Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 27, 2014 is: nostrum \NAHSS-trum\ noun : a usually questionable remedy or scheme : panacea Examples: Critics predict the mayor's plan to revitalize the downtown area by offering tax breaks to businesses will prove a costly and ineffective nostrum. "For example, the Internet will likely soon be overflowing with nostrums, essential oils, tree bark, eye of toad and essence of newt promising to prevent or cure Ebola. The FDA and FTC should be gathering their lawyers right now to get this claptrap off the web." — Arthur Leonard Caplan, Forbes, September 30, 2014 Did you know? "Whether there was real efficacy in these nostrums, and whether their author himself had faith in them, is more than can safely be said," wrote 19th-century American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, "but, at all events, the public believed in them." The word nostrum has often been linked to quack medicine and false hopes for miracle cures, but there's nothing deceitful about its etymology. It has been a part of English since at least 1602, and comes from the Latin noster, meaning "our" or "ours." Some think that specially prepared medicinal concoctions came to be called nostrums because their purveyors marketed them as "our own" remedy. In other words, the use of nostrum emphasized that such a potion was unique or exclusive to the pitchman peddling it.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 26, 2014 is: crabwise \KRAB-wyze\ adverb 1 : sideways 2 : in a sidling or cautiously indirect manner Examples: Rather than asking his parents for a car directly, Noah approached the matter crabwise, stressing how inconvenient it was for them to have to drive him everywhere. "But personally, my bed … is just for sleeping in. It is actually … 6ft wide, and it is beautiful beyond words. No matter that I have to walk crabwise round the room in order to get in, out or dressed." — Lucy Mangan, The Guardian (London), January 4, 2011 Did you know? There's no reason to be indirect when explaining the etymology of crabwise; we'll get right to the point. As you might guess, the meaning of that word is directly related to that sidling sea creature, the crab. If you live near the shore or have visited a beach near the sea, you have probably seen crabs scuttling along, often moving sideways and not taking what humans would consider the most direct route. The modern meanings of crabwise were definitely inspired by the crab's lateral or oblique approach to getting from one place to another. The word crept into English in the mid-19th century and has been sidling into our sentences ever since.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 25, 2014 is: pelagic \puh-LAJ-ik\ adjective : of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea : oceanic Examples: She is studying to become a marine biologist specializing in pelagic plant life. "During this time we also have the seasonal migration of pelagic fish from the northern Gulf waters to the Key West area." — Sam O'Briant, The News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida), September 21, 2014 Did you know? Pelagic comes to us from Greek, via Latin. The Greek word pelagikos became pelagicus in Latin and then pelagic in English. (Pelagikos is derived from pelagos, the Greek word for the sea—it is also a source of archipelago—plus the adjectival suffix -ikos.) Pelagic first showed up in dictionaries in 1656; a definition from that time says that Pelagick (as it was then spelled) meant "of the Sea, or that liveth in the Sea." Over 350 years later, writers are still using pelagic with the same meaning, albeit less frequently than its more familiar synonym oceanic.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 24, 2014 is: Job's comforter \JOHBZ-KUM-fer-ter\ noun : a person who discourages or depresses while seemingly giving comfort and consolation Examples: Danny, a reliable Job's comforter, assured Shane that the girl who'd broken his heart had always been out of his league. "It's a blessing for me, he said, that my joints are frozen solid with the arthritis, because if I tried to run around like I used to, my heart would give out sure. I told him he was a Job's comforter, what good is keeping my heart going like a watch that won't tell time if I can't get up and cook." — Ross Macdonald, The Ivory Grin, 1952 Did you know? Poor Job. He's the biblical character who endures extraordinary afflictions in a test of his piety. He loses his possessions, his children, and his health. And then, to make matters worse, three friends show up to "comfort" him. These friends turn out to be no comfort at all. Instead, they say that the things that have been happening to him happen to all sinners—and point out a number of his faults. In the mid-18th century, English speakers began using the phrase "Job's comforter" for anyone who offers similarly unhelpful consolation.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23, 2014 is: recusant \REK-yuh-zunt\ adjective : refusing to submit to authority Examples: Elizabeth's recusant streak was apparent even in elementary school, where she would frequently challenge the rules put forth by her teachers. "The third volume, covering the English Civil War and its aftermath, offers more of the same smoothly readable analysis.… Oliver Cromwell, with his Puritan grit and fear of recusant Catholicism, inevitably takes up much of the action." — Ian Thomson, The Independent (UK), October 22, 2014 Did you know? In 1534, Henry VIII of England declared himself the head of the Church of England, separating it from the Roman Catholic Church, and the resultant furor led to increased attention on people's religious observances. A recusant was someone who (from about 1570-1791) refused to attend services of the Church of England, and therefore violated the laws of mandatory church attendance. The name derives from the Latin verb recusare, meaning "reject" or "oppose." The adjective recusant has been in use since the late 16th century. Originally, it meant "refusing to attend the services of the Church of England," but by the century's end, both the adjective and the noun were also being used generally to suggest resistance to authority of any form.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 22, 2014 is: shrive \SHRYVE\ verb 1 : to administer the sacrament of reconciliation to 2 : to free from guilt Examples: "Once every three months, Pancho took his savings and drove into Monterey to confess his sins, to do his penance, and be shriven and to get drunk, in the order named." — John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven, 1932 "Members of Congress, a generally spineless lot, like nothing better than to be shriven of responsibility for the edicts that come out of Washington." — editorial, The Eagle-Tribune (Andover, Massachusetts), January 30, 2014 Did you know? We wouldn't want to give the history of shrive short shrift, so here's the whole story. It began when the Latin verb scribere (meaning "to write") found its way onto the tongues of certain Germanic peoples who brought it to Britain in the early Middle Ages. Because it was often used for laying down directions or rules in writing, 8th-century Old English speakers used their form of the term, scrīfan, to mean "to prescribe or impose." The Church adopted scrīfan to refer to the act of assigning penance to sinners and, later, to hearing confession and administering absolution. Today shrift, the noun form of shrive, makes up half of "short shrift," a phrase meaning "little or no consideration." Originally, "short shrift" was the barely adequate time for confession before an execution.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 21, 2014 is: golden handcuffs \GOHL-dun-HAND-kufs\ noun : special benefits offered to an employee as an inducement to continue service Examples: It was in the company's interests to offer Janice a set of golden handcuffs in the form of company stock, since her connections and knowledge of industry secrets would not be easy to replace. "Coffey quit Moore Capital at the age of 41 to spend more time with his family having previously made his name, and a reported $700 million fortune, at GLG, where he turned down a $250 million golden handcuffs deal to stay." — Jamie Dunkley, London Evening Standard, October 8, 2014 Did you know? Chances are you've heard of a "golden handshake," which is a particularly tempting severance agreement offered to an employee in an effort to induce the person to retire early. People started getting "golden handshakes" (by that name) around 1960; by 1976, English speakers had also coined the accompanying "golden handcuffs" to describe a situation in which someone is offered a special inducement to stay. The expression turns up often in quasi-literal uses, such as "slapped golden handcuffs on" or "a shiny new set of golden handcuffs."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 20, 2014 is: weal \WEEL\ noun : a sound, healthy, or prosperous state : well-being Examples: The president spoke of devotion to the common weal and the hope of creating a better country. "'Higher healthcare costs'? No one could be for that, so the campaign [against it] looks like a flag-carrier for the public weal." — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2014 Did you know? Weal is most often used in contexts referring to the general good. One reads, for example, of the "public weal" or the "common weal." The latter of these led to the formation of the noun commonweal, a word that once referred to an organized political entity, such as a nation or state, but today usually means "the general welfare." The word commonwealth shares these meanings, but its situation is reversed; the "political entity" sense of commonwealth is still current, whereas the "general welfare" sense has become archaic. At one time, weal and wealth were also synonyms; both meant "riches" ("all his worldly weal") and "well-being." Both words stem from wela, the Old English word for "well-being," and are closely related to the Old English word for "well."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 19, 2014 is: officious \uh-FISH-us\ adjective 1 : volunteering one's services where they are neither asked nor needed : meddlesome 2 : informal, unofficial Examples: Staff members view the new consultant as an officious individual offering unwanted feedback, but she is simply doing her job. "During an interview this week with Morris News, Saxby, a Republican, said he is frustrated by the delay but attributes it more to officious federal bureaucrats than to partisan gamesmanship." — Carla Caldwell, Atlanta Business Chronicle, April 2, 2014 Did you know? Don't mistake officious for a rare synonym of official. Both words stem from the Latin noun officium (meaning "service" or "office"), but they have very different meanings. When the suffix -osus ("full of") was added to officium, Latin officiosus came into being, meaning "eager to serve, help, or perform a duty." When this adjective was borrowed into English in the 16th century as officious, it carried the same meaning. Early in the 17th century, however, officious began to develop a negative sense describing a person who offers unwanted help. This pejorative sense has driven out the original "eager to help" sense to become the predominant meaning of the word in modern English. Officious can also mean "of an informal or unauthorized nature," but that sense isn't especially common.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 18, 2014 is: leitmotif \LYTE-moh-teef\ noun 1 : a melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation in a music drama 2 : a dominant recurring theme Examples: The overcoming of obstacles and a love of theater are the two leitmotifs of her autobiography. "'Collaboration' is the author's supporting theme, and he weaves it in throughout his anecdotes and character studies. Approached lazily, this kind of leitmotif would be more irritating than illuminating, but Isaacson fully commits." — James Norton, The Christian Science Monitor, October 13, 2014 Did you know? The English word leitmotif (or leitmotiv, as it is also spelled) comes from the German Leitmotiv, meaning "leading motive" and formed from leiten ("to lead") and Motiv ("motive"). In its original sense, the word applies to opera music and was first used by writers interpreting the works of composer Richard Wagner, who was famous for associating a melody with a character or important dramatic element. Leitmotif is still commonly used with reference to music and musical drama but is now also used more broadly to refer to any recurring theme in the arts or in everyday life.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 17, 2014 is: rife \RYFE\ adjective 1 : prevalent especially to an increasing degree 2 : abundant, common 3 : copiously supplied : abounding Examples: After the newspaper's managing editor was fired, speculation was rife about who would replace him. "In the battle over Amendment 2, Drug Free Florida has decried the medical marijuana ballot initiative as being rife with loopholes." — Dan Sweeney, The Sun-Sentinel (South Florida), October 15, 2014 Did you know? English is rife with words that have Germanic connections, many of which have been handed down to us from Old English. Rife is one of those words. Not a whole lot has changed with rife in its 900-year history. We continue to use the word, as we have since the 12th century, for negative things, especially those that are widespread or prevalent. Typical examples are "shoplifting was rife" or "the city was rife with greed and corruption." Rumors and speculation are also frequently described as "rife," as well. But rife can also be appropriately used, as it has been for hundreds of years, for good or neutral things. For example, you might speak of "the summer garden, rife with scents."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 15, 2014 is: execrable \EK-sih-kruh-bul\ adjective 1 : deserving to be execrated : detestable 2 : very bad : wretched Examples: It turned out that the execrable odor was coming from a bag of onions rotting in the back of the pantry. "If the waiter laid my plate on the table and said, 'Eat!' I wouldn't mind. But 'Enjoy!' is another matter. There's something cloying, manipulative and, yes, distasteful about being told to enjoy something that might, for all you know, be bland or even execrable." — Tim Johnson, The Burlington (Vermont) Free Press , February 16, 2013 Did you know? He or she who is cursed faces execrable conditions. Keep this in mind to remember that execrable is a descendant of the Latin verb exsecrari, meaning "to put under a curse." Since its earliest uses in English, beginning in the 14th century, execrable has meant "deserving or fit to be execrated," the reference being to things so abominable as to be worthy of formal denouncement (such as "execrable crimes"). But in the 19th century we lightened it up a bit, and our "indescribably bad" sense has since been applied to everything from roads ("execrable London pavement" — Sir Walter Scott) to food ("The coffee in the station house was ... execrable." — Clarence Day) to, inevitably, the weather ("the execrable weather of the past fortnight" — The (London) Evening Standard).

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 14, 2014 is: devise \dih-VYZE\ verb 1 a : to form in the mind by new combinations or applications of ideas or principles : invent b : to plan to obtain or bring about : plot 2 : to give (real estate) by will Examples: The author's childhood home was devised to the city and the Historical Commission will turn it into a museum devoted to her life. "Students at the Ilead Charter School devised three ways to bash pumpkins into pieces. One method used rubber surgical tubing to create an Angry Birds-style slingshot to propel the squash through the air. A more direct device crushed the pumpkins with a weight and a bowling ball." — Kevin Lillard, Juneau County Star-Times (Wisconsin), October 15, 2014 Did you know? There's something inventive about devise, a word that stems from Latin dividere, meaning "to divide." By the time devise appeared in English in the 1200s, its Anglo-French forebear deviser had accumulated an array of senses, including "to divide," "distribute," "arrange," "array," "digest," "order," "plan," "invent," "contrive," and "assign by will." English adopted most of these and added some new senses over the course of time: "to imagine," "guess," "pretend," and "describe." In modern use, we've disposed of a lot of the old meanings, but we kept the one that applies to wills. Devise traditionally referred to the transfer of real property (land), and bequeath to personal property; these days, however, devise is often recognized as applying generally to all the property in a person's estate.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 13, 2014 is: threnody \THREN-uh-dee\ noun : a song of lamentation for the dead : elegy Examples: Christina wrote the poem as a threnody for her grandmother, who had died the previous spring. "Ian Hobson will lead the Sinfonia strings in Strauss' 'Metamorphosen,' his threnody on the destruction of German musical monuments at the end of World War II." — John Frayne, The News-Gazette (Champaign, Illinois), September 11, 2014 Did you know? Threnody encompasses all genres. There are great threnodies in prose (such as the lines from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House upon the death of Little Jo: "Dead, your Majesty. Dead, my lords and gentlemen. Dead…."), in poetry (as in W. H. Auden’s "Funeral Blues": "The stars are not wanted now: put out every one, / Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun…."), and in music (Giovanni Pergolesi’s "Stabat Mater," for one). Threnody, which we borrowed from the Greek word thrēnōidia (from thrēnos, the word for "dirge"), has survived in English since the early 1600s. Melody, tragedy, and comedy are related to threnody through the Greek root that forms their ending—aeidein, which means "to sing."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 31, 2014 is: adduce \uh-DOOSS\ verb : to offer as example, reason, or proof in discussion or analysis Examples: "The arguments she had adduced rang true." — Agatha Christie, The Secret Adversary, 1922 "Morris asserts that productive war makes governments, which in turn ensure peace and prosperity. He adduces the Roman Empire as his prime example." — Alan Cate, Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), April 27, 2014 Did you know? We won't lead you astray over the history of adduce; it is one of a plethora of familiar words that trace to the Latin root ducere, which means "to lead." Perhaps we can induce you to deduce a few other ducere offspring if we offer a few hints about them. One is a synonym of kidnap, one's a title for a British royal, and one's another word for decrease. Give up? They are abduct, duke, and reduce, respectively. There are also many others, including induce, which means "to persuade" or "to bring about."