Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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  1. 21H AGO

    Gordian knot

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 26, 2026 is: Gordian knot • \GOR-dee-un-NAHT\  • noun Gordian knot refers to a complicated and difficult problem. It is often used in the phrase cut the Gordian knot, which means “to solve a difficult problem in a very direct way by doing something forceful or extreme.” // The organization’s change in leadership is being widely applauded as a step toward stability, but many are less than optimistic about the new director’s ability to cut the Gordian knot at the center of its troubles. See the entry > Examples: “Meanwhile, officials are having high-level conversations about the long-term effectiveness of Michigan’s aging dam infrastructure and the growing need for effective flood mitigation measures. Whitmer noted a Gordian knot of complexity around the state’s dams, many of which are operated through murky public-private arrangements.” — Byron McCauley, The Holland (Michigan) Sentinel, 23 Apr. 2026 Did you know? According to legend, when the peasant Gordius became king of Gordium, capital of the ancient district of Phrygia (in what is now modern Türkiye), he fastened the yoke of his wagon to a beam with a very complex knot. Centuries later, when Alexander the Great arrived on the scene, he was told that he couldn’t conquer and rule Asia unless he proved himself worthy by untying the knot. Alexander quickly solved his problem—and gained a new kingdom—by slicing the knot in half with his sword. Since then, Gordian knot has been a term for a difficult problem, and the phrase “cut the Gordian knot” has been a way to describe a direct and forceful solution to an apparently insurmountable difficulty.

    2 min

  2. 1D AGO

    sacrosanct

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 25, 2026 is: sacrosanct • \SAK-roh-sankt\  • adjective Sacrosanct is a formal word that describes something too important and respected to be changed or criticized. It can also mean "most sacred or holy." // While the family's new matriarch aimed to maintain the familiar traditions of the holidays, she did not consider the details of their celebration to be sacrosanct. See the entry > Examples: "Sen. Paul Strommen of Sidney ... said there's no appetite among senators to empty the Veterans Aid Fund. 'There's certain things that are kind of sacrosanct, and veterans' aid is one of those things.'" — Todd von Kampen, The North Platte (Nebraska) Telegraph, 7 Mar. 2026 Did you know? Contrary to the beliefs of some, language is not sacrosanct; rather, it is subject to constant modification based on the needs, experiences, and even whims of those who use it. Take the word sacrosanct itself, which likely comes from the Latin phrase sacro sanctus meaning "made holy by a sacred rite." There's a definite semantic softening from that to the "too important and respected to be changed or criticized" meaning of sacrosanct. But holy moly, has sanctus led to a whole bunch of other English words with a truly pious flavor, from saint and sanctimony to sanctify and sanctuary. Sacrum ("a sacred rite"), source of the sacro in sacro sanctus, is no slouch either, living on in English anatomy as the name for our pelvic vertebrae—a shortening of os sacrum, which translates literally as "holy bone."

    2 min

  3. 2D AGO

    onus

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 24, 2026 is: onus • \OH-nuss\  • noun Onus is a formal word typically used to refer to a responsibility, obligation, or burden. It is usually preceded by the word the. // Management has made it clear that the onus is on employees to ask for further training if they don’t understand the new procedures. See the entry > Examples: “The [London Book Fair] comes the week before the government is due to deliver its progress report on AI and copyright, after proposals for a relaxation of existing laws caused outrage last year. Philippa Gregory, the novelist, described the plans for an ‘opt-out’ policy, which puts the onus on writers to refuse permission for their work to be trawled, as akin to putting a sign on your front door asking burglars to pass by.” — The Guardian (London), 13 Mar. 2026 Did you know? Understanding the etymology of onus shouldn’t be a burden; it’s as simple as knowing that English borrowed the word—spelling, meaning, and all—from Latin in the 17th century. Onus is also a distant relative of the Sanskrit word anas, meaning cart (as in, a wheeled wagon or vehicle that carries a burden). English isn’t exactly loaded with words that come from Latin onus, but onerous (“difficult and unpleasant to do or deal with”) is one, which is fitting since in addition to being synonymous with “burden,” onus has also long been used to refer to obligations and responsibilities that one may find annoying, taxing, disagreeable, or distasteful.

    2 min

  4. 3D AGO

    expedite

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 23, 2026 is: expedite • \EK-spuh-dyte\  • verb To expedite something is to cause it to happen faster. // We’ll do what we can to expedite the processing of your application. See the entry > Examples: “The new task force ... is required to submit an initial report in 60 days and final report in 90 days with recommendations to simplify, improve and expedite hiring.” — Blake Paterson, NOLA.com (New Orleans, Louisiana), 7 Apr. 2026 Did you know? Need someone to do something in a hurry? You can tell that person to step on it, or you can tell them to expedite it. Figurative feet are involved in both cases, though less obviously in the second choice. Expedite comes from the Latin verb expedire, meaning “to free from entanglement or difficulty.” The feet come in at that word’s root: it traces back to Latin ped- or pes, meaning “foot.” Expedient and expedition also stepped into English by way of expedire.

    1 min

  5. 4D AGO

    fraught

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 22, 2026 is: fraught • \FRAWT\  • adjective Fraught describes something that causes or involves a lot of emotional stress or worry. When fraught is used in the phrase “fraught with,” it means “full of something bad or unwanted.” // The siblings had a fraught relationship. // The paper was poorly researched and fraught with errors. See the entry > Examples: "We might think replicating one of these ideas will deliver that perfectly walkable, equitable, sustainable and prosperous city of our hopeful imagination. Not likely. Many of these were hard wins, often fraught and contested in their local context." — Gia Biagi, The Chicago Tribune, 5 Apr. 2026 Did you know? An early instance of the word fraught occurs in the 14th century poem Richard Coer de Lyon, about England's King Richard I, aka Richard the Lionheart. The line "The drowmound was so hevy fraught / That unethe myght it saylen aught" describes a large fast-sailing ship so heavily fraught—that is, loaded—that it can barely sail. The poet's use of fraught is typical for the time; originally, something that was fraught was laden with freight. For centuries, fraught continued to be used in relation to loaded ships, but that use is now considered archaic. These days, fraught is used in reference to situations that are heavy with tension, emotion, or some other weighty characteristic.

    2 min

  6. 5D AGO

    lacuna

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 21, 2026 is: lacuna • \luh-KOO-nuh\  • noun Lacuna is a formal word that refers to a gap or blank space in something—in other words, a missing part. When used with respect to biology, lacuna also refers to a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure. // The absence of hemlock pollen from one stretch of the fossil record is a notable lacuna that suggests the tree may have once suffered from some type of blight that nearly wiped out the species. // An osteocyte is a cell that is isolated in a lacuna of bone. See the entry > Examples: “At the heart of every biography ... lies a lacuna—something unknowable, no matter how candid or heavily documented the subject, no matter how familiar or diligent the biographer.” — Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025 Did you know? If you find yourself drawing a blank when it comes to the definition of lacuna, it might help to imagine drawing water instead, ideally from a lake or lagoon. Lacuna, lake, and lagoon all come ultimately from lacus, the Latin word for “lake.” Latin speakers modified lacus into lacuna to form a word meaning “pit,” “gap,” or “pool.” When English speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century, they used it to refer to a figurative gap in or missing portion of something, such as information or text. (Note that lacuna comes with two plural options: the Latin lacunae \luh-KYOO-nee\ or \luh-KOO-nye\, or the anglicized lacunas \luh-KOO-nuz\.) Lagoon, meanwhile, hewed closer to the Latin lacuna, referring first to a shallow sound, channel, or pond near or connected to a larger body of water, and later to a shallow artificial pool or pond.

    2 min

  7. 6D AGO

    cordial

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 20, 2026 is: cordial • \KOR-jul\  • adjective Cordial describes someone or something that is politely pleasant and friendly. // All the guests were assembled and given a cordial greeting by the host. See the entry > Examples: “The Burnside post office is a small one-­room wooden building profusely planted with flowers all around it. ... One enters a tiny vestibule and pushes a buzzer, which brings Christine out of the house, brushing by you into the ‘office’ proper, where she opens the counter window and, with a smile and a toss of her hair, says, in a cordial tone, ‘Now, my dear, what can I do for you?’” — Robert Finch, Summers in Squid Tickle: A Newfoundland Odyssey, 2025 Did you know? The Latin root cord- (or cor) is at the heart of the connection between cordial, concord (meaning “harmony”), and discord (meaning “conflict”). Cord- means “heart,” and each of these cord- descendants has something to do with the heart, at least figuratively. Concord, which comes from com- (meaning “together” or “with”) plus -cord, suggests that one heart is with another. Discord combines the prefix dis- (meaning “apart”) with -cord to imply that hearts are apart. Hundreds of years ago, cordial could mean simply “of or relating to the (literal) heart” (the -ial is simply an adjective suffix) but today anything described as cordial—be it a friendly welcome, a compliment, or an agreement—comes from the heart in a figurative sense. Cordial is also used as a noun to refer to a usually sweet liqueur, the name being inspired by the idea that a cordial invigorates the heart.

    2 min

  8. MAY 19

    demeanor

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 19, 2026 is: demeanor • \dih-MEE-ner\  • noun Demeanor refers to someone’s outward manner and behavior toward others. // The teacher’s calm demeanor put the classroom at ease. See the entry > Examples: “At home, your demeanor impacts your family more than you realize. Your kids feed off your energy. If you’re engaged, positive, and present, they feel it.” — Brandon Brigman, The Rockdale Citizen (Conyers, Georgia), 30 Mar. 2026 Did you know? The history of demeanor begins with a threat: the word has its roots in Latin minārī, meaning “to threaten.” A form of that word was used in contexts having to do with driving animals—that is, impelling them to move—and from this word came more recent French ancestors having to do with leading, guiding, and behaving. By the 14th century, English had adopted a word out of this lineage: the verb demean meaning “to conduct or behave (oneself) usually in a proper manner.” (Another demean, defined as “to lower in character, status, or reputation,” entered the language later by way of the mean that has to do with being cruel.) The noun demeanor was formed in the following century through the addition of the suffix -or.

    2 min

  9. MAY 18

    vindicate

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 18, 2026 is: vindicate • \VIN-duh-kayt\  • verb To vindicate someone is to show that they are not guilty. Vindicate can also mean “to show that someone or something that has been criticized or doubted is correct, true, or reasonable.” // A series of testimonies helped vindicate the defendant. // Their much-maligned approach to the problem has now been vindicated by these positive results. See the entry > Examples: “He [Bob Dylan] never expressed embarrassment over the dismal commercial failure of his would-be cinematic masterpiece, Renaldo and Clara, even after the film’s financers, Warner Bros., warned Dylan that the film’s nearly five hour running time would ensure its failure (which would prove true). Dylan insisted that the film needed every frame. And who knows, art history may vindicate him.” — Ron Rosenbaum, Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed, 2025 Did you know? It’s hard not to marvel at the rich history of vindicate. Vindicate, which has been used in English since at least the mid-16th century, comes from a form of the Latin verb vindicare, meaning “to set free, avenge, or lay claim to.” Vindicare, in turn, comes from vindex, a noun meaning “claimant” or “avenger.” Truly, vindex has proven to be an incredible hulk of a word progenitor over the centuries. Other descendants of this “avenger” assembled in English include avenge itself, revenge, vengeance, vendetta, and vindictive.

    2 min

  10. MAY 17

    affable

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 17, 2026 is: affable • \AF-uh-bul\  • adjective Affable describes someone who is friendly and easy to talk to. It can also describe something, such as someone’s personality, that is characterized by ease and friendliness. // The restaurant’s affable owner can be seen most nights welcoming his guests and making light conversation. // In the hallways, the principal has an affable demeanor; however, when called to her office, students know she is all about business. See the entry > Examples: “Ray Naranjo is a Native American chef from Santa Clara Pueblo in northern New Mexico. He’s a big, affable man with a wide, warm smile, built more for a football field than his food truck, Manko.” — Michael Shaikh, The Last Sweet Bite: Stories and Recipes of Culinary Heritage Lost and Found, 2025 Did you know? There is nothing in the meaning of affable (“friendly and easy to talk to”), nor in its etymology (the word traces back to the Latin verb affārī, meaning “to speak to, address”), to suggest it is more properly applied to men than to women, but English-speaking people behave as though it is. This was not always true; in the 16th through the 19th centuries, it was not uncommon to see the word describing women, but no more. We once surveyed all the cases in which a single newspaper used affable over a 12-month period. The word occurred in 102 articles, and in 4 occurrences it described women, while in 85 occurrences it described men (in the other cases affable was used to describe a conga line, email, musical compositions by Robert Ward, cats in general, and one male dog). None of this need affect your use of the term. You should feel free to apply it in whatever way seems suitable. Think of this more as a reminder that the currents of our language are deep and occasionally mysterious, gently nudging us along paths we don’t even see.

    2 min
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