Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day Merriam-Webster

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 26, 2024 is: herald \HAIR-uld\ verb
Herald is a verb meaning "to give notice of"; it is synonymous with [announce](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/announce), [publicize](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/publicize), and [foreshadow](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foreshadow). Herald may also mean "to greet especially with enthusiasm."

// The appearance of robins heralded the [advent](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Advent) of spring.

// She is being heralded as the year's best new author.

[See the entry >](https://bit.ly/45F2rP7)

Examples:

"Trumpets herald the arrival of the players at the arena." — Simon Webster, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2023

Did you know?

While herald the verb is more common today, [herald](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/herald) the noun is older. When the word was first welcomed into English in the early 14th century, it referred to an official at a [tournament](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tournament) (one of those knightly sporting events the Middle Ages are famous for). The herald's duties included making announcements, hence the word's uses relating to announcements both literal and metaphorical. The word is ultimately Germanic in origin, though like so many words of 14th century vintage, it came to English by way of Anglo-French. The resemblance between herald and the name Harold is not coincidental: Harold is a modern form of Chariovalda, the name of a 1st century C.E. leader of the Batavi, a tribe who lived on the lower [Rhine](https://www.britannica.com/place/Rhineland). The Germanic source of Chariovalda, haria-, is also the source of herald.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 25, 2024 is: fealty \FEE-ul-tee\ noun
Fealty is an old-fashioned and somewhat literary word that refers to intense loyalty or fidelity to a person, group, etc. More narrowly, fealty refers to the [fidelity](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fidelity) of a [vassal](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vassal) or feudal tenant to their lord.

// Authors who inspire such fealty can guarantee a publisher good sales, no matter the quality of the books they write.

// Kneeling before the entire court, the knight pledged his fealty to the king.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fealty)


Examples:

“[Director, Denis] Villeneuve’s ‘Dune’ movies deserve admiration if only for their fealty and ambition; the filmmaker’s respect for [Frank] Herbert’s [source material](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dune-by-Herbert) radiates from every frame of movies that feel as massive as they are minutely orchestrated.” — Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2024


Did you know?

In The Use of Law, published posthumously in 1629, [Francis Bacon](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-Bacon-Viscount-Saint-Alban) wrote, “Fealty is to take an oath upon a book, that he will be a faithful Tenant to the King.” That’s a pretty accurate summary of the early meaning of fealty. Early forms of the term were used in Middle English in the early 14th century, when they specifically designated the loyalty of a [vassal](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vassal) to a lord. Eventually, the meaning of the word broadened. Fealty can be paid to a country, a principle, or a leader of any kind, though the synonyms fidelity and loyalty are more commonly used. Fealty comes from the Anglo-French word feelté, or fealté, which comes from the Latin noun fidēlitās, meaning “fidelity.” These words come ultimately from fidēs, the Latin word for “faith.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 24, 2024 is: sanctimonious \sank-tuh-MOH-nee-us\ adjective
Someone described as sanctimonious behaves as though they are morally superior to others. Language or behavior that suggests the same kind of moral superiority can also be described as sanctimonious.

// While the subject matter was interesting, I found the presenter’s sanctimonious tone rather distracting.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sanctimonious)

Examples:

“Smart and sincere but never sanctimonious, the awareness-raising drama doubles as a public service message of sorts.” — Peter Debruge, Variety, 13 Mar. 2024

Did you know?

There’s nothing sacred about sanctimonious—at least not anymore. But in the early 1600s, the English adjective was still sometimes used to describe someone truly holy or pious, a sense at an important remove from today’s use describing someone who acts or behaves as though they are morally superior to others. (The now-obsolete “pious” sense recalls the meaning of the word’s Latin parent, sanctimonia, meaning “holiness” or “[sanctity](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sanctity).”) [Shakespeare](https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Shakespeare) used both the “holy” and “holier-than-thou” senses of sanctimonious in his work, referring in [The Tempest](https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Tempest) to the “sanctimonious” (that is, “holy”) ceremonies of marriage, and in [Measure for Measure](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Measure-for-Measure) to “the sanctimonious pirate that went to sea with the Ten Commandments but scraped one out of the table.” (Apparently, the pirate found the restriction on stealing inconvenient.)

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 23, 2024 is: catastrophe \kuh-TASS-truh-fee\ noun
A catastrophe is never a good thing. Catastrophe can refer to a momentous tragic event, an utter failure, a violent and sudden change in a feature of the earth, or a violent usually destructive natural event.

// Despite her careful planning, the party turned out to be a catastrophe.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catastrophe)

Examples:

"In the event of a major catastrophe like a hurricane, the agency would have a funding reserve set aside for initial response and recovery operations." — Ella Nilsen, CNN, 10 June 2024

Did you know?

When catastrophe was borrowed from Greek in the 1500s it was a term for tearjerkers: the catastrophe was the conclusion or final event of a usually tragic dramatic work. (Greek katastrophē, which means the same thing, comes from katastrephein, meaning "to overturn.") From there, the word moved on to occupy other territory relating to tragic happenings, utter failures, and the worst sort of natural disasters. Just as disaster can range from a calamitous event to one that is merely unsuccessful, catastrophe can refer to what is truly devastating as well as to what is simply deeply disheartening. In Henry IV, Part 2, Shakespeare opted to steer the word away from disaster entirely and plant it squarely in the world of burlesque: "You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe!" May all our catastrophes be of such a comic variety.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 22, 2024 is: extenuate \ik-STEN-yuh-wayt\ verb
Extenuate is a formal word that is most often used to mean “to lessen the strength or effect of something, such as a risk.” In legal use, to extenuate a crime, offense, etc., is to lessen or to try to lessen its seriousness or extent by making partial excuses.

// Developers are trying to extenuate the various risks associated with the product.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extenuate)


Examples:

“[Oedipus](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oedipus-Greek-mythology), paragon of problem-solvers, discovers by the end of the play the limits of his own keen intellect. In trying to outrun his fate, he learns that he is part of a design that is larger than his understanding. But it is as a victim of fate that he finds the freedom to assume a courageous responsibility for deeds committed in ignorance. ... Nothing can extenuate the horror of acts he spent his adult life trying to avoid.” — Charles McNulty, The Los Angeles Times, 12 Sept. 2022

Did you know?

Extenuate is most familiar in the phrase “[extenuating circumstances](https://bit.ly/4cDR1gM),” which refers to situations or facts that provide a partial justification or excuse for something. The word extenuate can, however, also be used all on its own. Its most typical use is with the meaning “to lessen the strength or effect of something, such as a risk,” but it also has legal use closely related to the meaning of “extenuating circumstances”; to extenuate a crime, offense, etc., is to lessen or to try to lessen its seriousness or extent by making partial excuses. Extenuate didn’t get its start in this semantic territory, however. It was borrowed into English in the 1500s with a now-archaic meaning it took directly from its Latin forebear, extenuare: “to make light of; to treat as unimportant.” Extenuate is today mostly at home in technical and legal contexts, but it occasionally appears in general writing with what may be a developing meaning: “to prolong, worsen, or exaggerate.” This meaning, which is likely influenced by the words [extend](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extend) and [accentuate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accentuate), is not yet fully established.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 21, 2024 is: visage \VIZ-ij\ noun
Visage is a formal word that refers to someone’s face or facial expression, or to the general appearance of something.

// Manny was surprised to see the smiling visage of his childhood friend, now running for the state senate, beaming down from a billboard.

// Don’t be intimidated by the rugged visage of the mountain; it’s accessible to climbers of all skill levels.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/visage)


Examples:

“[Keri] Russell was 22 when she was cast in the title role of Felicity. At the beginning of the series, her character was 17 years old, but thanks to Russell’s preternaturally youthful visage (and that glorious head of hair!), she pulled it off believably.” — Jessica Sager, Parade, 7 Jan. 2024

Did you know?

In “[Ozymandias](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ozymandias-poem),” [Percy Bysshe Shelley’s](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Percy-Bysshe-Shelley) famous poem, a traveller tells of a colossal statue’s “shattered visage” lying half sunk in desert sands, going on to describe its “frown / And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command…” Now, Shelley could have simply chosen face over the more [highfalutin](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/highfalutin) synonym visage, but not only would face shatter the [sonnet’s](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sonnet) [iambic](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/iambic) [pentameter](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pentameter), but a formal-sounding word is sometimes preferable to a basic one for all kinds of reasons, including sound, tone, or simply the [cut of its jib](https://bit.ly/4akPvP3). [Physiognomy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/physiognomy), for instance, refers to facial features thought to reveal qualities of temperament or character, as when [Emily Brontë](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emily-Bronte) writes in [Wuthering Heights](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wuthering-Heights), “I thought I could detect in his physiognomy a mind owning better qualities than his father ever possessed.” [Countenance](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/countenance), meanwhile, is often used to refer to the face as an indication of mood or emotion, as in [Bram Stoker’s](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bram-Stoker) [Dracula](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dracula-novel): “Mina struggled hard to keep her brave countenance.” As all of these quotes attest, when it comes to wordsmithery, sometimes you’ve just got to [vamp](https://bit.ly/3QJLyMU).