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.”
