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. 20 HR. AGO

    inimitable

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 20, 2025 is: inimitable \in-IM-it-uh-bul\ adjective Inimitable describes someone or something that is impossible to copy or imitate. // Courtnay delivered the speech in her own inimitable style. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inimitable) Examples: “In a nation whose professed ideals include freedom, liberty and independence, every American is charged with an individual self-examination. ... Such a searching self-examination helps us discover our precepts, ethics, ideals, principles, and purpose—a sense of mission. [Reverend King](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr) discovered his mission as a teenager at [Morehouse College](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Morehouse-College). Although the son, grandson and great grandson of ministers, Reverend King initially aspired to be a lawyer. Then he encountered the inimitable Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, President of Morehouse College. ... The rest is history.” — David C. Mills, The (Nashville) Tennessee Tribune, 13 Apr. 2023 Did you know? Something that is inimitable is, literally, not able to be imitated. In actual usage the word describes things so uniquely extraordinary as to not be copied or equaled, which is why you often hear it used to praise outstanding talents or performances (or uniquely talented and incomparable individuals). (The less common antonym [imitable](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imitable) describes things that are common or ordinary and could easily be replicated.) Inimitable comes, via Middle English, from the Latin adjective inimitabilis. Be careful not to confuse it with [inimical](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inimical) or [inimicable](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inimicable), two adjectives meaning “hostile” or “harmful”; those words come from a different Latin root.

    2 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    virtuoso

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 19, 2025 is: virtuoso \ver-choo-OH-soh\ noun Virtuoso is used broadly to refer to a person who does something very skillfully, and is often used specifically to refer to a very skillful musician. // He’s a real virtuoso in the kitchen, whipping up gourmet dishes for his family not just on holidays but on regular weeknights. // Although the violin was her first instrument, she eventually proved to be a virtuoso on the harp. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virtuoso) Examples: "The newly assembled band finished its engagement and, shortly after, proceeded to New York to record Rich versus Roach (1959), a concept album pitting [[Max] Roach](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Max-Roach) in a drum battle with famed bandleader and drum virtuoso [Buddy Rich](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Buddy-Rich)." — Colter Harper, Jazz in the Hill: Nightlife and Narratives of a Pittsburgh Neighborhood, 2024 Did you know? English speakers borrowed the Italian noun virtuoso in the 1600s, but the Italian word had a former life as an adjective meaning both "virtuous" and "skilled." The first virtuosos (the English word can be pluralized as either virtuosos or, in the image of its Italian forbear, as virtuosi) were individuals of substantial knowledge and learning ("great wits," to quote one 17th-century clergyman). The word was then transferred to those skilled in the arts and specifically to skilled musicians. In time, English speakers broadened virtuoso to apply to a person adept in any pursuit.

    2 min

  3. 2 DAYS AGO

    minuscule

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 18, 2025 is: minuscule \MIN-uh-skyool\ adjective Something described as minuscule is very small. Minuscule can also mean "written in, or in the size or style of, [lowercase](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lowercase) letters," in which case it can be contrasted with [majuscular](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/majuscule). // The number of bugs in the latest version of the video game is minuscule compared to the number that surfaced in the [beta](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beta) version. // The ancient manuscripts on display are all in minuscule script. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minuscule) Examples: "Resembling a stout field mouse, B. brevicauda is a tiny burrowing mammal with inconspicuous ears and minuscule eyes well hidden behind a long narrow snout." — Bill Schutt, Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans, 2024 Did you know? Minuscule comes from the Latin adjective minusculus ("somewhat smaller" or "fairly small"), which in turn pairs the base of minus ("smaller") with -culus, a [diminutive](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diminutive) suffix (that is, one indicating small size). The minuscule spelling is consistent with the word’s etymology, but that didn’t stop English speakers from adopting the variant spelling [miniscule](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miniscule), likely because they associated it with the combining form mini- and such words as [minimal](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minimal) and [minimum](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/minimum). Usage commentators generally consider the miniscule spelling an error, but it is widely used in reputable and carefully edited publications, and is accepted as a legitimate variant in some dictionaries. (Our own dictionary identifies miniscule as a "disputed spelling variant.")

    2 min

  4. 3 DAYS AGO

    apprehension

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 17, 2025 is: apprehension \ap-rih-HEN-shun\ noun Apprehension most often refers to the fear that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; it’s a feeling of being worried about the future. The word can also refer to seizure by legal process. // There is growing apprehension that next quarter’s profits will be lower than expected. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apprehension) Examples: “Mark Pope felt uncertain. There was a moment, he admitted, after it was clear that he was Kentucky’s choice, when he stood alone at home and grappled with apprehension about a job that offered both spoils he knew well and obstacles, too.” — Myron Medcalf, ESPN, 12 Nov. 2024 Did you know? There’s quite a bit to comprehend about apprehension, so let’s take a closer look at its history. The Latin ancestor of apprehension (and of comprehend, [prehensile](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prehensile), and even [prison](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prison), among others) is the verb prehendere, meaning “to grasp” or “to seize.” When it was first used in the 14th century, apprehension could refer to the act of learning, a sense that is now obsolete, or the ability or power to understand things—learning and understanding both being ways to “grasp” knowledge or information. It wasn’t until the late 16th century that apprehension was used, as it still is today, for the physical seizure of something or someone (as an arrest). The most commonly used sense of apprehension today refers to a feeling that something bad is about to happen, when you seize up, perhaps, with anxiety or dread, having grasped all the unpleasant possibilities.

    2 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    parlay

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 16, 2025 is: parlay \PAHR-lay\ verb To parlay something is to use or develop it in order to get something else of greater value. Parlay is often used with the word into. // He hoped to parlay his basketball skills into a college scholarship. // She parlayed $5,000 and years of hard work into a multimillion-dollar company. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parlay) Examples: “Sometimes, celebrities parlay their name and following into big-time sales and hype—though, of course, not all of them (or their projects) are created equal.” — Lora Kelley, The Atlantic, 26 Nov. 2024 Did you know? The word parlay originally belonged exclusively to gambling [parlance](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parlance), where to parlay is to take winnings from a previous bet, along with one’s original stake of money, and use them to make another bet or series of bets. The verb comes from the noun [paroli](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paroli), a borrowing from French—itself borrowed from Italian—that refers to a system of such betting. After decades of this specific use, not only did [parlay](https://bit.ly/4fOssPE) start to be used as a noun synonymous with paroli, but English speakers [upped the ante](https://bit.ly/4fxuOCG) by using the verb figuratively in situations where someone uses or develops something—such as a skill or hard work—for the purpose of getting something else of even greater value.

    2 min

  6. 5 DAYS AGO

    hackneyed

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 15, 2025 is: hackneyed \HAK-need\ adjective Something is considered hackneyed when it is not interesting, funny, etc., because of being used too often; in other words, it's neither fresh nor original. // The new crime drama's characters are shallow stereotypes who engage one another in hackneyed dialogue. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hackneyed) Examples: “Any positive lesson here is lost in all the hackneyed jokes, and by the end the movie falls apart entirely.” — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 4 May 2024 Did you know? In his 1926 tome A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, lexicographer [H. W. Fowler](https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-W-Fowler) offers a good deal of advice under the heading “Hackneyed Phrases.” While some of the phrases he cautions against (“too funny for words,” “my better half”) will be familiar to most readers today, others (such as “[hinc illae lacrimae](https://bit.ly/4gokrBH)”) have mostly fallen into obscurity. Fowler was not the first usage writer to warn against the overuse of hackneyed (that is, trite or clichéd) phrases; a number of authors in the late 19th and early 20th century had similarly (hackneyed phrase alert) [taken up the cudgels](https://bit.ly/4hgxCVj) against trite and banal turns of phrase. In 1897, for example, Frederic Lawrence Knowles advised against using “agitate the tintinnabulatory,” and in 1917 Margaret Ashmun and Gerhard Lomer discouraged “the dreamy mazes of the waltz.” Were these hackneyed phrases so objected to that they became obsolete? This is unlikely, as the same manuals which object to long-dead expressions also object to “blushing bride,” “bated breath,” and “one fell swoop,” all of which have survived. Perhaps a more plausible explanation is that phrases come and go with time. This is, in a way, a pleasant explanation, for it means that the seemingly ubiquitous phrase you detest stands a fair chance of, ahem, falling by the wayside. Only time will tell, as they say.

    3 min

  7. 6 DAYS AGO

    deus ex machina

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 14, 2025 is: deus ex machina \DAY-us-eks-MAH-kih-nuh\ noun A deus ex machina is a character or thing that suddenly enters the story in a novel, play, movie, etc., and solves a problem that had previously seemed impossible to solve. // The introduction of a new love interest in the final act was the perfect deus ex machina for the main character's happy ending. [See the entry >](https://bit.ly/4iAM5wG) Examples: "The poultry thieves in [Emma](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Emma-novel-by-Austen) provide a particularly humorous example of deus ex machina: the arrival of a poultry thief into the surrounding area (on the penultimate page of the novel, no less) and his theft of Mrs. Weston’s turkeys frightens Mr. Woodhouse enough to consent to Emma’s marriage and to allow Mr. Knightley to move into Hartfield." — Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey, Jane Austen & the Price of Happiness, 2024 Did you know? The New Latin term deus ex machina is a translation of a Greek phrase and means literally "a god from a machine." Machine, in this case, refers to the crane (yes, crane) that held a god over the stage in ancient Greek and Roman drama. The practice of introducing a god at the end of a play to unravel and resolve the plot dates from at least the 5th century B.C.; [Euripides](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Euripides) (circa 484-406 B.C.) was one playwright who made frequent use of the device. Since the late 1600s, deus ex machina has been applied in English to unlikely saviors and improbable events in fiction or drama that bring order out of chaos in sudden and surprising ways.

    2 min

  8. JAN 13

    secular

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 13, 2025 is: secular \SEK-yuh-ler\ adjective Secular describes things that are not spiritual; that is, they relate more to the physical world than the spiritual world. The word also carries the closely related meaning of "not religious." // Each year, Ian directed his charitable giving toward secular concerns like affordable housing and arts programming for teens. // In her autobiography, the actor mentions that her education in [parochial](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parochial) school was not so different from that of secular institutions. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secular) Examples: "[[James] Baldwin](https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Baldwin) eventually left the church, and, although he maintained some of the wonder he gained first in relationship to the theologizing of the church, his aims and orientation became more secular, more humanistic." — Anthony B. Pinn, The Black Practice of Disbelief: An Introduction to the Principles, History, and Communities of Black Nonbelievers, 2024 Did you know? You don't need to be a material girl to know that we are living in a material world, but if you're lacking ways to describe our earthly existence, the adjective secular just might be your lucky star. Secular, which comes from the Latin noun saeculum (meaning, variously, "generation," "age," "century," and "world"), has been in vogue since at least the 13th century, at least when there has been a need to distinguish between the sacred and the [profane](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/profane). In some of its earliest uses, secular described clergy who lived "in the world" rather than in seclusion within a monastery. It wasn't that the papas didn't preach, so to speak, but that they did so in churches among the [hoi polloi](https://bit.ly/49At4GS). From there, it took little time for people to express themselves using today's meanings, using secular to describe something related to worldly matters (as in "secular music" or "secular society") rather than something spiritual, or overtly and specifically religious, like a prayer.

    2 min

  9. JAN 12

    leitmotif

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 12, 2025 is: leitmotif \LYTE-moh-teef\ noun A leitmotif is a dominant recurring theme—something (such as a melody, an idea, or a phrase) repeated many times throughout a book, story, opera, etc. // The overcoming of obstacles and a love of theater are the two leitmotifs of her autobiography. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/leitmotif) Examples: “[[F. Scott] Fitzgerald](https://www.britannica.com/biography/F-Scott-Fitzgerald) considered his year and a half spent on The Vegetable a complete waste, but I disagree, for he followed it with a new novel written with all the economy and tight structure of a successful play—The Great Gatsby. Both The Vegetable and Gatsby shared the theme of the American Dream (first as a spoof for a comedy, finally as the leitmotif of a lyric novel). I don’t think there has ever been a more elusive, mysterious, intriguing character than Gatsby. He’s pure fiction—and pure Fitzgerald: the hopeful, romantic outsider looking in.” — Charles Scribner III, Scribners: Five Generations in Publishing, 2023 Did you know? The English word leitmotif (or leitmotiv, as it is also spelled) comes from the German Leitmotiv, meaning “leading motive,” and is formed from the verb leiten (“to lead”) and the noun Motiv (“[motive](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motive)”). In its original sense, the word applies to opera music; it was first used by writers interpreting the works of composer Richard Wagner, who was famous for associating a melody with a character or important dramatic element. Leitmotif is still commonly used with reference to music and musical drama but it is now also used more broadly to refer to any recurring theme in the arts—“The Imperial March,” heard in the Star Wars film franchise whenever Darth Vader appears on screen, for example—or in everyday life.

    2 min

  10. JAN 11

    cozen

    Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 11, 2025 is: cozen \KUZ-un\ verb To cozen someone is to deceive, win over, or induce them to do something by coaxing or trickery. // The organization cozened scores of people by persuading them to participate in a fraudulent investment scheme. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cozen) Examples: “It’s only office seekers with no real solutions who rely on cozening the voter.” — The News-Gazette (Lexington, Virginia), 21 June 2023 Did you know? Despite its resemblance to the adjective [cozy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cozy), the verb cozen has nothing to do with being comfortable. Used in contexts relating to deception or inducement by clever coaxing or trickery, the word is believed to come ultimately from the Italian word for a horse trader, cozzone. Horse-trading, as in the actual swapping of horses, often involves bargaining and compromise—and, in fact, the term [horse trade](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/horse-trade) has come to refer to any shrewd negotiation, whether it involves equines or no. Horse traders have historically had a reputation for being less than completely transparent in negotiations, which explains the likely connection between cozzone and cozen’s use in deceiving or winning someone to one’s cause through trickery.

    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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