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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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Build your vocabulary with Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day! Each day a Merriam-Webster editor offers insight into a fascinating new word -- explaining its meaning, current use, and little-known details about its origin.
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flout

flout

2024-03-2802:33

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 28, 2024 is: flout • \FLOUT\  • verb To flout something, such as a law or rule, is to treat it with contemptuous disregard. A teenager flouting a curfew, for example, will not hide the fact that they are out past the time they are required to be home. // The court found that the company had continued to flout the law despite multiple warnings. See the entry > Examples: "Bringing a queer sensibility and a deep understanding of Modern Orthodox Jewish tradition to novel writing, [Temim] Fruchter asks whether finding comfort in mystery is a viable alternative to standard happy endings or bleak fates. 'City of Laughter' argues that flouting convention makes space for more authentic, expansive stories and more authentic, expansive lives." — Lauren LeBlanc, The New York Times, 13 Jan. 2024 Did you know? If you flout a rule or societal norm, you ignore it without hiding what you're doing, or showing fear or shame; you flout it "out" in the open. The similar-sounding word flaunt is sometimes used in the same way, though that word's older and more common meaning is "to display ostentatiously," as in "people who flaunt their wealth." Critics have been objecting to the confusion of these two words since the early 1900s, but use of flaunt with the meaning "to treat with contemptuous disregard" is found in even polished, edited writing, and so that meaning is included in dictionaries as an established use of the word. Nonetheless, you may want to avoid it: there are still many who judge harshly those who (they feel) are flouting proper English usage.
auxiliary

auxiliary

2024-03-2702:47

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 27, 2024 is: auxiliary • \awg-ZILL-yuh-ree\  • adjective In general use, auxiliary describes someone or something available to provide extra help, power, etc., when it is needed. In linguistics, an auxiliary verb (also called a “helping verb”) is used with another verb to do things like show a verb’s tense or form a question. In nautical contexts, auxiliary can describe a sailboat equipped with a supplementary inboard engine, or a vessel that provides supplementary assistance to other ships. // The auditorium has an auxiliary cooling system used only on particularly sweltering days. // “Are” in “They are arriving soon” is an auxiliary verb. See the entry > Examples: “The popular museum on the National Mall—and its auxiliary Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia—have hundreds of objects on display having to do with flight on Earth, but this will be the first having to do with autonomous flight on another planet.” — Roger Catlin, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Feb. 2024 Did you know? What would we do if you sang out of tune—would we stand up and walk out on you? Not likely! Instead, we would provide auxiliary harmonies, joining our voices with yours in support. And if you need a little help from your friends in understanding the meaning of auxiliary, we’re here for that, too—just lend us your ears. Auxiliary, which comes from the Latin noun auxilium, meaning “aid,” “assistance,” or “reinforcement,” is used in a wide range of capacities in English to describe a person or thing that assists another. A fire department may bring in auxiliary units, for example, to battle a tough blaze, or a sailboat may be equipped with an auxiliary engine to supply propulsion when the wind disappears. In grammar, an auxiliary verb assists another (main) verb to express person, number, mood, or tense, such as have in “They have now been informed about the meaning of auxiliary.” Isn’t auxiliary fab?
kismet

kismet

2024-03-2602:241

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 26, 2024 is: kismet • \KIZZ-met\  • noun Kismet refers to a power that is believed to control what happens in the future. It is synonymous with both fate and destiny. // From the moment we met, we felt connected; we knew it was kismet. See the entry > Examples: "I'd been a fan of Fantasia since she laid on that floor [on 'American Idol'] and sang 'Summertime,' because, I swear, she was singing to me. I voted for her until my finger was numb. I've always been a fan of hers—and she says the same thing about me. We always wanted to meet each other. It was kismet. So it was easy. The chemistry was natural." — Taraji P. Henson, quoted in The Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2024 Did you know? Is it your fate to tie macramé while drinking coffee and eating sherbet in a minaret? That would be an unusual destiny, but if it turns out to be your kismet, you will owe much to Turkish and Arabic. We borrowed kismet from Turkish in the 1800s, but it ultimately comes from the Arabic word qisma, meaning "portion" or "lot." Several other terms in our bizarre opening question (namely, macramé, coffee, sherbet, and minaret) have roots in those languages too. In the case of macramé and minaret, there is a little French influence as well. Coffee and macramé also have Italian relations, and sherbet has an ancestor in a Persian name for a type of cold drink.
genuflect

genuflect

2024-03-2502:16

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 25, 2024 is: genuflect • \JEN-yuh-flekt\  • verb To genuflect is to kneel, or nearly kneel, on one knee and then rise again in worship or as an act of respect. In figurative use, genuflect means "to be humbly obedient or respectful." // Churchgoers genuflected before the altar. // The politician was criticized for genuflecting to corporate interests. See the entry > Examples: "Many of the people whom director Rob Reiner has throwing bouquets during this documentary—Steven Spielberg, Larry David, Jon Stewart, Conan O’Brien and Sharon Stone among them—are all more famous than Mr. [Albert] Brooks, but genuflect before his comedic genius." — John Anderson, The Wall Street Journal, 9 Nov. 2023 Did you know? Today we give reverence to genuflect, which comes from the Late Latin word genuflectere, formed from the noun genu ("knee") and the verb flectere ("to bend"). Flectere appears in the etymologies of a number of more common verbs, such as reflect ("to bend or throw back light") and deflect ("to turn aside"). By comparison genu has seen little use in English, but it did give us geniculate, a word used in scientific contexts to mean "bent abruptly at an angle like a bent knee." Despite the resemblance, words such as genius and genuine are not related to genuflect; instead, they are related (genius directly, and genuine indirectly) to the Latin verb gignere, meaning "to beget."
megillah

megillah

2024-03-2402:39

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 24, 2024 is: megillah • \muh-GHIL-uh\  • noun Megillah is slang for a long, involved story or account. Megillah can also refer to a complicated sequence of events, or it can be used as a synonym of ball of wax meaning “everything involved in what is under consideration.” All three senses of megillah are often preceded by the adjective whole. // Don’t worry about reciting the whole megillah from last night’s game; just give me the highlights. // Our grandfather always made a whole megillah out of Sundays, waking up before dawn to visit yard sales, then cooking a big meal in the afternoons for our extended family. See the entry > Examples: “What’s in a middle name? Pretty much the whole megillah, for the media scion known as Kendall Logan Roy. That middle name is more than just his father’s branding—it’s the gravitational core around which Kendall’s selfhood swings. For four seasons of ‘Succession,’ we’ve watched the mercurial magnate’s second son and occasional heir apparent strain against his birthright, sometimes plotting to overthrow his father, other times weeping submissively into his chest.” — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 25 May 2023 Did you know? Megillah comes from the Yiddish word megile, which itself comes from the Hebrew noun mĕgillāh, meaning “scroll” or “volume.” (Mĕgillāh is especially likely to be used in reference to the Book of Esther, which is read aloud at Purim celebrations.) It makes sense, then, that when megillah first appeared in English in the early 20th century, it referred to a story that was so long (and often tedious or complicated) that it was reminiscent of the length of the mĕgillāh scrolls. The Hebrew word is serious, but the Yiddish megile can be somewhat playful, and English’s megillah has also inherited that lightheartedness.
pedantic

pedantic

2024-03-2302:291

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 23, 2024 is: pedantic • \pih-DAN-tik\  • adjective Pedantic describes someone or something that exhibits the characteristics of a pedant—that is, a person who often annoys other people by correcting small errors and giving too much attention to minor details. Pedantic also means “narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned.” // Their habit of reminding fellow birders that the bird is called a “Canada goose” and not a “Canadian goose” came across as pedantic rather than helpful. // Several attendees walked out of the lecture due to the pedantic nature of the presentation. See the entry > Examples: “Published ... in 1818, ‘Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus’ is a terrifying, thought-provoking novel about the nature of humanity and the consequences of bringing life into the world. The titular character, as many a pedantic fan will have you know, isn’t the monster but his creator Victor Frankenstein.” — Wilson Chapman, Indie Wire, 12 Feb. 2024 Did you know? In Shakespeare’s day, a pedant was a male schoolteacher. The word’s meaning was close to that of the Italian pedante, from which the English word was adapted. Someone who was pedantic was simply a tutor or teacher. But some instructional pedants of the day must have been pompous and dull because by the early 1600s both pedant and pedantic had gained extended senses applying to anyone who was obnoxiously and tediously devoted to their own academic acumen. When describing arguments, pedantic can be used for instances where one relies too heavily on minor details as a way to show off one’s intelligence.
dragoon

dragoon

2024-03-2202:21

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 22, 2024 is: dragoon • \druh-GOON\  • verb When used with into, dragoon means "to force or convince someone to do something." Without into, dragoon means "to subjugate or persecute by harsh use of troops." // Employees complained that they had been dragooned into working overtime without adequate compensation. See the entry > Examples: "Half of the workforce was laid off, but those whose roles turned out to be somewhat critical were then begged to return. Some unlucky engineers were dragooned into launching the new Twitter Blue feature, which would charge users $7.99 per month for a 'verified' check mark; the rollout was catastrophic." — Sheon Han, The New Yorker, 5 Jan. 2024 Did you know? A dragoon was a mounted European infantryman of the 17th and 18th centuries armed with a firearm called by the same name. We suspect no arm-twisting is necessary to convince you that the firearm's name, which came to English from French, comes from the fired weapon's resemblance to a fire-breathing dragon. History has recorded the dragonish nature of the dragoons who persecuted the French Protestants in the 17th century during the reign of Louis XIV. The persecution by means of dragoons eventually led to the use of the word dragoon as a verb.
scurrilous

scurrilous

2024-03-2102:43

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 21, 2024 is: scurrilous • \SKUR-uh-lus\  • adjective Scurrilous is a formal adjective that most often describes language that contains obscenities, abuse, or, especially, slander—that is, a false statement that damages a person’s reputation. Scurrilous can also describe someone who uses or tends to use scurrilous language, or it can describe a person or thing as evil or vulgar. // The press secretary made a point at the briefing not to address the scurrilous rumors surrounding the senator. See the entry > Examples: “There are many interesting and surprising details about ‘Jingle Bells’ known to few of the millions of people who happily sing the beloved song every December. For one, its author—a somewhat scurrilous fellow named James Lord Pierpont—was the uncle of the legendary Gilded Age banker J.P. Morgan (the P. is for Pierpont), who reportedly thought little of his songwriting relative, once calling him ‘Good for nothing.’” — David Templeton, The Argus-Courier (Petaluma, California), 18 Dec. 2023 Did you know? Scurrilous (and its much rarer relation scurrile, which has the same meaning) comes from the Middle French word scurrile, which comes ultimately from the Latin noun scurra, meaning “buffoon” or “jester.” Fittingly, 18th-century lexicographer Samuel Johnson defined scurrilous as “using such language as only the licence of a buffoon could warrant.” Qualities traditionally associated with buffoonery—vulgarity, irreverence, and indecorousness—are qualities often invoked by the word scurrilous. Unlike the words of a jester, however, “scurrilous” language of the present day more often intends to seriously harm or slander someone than to produce a few laughs.
flora

flora

2024-03-2001:51

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 20, 2024 is: flora • \FLOR-uh\  • noun Flora refers to all the plants that live in a particular area, time, period, or environment. It can also be used broadly to refer to plant, bacterial, or fungal life. // Lisa admired the aquatic flora in the pond as she gazed out at the horizon. See the entry > Examples: “South Africa is endowed with a rich wealth of flora and is often acclaimed as a biodiversity hotspot. Thousands of plants are used for traditional medicine for the management of diverse health conditions.” — Tshepiso Ndhlovu et al., The Conversation, 11 Feb. 2024 Did you know? You may be familiar with the common phrase “flora and fauna,” which broadly refers to just about every visible living thing. While fauna specifically refers to the animals of a region, flora represents the plants. Flora made its way into English from New Latin via the Latin word flōra, which comes from the name of the Roman goddess of flowers and the flowering season (the time of the year when flowers bloom). Flora, who was depicted as a beautiful young woman in a long, flowing dress with flowers in her hair, strewing flowers over the earth, was especially known for wildflowers and plants not raised for food. Her name also lives on and continues to thrive through the related words floral, floret, and flourish.
allege

allege

2024-03-1902:22

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 19, 2024 is: allege • \uh-LEJ\  • verb To allege something is to assert it without proof or before proving it. // Consumer advocates allege that the company knew about the faulty switches but sold the product anyway. See the entry > Examples: "The lawsuit alleges violation of her 4th Amendment rights, false imprisonment, negligent hiring, assault and battery, among other charges." — Erin B. Logan, The Los Angeles Times, 2 Feb. 2024 Did you know? These days, someone alleges something before presenting evidence to prove it (or perhaps without evidence at all). But the word allege comes directly from the Middle English verb alleggen, meaning "to submit (something) in evidence or as justification." (Alleggen traces back to the Anglo-French word aleger, meaning "to lighten, free, or exculpate.") Our word has at times in the past carried a meaning closer to that of its ancestor's: it was once applied when bringing someone or something forward as a source or authority in court, as in "a text alleged in support of the argument." The word has also been used to mean "to bring forward as a reason or excuse," as in these lines from Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre: "I did not like to walk at this hour alone with Mr. Rochester in the shadowy orchard; but I could not find a reason to allege for leaving him."
tawdry

tawdry

2024-03-1802:31

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 18, 2024 is: tawdry • \TAW-dree\  • adjective Something described as tawdry is cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality. Tawdry is also often used to describe something considered morally bad or distasteful, as in "a tawdry tale of political skulduggery." // Tawdry decorations cluttered the tiny house. See the entry > Examples: "Chicago boasts a deep bench of architectural talent to make a pedestrianized State Street a success, whether with a modernist, traditional or some new-fangled flavor. In contrast, the old pedestrian mall was tacky, aping a tawdry suburban mall." — Craig Barner, The Chicago Sun-Times, 21 Aug. 2023 Did you know? In the 7th century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, renounced her husband and her royal position in order to become a nun. She was renowned for her saintliness and is said to have died of a swelling in her throat, which she took as a judgment upon her fondness for wearing necklaces in her youth. Her shrine became a principal site of pilgrimage in England. An annual fair was held in her honor on October 17th, and her name became simplified to St. Audrey. At these fairs various kinds of cheap knickknacks were sold, along with a type of necklace called St. Audrey's lace, which by the 16th century had become altered to tawdry lace. Eventually, tawdry came to be used to describe anything cheap and gaudy that might be found at these fairs or anywhere else.
blarney

blarney

2024-03-1702:38

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 17, 2024 is: blarney • \BLAR-nee\  • noun Blarney refers to false but charming talk that often flatters the listener. // The bartender laughingly asked her gregarious patron if anyone ever believed his blarney. See the entry > Examples: “Some tales are mundane, like the song about Molly Malone: ‘In Dublin fair city, the girls are so pretty …’ Did such a woman ever exist? There’s a record of a Mary Malone who lived (and died) in the 17th century. She was likely both a fishmonger and a lady of the night. … Some tales are blarney. Blarney Castle dates to 1446, and there’s a slab of carboniferous limestone near the top. It’s said to be the stone used by Jacob as a pillow when he dreamt of a ladder to heaven. Others say Clíodhna, Queen of the Banshees, told Cormac Laidir MacCarthy to kiss the stone so he would be eloquent when defending his home in the court of Queen Elizabeth.” — Kevin Fisher-Paulson, The San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Mar. 2023 Did you know? The village of Blarney in County Cork, Ireland, is home to Blarney Castle, and in the southern wall of that edifice lies the famous Blarney Stone. Legend has it that anyone who kisses the Blarney Stone will gain the gift of skillful flattery, but that gift must be attained at the price of some limber maneuvering—you have to lie down and hang your head over a precipice to reach and kiss the stone. One story claims the word blarney gained popularity as a word for “flattery” after Queen Elizabeth I of England used it to describe the flowery (but apparently less than honest) cajolery of McCarthy Mor, who was then the lord of Blarney Castle.
querulous

querulous

2024-03-1602:29

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 16, 2024 is: querulous • \KWAIR-yuh-lus\  • adjective Someone described as querulous is constantly or habitually complaining. Querulous can also be used synonymously with fretful or whining when describing something, such as a person's tone of voice. // She shows an impressive amount of patience when dealing with querulous customers. See the entry > Examples: "Everyone has a theory about the decline of the Academy Awards, the sinking ratings that have led to endless Oscar reinventions. The show is too long; no, the show is too desperate to pander to short attention spans. … Hollywood makes too many superhero movies; no, the academy doesn’t nominate enough superhero movies. (A querulous voice from the back row: Why can’t they just bring back Billy Crystal?)" — Ross Douthat, The New York Times, 25 Mar. 2022 Did you know? English speakers have called fretful whiners querulous since late medieval times. The Middle English form of the word, querelose, was an adaptation of the Latin adjective, querulus, which in turn evolved from the Latin verb queri, meaning "to complain." Queri is also an ancestor of the English words quarrel and quarrelsome, but it isn't an ancestor of the noun query, meaning "question." No need to complain that we're being coy; we're happy to let you know that query descends from the Latin verb quaerere, meaning "to ask."
hegemony

hegemony

2024-03-1502:24

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 15, 2024 is: hegemony • \hih-JEM-uh-nee\  • noun Hegemony refers to influence or control over another country, group of people, etc. // The two nations have for centuries struggled for regional hegemony. See the entry > Examples: “Beyond Hollywood’s scrambled economics, one of the biggest threats to its hegemony is social media—TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X-formerly-known-as-Twitter—with which it has always had an uncomfortable relationship, alternately its victim or master.” — Peter Biskind, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan. 2024 Did you know? Hegemony refers to a kind of domination. It was borrowed in the mid-16th century from the Greek word hēgemonia, a noun formed from the verb hēgeisthai, “to lead.” At first hegemony was used specifically to refer to the control once wielded by ancient Greek states; later it was applied to domination by other political actors. By the 19th century, the word had acquired a second sense referring to the social or cultural influence wielded by a dominant entity over others of its kind, a sense employed by design scholar Joshua Langman when describing the use of found objects by French artist Marcel Duchamp (he of notorious readymade Fountain fame) as a means “to question and criticize the values of the artistic hegemony by eschewing craft entirely.”
emulate

emulate

2024-03-1402:09

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 14, 2024 is: emulate • \EM-yuh-layt\  • verb If you emulate someone or something, you try to be like that person or thing. The word is used especially when one is trying to equal or surpass someone in accomplishment or achievement. // She grew up emulating her sports heroes. // Younger children will often try to emulate the behavior of their older siblings. See the entry > Examples: “In the present era, stanning has become a regular part of pop and online culture. Online communities celebrate, praise, and emulate music stars such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Cardi B, and Megan Thee Stallion.” — Daric L. Cottingham, Essence, 15 Feb. 2023 Did you know? They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but we’ll posit that emulation is even more so. What’s the difference between imitating and emulating? Sometimes not a thing: emulate can be used as a synonym of imitate, as in “a painter who emulates her teacher’s style.” But more often, emulate is about trying to equal or surpass someone you admire by striving to master what they’ve accomplished. The word was adopted in the late 16th century from a form of the Latin word aemulārī, meaning “to vie with; to rival; to imitate.” Imitate was adopted about fifty years earlier from a form of the Latin word imitārī, meaning “to follow as a pattern; to copy.” Emulate emulated its success.
cacophony

cacophony

2024-03-1302:27

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 13, 2024 is: cacophony • \ka-KAH-fuh-nee\  • noun A cacophony is a mixture of loud and usually harsh unpleasant sounds. Cacophony can also refer to an incongruous or chaotic mixture. // The sounds of shouting added to the cacophony on the streets. // A cacophony of aromas wafted through the air. See the entry > Examples: "In recent years, an array of findings have also revealed an expansive nonhuman soundscape, including: turtles that produce and respond to sounds to coordinate the timing of their birth from inside their eggs; coral larvae that can hear the sounds of healthy reefs; and plants that can detect the sound of running water and the munching of insect predators. Researchers have found intention and meaning in this cacophony, such as the purposeful use of different sounds to convey information." — Sonia Shah, The New York Times, 20 Sept. 2023 Did you know? If you’re hooked on phonetics, you may know that the Greek word phōnḗ has made a great deal of noise in English. Cacophony comes from a joining of phōnḗ ("sound" or "voice") with the Greek prefix kak- (from kakos, meaning "bad"), so it essentially means "bad sound." Other phat phōnḗ descendants include symphony, a word that indicates harmony or agreement in sound; polyphony, referring to a style of musical composition in which two or more independent melodies are juxtaposed in harmony; and euphony, a word for a pleasing or sweet sound. Kakos is responsible for far fewer English words, but one notable descendent is kakistocracy, meaning "government by the worst people," which, we'll be honest, doesn't sound great.
ulterior

ulterior

2024-03-1202:28

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 12, 2024 is: ulterior • \ul-TEER-ee-er\  • adjective Ulterior describes things (usually motives, objectives, reasons, agendas, etc.) that are kept hidden in order to achieve a particular result. // Rory found it hard to not be suspicious of the accountant for offering these services for free; her eagerness to help suggested she has an ulterior motive. See the entry > Examples: "Disney's most recent incarnation of depravity is also one of their more sinister: the smiling nice guy who turns out to be anything but that. Frozen, in fact, received a little flack from mommy bloggers in 2013 due to this choice, with some expressing apprehension about showing children that kindly adults could be hiding ulterior motives. Yet we’d argue that is what makes Hans such an effective villain and early demonstration to children of the fact that folks may not be what they appear." — David Crow, Den of Geek, 4 Nov. 2023 Did you know? Although now usually hitched to the front of the noun motive to refer to a hidden need or desire that inspires action, ulterior began its career as an adjective in the 17th century describing something occurring at a subsequent time, such as "ulterior measures" taken after a lawful request. It then started to be used to mean both "more distant" (literally and figuratively) and "situated on the farther side." The "hidden" sense, which is most familiar today, followed after those, with the word modifying nouns like purpose, design, and consequence. Ulterior comes directly from the Latin word for "farther" or "further," itself assumed to be from ulter, meaning "situated beyond."
refurbish

refurbish

2024-03-1101:51

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 11, 2024 is: refurbish • \rih-FER-bish\  • verb To refurbish something is to brighten or freshen it up, or to repair and make improvements to it. // They are refurbishing the old house with the hopes of selling it for a profit. // The store refurbishes and sells computers that can often meet the needs of those who don't need the latest technology. See the entry > Examples: "The city of San Diego is tasked with completing the building and replanting the interior plants, which are currently in storage. Meanwhile, the city’s not-for-profit partner Forever Balboa Park is responsible for financing and completing phase-two improvements. Those include remaking the exterior gardens, improving walkways, reconstructing the pergola that was on the west lawn and refurbishing the fountains." — Jennifer Van Grove, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Jan. 2024 Did you know? As seems proper given how English prefixes work, before you could refurbish something you could furbish it. That shorter word was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Anglo-French as furbisshen; it shares a distant relative with the Old High German verb furben, meaning "to polish." In its earliest uses furbish also meant "to polish," but it developed an extended sense of "to renovate" shortly before English speakers created refurbish with the same meaning in the 17th century. These days refurbish is the more common of the two words, although furbish does continue to be used.
obeisance

obeisance

2024-03-1002:201

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 10, 2024 is: obeisance • \oh-BEE-sunss\  • noun Obeisance is a synonym of homage that refers to an acknowledgement of another’s importance or superiority. Obeisance can also mean “a movement of the body (such as a bow) showing respect for someone or something.” // The young singer paid obeisance to Otis Redding while on tour in Memphis by singing “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” See the entry > Examples: “Supreme Court rules establish specific guidelines by which these conferences must be conducted. But compliance is rare, and they are usually held in secret and undocumented. The clandestine nature of 402 proceedings conflicts with the judiciary’s general obeisance to concepts of transparency and public accountability in criminal cases.” — Jim Dey, The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois), 3 Oct. 2023 Did you know? When it first appeared in English in the 14th century, obeisance shared the same meaning as obedience. This makes sense given that obeisance can be traced back to the Anglo-French word obeir, a verb meaning “to obey” that is also an ancestor of English’s obey. The other senses of obeisance also date from the 14th century, but they have stood the test of time whereas the “obedience” sense is now obsolete... or is it? Recent evidence suggests that obeisance is starting to be used again as an (often disparaging) synonym of obedience; for example, a politician deemed too easily swayed by others may be said to have pledged obeisance to party leaders or malign influences.
germane

germane

2024-03-0901:59

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 9, 2024 is: germane • \jer-MAYN\  • adjective Germane is a formal synonym of relevant that describes something related to a subject in an appropriate way. // Her comments were not germane to the discussion. // While these facts about the witness may interest the jury, they are not in fact germane. See the entry > Examples: “Corporate retreats aren’t just for fun and games; they are for tackling germane issues that are critical to the success of any such organization.” — Abiola Salami, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2023 Did you know? “Wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the Lion.” So wrote William Shakespeare in his five-act tragedy Timon of Athens, using an old (and now-obsolete) sense of germane meaning “closely akin.” Germane comes to us from the Middle English word germain, meaning “having the same parents.” (An early noun sense of germane also referred specifically to children of the same parents.) Today, something said to be germane is figuratively “related” in that it is relevant or fitting to something else, as when music critic Amanda Petrusich wrote of an album by the Chicks: “‘Gaslighter’ is brasher and more pop-oriented than anything the band has done before. Part of this shift feels germane to our era—the idea of genre, as it applies to contemporary music, is growing less and less relevant—but it also feels like a final repudiation of country music, and of a community that mostly failed to support or to understand one of its biggest acts.”
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Comments (32)

JJSTRK

My favorite podcast. Actually, the one that brought me to podcasts in the first place

Jun 26th
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Abbas Mohammadi

به فارسی میشه چولگی یا کج‌شدکی

Mar 4th
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Mobina

thanks very much💥

Feb 3rd
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Mobina

Really Nice Explanation. thanks so much🙏🏼🙋

Feb 2nd
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Abbas Mohammadi

برای راه و مسیرهای فیزیکی: انحرافی برای رفتار یا اقدامات: فریبکارانه و انحرافی

Jan 8th
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Abbas Mohammadi

جنون، جنون وار رفتار کردن

Jan 8th
Reply

Abbas Mohammadi

فراگیر

Nov 27th
Reply

Abbas Mohammadi

نیمه شفاف نور راعبور میدهد اما اجسام پشت آن واضح نیستند

Nov 27th
Reply

Abbas Mohammadi

بهبود بخشیدن

Nov 27th
Reply

Abbas Mohammadi

عبث و بیهوده

Nov 27th
Reply

Abbas Mohammadi

زبردستی

Nov 27th
Reply

Lisa D

One of my favorite words!

Dec 17th
Reply (1)

Abbas Mohammadi

این کلمه به معنی سیر کردن هست. صفت insatiable از همین ریشه و به معنای سیری ناپذیر هستش

Oct 11th
Reply

Abbas Mohammadi

به فارسی میشه اینجا و اونجا و برای یادداشت گذاری روی صفحه های مقاله ‌و کتاب و ... بکار برده میشه

Oct 10th
Reply

Pegah 💛🌻

Great 👌😍

Oct 7th
Reply

Abbas Mohammadi

به فارسی این کلمه میشه گروهان.

Oct 3rd
Reply

Abbas Mohammadi

به فارسی میشه بهم ریختن کسی یا بهم ریخته شدن. بیشتر از منظر روحی و روانی هست معنی این فعل. مثلاً در فارسی میگیم این کار تو من رو بهم ریخت.

Oct 3rd
Reply (1)

Angela Baldwin

very helpful

May 10th
Reply

Sadle May Friedman

I love this word. I also love to use it as a sarcastic comment to those who step on to other's toes. Just because they think they have the right to. My sometime usuage " don't Sashay your sorry Barbie self around here".

Apr 7th
Reply

Edson José Cortiano

An example of holophrasis would have been welcome.

Sep 12th
Reply
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