Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Build your vocabulary with Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day! Each day a Merriam-Webster editor offers insight into a fascinating new word -- explaining its meaning, current use, and little-known details about its origin.

Episodes

  1. 19 HR AGO

    hallowed

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 31, 2024 is: hallowed \HAL-oad\ adjective Hallowed describes something, such as a memorial, considered holy or blessed, or something that is highly respected and revered. // The church stands on hallowed ground. // Community service is one of the organization’s most hallowed traditions. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hallowed) Examples: "Writing these words, I’m sitting in the living room of my childhood home, about five feet from the shelves that long ago contained those hallowed books from my aunt. In this exact spot, even before I had learned how to spell and write, I would scribble on blank paper with Magic Markers and staple the pages together—always, this desire, this drive to make books." — Zachary Pace, LitHub.com, 23 Jan. 2024 Did you know? The adjective hallowed, meaning "holy" or "revered," isn’t especially spooky, but its history is entwined with that of a certain spooky season. Hallowed is the past participle of the verb [hallow](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hallow), a term that descends from the Middle English word halowen. That word can be traced back to the Old English adjective hālig, meaning "holy." During the Middle Ages, All Hallows' Day was the name for what Christians now call [All Saints' Day](britannica.com/topic/All-Saints-Day) (hallow was once used also as a noun referring to a saint), and the evening that preceded All Hallows' Day was All Hallows' Eve or All Hallow [Even](https://bit.ly/4dVDVvW)—or, as we know it today, [Halloween](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Halloween). (Although [pumpkins](https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-we-carve-pumpkins-at-halloween) are often hollowed out on Halloween, [hollow](https://bit.ly/474k0bK) has a different Old English root.)

    2 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    syncretism

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 30, 2024 is: syncretism \SING-kruh-tiz-um\ noun Syncretism refers to the combining of different forms of belief or practice. // As a scholar of religion, Laila is especially interested in the syncretism of [Manichaeism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Manichaeism), which was influenced by Christianity, Buddhism, and [Zoroastrianism](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zoroastrianism). [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syncretism) Examples: "Explore the archaeological wonders of [Chavín de Huantar](https://www.britannica.com/place/Chavin-de-Huantar), where history comes alive. This village, steeped in cultural richness, provides a journey into Peru's ancient past. 'The village of Chavín de Huántar is an example of how tourism can foster syncretism between religious traditions and ancestral cultural elements, generating experiences with a positive impact for the population and improving the quality of life of its residents,' said the UNWTO [United Nations World Tourism Organization]." — Laura Begley Bloom, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2023 Did you know? The ancient Greeks used the term synkrētismos to refer to Cretan cities allied in opposition to a common enemy. In the early 17th century, English speakers adopted the term in the anglicized form syncretism to refer to the union of different religious beliefs. Three centuries later, lexicographers of the 1909 edition of Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language added a new definition of syncretism ("the union or fusion into one or two or more originally different inflectional forms, as of two cases"), but this specialized sense is rarely encountered outside of the field of linguistics. Some related terms that you are more likely to encounter are [syncretize](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syncretize) ("to attempt to unite and harmonize"), [syncretist](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syncretist) ("one who advocates syncretism"), and [syncretic](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syncretic) and [syncretistic](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syncretistic) ("characterized or brought about by syncretism").

    2 min

  3. 2 DAYS AGO

    omniscient

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 29, 2024 is: omniscient \ahm-NISH-unt\ adjective Omniscient describes someone or something with unlimited knowledge or understanding. // "You'll need to tell me when you don't understand something I've explained," Maria said. "I'm not omniscient, you know." [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omniscient) Examples: "The Abrahamic faiths conceive of God as an omniscient creator and generally [abjure](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abjure) gambling as a result; one of the first laws passed by the Puritans in the [Massachusetts Bay Colony](https://www.britannica.com/place/Massachusetts-Bay-Colony) banned the possession of cards, dice, or gaming tables." — Idrees Kahloon, The New Yorker, 2 Sept. 2024 Did you know? One who is omniscient literally knows all. The word omniscient traces back to two Latin roots: omni-, meaning "all" or "universally," and the noun scientia, meaning "knowledge." You will recognize [omni-](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omni-) as the prefix that tells all in such words as [omnivorous](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omnivorous) ("eating all," or in actual use, "eating both plants and animals") and [omnipotent](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/omnipotent) ("all-powerful"). Scientia comes from the Latin verb scīre, meaning "to know," which likewise has a number of other knowledge-related descendants in English, including [conscience](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conscience), [science](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science), and [prescience](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prescience) (meaning "[foreknowledge](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foreknowledge)").

    2 min

  4. 3 DAYS AGO

    disbursement

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 28, 2024 is: disbursement \diss-BERSS-munt\ noun A disbursement is a payout of money from a fund that has been created for a special purpose. Disbursement can also refer to the money that is paid out. // The company has made large disbursements for research. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disbursement) Examples: “Constructing and reserving White Stadium for the benefit of Boston Public Schools student-athletes was more due to the interpretation of the fund’s Board of Trustees, which, per the will, are in charge of the control and management of said fund, and the disbursement of its income, the source said.” — Gayla Cawley, The Boston Herald, 9 Sept. 2024 Did you know? Disbursement was minted in English in the late 16th century by melding the noun suffix [-ment](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/-ment) with the verb [disburse](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disburse) (which in turn comes, in part, from the Medieval Latin word bursa, meaning “money bag”). During the 16th and 17th centuries, deburse, depurse, and dispurse were deposited in the English language bank as synonyms of disburse. Deburse and depurse were also used respectively to form debursement and depursement, but these synonyms of disburse and disbursement all quickly declined in value and were never redeemed.

    2 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    usurp

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 27, 2024 is: usurp \yoo-SERP\ verb To usurp something (such as power) is to take and keep it by force and without the right to do so. Usurp can also mean "to take the place of by or as if by force." // Some people have accused city council members of trying to usurp the mayor’s power. // We cannot allow lies to usurp the truth. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/usurp) Examples: “[Kazimierz] Pułaski, like other Poles in the 1770s, hoped for the American republic to live because he was watching the Polish republic perish. Pułaski was a veteran of wars with Russia. Catherine the Great, a German princess, had usurped the Russian imperial throne after the murder of her husband in a coup d’état in 1762.” — Timothy Snyder, The Atlantic, 15 Sept. 2024 Did you know? While often associated with questionable behavior by the [royals of eras past](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-III-king-of-England/Usurpation), usurp retains its usefulness today. It’s still typically applied when someone takes power without authority or the right to do so, though the power taken is not necessarily political and the question of right and authority may be subject to debate; a city council usurping a mayor’s power is a more traditional use of the word, but one product can be said to be usurping market share from another, and one athlete may claim to have usurped [GOAT](https://bit.ly/3Y9X7AY) status. The usurpation can even be sartorial: Amanda Mull, writing for The Atlantic, noted how tracksuits in the 1980s “usurped much of cotton sweatpants’ momentum toward legitimate coolness.” Usurp comes from Latin: usurpare, meaning “to take possession of without a legal claim,” was formed by combining usu (a form of usus, meaning “use,” which also led to the words usually and use) and rapere (“to seize”).

    2 min

  6. 5 DAYS AGO

    categorical

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 26, 2024 is: categorical \kat-uh-GOR-ih-kul\ adjective Categorical is a synonym of [absolute](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absolute) and [definite](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/definite) that describes something that is said in a very strong and clear way. It can also mean "of, relating to, or constituting a [category](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/category)" or "involving, according with, or considered with respect to specific categories." // The organization has issued a categorical denial about its involvement in the deal. // The library relies on a categorical system for classifying books. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/categorical) Examples: "In the last 15 years or so, psychiatry has embraced what's called a dimensional approach, based on the idea of scales and spectrums of trait and symptom severity. That replaced the categorical approach, which took a more binary view of mental syndromes and assessed whether conditions were present or not." — David Adam, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Aug. 2023 Did you know? The ancestor of categorical and [category](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/category) has been important in logic and philosophy since the days of Aristotle. Both English words come from the Greek word katēgoria, which Aristotle used to name the ten fundamental classes (also called "[predications](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predication)" or "[assertions](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assertion)") of terms, things, or ideas into which he felt human knowledge could be organized. Ironically, although those categories and things categorical are supposed to be absolute and fundamental, philosophers have long argued about the number and type of categories that exist and the role they play in our understanding of the world. High-level philosophical disputes aside, the word categorical continues to sometimes describe an absolute assertion, one that involves no conditions or hypotheses—for example, the statement "[hot dogs are sandwiches](https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/to-chew-on-10-kinds-of-sandwiches) all humans are mortal."

    2 min

  7. 6 DAYS AGO

    euphoria

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 25, 2024 is: euphoria \yoo-FOR-ee-uh\ noun Euphoria refers to a feeling of great happiness and excitement. // The initial euphoria following their championship victory has since subsided. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/euphoria) Examples: “Ciara picked up the crown where it had landed. It was warm, but more than that, the metal seemed to pulse somehow, like it was a living thing with a heartbeat of its own. It almost buzzed in her hands and she felt a gentle euphoria, simply holding it.” — Juno Dawson, The Shadow Cabinet: A Novel, 2023 Did you know? Health and happiness are often linked, sometimes even in etymologies. Today euphoria generally refers to happiness, but it comes from euphoros, a Greek word that means “healthy.” Given that root, it’s unsurprising that in its original English uses euphoria was a medical term. A medical dictionary published in 1881 (The New Sydenham Society’s Lexicon of Medicine and the Allied Sciences), for example, defines euphoria as “well-being, or the perfect ease and comfort of healthy persons, especially when the sensation occurs in a sick person,” and the second edition of our own unabridged dictionary published in 1934 labels euphoria as a psychological term meaning “a sense of well-being and buoyancy.” The idea of buoyancy also connects to the word’s Greek roots: euphoros comes from a combination of the prefix [eu-](https://bit.ly/3XYhQrv), meaning “well” or “easily,” and the verb pherein, meaning “to bear.” Modern physicians still use the term, but euphoria has since entered everyday usage as a word for happy feelings so intense one feels borne aloft—that is, as if one is [floating on air](https://bit.ly/47I9LKI).

    2 min

  8. 24 OCT

    garnish

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 24, 2024 is: garnish \GAHR-nish\ verb To garnish food or drink is to add decorative and tasty touches to it, such as a spiral of lemon peel. // Aditi likes to garnish her mashed potatoes with chives and a dollop of sour cream. // Slivers of dark chocolate garnished the cake. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garnish) Examples: “For the more modern [power](https://bit.ly/4dKFFIt) diner, attuned to the virtuous aesthetics of wellness, there’s a suite of blended juices served in slim-stemmed wine glasses, each garnished with a floating edible flower, and an airy hummus made of whipped sunflower seeds, served with a rainbow of [crudités](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crudites) on a bed of ice.” — Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2024 Did you know? When it comes to meanings, garnish giveth, and garnish taketh away. To garnish something is to decorate it, embellish it, give it that extra bit of culinary or designer flair—say, a sprig of parsley or a string of garland. In decidedly different contexts, however, to garnish something—such as the wages of someone who is in debt—is to take it by legal authority. How did this word come to have such opposite meanings? The answer lies in garnish’s Anglo-French root, garnir, which has various meanings including “to give notice or legal summons” and “to decorate.” Before wages were garnished, the debtor would be served with a legal summons or warning. The legal sense of garnish now focuses on the taking of the wages, but it is rooted in the action of furnishing the warning.

    2 min

  9. 23 OCT

    palaver

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 23, 2024 is: palaver \puh-LAV-er\ noun Palaver is an informal word that usually refers to unimportant or meaningless talk. It can also refer to misleading or deceptive speech, or to a conference or discussion. In British English the word is sometimes used as a synonym of fuss to refer to unnecessary excitement about something. // Enough of this palaver. We have more important things to discuss. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/palaver) Examples: "Henry [Thoreau] was working at his journal, as he usually did for a part of each day. He was reading Chaucer and liking it. A couple of days later, on Monday, January 3, he made popcorn, which he playfully called 'cerealious blossoms' because they were 'only a more rapid blossoming of the seed under a greater than July heat.' On Wednesday, January 5, as early clouds gave way to midday sun, he praised manual labor as 'the best method to remove palaver from one’s style.' Maybe he took his own advice about palaver. We hear no more from him about cerealious blossoms." — Robert D. Richardson, Three Roads Back: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives, 2023 Did you know? Let’s talk about palaver. Though the word comes from Portuguese, it likely entered English by way of the West African coast in the 18th century. Portuguese sailors there used their word palavra, which in general use means "speech" or "word," as a term for discussions with the native people they encountered. English sailors applied palaver for the same, and then brought the word back to their own shores. The Portuguese word comes ultimately from the Late Latin noun parabola, meaning "speech" or "parable." If Portuguese isn’t in your wheelhouse, perhaps you’ll recognize the influence of Latin parabola on other tongues: the Spanish palabra, for instance, means "word," and the French parler means "to speak."

    3 min

  10. 22 OCT

    betwixt

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 22, 2024 is: betwixt \bih-TWIKST\ adverb or preposition Betwixt is a synonym of between that lends an old-fashioned feel to both speech and writing. It is sometimes used in the phrase "betwixt and between" to mean "in the middle" or "neither one thing nor the other." // Charley took a seat betwixt two other passengers. // They sat on the long bench, a pile of books betwixt them. // The novel's protagonist is at the edge of early adulthood, when one is betwixt and between. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/betwixt) Examples: "Wolverines players were skipping toward the locker room after the trophy presentation, roses betwixt their teeth, battle scars on their bodies. Not many players in the recent history of college football have gone to the underworld and come back alive. But there was no doubt they belonged here, at last." — Tyler R. Tynes, The Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 2024 Did you know? Betwixt and between have similar origins: they both come from a combination of [be-](https://bit.ly/4dbUrHw) ("make, cause to be, treat as") and related Old English roots. Both words appeared before the 12th century, but use of betwixt dropped off considerably toward the end of the 1600s. It never fully disappeared, however, surviving especially in the phrase "betwixt and between" ("neither one thing nor the other"). Nathaniel Hawthorne employed betwixt no fewer than thirteen times in [The Scarlet Letter](https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Scarlet-Letter-novel-by-Hawthorne), as when writing of "fear betwixt" the young, guilt-stricken minister Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne, as well as "a kind of horror at her boldness, who had spoken what he vaguely hinted at, but dared not speak." Nowadays, betwixt is uncommon, but it isn't archaic; it's simply used more purposefully than between, as it tends to lend a certain old-timey feel to speech and writing.

    2 min
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Build your vocabulary with Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day! Each day a Merriam-Webster editor offers insight into a fascinating new word -- explaining its meaning, current use, and little-known details about its origin.

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