Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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  1. hace 12 h

    salvo

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 13, 2026 is: salvo • \SAL-voh\  • noun In military contexts, salvo refers to various actions involving discharge or release of bombs, rockets, artillery, etc., as well to the bombs or projectiles released in such an action. In general use, salvo is usually used to refer to a strong or sudden verbal attack, but it can also refer to a sudden occurrence of applause, laughter, etc., from many people. // The troops were driven back by a salvo of cannon fire. // The editorial's opening salvo was a list of grievances against the mayor's policies. // The conclusion of her performance was answered with a salvo of cheers and applause. See the entry > Examples: “Nas dropped Illmatic, his unimpeachable opening salvo, when he was only 20, taking a haunted stroll through his Queensbridge adolescence on ‘Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park).’ An undercurrent of nostalgia weaves throughout his 30-year discography.” — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 8 Jan. 2026 Did you know? No opening salvo here: salvo in phrases like “an opening salvo” is a kind of attack, especially one that is strong or sudden. Usually, such salvos are verbal attacks, like a critical remark aimed at a debate opponent, or a pointed accusation at the start of an editorial. But salvo can also refer to attacks of a more perilous kind, including various martial actions involving bombs, rockets, and artillery. (It can also refer to the bombs or projectiles released in a salvo.) The word arrived from Italian in the late 16th century with a complex meaning: it referred to a simultaneous discharge of two or more guns, either in military action or as a salute. The word’s ultimate source is the Latin word salve, meaning “hail!,” which was an ancient Roman greeting. In English, salvo is sometimes used for a sudden occurrence of applause, laughter, etc., from many people, which sounds to us like the best kind of all.

  2. hace 1 día

    gnomic

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 12, 2026 is: gnomic • \NOH-mik\  • adjective Gnomic is a formal word that describes something cryptically said or written in few words. // The painter is notorious for offering terse, gnomic responses to questions about her work that leave interviewers and critics scratching their heads. See the entry > Examples: “Indeed, the album that ‘Michelangelo Dying’ reminds me of most is [Laurie] Anderson’s seminal ‘Big Science,’ from 1982. ... Both albums feature gnomic lyrical pronouncements. (‘Rigid, collapse,’ [Cate] Le Bon chants on the track ‘About Time,’ reminiscent of Anderson talk-singing, ‘Big Science, Hallelujah.’)” — Rumaan Alam, The New Yorker, 26 Sept. 2025 Did you know? A gnome is an aphorism—that is, a short phrase that expresses a true or wise idea. Gnomes are sometimes couched in metaphorical or figurative language, they are often quite clever, and they are always concise. We borrowed the word gnome in the 16th century from the Greeks, who based their word gnōmē on the verb gignōskein, meaning “to know.” (The other gnome—referring to the dwarf of folklore—comes from New Latin and is unrelated to the aphoristic gnome.) We began using gnomic, the adjective form of gnome, in the late 18th century. It describes a style of writing, or sometimes speech, characterized by pithy phrases, which are often terse to the point of mysteriousness.

  3. hace 2 días

    baptism of fire

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 11, 2026 is: baptism of fire • \BAP-tiz-um-uv-FYRE\  • noun A baptism of fire (or baptism by fire, as it is sometimes referred to in the U.S.) is an introductory or initial experience that is a severe ordeal. In military contexts, baptism of fire specifically refers to a soldier's first exposure to enemy fire. // The newly recruited player faced a baptism of fire as the team went head to head with their greatest rival. See the entry > Examples: "It was my first day on the slopes, and in my naivety I had tackled Avoriaz’s famous Boulevard des Skieurs after one three-hour lesson, before I could even really turn. At 36, this was a baptism of fire." — Jaymi McCann, The Week, 23 Jan. 2026 Did you know? The military sense of baptism of fire can be found in, among other texts, a 1907 history of a Massachusetts regiment in the Civil War: "That night we camped sixteen miles from Baton Rouge where we remained until the 21st, on which day we received our baptism of fire." Users of that sense, referring to a soldier's first exposure to enemy fire, as well those employing the more general sense of an especially difficult initiation, both allude (knowingly or unknowingly) to a Biblical passage: "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me . . . will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matthew 3:11, RSV). The use of baptism of fire to refer to such a spiritual baptism dates to at least the early 1600s. Non-biblical, metaphorical use for any introductory or initial experience that is a severe ordeal arose in the mid-1850s.

  4. hace 3 días

    pedagogical

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 10, 2026 is: pedagogical • \ped-uh-GAH-jih-kul\  • adjective Pedagogical is a formal word used to describe things that are of or related to teachers or education. // The new professor is known for particularly engaging pedagogical methods. See the entry > Examples: “It’s a predictable part of every academic year at my institution: that time when we faculty are asked to submit course proposals and space requests. ... But the prosaic task of picking a classroom has hidden potential: It’s a chance to manifest a new pedagogical vision; it’s an instantiation of values in a time of profound change.” — Rachel Hastings, Inside Higher Ed, 4 June 2026 Did you know? Pedagogical was coined in the late 16th century from a Greek adjective of the same meaning. That adjective, paidagōgikos (“suitable for a teacher or trainer”), in turn comes from the noun paidagōgos, meaning “tutor.” The English word pedagogue (which can simply mean “teacher” but usually suggests one who is particularly pedantic or dull) comes from the same root. Although the words educational and teacher make the grade in most contexts, pedagogical and pedagogue are useful additions to the class.

  5. hace 4 días

    anecdote

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 9, 2026 is: anecdote • \AN-ik-doht\  • noun An anecdote is a short narrative about an interesting, funny, or biographical incident. // Dinner with our uncles means lots of anecdotes involving the mischief they got into as kids. See the entry > Examples: “Standing in front of a room of about 40 people … [NASCAR driver, Lavar] Scott told stories about his racing family. ‘One time, my grandmother raced my grandfather, and she flipped her Mustang,’ said Scott. The anecdote was greeted with a chorus of laughs.” — Devin Jackson, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 June 2026 Did you know? The Byzantine historian Procopius wrote three historical works in Greek. In the first two, he dealt with wars and public works projects, but the third was different. Referred to as the Anekdota, from the Greek adjective anekdotos meaning “unpublished,” it contained bitter attacks on the emperor Justinian, his wife, and other notables of contemporary Constantinople. Understandably, it was not published until after Procopius’s death. English speakers originally used an anglicized version of the book’s name for similar secret or unpublished histories or biographies, but by the 17th century, the meaning of anecdote had been broadened to cover brief and interesting or amusing tales of events or incidents.

  6. hace 5 días

    nurture

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 8, 2026 is: nurture • \NER-cher\  • verb Nurture is most often used to mean “to help someone or something grow, develop, or succeed.” It can also mean “to take care of someone or something that is growing or developing by providing food, protection, a place to live, etc.,” or “to hold something, such as an idea or strong feeling, in your mind for a long time.” // Art teachers nurture their students’ creativity. // She nurtured a secret ambition to be a professional singer. See the entry > Examples: “Parks are good for people. They nurture community, even alongside busy roads and next to dense housing; especially there, in fact.” — Cheryl Fox, The Park Record (Park City, Utah), 3 July 2026 Did you know? When nurture was first adopted from Anglo-French into English in the 14th century, it referred, as it does in the phrase “nurture vs. nature,” to training or upbringing, i.e., to the care and attention given to someone or something that is growing or developing. It wasn’t until a century later that the verb nurture settled into the language, first with meanings having to do with feeding and caring for young—meanings nourish had been, er, nurturing for a hundred years. The words come by their overlapping meanings etymologically: both come from the Latin verb nutrire, meaning “to suckle” or “to nourish.” The figurative use of nurture, meaning “to further the development of,” followed centuries later. Mary Wollstonecraft applied it in her 1792 book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, writing, “Public spirit must be nurtured by private virtue.”

  7. hace 6 días

    invidious

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 7, 2026 is: invidious • \in-VID-ee-us\  • adjective Invidious is a formal word used to describe things that are unpleasant and likely to cause bad feelings in other people. Such bad feelings may include resentment, discontent, animosity, or envy. // Psychologists caution against drawing invidious comparisons between other people’s lives as portrayed on social media and one’s own. See the entry > Examples: “The gap between romantic expectation and mundane reality, frankly, never ceases to amaze with this team. France, somehow, get better, on paper, with every tournament. Talent keeps coming through at a relentless, invidious rate.” — James Horncastle, The New York Times, 16 June 2026 Did you know? If invidious reminds you of the word insidious (“gradually or subtly causing harm”), you’ve got a nose for negativity—at least the lexical kind. It’s not that using the word invidious will harm you gradually, but that both words, in addition to rhyming and coming from Latin, are all about bad vibes. The two are otherwise unrelated; insidious comes from Latin insidiae, “ambush,” while invidious is instead a relative of envy and comes from the verb invidēre, meaning “to look askance at” or “to envy.” The link between envy and invidious is largely invisible today, as invidious is typically applied to that which is unpleasant (such as “an invidious position”) or is likely to cause harm or resentment (“invidious comparisons,” “invidious discrimination”).

  8. 6 ago

    torpor

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 6, 2026 is: torpor • \TOR-per\  • noun Torpor is a formal word for a state of inactivity and sluggishness. It can also be used, especially in the context of hibernating and estivating animals, to refer to a state of lowered physiological activity. // The magazine offers lots of ideas for activities designed to shake off the torpor of a rainy day. See the entry > Examples: “Especially during migration in the spring and fall, bats can get tired. If they are caught in a cold snap, they can go into torpor, like a mini-hibernation, to help survive the cold period when there aren't insects available to eat for energy.” — Tara Hohoff, The Conversation, 28 May 2026 Did you know? Cheer up, sleepy Jean (or sleepy Gene)—we know what torpor can mean, and we’re happy to share. Torpor can mean a few things, actually. Most commonly it refers to a state of mind and body characterized by inactivity and lack of energy, as on a torrid (no relation) summer day when one has little desire to do much more than lie around daydreaming. While people may be able to shake off torpor that sets in when the heat takes away the will to get things done, it’s a bit harder for animals, for whom the word has a more technical meaning. An animal in torpor is in a state of lowered body temperature and metabolic activity, usually because of extreme heat or cold. The torpor can last a few hours or it can be months before the creature wipes the sleep out of its eyes.  Torpid, the related adjective (both torpid and torpor come from the Latin verb torpēre, meaning “to be sluggish or numb”) also has both technical and nontechnical applications, as in “torpid animals” or “a torpid economy.”

  9. 5 ago

    colloquial

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 5, 2026 is: colloquial • \kuh-LOH-kwee-ul\  • adjective Colloquial is used with words like term and word and expression to describe language that is used in familiar and informal conversation. // The author can switch from formal academic language to a charmingly colloquial style, depending on the audience and subject of her writing. See the entry > Examples: "The American woodcock is a native North American bird species found in Wisconsin and much of the eastern United States and Canada. Known by a host of colloquial names, including timberdoodle, ... bogsucker and mudsnipe, the species is about the size of the American robin ..." — Paul A. Smith, The Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gazette , 1 May 2026 Did you know? The noun colloquy has since the 15th century referred to a conversation or dialogue, and when the adjective colloquial was formed in the mid-18th century it had a similar focus. (Both words trace back to the Latin verb colloquī, meaning "to converse.") Over time, however, colloquial developed a more specific meaning related to language that is most suited to informal conversation, and it ultimately garnered a secondary use for language that is so informal as to be inappropriate for a given situation. For instance, when writing an academic paper about Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, it would not serve to say that the crew of the Endurance was "in quite a pickle" when they became trapped in ice off the Caird coast. Although pickle does indeed mean "a difficult situation" in this context, its flavor—ahem—may be considered too colloquial, that is, "unacceptably informal," for academic use.

  10. 4 ago

    élan

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 4, 2026 is: élan • \ay-LAHN\  • noun Élan refers to energy and enthusiasm. // The dancers performed with great style and élan; we were exhausted just watching them. See the entry > Examples: "Carrying the production with the élan of a cheerful college quarterback, [Luke] Brady is an immediately likable leading man ..." — Matt Wolf, The New York Times, 25 June 2025 Did you know? Once upon a time, back in the early 18th century, English speakers did not have élan (the word, that is; we have always had the potential for vigorous spirit). We had, however, the verb elance, meaning "to throw," which was used for the launching of darts, javelins, and similar weaponry. Elance came from the Middle French (s')eslancer, meaning "to rush" (that is, "to hurl oneself forth"). Elance enjoyed only a short flight in English, falling into disuse by the mid-19th century, around which time English speakers picked up élan, another French word that traces back, via the Middle French noun eslan ("rush"), to (s')eslancer. We copied élan in form from the French, but we dispensed with the French sense of a literal "rush" or "dash," retaining the sense of enthusiastic animation that we sometimes also characterize as dash, spunk, or vim.

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