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

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 20, 2024 is: futile \FYOO-tul\ adjective
An effort, action, or emotion described as futile has no result or effect, and therefore serves no useful purpose.

// City officials attempted to stifle the scandal, but their efforts were futile.

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

Examples:

“... when resolve is wearing thin and hope feels futile, sometimes the only thing left to do is laugh.” — Cassidy George, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2023

Did you know?

Attempts to pinpoint the first use of the phrase “resistance is futile” may ultimately be futile—that is, pointless or [in vain](https://bit.ly/4aQiNpo)—but that hasn’t stopped folks from trying. Popular in movies and television series from Star Trek to Stargate, Veronica Mars to Napoleon Dynamite, the slogan is often uttered by an [antagonist](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antagonist) who wants to make it clear in no uncertain terms that they will be the one to prevail in the onscreen struggle. Some people point to a 1976 episode of [Doctor Who](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Doctor-Who) in which a character called The Master says “Resistance is futile now,” while others prefer the quote without the now, holding up a 1977 episode of Space: 1999 as being the first to feature it. However, author Randall Garrett had both shows beat in his 1961 short story “The Highest Treason,” in which a character says “Not if they … can prove that resistance is futile.” Despite its clear importance to futuristic science fiction, however, the word futile has ancient roots. It comes from the Latin adjective fūtilis/futtilis, which was used to describe things that are brittle or fragile and, by extension, serve no purpose. These meanings survive in the English word futile, which denotes ineffectiveness.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 19, 2024 is: sequester \sih-KWESS-ter\ verb
To sequester a person or group is to keep them separate or apart from other people. Sequester is also often used to mean “to bind or absorb (carbon dioxide) as part of a larger chemical process or compound.”

// The jury was sequestered until a verdict was reached.

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


Examples:

“When sea otters were reintroduced to an Alaskan island, they … led to the return of offshore kelp. As well as harboring hundreds of biodiverse species, these towering algal forests also sequester carbon.” — Lucy Cooke, Scientific American, 1 Nov. 2023

Did you know?

Sequester is a word that has important legal and scientific uses, and a long history besides. In fact, it can be traced back to the Latin [preposition](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preposition) secus, meaning, well, “beside” or “alongside.” Setting someone or something apart (figuratively “to the side”) from the rest is sequester’s [raison d’être](https://bit.ly/3IYU5XM). We frequently hear it in the context of the courtroom, as juries are sometimes sequestered for the safety of their members or to prevent the influence of outside sources on a verdict. It is also possible, legally speaking, to sequester property—sequester can mean both “to seize” and “to deposit” property by a [writ](https://bit.ly/4a7pqDL) of [sequestration](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sequestration). The scientific sense of sequester most often encountered these days has to do with the binding or absorption of [carbon](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carbon). [Kelp](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kelp) forests, for example, sequester massive amounts of carbon dioxide during [photosynthesis](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photosynthesis), keeping it “apart” from the atmosphere—by some estimates doing so twenty times as much as terrestrial forests. You might even say kelp’s got this sequestering thing locked up.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 18, 2024 is: artifice \AHR-tuh-fus\ noun
Artifice refers to dishonest or insincere behavior or speech that is meant to deceive someone. It can also be used to mean "clever or artful skill."

// We found ourselves tremendously moved by his apology, which he made without artifice or pretense.

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


Examples:

"At the time, almost every comedy on air was filmed live in front of a studio audience—or at least pretended to be. Pretty much all of the biggest shows used a laugh track—The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres. Savvy viewers might have figured out that not all of the giggles and guffaws were real, but few people outside the industry understood the extent of the artifice." — Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 15 Apr. 2024

Did you know?

Do great actors display artifice or art? Sometimes a bit of both. Artifice stresses creative skill or intelligence, but it also implies a sense of falseness and trickery. [Art](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art) generally rises above such falseness, suggesting instead an unanalyzable creative force. Actors may rely on some of each, but the personae they display in their roles are usually artificial creations. Therein lies a lexical connection between art and artifice. Artifice comes from artificium, Latin for "artistry, craftmanship, craft, craftiness, and cunning." (That root also gave us the English word [artificial](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artificial).) Artificium, in turn, developed from ars, the Latin root underlying the word [art](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art) (and related terms such as [artist](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artist) and [artisan](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artisan)).

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 17, 2024 is: lucrative \LOO-kruh-tiv\ adjective
Something described as lucrative produces money or [wealth](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wealth).

// The author parlayed the success of her books into a lucrative second career as a public speaker.   

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

Examples:

"A vibrant commercial Off Broadway sector existed decades ago, but it shrank as the nonprofit theater movement grew, providing a home for adventurous art. It also contracted as Broadway surged, providing the temptation of bigger audiences and higher profits, and as some venues were lost for more lucrative real estate uses." — Michael Paulson, The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2024

Did you know?

Paying, gainful, remunerative, and lucrative are all used to describe ways to [bring home the bacon](https://bit.ly/3Wb2wqK), but each term suggests a different amount of bacon being brought in. [Paying](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paying) is the word for jobs that yield the [smallest potatoes](https://bit.ly/49FLQeo)—a paying job should provide satisfactory compensation, but you're not going to get rich by it. Gainful employment might offer a bit more cash, and [gainful](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gainful) certainly suggests that an individual is motivated by a desire for gain. [Remunerative](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/remunerative) implies that a job provides more than the usual rewards, but a lucrative position is really the one you want—that's the kind that goes beyond your initial hopes or expectations to really bring in the [lucre](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lucre) (both lucrative and lucre come from the Latin noun lucrum, meaning "gain" or "profit").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 16, 2024 is: debacle \dee-BAH-kul\ noun
Debacle is usually used synonymously with [fiasco](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiasco) to mean “a complete failure.” It can also refer to a great disaster (though typically not one that causes significant suffering or loss).

// After the debacle of his first novel, he had trouble getting a publisher for his next book.

// The state has made a great deal of progress in recovering from its economic debacle.

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


Examples:

“Earlier this year, on an Amtrak train from Northern Virginia to Sanford, Florida, passengers repeatedly called the police during the train’s 20-hour delay. ‘For those of you that are calling the police,’ the conductor had to announce, ‘we are not holding you hostage.’ That debacle was caused by a freight train ahead of them, which had crashed into an empty car parked on the tracks in rural South Carolina. Nothing you can do about that. A train just has to wait until whatever’s in front of it is gone.” — Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 21 Nov. 2023

Did you know?

If you need an [icebreaker](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/icebreaker) in some social setting, why not recount the history of debacle? After all, when it was first used in English, debacle referred to the literal breaking up of ice (such as the kind that occurs in a river after a long, cold winter), as well as to the rush of ice or water that follows such an event. Eventually, it was also used to mean “a violent, destructive flood.” If that’s not enough to make some fast friends, you could let loose the fact that debacle comes from the French noun débâcle, which in turn comes from the verb débâcler, meaning “to clear, unbolt, or unbar.” You might then add, to your listeners’ grateful appreciation, that these uses led naturally to such meanings as “a breaking up,” “collapse,” and finally the familiar “disaster” and “fiasco.” We can feel the silence thawing already.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 15, 2024 is: wane \WAYN\ verb
To wane is to become smaller or less, or in other words, to decrease in size, extent, or degree.

// The national scandal caused her popularity to wane.

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


Examples:

“In 2023, Royal Caribbean's bookings hit an all-time high ahead of the launch of its newest ship, the Icon of the Seas. Interest has yet to wane: The three strongest booking weeks in the company’s history were at the start of 2024 and ‘wave season,’ when cruise lines typically roll out flashy discounts to incentivize reservations.” — Brittany Chang, Business Insider, 20 Mar. 2024

Did you know?

In her book Braiding Sweetgrass, scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer, an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, recounts some of the stories of her people surrounding [Windigos](https://www.britannica.com/topic/wendigo), fearsome, shrieking monsters that prey on human flesh: “The Windigo is most powerful in the Hungry Times. With the warm breezes his power wanes.” Wane is a verb used when something—such as strength, power, or influence—decreases or diminishes, usually with the implication that the lessening is gradual, natural, or—as in the case of the Windigo—seasonal. Daylight wanes, as does summer. In a classroom, one’s attention may be said to wane if, minute by minute, one becomes more interested in watching birds through the window than following the points of the professor’s lecture. For centuries, wane has also been called upon to describe the seeming decrease in the size of the moon in the later [phases](https://www.britannica.com/science/lunar-phases) of the lunar cycle. The traditional opposite of wane is [wax](https://bit.ly/3JqxWSK), a once common but now rare synonym of grow. Wane and wax have been partnered in references to the moon since the Middle Ages.