Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 01, 2013 is: aghast \uh-GAST\ adjective : struck with terror, amazement, or horror : shocked Examples: Critics were aghast at how awful the play was. "As early as 1911, a pile-up of riders and horses during a horse race left Pendleton attorney and Round-Up organizer Roy Raley aghast and fearful that nobody would ever want to attend the Round-Up again." — From a sidebar by Richard Cockle in The Oregonian, June 1, 2013 Did you know? If you are aghast, you might look like you've just seen a ghost, or something similarly shocking. "Aghast" traces back to a Middle English verb, "gasten," meaning "to frighten." "Gasten" (which also gave us "ghastly," meaning "terrible or frightening") comes from "gast," a Middle English spelling of the word "ghost." "Gast" also came to be used in English as a verb meaning "to scare." That verb is now obsolete, but its spirit lives on in words spoken by the character Edmund in Shakespeare's King Lear: "gasted by the noise I made, full suddenly he fled."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 30, 2013 is: lenitive \LEN-uh-tiv\ adjective : alleviating pain or harshness : soothing Examples: Peppermint, chamomile, and ginger are all reputed to have a lenitive effect on the digestive system. "They sing of thunder and driving rain, upon occasion, but the lenitive electro pop of Canadian boy-girl duo Purity Ring is decidedly more calming." — From an announcement by Jason Bracelin in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, April 7, 2013 Did you know? "Lenitive" first appeared in English in the 15th century. It derived from the Latin verb "lenire" ("to soften or soothe"), which was itself formed from the adjective "lenis," meaning "soft" or "mild." "Lenire" also gave us the adjective "lenient," which usually means "tolerant" or "indulgent" today but in its original sense carried the meaning of "relieving pain or stress." Often found in medical contexts, "lenitive" can also be a noun referring to a treatment (such as a salve) with soothing or healing properties.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 29, 2013 is: decoupage \day-koo-PAHZH\ noun 1 : the art of decorating surfaces by applying cutouts (as of paper) and then coating with usually several layers of finish (as lacquer or varnish) 2 : work produced by decoupage Examples: Her eye was drawn to a small table that had been decorated with decoupage. "Prized among vintage scouters, antique luggage is a common thrift store find and family hand-me-down. Give them a fresh coat of paint, maybe experiment with decoupage and you have your very own stylish night table and room accent." — From an article in The Ideal Home and Garden, May 1, 2013 Did you know? Decoupage originated in France in the 17th century as a means of artistically decorating pieces of furniture with pictures. It took a few centuries, but by the mid-20th century "decoupage" became a household name in American interior decoration. The word is fashioned from Middle French "decouper," meaning "to cut out." "Decouper," in turn, pastes together the prefix "de-" ("from" or "away") and "couper" ("to cut). Other descendants of "couper" include "coppice" (a growth of small trees that are periodically cut), "coupé" (a horse-drawn carriage for two with a driver outside and whose name is thought to be from French "carrosse coupé," literally, "cut-off coach"), and the clear-cut "coupon."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 28, 2013 is: risorgimento \ree-zor-jih-MEN-toh\ noun 1 often capitalized : the 19th century movement for Italian political unity 2 : a time of renewal or renaissance : revival Examples: The musician's heirs hope the new biography and CD box set will spark a risorgimento of interest in the long-forgotten songwriter. "The daughter of a small grocer, [Margaret Thatcher] led a fervent bourgeois Risorgimento. She was the voice of the ambitious middle class." — From an article by David Brooks in The Times of Trenton (New Jersey), April 12, 2013 Did you know? During the period of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars (1796-1815), the French dominated Italy and introduced many new reforms to the Italian states. After the wars, the states were restored to their former rulers, the Austrians, and took on a conservative character. In response, a number of secret societies arose as part of an ideological and literary movement in support of a united Italy free of foreign domination. This movement was given the name "Risorgimento," which literally translates from Italian as "rising again." Although most modern use of the term still refers to this movement, the word also has another broader meaning in English; it acquired its second sense ("revival") in the mid-20th century. This second sense is occasionally capitalized, as in our quote above, in a nod to the earlier use.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 27, 2013 is: perfervid \per-FER-vid\ adjective : marked by overwrought or exaggerated emotion : excessively fervent Examples: The group's leaders have done little to distance themselves from the actions of their angrier and more perfervid followers. "Biron has struggled to make the Dostoevsky apartment a center for the perpetual and perfervid enthusiasm for the author that animates Russians." — From an article by Philip Kennicott in The Washington Post, October 21, 2012 Did you know? The adjectives "fervent," "fervid," and "perfervid" all derive from the Latin verb "fervēre," meaning "to boil," and suggest a bubbling up of intense feeling. "Fervent" was the first to enter the English language in the 14th century. It stresses sincerity and steadiness of emotional warmth and zeal, as in "Her colleagues expressed fervent good wishes." The next to emerge was "fervid" in the late 16th century. It too suggests warmth but adds an element of spontaneity and feverishness. A lover might write a fervid billet-doux to his beloved, for example. With its first known appearance in print dating back only to 1833, "perfervid" is a relative newcomer to English, but it implies the most extreme or exaggerated expression of emotion. Its intensity comes from "per-," a prefix meaning "thoroughly."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 26, 2013 is: jerkwater \JERK-waw-ter\ adjective 1 : remote and unimportant 2 : trivial Examples: "We're stranded in some jerkwater town in the middle of nowhere," said Larry when he called to tell us that the car's engine had blown. "Hardworking and reserved, Jesse might use five words when the situation called for nine. The son of Mexican immigrants, he was born in the cheerless, jerkwater town of Firebaugh, Calif., in 1938; facts that undoubtedly contributed to his abiding humility." — From an article by Scott P. Charles in the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 2012 Did you know? We owe the colorful Americanism "jerkwater" to the invention of the steam engine—an advancement that significantly accelerated travel by rail but also had its drawbacks. One drawback was that the boilers of the early locomotives needed to be refilled with water frequently, and water tanks were few and far between. As a result, the small trains that ran on rural branch lines often had to stop to take on water from local supplies. Such trains were commonly called "jerkwaters" from the motion of jerking the water up in buckets from the supply to the engine. The derogatory use of "jerkwater" for things unimportant or trivial reflects the fact that these jerkwater trains typically ran on lines connecting small middle-of-nowhere towns.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 09, 2013 is: prosaic \proh-ZAY-ik\ adjective 1 : characteristic of prose as distinguished from poetry : factual 2 : dull, unimaginative 3 : everyday, ordinary Examples: The novel's protagonist is a young accountant who has grown weary of her prosaic life and longs for adventure and world travels. "It was as if our drought had developed the magical powers of a dark lord, the ability to suck water back uphill, away from the farmers down south who need it.… The reality here is more prosaic, but revealing. No dark magic, just a year so dry that Gus's model can't cope with the reality of the situation." — From an article by John Fleck in Albuquerque Journal, May 7, 2013 Did you know? In the 1600s, any text that was not poetic was prosaic. Back then, "prosaic" carried no negative connotations; it simply indicated that a written work was made up of prose. That sense clearly owes much to the meaning of the word's Latin ancestor "prosa," which meant "prose." By the end of the 17th century, though, poetry had come to be viewed as the more beautiful, imaginative, and emotional type of writing, and prose was relegated to the status of mundane and plain-Jane. As a result, English speakers started using "prosaic" to refer to anything considered matter-of-fact or ordinary, and they gradually transformed it into a synonym for "colorless," "drab," "lifeless," and "lackluster."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 08, 2013 is: burgeon \BER-jun\ verb 1 a : to send forth new growth (as buds or branches) : sprout b : bloom 2 : to grow and expand rapidly : flourish Examples: The trout population in the stream is burgeoning now that the water is clean. "James Campbell High School wasn't built to hold thousands of students. When Campbell first opened in 1962, it served a modest population of plantation families. Little did the state know that Ewa Beach would burgeon as part of … a region that saw its population grow by nearly 19 percent between 2000 and 2010. " — From an article by Alia Wong in the Honolulu Civil Beat (Hawaii), April 26, 2013 Did you know? "Burgeon" comes from the Middle English word "burjonen," which is from Anglo-French "burjuner"; both mean "to bud or sprout." "Burgeon" is often used figuratively, as when P.G. Wodehouse used it in Joy in the Morning: "I weighed this. It sounded promising. Hope began to burgeon." Usage commentators have objected to the use of "burgeon" to mean "to flourish" or "to grow rapidly," insisting that any figurative use should stay true to the word's earliest literal meaning and distinguish budding or sprouting from subsequent growing. But the sense of "burgeon" that indicates growing or expanding and prospering (as in "the burgeoning music scene" or "the burgeoning international market") has been in established use for decades, and is, in fact, the most common use of "burgeon" today.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 07, 2013 is: stichomythia \stik-uh-MITH-ee-uh\ noun : dialogue especially of altercation or dispute delivered by two actors in alternating lines (as in classical Greek drama) Examples: To heighten the emotional intensity between the characters, the playwright employed stichomythia. "'Oh, you did?' 'Mm-hmm.' 'Well, what am I expected to do? Leap for joy?' 'Well, I kind of half expected you to thank me.' 'Your ego is absolutely colossal.' … This stichomythia … came from applying the hardboiled style of crime stories to the softhearted subject matter of a couple falling in love." — From an article by Caleb Crain in The New Yorker, September 21, 2009 Did you know? In stichomythia terse, contentious, and often biting lines are bandied back and forth. Characters engaged in stichomythia may alternately voice antithetical positions, or they may play on one another's words, each repartee twisting or punning on words just spoken to make a new point. Classical Greek dramatists, such as Aeschylus and Sophocles (who wrote Agamemnon and Oedipus the King, respectively), used this device in some of their dialogues. Shakespeare also used it in exchanges in his plays. For instance, in the Closet scene in Hamlet (Act III, scene iv), the Queen tells Hamlet "Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue" to which Hamlet retorts "Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue." Not to be idle with the origin of "stichomythia": the word is from Greek "stichos" (meaning "row," "line," or "verse") and "mythos" ("speech" or "myth").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 06, 2013 is: orotund \OR-uh-tund\ adjective 1 : marked by fullness, strength, and clarity of sound : sonorous 2 : pompous, bombastic Examples: Josh cleared his throat dramatically, then did a dead-on impression of the professor's orotund, patronizing speech. "Comedian Bob Hope used to tell an anecdote about Franklin D. Roosevelt housetraining his Scottish terrier, Fala, on the Chicago Tribune. It was a reference to Roosevelt's greatest hater, Tribune publisher Robert R. McCormick, an orotund aristocrat who considered the New Deal indistinguishable from Communism." — From a post by Edward McClellan on NBC Chicago's Ward Room blog, April 23, 2013 Did you know? The Latin roots of "orotund" are related to two more common English words—"oral" and "rotund." Latin "or-" means "mouth," and "rotundus" means "round" or "circular." The Roman poet Horace joined forms of those Latin terms to create the phrase "ore rotundo," literally meaning "with round mouth," and figuratively meaning "with well-turned speech." "Ore rotundo" was modified to "orotund" and adopted into English in the late 18th century. It can indicate either strength of delivery or inflated wording.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 05, 2013 is: by and large \BYE-und-LAHRJ\ adverb : on the whole : in general Examples: The young actors stumbled over a few lines here and there, but by and large the play was a success. "Each school may have its own rules about financial aid appeals or special circumstances reviews, but by and large the financial aid administrator, and not the admissions officer, is the gatekeeper to the funds." — From an article by Steve Rosen in the Kansas City Star, April 12, 2013 Did you know? "By and large" is originally a sailing term meaning "alternately close-hauled and not close-hauled." A ship that is sailing "close-hauled" is sailing as directly into the wind as possible (typically within about 45 degrees of the wind). The "by" part of the phrase means "close-hauled." (This "by" also appears in the term "full and by," meaning "sailing with all sails full and close to the wind as possible.") "Large," by contrast, refers to a point of sail in which the wind is hitting the boat "abaft the beam," or behind the boat's widest point. A 1669 example of a variant spelling of "by and large" gives us a sense of the range implied: "Thus you see the ship handled in fair weather and foul, by and learge" (S. Sturmy, Mariners Magazine). The suggestion of a wide range carries over into the term's "in general" sense.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 04, 2013 is: nonpareil \nahn-puh-REL\ adjective : having no equal Examples: "The show was … held in the original Madison Square Garden, and it was a society event nonpareil." — From an article by Marshall Schuon in the New York Times, April 3, 1994 "Few of them differ much from New York’s typical Italian-American restaurants, but those that stand out are among the best anywhere, including fifth-generation Mario’s, which since 1919 has been crafting nonpareil pizzas along with true Neapolitan food… — From a post by John Mariani on Esquire.com’s Eat Like a Man blog, May 1, 2013 Did you know? Trace "nonpareil" back to its Middle French origins and you'll find that it comes from a term meaning "not equal." "Pareil" itself comes from a Vulgar Latin form of "par," which means "equal." "Nonpareil" has served as an English adjective since the 15th century, and since the late 16th century it has also functioned as a noun describing an individual of unequaled excellence. In 1612, Captain John Smith used the term in that noun sense (but with a now-archaic spelling): "Pocahontas, Powhatan's daughter ... was the very Nomparell of his kingdome, and at most not past 13 or 14 years of age." And as you may know, "nonpareil" is also the name of a chocolate candy covered with white sugar pellets.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 03, 2013 is: encumber \in-KUM-ber\ verb 1 : weigh down, burden 2 : to impede or hamper the function or activity of : hinder 3 : to burden with a legal claim (as a mortgage) Examples: Lack of funding has encumbered the project from day one. "Rain will likely encumber racers as they move through Grand Rapids this weekend, and possibly snow and frigid temperatures, according to forecasts." — From an article by Laura Misjak in Lansing State Journal (Michigan), April 5, 2013 Did you know? In Old French, the noun "combre" meant a defensive obstacle formed by felled trees with sharpened branches facing the enemy. Later, in Middle French, "combre" referred to a barrier, similar to a dam or weir, constructed in the bed of a river to hold back fish or protect the banks. That notion of holding back is what informs our verb "encumber," formed by combining "en-" and "combre." One can be physically encumbered (as by a heavy load or severe weather), or figuratively (as by bureaucratic restrictions). "Combre" also gives us the adjectives "cumbersome" and "cumbrous," both meaning "awkward or difficult to handle."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 02, 2013 is: styptic \STIP-tik\ adjective : tending to contract or bind : astringent; especially : tending to check bleeding Examples: The vet advised that we keep a styptic agent handy while clipping the cat's claws, just in case. "Alum contains aluminum sulfate and is found in styptic pencils and as astringents." — From a column by Pat Shingleton in The Advocate (Florida), April 13, 2013 Did you know? People long ago recognized the power of certain substances to bind or contract organic tissue—a quality that has various uses and benefits. English speakers weren't original in this knowledge, and they copied speakers of Greek, Latin, and Anglo-French when they designated this quality as "styptic" in the Middle Ages. (The word in Greek, "styptikos," is from "styphein," which means "to contract.") One thing that a styptic substance can do is stop bleeding, and almost from the start the word "styptic" has referred to this quality especially. It has also been applied to things that make your mouth contract, or pucker, as well as to substances that might affect your digestive organs with a "binding" effect.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 01, 2013 is: WYSIWYG \WIZ-ee-wig\ noun : a display generated by word-processing or desktop-publishing software that exactly reflects the document as it would appear in its finished state Examples: The pamphlets look great and were easy to create; we created them using a simple WYSIWYG editing program. "He wrote a word processor called Bravo that displayed text on a computer screen as it would appear when printed on a page—a breakthrough technique at the time, called WYSIWYG, What You See Is What You Get." — From an article by Steve Lohr in The New York Times, October 22, 2012 Did you know? In the early 1980s, the phrase "what you see is what you get" was abbreviated to "WYSIWYG" by computer users who sought a term to describe software that accurately reflects the appearance of the finished product. WYSIWYG interfaces eliminate the need for users to master complex formatting codes, allowing them to concentrate instead on design. Originally used in word processing and desktop publishing, they are now found in Web editors and other programs used to create electronic documents. The word "WYSIWYG" is a noun, but it is often used attributively (modifying another noun) as in our first example sentence.