeply in literature and for her eccentric sartorial tastes. See the entry > Examples: “As always, the Princess’s sartorial elegance shone through this year, with her championing British designers, turning to old favourites and adorning treasures she’s been gifted from the royal family over the years.” — Hello! Magazine (UK), 30 Dec. 2025 Did you know? Study the seams in the word sartorial and you’ll find the common adjective suffix -ial and sartor, a Medieval Latin noun meaning “tailor.” (Sartor comes ultimately from Latin sarcire, “to mend.”) Sartorial has bedecked the English language since the early decades of the 19th century as a word describing things relating to clothes and to tailors, while sartor, though never fully adopted into the language, has also seen occasional use as a synonym for tailor. A third word shares the same root: sartorius (plural sartorii) refers to the longest muscle in the human body. Crossing the front of the thigh obliquely, it assists in rotating the leg to the cross-legged position in which the knees are spread wide apart—and in which tailors have traditionally sat.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 5, 2026 is: adulation • \aj-uh-LAY-shun\  • noun Adulation refers to extreme or excessive admiration, flattery, or praise. // The triumphant players were greeted with shouts of adulation. See the entry > Examples: “Curators focus on the sunnier side of Elvis's tragic story, yet Graceland still provides an intimate glimpse into superstardom and all that comes with it: the adulation, the opulence, the hangers-on and the darkness that counterbalances such a burst of light.” — Rick Rojas, The New York Times, 29 Nov. 2025 Did you know? If witnessing a display of adulation reminds you of a dog panting after its beloved person, you’ve picked up adulation’s etymological “scent”; the word ultimately comes from the Latin verb adūlārī, meaning “to fawn on” (a sense used specifically of the affectionate behavior of dogs) or “to praise insincerely.” Adulation has been in use in English since the 15th century. The verb adulate, noun adulator, and adjective adulatory followed dutifully behind.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 4, 2026 is: diaphanous • \dye-AF-uh-nus\  • adjective Diaphanous is a formal word used to describe fabric of a texture so fine that one can see through it. Diaphanous is also sometimes used figuratively to describe something characterized by extreme delicacy of form. // The bride looked radiant in her floor-length gown and diaphanous veil. See the entry > Examples: "With a bright pattern set on flaming crimson and a diaphanous petticoat underneath, the dress fits her perfectly." — David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025 Did you know? What do the words diaphanous, epiphany, fancy, phenomenon, sycophant, emphasis, and phase all have in common? The Greek word phaínein shows more clearly in some of these words than in others, but it underlies all of them. The groundwork for diaphanous was laid when phaínein (meaning "to bring to light, cause to appear") was combined with the prefix dia- (meaning "through"). From that pairing came the Greek diaphanḗs ("transparent"), parent of the Medieval Latin diaphanus, which is the direct ancestor of the English word.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 3, 2026 is: hornswoggle • \HORN-swah-gul\  • verb To hornswoggle someone is to trick or deceive them. // I think we were hornswoggled by that magician. See the entry > Examples: "Netflix users have been warned to look out for an insidious, AI-powered email scam that looks nearly indistinguishable from the real deal. ... If you have been already hornswoggled by such a scheme, Netflix advises changing your password and reaching out to your bank." — Ben Cost, The New York Post, 3 Mar. 2025 Did you know? Hornswoggle is a slang word of some considerable mystery, at least where its etymology is concerned. The word appears to have originated in the southern United States in the early 19th century. The earliest known written record comes from an 1829 issue of The Virginia Literary Magazine in its glossary of Americanisms. The magazine states that hornswoggle comes from Kentucky, and that its oddness matches nicely with other 19th-century Americanisms, such as sockdolager, absquatulate, callithump, slumgullion, and skedaddle. While the exact point at which hornswoggle entered our language, and the way in which it was formed, may remain unknown, it is a charming addition to our language, joining bamboozle and honeyfuggle as colorful ways to say "to deceive."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 2, 2026 is: prescience • \PRESH-ee-unss\  • noun Prescience is a formal word used to refer to the ability to see or anticipate what will or might happen in the future. // He predicted the public's response to the proposed legislation with remarkable prescience. See the entry > Examples: "... novelists have always faced technological and social upheaval. They have mostly addressed it in one of two ways. The first is to imagine an altered future with the prescience of science fiction; Mary Shelley's warning that humans are not always in control of their creations is, if anything, even more resonant today than when Frankenstein was first published in 1818." — Jessi Jezewska Stevens, The Dial, 2 Dec. 2025 Did you know? If you know the origin of science you already know half the story of prescience. Science comes from the Latin verb sciō, scīre, "to know," also source of such words as conscience, conscious, and omniscience. Prescience has as its ancestor a word that attached prae-, a predecessor of pre-, to this root to make praescire, meaning "to know beforehand."