Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 25, 2014 is: opusculum \oh-PUSK-yuh-lum\ noun : a minor work (as of literature) Examples: The book is a collection of opuscula written by the author between her two major novels. "Little surprise, then, that McCall Smith has written a kindly, avuncular, contemplative opusculum sharing his enthusiasm with the uninitiated." — From an article by Richard Davenport-Hines in The Spectator, November 9, 2013 Did you know? "Opusculum"—which is often used in its plural form "opuscula"—comes from Latin, where it serves as the diminutive form of the noun "opus," meaning "work." In English, "opus" can refer to any literary or artistic work, though it often specifically refers to a musical piece. Logically, then, "opusculum" refers to a short or minor work. ("Opusculum" isn't restricted to music, though. In fact, it is most often used for literary works.) The Latin plural of "opus" is "opera," which gave us (via Italian) the word we know for a musical production consisting primarily of vocal pieces performed with orchestral accompaniment.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 24, 2014 is: smite \SMYTE\ verb 1 : to strike sharply or heavily 2 a : to kill or severely injure by striking b : to attack or afflict suddenly and injuriously 3 : to affect as if by striking Examples: Susan jokingly declared that her mother would smite her if she ever went out in the winter with wet hair. "For 10 years or more I was that guy at work with the order form and the sheepish grin, guilt-tripping colleagues into buying 'discount cards' and inflated-price cookie dough that they didn't want. For me to then turn down the next wave of sheepishly grinning co-workers would be like challenging God to smite me with a lightning bolt just on principle." — From an editorial by Robert Price in the Bakersfield Californian, February 15, 2014 Did you know? Today's word has been part of the English language for a very long time; the earliest documented use in print dates to the 12th century. "Smite" can be traced back to an Old English word meaning "to smear or defile" and is a distant relative of the Scottish word "smit," meaning "to stain, contaminate, or infect." In addition to the straightforward "strike" and "attack" senses that we've defined and illustrated above, "smite" also has a softer side. It can mean "to captivate or take"—a sense that is frequently used in the past participle in such contexts as "smitten by her beauty" or "smitten with him" (meaning "in love with him").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 23, 2014 is: timorous \TIM-uh-rus\ adjective 1 : of a timid disposition : fearful 2 : expressing or suggesting timidity Examples: The study seems to suggests that timorous people suffer from stress more frequently than their more aggressive peers. "Hwang's quest to prove his daughter died from a workplace-related illness has pitted him against the world's biggest technology company and a largely timorous South Korean media." — From an article by Justin McCurry in The Guardian (London), February 6, 2014 Did you know? "Timid" and "timorous" don't just have similar spellings and meanings; they are etymologically related as well. Both words ultimately derive from the Latin verb "timēre," meaning "to fear." The immediate ancestor of "timid" is Latin "timidus" (same meaning as "timid"), whereas "timorous" traveled to Middle English by way of the Latin noun "timor" ("fear") and the Medieval Latin adjective "timorosus." "Timid" may be the more common of the two words, but "timorous" is older. It first appeared in English in the mid-15th century; "timid" came on the scene a century later. Both words can mean "easily frightened" (as in "a timid mouse" or "a timorous child") as well as "indicating or characterized by fear" (as in "he gave a timid smile" or "she took a timorous step forward").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 22, 2014 is: knackered \NAK-erd\ adjective : tired, exhausted Examples: She was knackered after a hard day of work and decided not to join us for an evening out. "But when Shmuel, knackered and self-satisfied, walks into the house after an afternoon's absence of indeterminate length and implausible itinerary, my heart expands in gratitude." — From an article by Leslie Kolbrener in The Forward, July 19, 2013 Did you know? "Knackered" is derived from the past participle of "knacker," a slang term meaning "to kill," but also "to tire, exhaust, or wear out." The origins of the verb "knacker" are uncertain, but the word is perhaps related to an older noun "knacker," which originally was used to indicate a harness-maker or saddlemaker, and later for buyers of worn-out animals (or their carcasses) and old structures. The origins of the noun "knacker," however, remain obscure. "Knackered" is used on both sides of the Atlantic but is more common among British speakers.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 21, 2014 is: perforce \per-FORSS\ adverb : by force of circumstances Examples: The author of the history was a court historian and his account is perforce biased in favor of the aristocracy. "Beyond an initial campaign or two, European monarchs lack the money to continue their wars and must perforce borrow it from somewhere." — From a blog by Kenneth Anderson on WashingtonPost.com, February 9, 2014 Did you know? English speakers borrowed "par force" from Anglo-French in the 14th century. "Par" meant "by" (from Latin "per") and the Anglo-French word "force" had the same meaning as its English equivalent, which was already in use by then. At first, "perforce" meant quite literally "by physical coercion." That meaning is no longer used today, but it was still prevalent in William Shakespeare's lifetime (1564-1616). "He rush'd into my house and took perforce my ring away," wrote the Bard in The Comedy of Errors. The "force of circumstances" sense of "perforce" had also come into use by Shakespeare's day. In Henry IV, Part 2, we find "... your health; the which, if you give o'er to stormy passion, must perforce decay."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 20, 2014 is: rearguard \REER-gahrd\ adjective : of or relating to resistance especially to sweeping social forces Examples: "Even as some of API’s own members are inching toward compromise on relatively modest proposals like cap and trade legislation the lobbying group seems to be fighting a rearguard battle."— From an article by Adam Federman on Counterpunch.org, February 12, 2014 "Democracy seems no better suited than dictatorship to saving rainforests because money talks in both, and from generation to generation, rearguard battles against the devastation have been handed off."— From an article by Edward Hoagland in Harper's, March 2009 Did you know? As a noun, "rearguard" refers to the soldiers that are stationed at the rear of a body to protect it from attack especially during retreat. (The troops at the front are called the vanguard.) A rearguard action, then, is the defensive or delaying fight waged as resistance against the encroaching enemy. It is through figurative extension that the phrase "rearguard action," and consequently "rearguard" as an adjective, has become applied to other means of indirect resistance, often by a small force against a more powerful one.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 19, 2014 is: orthography \or-THAH-gruh-fee\ noun 1 a : the art of writing words with the proper letters according to standard usage b : the representation of the sounds of a language by written or printed symbols 2 : a part of language study that deals with letters and spelling Examples: English orthography was not yet regularized in Shakespeare's time, so words often had many different spellings. "There's no active pro-Russian policy, as there was under the czars or the Soviets—simply a slow creep of money away from education budgets and new laws reinforcing Cyrillic orthography and the use of Russian in classrooms." — From an article by Britt Peterson in The Boston Globe, February 16, 2014 Did you know? "It's a damn poor mind that can only think of one way to spell a word!" That quote, ascribed to Andrew Jackson, might have been the motto of early English spelling. The concept of orthography (a term that derives from the Greek words "orthos," meaning "right or true," and "graphein," meaning "to write") was not something that really concerned people until the introduction of the printing press in England in the second half of the 15th century. From then on, English spelling became progressively more uniform and has remained fairly stable since the 1755 publication of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (with the notable exception of certain spelling reforms, such as changing "musick" to "music," that were championed by Noah Webster).

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 18, 2014 is: verboten \ver-BOH-tun\ adjective : forbidden; especially : prohibited by dictate Examples: The teacher made clear on the first day of class that the use of electronic devices would be verboten. "This was not, perhaps, all that surprising since marijuana remains verboten under federal law to this day…." — From a column by James Gill in The Advocate (New Orleans, Louisiana), January 30, 2014 Did you know? Despite its spelling, the adjective "verboten" has nothing to do with "verb," or any of the other words in our language related to Latin "verbum." Rather, "verboten" comes from German, which got it from Old High German "farboten," the past participle of the verb "farbioten," meaning "to forbid." ("Forbid" itself derives from Old English "forbeodan," a relative of "farbioten.") "Verboten," which first appeared in English in 1916, is used to describe things that are forbidden according to a law or a highly regarded authority. There also exists a noun "verboten," meaning "something forbidden by authority" (as in "well-established verbotens"), but this use is quite rare and is typically entered only in large, unabridged dictionaries.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 17, 2014 is: hegira \hih-JYE-ruh\ noun : a journey especially when undertaken to escape from a dangerous or undesirable situation : exodus Examples: "Shimmering in the sun-flashed dust of ten thousand hoofs, she saw pass, from East to West, across a continent, the great hegira of the land-hungry Anglo-Saxon. " — From Jack London's 1913 novel The Valley of the Moon "Integrity-and-ingredient-driven spots like Franny's and Frankies 457 Court Street Spuntino promulgated the then-quirky notion that it was worth making the hegira all the way from Manhattan to Brooklyn to eat excellent food." — From an article by Jeff Gordinier in The New York Times, January 1, 2014 Did you know? In the year A.D. 622, the prophet Muhammad was forced to flee his native city, Mecca, to escape persecution from those who rejected his message. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, migrated with a number of his followers to Medina, where they were guaranteed protection by local clans. This event, which traditionally marks the beginning of the Islamic era, is known in Arabic as the "Hijra"—literally, "departure." That Arabic term passed into Medieval Latin (where it was modified to "Hegira") and from there it eventually made its way into English. By the mid-18th century, English speakers were using "hegira" for other journeys, too—especially arduous ones.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 16, 2014 is: laissez-faire \less-ay-FAIR\ noun 1 : a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs beyond the minimum necessary for the maintenance of peace and property rights 2 : a philosophy or practice characterized by a usually deliberate abstention from direction or interference especially with individual freedom of choice and action Examples: "Laissez-faire is all well and good until something goes wrong." — John Gutfreund, quoted in The New York Times Book Review, April 18, 2010 "The International Olympic Committee said Monday that they were pleased at how athletes were using social media.… 'We take a very laissez-faire attitude,' IOC spokesman Mark Adams says." — From an article by Kelly Whiteside in USA Today, February 11, 2014 Did you know? The French phrase "laissez-faire" literally means "allow to do," with the idea being "let people do as they choose." The origins of "laissez-faire" are associated with the Physiocrats, a group of 18th-century French economists who believed that government policy should not interfere with the operation of natural economic laws. The actual coiner of the phrase may have been French economist Vincent de Gournay, or it may have been François Quesnay, considered the group's founder and leader. The original phrase was "laissez faire, laissez passer," with the second part meaning "let (things) pass." "Laissez-faire," which first showed up in an English context in 1825, can still mean "a doctrine opposing governmental interference in economic affairs," but it is also used in broader contexts in which a "hands-off" or "anything-goes" policy or attitude is adopted.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 15, 2014 is: inroad \IN-rohd\ noun 1 : a sudden hostile incursion : raid 2 : an advance or penetration often at the expense of someone or something — usually used in plural Examples: "We began to find the country thinly inhabited, and the people rather confined to live in fortified towns, as being subject to the inroads and depredations of the Tartars, who rob in great armies…." — From Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe "Jones is at the crest of a wave of British snowboarders who have been making inroads on a discipline traditionally dominated by Americans." — From an Associated Press article by Will Graves, February 9, 2014 Did you know? "Inroad" is a combination of "in" and "road," both of which are pretty mundane, as far as words go. But the first—and oldest—meaning of "inroad" hints at a meaning of "road" other than the "way for traveling" one. Beginning back in the days of Old English, "road" referred to an armed hostile incursion made on horseback. ("Raid" comes from this use of "road" and also formerly specified incursions on horseback.) "Road" has lost all of its former violent connotations, and "inroad" is shedding its as well. While inroads are often made at the expense of someone or something, they are at times simply advances, as when an artist is said to be making inroads into a community.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 14, 2014 is: exhort \ig-ZORT\ verb : to incite by argument or advice : urge strongly Examples: The celebrity speaker exhorted all citizens to get out and vote on Election Day. "What I will do is exhort him to come clean about the difference between Windows 8 and Windows RT that directly impacts customers." — From a blog by James Kendrick on ZDNet, February 7, 2014 Did you know? "Exhort" is a 15th-century coinage. It derives from the Latin verb "hortari," meaning "to incite," and it often implies the ardent urging or admonishing of an orator or preacher. People in the 16th century apparently liked the root "-hort," but they couldn't resist fiddling around with different prefixes to create other words similar in meaning to "exhort." They came up with "adhort" and "dehort." "Adhort" was short-lived and became obsolete after the 17th century. "Dehort" was similar to "exhort" and "adhort" but with a more specific meaning of "to dissuade." It had a better run than "adhort," being used well into the late 19th century, but it is now considered archaic.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 13, 2014 is: fantod \FAN-tahd\ noun 1 a : a state of irritability and tension b : fidgets 2 : an emotional outburst : fit Examples: "The idea of such a sum—$140,000!—dropping into the lap of a 19-year-old gave me the fantods." — From an article by Lucy Ferriss in The New York Times, June 28, 2009 "When you listen to the podcast, you'll also hear … the glaring statistics that should give any sensible parent the howling fantods. For instance, he mentions that there's a 1-in-2 chance that a newborn will, at some point, be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes." — From an article by Christopher Heimerman in the Daily Gazette (Sterling, Illinois), January 18, 2014 Did you know? "You have got strong symptoms of the fantods; your skin is so tight you can't shut your eyes without opening your mouth." Thus, American author Charles Frederick Briggs provides us with the oldest recorded use of "fantods" in 1839. Mark Twain used the word to refer to uneasiness or restlessness as shown by nervous movements—also known as the "fidgets"—in Huckleberry Finn: "They was all nice pictures, I reckon, but I didn't somehow seem to take to them, because … they always give me the fantods." The exact origin of "fantod" remains a mystery, but it may have arisen from English dialectal "fantigue"—a word (once used by Dickens) that refers to a state of great tension or excitement and may be a blend of "fantastic" and "fatigue."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 12, 2014 is: artless \AHRT-lus\ adjective 1 : lacking art, knowledge, or skill : uncultured 2 a : made without skill : crude b : free from artificiality : natural 3 : free from guile or craft : sincerely simple Examples: The senator's folksy demeanor and seemingly artless candor belie the man's shrewd and calculating political sensibilities. "'Pat and Dick' is in many ways a rather artless book, and its prose offers precious few pleasures, but it does open a crack wider the window into a marriage that has interested and puzzled this country for a long time and doubtless will continue to do so far longer." — From a review by Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post, January 26, 2014 Did you know? "Artless," "ingenuous," and "naive" all refer to freedom from pretension or calculation, but there are subtle differences in their uses. "Ingenuous" implies an inability to disguise or conceal one's feelings, while "naive" suggests a credulous lack of worldly wisdom. "Artless" generally indicates an appearance of utter naturalness, one in which a person is (or seems to be) innocent of the effect of his or her speech or behavior on others.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 11, 2014 is: jingoism \JING-goh-iz-im\ noun : extreme chauvinism or nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy Examples: When the war began many people were caught up in a wave of jingoism. "Putting First World War icon Lord Kitchener on the £2 coin was attacked as 'jingoism' by Labour last night. The famous soldier and former Secretary of State for War will appear on the coin as part of 100th anniversary commemorations of the outbreak of the conflict." — From an article by James Lyons at mirror.co.uk, January 14, 2014 Did you know? "Jingoism" originated during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, when many British citizens were hostile toward Russia and felt Britain should intervene in the conflict. Supporters of the cause expressed their sentiments in a music-hall ditty with this refrain: "We don't want to fight, yet by jingo if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, We've got the money, too!" Someone holding the attitude implied in the song became known as a "jingo" or "jingoist," and the attitude itself was dubbed "jingoism." The "jingo" in the tune is probably a euphemism for "Jesus."