Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster
  • 4.5 (8)
  • Books

Free daily dose of word power from Merriam-Webster's experts

Episodes

  1. 1 hr ago

    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”).

  2. 1 day 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.”

  3. 2 days 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.

  4. 3 days 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.

  5. 4 days ago

    mitigate

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 3, 2026 is: mitigate • \MIT-uh-gayt\  • verb To mitigate something is to make it less severe, harmful, or painful. // One way we can mitigate the impact the construction project will have on residents is to commit to completing it in the allotted time. See the entry > Examples: “The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an emergency order to mitigate blackouts in the Carolinas as the region prepares for a period of hot weather coming up.” — Dave Kovaleski, Daily Energy Insider, 15 June 2026 Did you know? The meaning of mitigate is straightforward enough: to make something—such as a problem, symptom, or punishment—less harsh or severe. Sometimes, however, mitigate appears where the similar-looking militate is expected. That word, which is often followed by against, means “to have weight or effect,” as in “your unexcused absences are likely to militate against your getting a promotion.” The two words are not closely related (mitigate comes from the Latin verb mitigare, meaning “to soften,” whereas militate traces to militare, meaning “to engage in warfare”), but confusion between the two has existed for long enough that some language experts accept “mitigate against” as an idiomatic alternative to militate. Even William Faulkner used mitigate in this way in his 1932 short story, Centaur in Brass, writing “It's as though there were some intangible and invisible social force that mitigates against him.” But unless you’re Faulkner, it’s best to keep mitigate and militate distinct.

  6. 5 days ago

    highfalutin

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 2, 2026 is: highfalutin • \hye-fuh-LOO-tun\  • adjective Something or someone described as highfalutin seems, or is trying to seem, great or important. // The authors’ research may have been impressive, but their paper was full of highfalutin jargon that ultimately obscured what they intended to say. See the entry > Examples: “Standing 787 feet tall, the tower was one of the last of the era—when downtown Dallas’ skyline was defined by highfalutin oil execs, bankers, financiers and the architects who used steel, concrete and glass to erect opulent monuments to their economic success.” — Nick Wooten, The Dallas Morning News, 9 Jan. 2026 Did you know? Highfalutin has a fine purpose: to describe pretentious people or language without making the person using it sound, well, pretentious. Were you to describe the high-flown speech of another using other adjectives available to you (grandiloquent, fustian, orotund) you might well be found guilty of the faux pas yourself. Highfalutin first appeared as American slang in the early 1800s, and like many slang terms it has had a lot of different spellings (hi, high faluting). The word most likely originated as a combination of the adjective high (as used in the phrase “high and mighty”) and the participle fluting. Why fluting? Maybe down-to-earth Americans thought that the overly formal, condescending, and flowery speech of the high and mighty sounded like the shrill and biting high tones of a flute. Whatever the reasoning, highfalutin has remained a staple of down-home American speech ever since.

  7. 6 days ago

    spindrift

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 1, 2026 is: spindrift • \SPIN-drift\  • noun Spindrift refers to spray blown from waves during a gale or to fine wind-borne snow or sand. // Our whale-watching cruise was a whirlwind of flukes, fins, and clinging to the handrails amid the waves and salty blasts of spindrift. See the entry > Examples: “White-capped waves crash far below the cliffs and sweep out to the horizon, spindrift tosses up mini-rainbows and creamy plumes of sea froth float up and over.” — Amanda Thomson, The Guardian (London), 5 Sept. 2024 Did you know? Spindrift first set sail in English in the early 19th century, under Scottish command. The Scots had by that point been using speendrift for well over a century; their verb speen means “to rush forcefully along with a strong wind,” so speendrift referred to a drift of salty sea spray during such sailing. In the 1820s, English speakers recruited the word, but signed it up as spindrift. At that time, its sole duty was to refer to the driving sprays at sea. By the mid-20th century, English speakers realized that spindrift had potential to serve on land as well, and the word was sent ashore to be used for wind-borne snow and sand. Today, spindrift still serves the language commendably by land and by sea.

  8. 31 Jul

    comely

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 31, 2026 is: comely • \KUM-lee\  • adjective Comely is an adjective with an old-fashioned and literary feel that describes someone or something that has a pleasing appearance, or that is pretty or attractive. // The newlyweds make quite a comely couple. See the entry > Examples: "One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Berlin 10 years ago was something odd about the pigeons here: Some of them were pretty, far comelier than Manhattan pigeons ..." — Ben Crair, The New York Times, 29 June 2026 Did you know? Comely—especially when compared to its more common synonyms, including lovely, handsome, and beautiful—has an old-fashioned flair. These days it is used especially by writers of historical fantasy to modify words referring to women, such as maiden and damsel, that also suggest real or imagined days of castles and courts. But comely need not be restricted to such uses, and indeed, it historically was not. Its oldest meaning in English, from the 14th century and still used today, describes things that conform, pleasurably, to notions of good appearance, suitability, or proportion, as when Willa Cather wrote that "they observed that all was neat and comely …" Comely is not etymologically related to the familiar verb come that also forms part of the word come-hither, as in "come-hither glances." It instead traces back to the Old English word cȳmlic, meaning "glorious," which in turn comes from cȳme, meaning "lively" or "fine."

  9. 30 Jul

    sultry

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 30, 2026 is: sultry • \SULL-tree\  • adjective Sultry means “very hot and humid” when it describes such things as seasons, days, and weather. When it describes things humans do and possess—voices, poses, looks, and the like—it means “exciting or capable of exciting strong sexual desire.” // The restaurant's rooftop deck is the place to be on sultry summer nights. See the entry > Examples: “It’s a sultry morning in the Maldives and the mechanic is sweating as he tinkers with the sparkling La Marzocco espresso machine. All the while, hopeful guests watch, desperate for a morning hit.” — Belinda Jackson, The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, 15 Nov. 2025 Did you know? Sultry days and glances both burn hot—one literally, and the other figuratively. Sultry is a late 16th century alteration of the obsolete word sulter, itself an alteration of swelter, which since the 14th century has meant “to suffer, sweat, or be faint from heat” and “to become exceedingly hot.” Sweltering on a sultry day may also bring the word muggy to mind; that word comes from an English dialectical word, mug, meaning “drizzle.” Unlike muggy and swelter, sultry, as we said, applies to both literal and figurative heat, as when a singer’s sultry voice brings a figuratively hot vibe.

  10. 29 Jul

    inveigle

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 29, 2026 is: inveigle • \in-VAY-gul\  • verb To inveigle someone is to persuade them in a clever or deceptive way to do something. Inveigle can also mean “to get something in a clever or deceptive way.” // According to rumors, the company inveigled employees into signing the agreement. // Their attempts to inveigle the information from her were, eventually, fruitful. See the entry > Examples: “... his wayward cousin Freddie constantly inveigles him into more serious mischief.” — Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 22 June 2026 Did you know? It’s true that you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you might find you can inveigle someone else into getting it for you. Inveigle, a word that dates from the 16th century, is used in situations where someone uses clever talk, trickery, or flattery either to persuade somebody to do something or to obtain something. If you have the morning munchies, for example, but get no satisfaction from cold cereal, you might inveigle a bagel (by complimenting a barista, say) or inveigle a barista into giving you a bagel. Failed to plan thoroughly for your camping trip? It’s not inveigling to demand “gimme shelter” or “you gotta move” to someone with a tent you'd like to steal like a thief in the night: inveigling involves subtle acts of persuasion and sometimes outright trickery. The distinction makes sense given that inveigle comes from the Anglo-French verb enveegler, meaning “to hoodwink” (its ultimate source is the Medieval Latin ab oculis, literally, “lacking eyes”). Isn’t etymology a gas, gas, gas?

  • 10 Episodes

Hosts & Guests

4.5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Free daily dose of word power from Merriam-Webster's experts

Information

You Might Also Like