Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 21, 2012 is: dyslogistic \diss-luh-JISS-tik\ adjective : uncomplimentary Examples: The blogger used many dyslogistic adjectives to express his dissatisfaction with the mayor. "One answer lies in ... the dyslogistic school of memoir written by former officials who present themselves as disillusioned innocents." — From a book review by Jacob Heilbrunn in The New York Times, June 22, 2008 Did you know? Logic would lead one to believe that "dyslogistic" is somehow related to the Greek word "logos," from which the words "logic" and "logistics" are derived. In actuality, however, "dyslogistic" is a 19th-century merger of the prefix "dys-," meaning "bad," and "eulogy," referring to an expression of praise. English jurist and philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) often used "dyslogistic" in his writings as an adjective to convey dispraise or opprobrium. And even today the word is likely to be encountered in judicial and intellectual writings.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 19, 2012 is: de minimis \dee-MIN-uh-mus\ adjective : lacking significance or importance : so minor as to merit disregard Examples: Critics complain that the new policy merely introduces de minimis modifications and does nothing to amend the real faults in the system. "Williams told council members that a letter written by borough solicitor Kenelm Shirk III in response to her initial complaint described peeling paint and other problems as 'de minimis,' or trivial." — From an article by Kimberly Marselas in Intelligencer Journal/New Era (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), April 11, 2012 Did you know? Proponents of readable prose over jargon and legalese might argue that the last thing 20th-century American jurisprudence needed was another Latin term. Yet here we have a legal term that entered English only around 1950. Perhaps we should clarify: the legal doctrine of "de minimis non curat lex" ("the law does not concern itself with trifling matters") has been around for a while, but use of "de minimis" on its own is relatively recent. At first, the shortened phrase was simply used to refer to the legal doctrine itself ("the de minimis rule"). Then it came to be used more broadly as an adjective ("de minimis contacts with the defendant"). Finally, "de minimis" leaked out of the courtroom and into the world at large.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 18, 2012 is: peruse \puh-ROOZ\ verb 1 a : to examine or study attentively and in detail b : to look over or through in a casual or hasty manner 2 : read Examples: Genevieve perused the menu while we waited for a table. "Sample a Texas chenin blanc or an Italian valpolicella as you peruse art from (mostly) regional artists whose imaginations respectfully diverge from the bluebonnet-and-Longhorn genre." — From an article by Courtney Bond in Texas Monthly, August 2012 Did you know? "Peruse" has long been a literary word, used by such famous authors as Shakespeare, Tennyson, and Thomas Hardy, and it tends to have a literary flavor even in our time. "Peruse" can suggest paying close attention to something, but it can also simply mean "to read." The "read" sense, which is not especially new and was in fact included in Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, has drawn some criticism over the years for being too broad. Some commentators have recommended that "peruse" be reserved for reading with great care and attention to detail. But the fact remains that "peruse" is often used in situations where a simple "read" definition could be easily substituted. It may suggest either an attentive read or a quick scan.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 17, 2012 is: georgic \JOR-jik\ adjective : of or relating to agriculture Examples: City slicker Brian was still getting used to the georgic lifestyle—particularly getting up at 4:30 each morning to milk the cows. "During the last decade of the 1800s, the georgic rhythms and methods of cultivation continued very much as they had when Thomas Jefferson was president." — From Dennis K. Boman's 2012 book The Original Rush Limbaugh: Lawyer, Legislator, and Civil Libertarian Did you know? The adjective "georgic," which dates from the first half of the 18th century, derives by way of Latin "georgicus" and Greek "geōrgikos" from the Greek noun "geōrgos," meaning "farmer." That noun, in turn, was formed by a combination of the prefix "geō-" (meaning "earth") and "ergon" ("work"), the latter of which gave us words such as "allergy" and "ergonomics." There is also a noun "georgic" (dating from the early 16th century) which refers to a poem that deals with the practical aspects of agriculture and rural affairs. The standard for such poems, Virgil's Georgics, is responsible for its name. That poem, written between 37 and 30 B.C., called for a restoration of agricultural life in Italy after its farms fell into neglect during civil war.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 16, 2012 is: maquette \ma-KET\ noun : a usually small preliminary model (as of a sculpture or a building) Examples: At the town meeting the architect presented a maquette of the proposed new school, which will include a state-of-the-art gymnasium and media center. "All of the pieces in the gallery, including maquettes of the much larger outdoor works, are organized by location and accompanied by photographs of the artwork in their current homes...." — From an article by Jeremy D. Bonfiglio in The Herald-Palladium (St. Joseph, Michigan), May 10, 2012 Did you know? "Maquette" came to English directly from French, first appearing in our language in the late 19th century. The French word, which possesses the same meaning as its English descendant, derived from the Italian noun "macchietta," meaning "sketch," and ultimately from Latin "macula," meaning "spot." Maquettes are generally intended to serve as rough models of larger designs. Architects make maquettes of their buildings, and sculptors often create maquettes in wax or clay to help them realize the final sculpture. As an aside, you might spot something familiar in the word's Latin ancestor. The term "macula" in English refers to a spot (such as one on the eye) that is different from surrounding tissue; this is where we get the term "macular degeneration."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 15, 2012 is: palisade \pal-uh-SAYD\ noun 1 a : a fence of stakes especially for defense b : a long strong stake pointed at the top and set close with others as a defense 2 : a line of bold cliffs Examples: "The biggest structure on the lot was a palisade made from wood harvested on the property, making the entrance look like a fortified structure." — From an article by Annie J. Kelley in the Battle Creek (Michigan) Enquirer, July 11, 2012 "What is known as Wenlock Edge, a great palisade, almost 1,000 feet high, running for 15 miles through the county of Shropshire, overlooks, near its eastern end, the tidy town of Much Wenlock." — From an article by Frank Deford in Smithsonian, July-August 2012 Did you know? "Palisade" derives via French from the Latin noun "palus," meaning "stake." The word originally applied to one of a series of stakes set in a row to form an enclosure or fortification. "The Palisades" is also the name given to the line of traprock cliffs that stretches for about 15 miles along the western bank of the Hudson River in southeastern New York and northern New Jersey. Purportedly, these cliffs got their name from the resemblance of the tall rocks to rows of stakes or trees, although who exactly came up with the name is a matter of dispute. Before long "palisade" came to refer to any similar formation of tall cliffs.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 14, 2012 is: bloviate \BLOH-vee-ayt\ verb : to speak or write verbosely and windily Examples: Mitchell spent his Sunday morning listening to talk show pundits bloviating about world affairs. "Does the deluge of financial reporting make us more prone to glaze over when we read about massive debt or when we hear an analyst like CNBC's Jim Cramer bloviate about the latest stock offering?" — From an article by Grant Rampy in Abilene Reporter-News (Texas), June 10, 2012 Did you know? Warren G. Harding is often linked to "bloviate," but to him the word wasn't insulting; it simply meant "to spend time idly." Harding used the word often in that "hanging around" sense, but during his tenure as the 29th U.S. President (1921-23), he became associated with the "verbose" sense of "bloviate," perhaps because his speeches tended to the long-winded side. Although he is sometimes credited with having coined the word, it's more likely that Harding picked it up from local slang while hanging around with his boyhood buddies in Ohio in the late 1800s. The term probably derives from a combination of the word "blow" plus the suffix "-ate."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 13, 2012 is: a-go-go \ah-GOH-goh\ adjective 1 : of, relating to, or being a disco or the music or dances performed there : go-go 2 : being in a whirl of motion 3 : being up-to-date — often used postpositively Examples: The shop is chock-full of the latest in fashionable home decor—it's decorating trends a-go-go. "All of the major plot points are either utterly predictable or thoroughly explained by one of the characters, and that becomes kind of a drag after a while. Nonetheless, there's tons of suspense, monsters-a-go-go and strong performances from the whole cast." — From a film review by Alonso Duralde on thewrap.com, June 4, 2012 Did you know? The English word "a-go-go" has two functions. It's an adjective, as we've defined it above, but it's also a noun referring to a nightclub for dancing to popular music—that is, a disco. Both the noun and the first meaning of the adjective betray the word's origins: it's from the name of a Parisian discotheque—the Whisky à Gogo, which translates to "whiskey galore." The French club, which opened in 1947 or possibly 1948, predated the American discos that have also used the name, but the American versions undoubtedly had much to do with spreading the term "a-go-go" in English: the most famous of these, the still-operating Whisky a Go Go on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip, opened in 1964, the year before our earliest evidence of the generic use of either the noun or the adjective "a-go-go."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 12, 2012 is: nectar \NEK-ter\ noun 1 a : the drink of the Greek and Roman gods b : something delicious to drink c : a beverage of fruit juice and pulp 2 : a sweet liquid that is secreted by the nectaries of a plant and is the chief raw material of honey Examples: After working for hours in the hot sun, there is no sweeter nectar than an ice-cold glass of lemonade. "Large numbers of adult monarch butterflies are present in our area, busily laying eggs and stocking up on nectar as they continue to push north in waves to the limits of their breeding range." - From an article by Robert Zimmer in The Post-Crescent (Appleton, Wisconsin), June 30, 2012 Did you know? "Nectar" is often mentioned in conjunction with "ambrosia," the food of the Greek and Roman gods. For centuries, English speakers have used "ambrosia" to refer to something with an extremely pleasing taste or smell and "nectar" to refer to a delicious drink, especially a fruit juice. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, however, the powers of nectar and ambrosia far exceeded those of any earthly fare; consuming nectar and ambrosia gave the gods their immortality. In Greek, the literal meanings of "ambrosia" and "nektar" are "immortality" and "overcoming death" respectively. "Nektar" is believed to be a compound of Greek "nek-" (probably akin to Latin "nec-," meaning "death") and "-tar" (probably akin to Sanksrit "tarati," meaning "he overcomes or crosses over").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 11, 2012 is: gibbous \JIB-us\ adjective 1 : marked by convexity or swelling b of the moon or a planet : seen with more than half but not all of the apparent disk illuminated 2 : having a hump : humpbacked Examples: The gibbous shadows that could be seen on the horizon were those of oxen pulling plows. "With a simple triangular sweep, you can see the clouds and moons of Jupiter, mountains and craters on the Moon, and the fat gibbous form of Venus." - From a report on WKBN.com (Youngstown, Ohio), December 26, 2011 Did you know? The adjective "gibbous" has its origins in the Latin noun "gibbus," meaning "hump," and in the Late Latin adjective "gibbosus," meaning "humpbacked," which Middle English adopted in the 14th century as "gibbous." "Gibbous" has been used to describe the rounded body parts of humans and animals (such as the back of a hunchback or camel) or to describe the shape of certain flowers (such as snapdragons). The term is most often identified, however, with the study of astronomy. In fact, if you run across the word "gibbous," chances are you'll find the word "moon" somewhere nearby. A gibbous moon is one that is more than a half-moon but less than full.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 10, 2012 is: scaramouch \SKAIR-uh-moosh\ noun 1 a : a cowardly buffoon b : rascal, scamp Examples: Dorothy was wary about lending money to her uncle, a scaramouch who never took responsibility for his actions. "The mischievous Scaramouche dances beneath them, flanked by a chorus of provocatively clad statues that seem poised to descend from their pedestals...." — From Caroline Van Eck and Stijn Bussels' 2011 book Theatricality in Early Modern Art and Architecture Did you know? In the commedia dell'arte, Scaramouch was a stock character who was constantly being cudgeled by Harlequin, which may explain why his name is based on an Italian word meaning "skirmish," or "a minor fight." The character was made popular in England during the late 1600s by the clever acting of Tiberio Fiurelli. During that time, the name "Scaramouch" also gained notoriety as a derogatory word for "a cowardly buffoon" or "rascal." Today not many people use the word (which can also be spelled "scaramouche"), but you will encounter it while listening to Queen's ubiquitous rock song "Bohemian Rhapsody," in the lyric "I see a little silhouetto of a man / Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango?"

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 09, 2012 is: weald \WEELD\ noun 1 : a heavily wooded area : forest 2 : a wild or uncultivated usually upland region Examples: "Challenger's house was on the very edge of the hill, and from its southern face, in which was the study window, one looked across the vast stretch of the weald to where the gentle curves of the South Downs formed an undulating horizon." — From Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1913 novella The Poison Belt "Graham [Findlay] is a watercolour artist painting mainly landscapes around his home in the Weald of Kent." — From an announcement in the Kentish Express, June 28, 2012 Did you know? If "weald" were a tree, it would have many annual rings. It has been in use as a general word for "forest" since the days of Old English, and it has also long been used, in its capitalized form, as a geographic name for a once-heavily forested region of southeast England. "Weald" is also often capitalized today when used to refer to wooded areas like the Weald of Kent and the Weald of Sussex in England. In time, the word branched out to designate any wild and uncultivated upland regions. A related word is "wold," meaning "an upland plain or stretch of rolling land."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 08, 2012 is: aught \AWT\ pronoun 1 : anything 2 : all, everything Examples: "Xury said it was a lion, and it might be so for aught I know." - From Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe "He dropped, dead, into the shallow water, but I was too late for aught but revenge." - From Judson Roberts' 2011 novel Viking Warrior Did you know? "If you know aught which does behove my knowledge / Thereof to be inform'd, imprison't not / In ignorant concealment," Polixenes begs Camillo in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, employing the "anything" sense of "aught." Shakespeare didn't coin the pronoun "aught," which has been a part of the English language since before the 12th century, but he did put it to frequent use. Writers today may be less likely to use "aught" than were their literary predecessors, but the pronoun does continue to turn up occasionally. "Aught" can also be a noun meaning "zero," and the phrase "the aughts" has been bandied about as a proposed label for the decade that began in the year 2000.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 07, 2012 is: oriflamme \OR-uh-flam\ noun : a banner, symbol, or ideal inspiring devotion or courage Examples: For many Americans, the photograph of the Iwo Jima flag raising served as an oriflamme and a reminder of the sacrifices and courage of the American servicemen. "Researchers now think there's a da Vinci painting underneath. The Italian phrase on that little oriflamme, or battle banner, is what reporters say inspired today's search by contemporary engineer Maurizio Seracini." — From an article by Robert Morrison in The Examiner (Washington, DC), April 4, 2012 Did you know? The original "oriflamme" was the banner of Saint Denis, a patron saint of France who is said to have been the first bishop of Paris. Middle English speakers referred to this red or reddish orange banner using the Middle French term "oriflamble," from Old French "ori flambe," meaning "small flag." From the 12th to the 15th centuries, French kings carried the banner into battle as a way of inspiring their troops. This tactic met with such success that, by 1600, English speakers were using "oriflamme" to refer to any group's rallying symbol.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 06, 2012 is: affront \uh-FRUNT\ verb 1 a : to insult especially to the face by behavior or language b : to cause offense to 2 : to face in defiance : confront 3 : to appear directly before Examples: He affronted us with his rude behavior and seeming indifference to our feelings. "She has fine acting skills, moving effortlessly from the Prima Donna's easily affronted hauteur to Ariadne's heartfelt grief, and she looked beautiful." — From a theater review by Sarah Bryan Miller in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri), January 29, 2012 Did you know? The Middle English "afronten," the ancestor of the Modern English verb "affront," was borrowed from the Anglo-French "afrunter," a verb which means "to defy" but which also has the specific meaning "to strike on the forehead" or "to slap on the face." These more literal senses reveal the word's Latin origins, a combination of the Latin prefix "ad-," meaning "to" or "towards," and "front-, frons," which means "forehead" (and which is also the source of the English word "front"). While the striking or slapping sense of "afrunter" was not adopted by English, it is alluded to in the oldest uses of "afronten" in Middle English in the sense of "to insult especially to the face."