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Word of the Day
carceral
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Wed, 08/25/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 25, 2010 is:
carceral • \KAHR-suh-rul\ • adjective
: of, relating to, or suggesting a jail or prison
Example sentence:
Every time John walked by the old hospital he was haunted by the abandoned building’s imposing carceral towers and tiny windows.
Did you know?
Describing a painting of John Howard visiting a prison in 1787, Robert Hughes wrote that Howard was "the pioneer of English carceral reform" (Time Magazine, November 11, 1985). "Prison reform" might be the more common phrase, but the use of "carceral" was by no means unprecedented. Vladimir Nabokov, in his inimitable prose, described a prison scene in Invitation to a Beheading thusly: "The door opened, whining, rattling and groaning in keeping with all the rules of carceral counterpoint." An adjective borrowed directly from Late Latin, "carceral" appeared shortly after "incarcerate" ("to imprison"), which first showed up in English around the mid-1500s; they're both ultimately from "carcer," Latin for "prison."
carceral
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Wed, 08/25/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 25, 2010 is:
carceral • \KAHR-suh-rul\ • adjective
: of, relating to, or suggesting a jail or prison
Example sentence:
Every time John walked by the old hospital he was haunted by the abandoned building’s imposing carceral towers and tiny windows.
Did you know?
Describing a painting of John Howard visiting a prison in 1787, Robert Hughes wrote that Howard was "the pioneer of English carceral reform" (Time Magazine, November 11, 1985). "Prison reform" might be the more common phrase, but the use of "carceral" was by no means unprecedented. Vladimir Nabokov, in his inimitable prose, described a prison scene in Invitation to a Beheading thusly: "The door opened, whining, rattling and groaning in keeping with all the rules of carceral counterpoint." An adjective borrowed directly from Late Latin, "carceral" appeared shortly after "incarcerate" ("to imprison"), which first showed up in English around the mid-1500s; they're both ultimately from "carcer," Latin for "prison."
jeremiad
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Tue, 08/24/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 24, 2010 is:
jeremiad • \jair-uh-MYE-ud\ • noun
: a prolonged lamentation or complaint; also : a cautionary or angry harangue
Example sentence:
"Siegel's book is a jeremiad against the ills the Internet has visited upon our lives." (Ellen Ullman, The Washington Post, February 10, 2008)
Did you know?
Jeremiah was a naysayer. That Jewish prophet, who lived from about 650 to 570 BC, spent his days lambasting the Hebrews for their false worship and social injustice and denouncing the king for his selfishness, materialism, and inequities. When not calling on his people to quit their wicked ways, he was lamenting his own lot; a portion of the Old Testament's Book of Jeremiah is devoted to his "confessions," a series of lamentations on the hardships endured by a prophet with an unpopular message. Nowadays, English speakers use "Jeremiah" for a pessimistic person and "jeremiad" for the way these Jeremiahs carry on. The word "jeremiad" was actually borrowed from the French, who coined it as "jérémiade."
jeremiad
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Tue, 08/24/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 24, 2010 is:
jeremiad • \jair-uh-MYE-ud\ • noun
: a prolonged lamentation or complaint; also : a cautionary or angry harangue
Example sentence:
"Siegel's book is a jeremiad against the ills the Internet has visited upon our lives." (Ellen Ullman, The Washington Post, February 10, 2008)
Did you know?
Jeremiah was a naysayer. That Jewish prophet, who lived from about 650 to 570 BC, spent his days lambasting the Hebrews for their false worship and social injustice and denouncing the king for his selfishness, materialism, and inequities. When not calling on his people to quit their wicked ways, he was lamenting his own lot; a portion of the Old Testament's Book of Jeremiah is devoted to his "confessions," a series of lamentations on the hardships endured by a prophet with an unpopular message. Nowadays, English speakers use "Jeremiah" for a pessimistic person and "jeremiad" for the way these Jeremiahs carry on. The word "jeremiad" was actually borrowed from the French, who coined it as "jérémiade."
squinny
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Mon, 08/23/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 23, 2010 is:
squinny • \SKWIN-ee\ • verb
: to look or peer with eyes partly closed : squint
Example sentence:
"I leant far out, and squinnied for a sign / That this was still the town that had been 'mine'…." (Philip Larkin, "I Remember, I Remember")
Did you know?
"I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me?" So asks Shakespeare's mad King Lear of blind Gloucester, marking the first use of the verb "squinny" in 1605. It is likely that Shakespeare formed the word from an earlier English word "squin," meaning "with the eye directed to one side." Shakespeare also uses the more familiar "squint" in King Lear: "This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet.… He gives the web and the pin, / squints the eye, and makes the harelip; mildews the white wheat, / and hurts the poor creature of earth." Although this is not the first known use of the verb "squint," which appears in print six years earlier, it is the first known use of the verb's transitive sense.
squinny
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Mon, 08/23/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 23, 2010 is:
squinny • \SKWIN-ee\ • verb
: to look or peer with eyes partly closed : squint
Example sentence:
"I leant far out, and squinnied for a sign / That this was still the town that had been 'mine'…." (Philip Larkin, "I Remember, I Remember")
Did you know?
"I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny at me?" So asks Shakespeare's mad King Lear of blind Gloucester, marking the first use of the verb "squinny" in 1605. It is likely that Shakespeare formed the word from an earlier English word "squin," meaning "with the eye directed to one side." Shakespeare also uses the more familiar "squint" in King Lear: "This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet.… He gives the web and the pin, / squints the eye, and makes the harelip; mildews the white wheat, / and hurts the poor creature of earth." Although this is not the first known use of the verb "squint," which appears in print six years earlier, it is the first known use of the verb's transitive sense.
minuscule
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sun, 08/22/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 22, 2010 is:
minuscule • \MIN-uh-skyool\ • adjective
1 : written in or in the size or style of lowercase letters *2 : very small
Example sentence:
As the director of a tiny nonprofit organization, Julie is adept at managing expenses while working within the restraints of a minuscule budget.
Did you know?
"Minuscule" derives from the Latin adjective "minusculus," which means "rather small." The "minuscule" spelling is consistent with the word's etymology, but since the 19th century, people have also been spelling it "miniscule," perhaps because they associate it with the combining form "mini-" and words such as "minimal" and "minimum." Usage commentators generally consider the "miniscule" spelling an error, but it is widely used in reputable and carefully edited publications and is accepted as a legitimate variant in some dictionaries.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence
minuscule
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sun, 08/22/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 22, 2010 is:
minuscule • \MIN-uh-skyool\ • adjective
1 : written in or in the size or style of lowercase letters *2 : very small
Example sentence:
As the director of a tiny nonprofit organization, Julie is adept at managing expenses while working within the restraints of a minuscule budget.
Did you know?
"Minuscule" derives from the Latin adjective "minusculus," which means "rather small." The "minuscule" spelling is consistent with the word's etymology, but since the 19th century, people have also been spelling it "miniscule," perhaps because they associate it with the combining form "mini-" and words such as "minimal" and "minimum." Usage commentators generally consider the "miniscule" spelling an error, but it is widely used in reputable and carefully edited publications and is accepted as a legitimate variant in some dictionaries.
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grimalkin
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sat, 08/21/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 21, 2010 is:
grimalkin • \grih-MAWL-kin\ • noun
: a domestic cat; especially : an old female cat
Example sentence:
Maizy, the family grimalkin, wasn't as fast as she used to be, but she was still very good at catching mice.
Did you know?
In the opening scene of Macbeth, one of the three witches planning to meet with Macbeth suddenly announces, "I come, Graymalkin." The witch is responding to the summons of her familiar, or guardian spirit, which is embodied in the form of a cat. Shakespeare's "graymalkin" literally means "gray cat." The "gray" is of course the color; the "malkin" was a nickname for Matilda or Maud that came to be used in dialect as a general name for a cat (and sometimes a hare). By the 1630s, "graymalkin" had been altered to the modern spelling "grimalkin."
jovial
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Fri, 08/20/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 20, 2010 is:
jovial • \JOH-vee-ul\ • adjective
1 : of or relating to Jove *2 : markedly good-humored especially as evidenced by jollity and conviviality
Example sentence:
Andy remembered his Uncle Jim as a jovial, easy-going man with a ready smile, a firm handshake, and a cheery greeting for all.
Did you know?
In Roman astrology, planets were named after gods, and people were thought to share the personality traits of the god whose planet was rising when they were born. Jupiter, also called Jove, was the chief Roman god and was considered a majestic, authoritative type who was the source of joy and happiness. The Late Latin adjective "jovialis" meant "of or relating to Jove." In Middle French this had become "jovial." English speakers picked up "jovial" in the late 16th century and began applying it to folks who shared the majestic or good-natured character of Jupiter (regardless of their birth date).
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
embellish
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Thu, 08/19/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 19, 2010 is:
embellish • \im-BELL-ish\ • verb
1 : to make beautiful with ornamentation : decorate *2 : to heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful details : enhance
Example sentence:
Chris knew that his grandfather may have embellished the truth about his years serving on a submarine in the navy, but he enjoyed hearing the stories nonetheless.
Did you know?
Like its synonyms "adorn," "ornament," and "garnish," "embellish" means to make something beautiful by the addition of a decorative or fanciful feature. Traditionally, the word is used specifically to stress the addition of superfluous or adventitious ornament, as in "the printer embellished the page with a floral border." "Embellish" differs from its synonyms, however, in that it is sometimes used in a euphemistic way (as in our example sentence) to refer to the inclusion of details that are not necessarily true to make a story sound more appealing. The word derives via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb "embelir," from "en-" and "bel" ("beautiful").
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
insouciance
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Wed, 08/18/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 18, 2010 is:
insouciance • \in-SOO-see-unss\ • noun
: lighthearted unconcern : nonchalance
Example sentence:
The teenager’s careless insouciance about her schoolwork does not bode well for her grades.
Did you know?
Don't worry -- be insouciant. Perhaps your mind will rest easier if we explain that English speakers learned "insouciance" from the French in the 1700s (and the adjective "insouciant" has been part of our language since the 1800s). The French word comes from a combination of the negative prefix "in-" and "soucier," meaning "to trouble or disturb." "Soucier" in turn traces to "sollicitus," the Latin word for "anxious." If it seems to you that "sollicitus" looks a lot like some other English words you've seen, you're right. That root also gave us "solicit" (which now means "to entreat" but which was once used to mean "to fill with concern or anxiety"), "solicitude" (meaning "uneasiness of mind"), and "solicitous" ("showing or expressing concern").
ponzu
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Tue, 08/17/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 17, 2010 is:
ponzu • \PAHN-zoo\ • noun
: a tangy sauce made with citrus juice, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce and used especially on seafood
Example sentence:
"Alternate slices of avocado with seared tuna on a plate and drizzle with store-bought ponzu sauce." (Marlene Parrish, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 15, 2010)
Did you know?
The word "ponzu" is relatively new to English; our earliest English-language evidence of the word -- which we borrowed from Japanese -- is from 1972. But the word's history isn't as simple as that fact suggests. The Japanese word, which literally means "juice squeezed from sour oranges" is itself from the Dutch word "pons." And "pons" comes from (and shares the meaning of) the English word "punch" as it's used to refer to the beverage concoction that's often served at parties, weddings, and wakes.
liminal
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Mon, 08/16/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 16, 2010 is:
liminal • \LIM-uh-nul\ • adjective
1 : of or relating to a sensory threshold 2 : barely perceptible *3 : of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition : in-between, transitional
Example sentence:
"The Texas/Mexico border region is a liminal zone where one culture blends into another." (Dan Goddard, San Antonio Express News, November 16, 2005)
Did you know?
The noun "limen" refers to the point at which a physiological or psychological effect begins to be produced, and "liminal" is the adjective used to describe things associated with that point, or threshold, as it is also called. Likewise, the closely related word "subliminal" means "below a threshold"; it can describe something inadequate to produce a sensation or something operating below a threshold of consciousness. Because the sensory threshold is a transitional point where sensations are just beginning to be perceptible, "liminal" acquired two extended meanings. It can mean "barely perceptible" and is now often used to mean "transitional" or "intermediate," as in "the liminal zone between sleep and wakefulness."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
moil
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sun, 08/15/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 15, 2010 is:
moil • \MOYL\ • verb
*1 : to work hard : drudge 2 : to be in continuous agitation : churn, swirl
Example sentence:
"Why should he toil and moil … when … the strong arm of his Uncle will raise and support him?" (Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter)
Did you know?
"Moil" may mean "to work hard" but its origins are the opposite of hard; it ultimately derives from Latin "mollis," meaning "soft." (Other English derivatives of "mollis" are "emollient," "mollify," and "mollusk.") A more immediate ancestor of "moil" is the Anglo-French verb "moiller," meaning "to make wet, dampen," and one of the early meanings of "moil" in English was "to become wet and muddy." The "work hard" sense of "moil" appears most frequently in the pairing "toil and moil." Both "moil" and "toil" can also be nouns meaning "work." "Moil" implies work that is drudgery and "toil" suggests prolonged and fatiguing labor.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
predilection
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Sat, 08/14/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 14, 2010 is:
predilection • \pred-uh-LEK-shun\ • noun
: an established preference for something
Example sentence:
Aware of Kim's predilection for Italian food, Theo brought her to a quaint trattoria on the east side of town that was highly recommended by his boss.
Did you know?
Do you have a predilection for words whose histories conjure up colorful images of Wild West heroes, medieval knaves, Arabian princes, and intemperate gods, or are words with straightforward Latin roots more your style? If you favor the latter, you'll love "predilection." It's based on the Latin verb "legere," which means "to gather" or "to read." That versatile root is also the source of many other familiar English words, including "collect," "lesson," "sacrilege," and "legume."
advise
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Fri, 08/13/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 13, 2010 is:
advise • \ud-VYZE\ • verb
*1 : to give advice to : counsel 2 : inform, notify 3 : consult, confer
Example sentence:
Betty's doctor advised her to exercise more carefully if she hoped to avoid re-injuring her sprained ankle.
Did you know?
"Advise" was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Anglo-French "aviser," itself from "avis," meaning "opinion." That "avis" is not to be confused with the Latin word "avis," meaning "bird" (an ancestor of such English words as "avian" and "aviation"). Instead, it results from the Old French phrase "ce m'est a vis" ("that appears to me"), a partial translation of Latin "mihi visum est," "it seemed so to me" or "I decided." We advise you to remember that "advise" is spelled with an "s," whereas the related noun "advice" includes a stealthy "c."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
dog days
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Thu, 08/12/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 12, 2010 is:
dog days • \DAWG-DAYZ\ • noun
*1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere 2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity
Example sentence:
"In the sapping heat of the dog days, everyone is at the beach or relaxing on the porch with iced tea." (Barbara Damrosch, Washington Post, July 15, 2010)
Did you know?
Dogs aren’t the only creatures uncomfortable in oppressive heat, so why does a dog get singled out in "dog days"? The dog here is actually the Dog Star, which is also called "Sirius." The star has long been associated with sultry weather in the northern hemisphere because it rises simultaneously with the sun during the hottest days of summer. In the ancient Greek constellation system, this star (called "Seirios" in Greek) was considered the hound of the hunter Orion and was given the epithet "Kyon," meaning “dog.” The Greek writer Plutarch referred to the hot days of summer as "hēmerai kynades" (literally, "dog days"), and a Latin translation of this expression as "dies caniculares" is the source of our English phrase.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
stolid
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Wed, 08/11/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 11, 2010 is:
stolid • \STAH-lid\ • adjective
: having or expressing little or no sensibility : unemotional
Example sentence:
The judge was a man of stolid temperament who did not let the impassioned rhetoric of litigants affect his decisions.
Did you know?
"Stolid" derives from "stolidus," a word that means "dull" or "stupid" in Latin. It is also distantly related to the word "stultify," meaning "to cause to appear or be stupid, foolish, or absurdly illogical." The earliest examples of usage for "stolid," dating back to the 17th century, indicate that it too was originally associated with a lack of smarts; it was used to describe people who were considered dull or stupid because they didn't wear their emotions on their sleeves. By the1800s, however, "stolid" was frequently appearing without the connotation of foolishness, and it continues to be free of such overtones today.
wildcatter
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day - Tue, 08/10/2010 - 01:15
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 10, 2010 is:
wildcatter • \WYLDE-katt-er\ • noun
1 : one that drills wells in the hope of finding oil in territory not known to be an oil field *2 : one that promotes unsafe and unreliable enterprises; especially : one that sells stocks in such enterprises
Example sentence:
The feature story is about a husband-and-wife team who made their billions as property wildcatters in the real estate bubble.
Did you know?
Messing with a wildcat, such as a lynx, can be a pretty risky undertaking, but ferocious felines played only an indirect role in the development of the word "wildcatter." That term has been used in English since the late 19th century, along with the verb "wildcat," which refers to the risky practice of drilling experimental oil wells in territory not known to produce oil. English-speakers associated "wildcat" with risk-taking ventures after a number of U.S. banks fraudulently issued banknotes with little or no capital to back them up. Supposedly, the banknotes issued by one particular bank bore the image of a panther or, as it was known locally, a "wildcat," and it was those risky notes that led to the financial risk-taking senses of "wildcat" and "wildcatter."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
