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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 7, 2025 is:
malapropism • \MAL-uh-prah-piz-um\ • noun
A malapropism is an amusing error that occurs when a person mistakenly uses a word that sounds like another word but that has a very different meaning.
// "It's lovely to see all of you on this suspicious occasion," our host said. A flurry of snickers were heard in reply; the malapropism (she had of course meant to call it an "auspicious" occasion) was characteristic.
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Examples:
"Words were precious playthings to Roald Dahl. The Welsh-born writer was a master toymaker with his wildly imaginative prose, embracing spoonerisms and malapropisms to invent scrumdiddlyumptious words that tickled the ear and fizzled on the tongue when spoken aloud." — i-news, 21 Dec. 2024
Did you know?
Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals, was known for her verbal blunders. "He is the very pine-apple of politeness," she exclaimed, complimenting a courteous young man. Thinking of the geography of contiguous countries, she spoke of the "geometry" of "contagious countries," and she hoped that her daughter might "reprehend" the true meaning of what she was saying. She regretted that her "affluence" over her niece was small. The word malapropism comes from this blundering character's name, which Sheridan took from the French term mal à propos, meaning "inappropriate."
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 6, 2025 is:
ad-lib • \AD-LIB\ • verb
To ad-lib something, such as a performance or part of a performance, is to improvise it—that is, to make up words or music instead of saying, singing, or playing something that has been planned.
// The actor forgot his lines, so he ad-libbed.
See the entry >
Examples:
“My real appreciation for [Céline] Dion grew in 2018, when I saw her perform in Vegas. I had agreed to attend with some friends, expecting a silly night of singing along to her hits like I was a kid again. It was the best live performance I had ever seen. Her singing was stunning, of course. She ad-libbed frequently, taking pleasure in showing off her range, and her voice was warm and supple.” — Caitlin Dickerson, The Atlantic, 18 July 2024
Did you know?
Let’s play a word game—just fill in a word of your choosing within the brackets in the following sentence, according to the category in italics: The word ad-lib comes from [language] and was first [past-tense verb] as a [part of speech] in the [ordinal number] century. If you jotted down “Latin,” “used,” “adverb,” and “eighteenth” you would be correct; ad-lib comes from Latin and was first used as an adverb in the eighteenth century. However, as the word game allows players to fill in whatever words they choose in accordance with their wishes, there were no wrong answers, a fact which also points toward the meaning of the verb ad-lib, which is a shortening of the Latin phrase ad libitum, meaning “in accordance with one’s wishes.” To ad-lib is to improvise, to go off-script, to say (or sing, or play on an instrument) whatever comes into your head in lieu of, or in spite of, a script or score. While ad-libbing may seem like a risky venture, some of the most famous lines in movie history were ad-libbed, from “Here’s looking at you, kid” to “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Isn’t that [adjective]?
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 5, 2025 is:
canard • \kuh-NARD\ • noun
Canard refers to a false report or story, or to a belief or rumor that isn't true. It can also refer to a kind of airplane as well as to a kind of small airfoil.
// The book unfortunately repeats some of history's oldest canards.
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Examples:
"It's such a canard to think young people don't care about great information. They do. ... [W]e have to start thinking, as media, of where they’re getting it." — Kara Swisher, quoted at The Atlantic, 29 Feb. 2024
Did you know?
In 16th-century France, vendre des canards à moitié was a colorful way of saying "to fool" or "to cheat." The French phrase means, literally, "to half-sell ducks." No one now knows just what was meant by "to half-sell"; the saying was probably based on some story widely known at the time, but the details have not survived. Lost stories aside, the expression led to the use of canard, the French word for "duck," to refer to a hoax or fabrication. English speakers adopted this canard in the mid-1800s. The aeronautical sense of canard, used from the early days of flying, comes from the stubby duck-like appearance of the aircraft.
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 4, 2025 is:
zaftig • \ZAHF-tig\ • adjective
Someone described as zaftig has a full, rounded figure, or in other words is pleasingly plump.
// Portraits of zaftig models are exhibited in the artist's collection.
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Examples:
"... Pablo Picasso produced an estimated 13,500 paintings, in addition to astounding quantities of drawings, prints, sculptures and ceramics. ... He veered between opposite poles of abstraction and realism, between the gaunt, poetic figures of his Blue Period and the zaftig matrons of his Rose Period, between the paper-lightness of his wildly inventive collages and the bulbous tonnage of his sculpted bronze heads." — Deborah Solomon, The New York Times, 9 Apr. 2023
Did you know?
Zaftig has been in use in English—mainly in the United States—since the 1920s; a couple of the earliest known uses are found in Variety magazine, in reviews of burlesque dancers. The word comes from the Yiddish zaftik, meaning "juicy" or "succulent," which in turn comes from zaft, meaning "juice" or "sap." If this word is new to you and you would like to take it out for a spin, please be advised that even though most dictionaries define it as implying attractiveness, people to whom it might apply may not appreciate its use.
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 3, 2025 is:
sarcophagus • \sahr-KAH-fuh-gus\ • noun
Sarcophagus refers to a coffin, and specifically a stone coffin.
// The crypt under the abbey church contains the sarcophagus of the monastery's founding abbot.
See the entry >
Examples:
"Experts found as many as 1,035 artwork fragments, as well as one hundred graves increasing the cathedral's total record to more than five hundred burials. Many of the coffins, along with scattered bones, remain unidentified. A lead sarcophagus that may belong to the poet Joachim du Bellay is among one of the more notable burials." — Francesca Aton, ARTNews, 4 Dec. 2024
Did you know?
Body-eating coffins might sound like something out of a horror film, but flesh-eating stone? The latter plays a role in the etymology of sarcophagus; it is the literal translation of líthos sarkóphagos, the Greek phrase that underlies the English term. The phrase traveled through Latin between Greek and English, taking on the form lapis sarcophagus before being shortened to sarcophagus. It's not clear whether the ancient Romans believed that a certain type of limestone from the region around Troy would dissolve flesh (and thus was desirable for making coffins); that assertion came from Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, but he also reported such phenomena as dog-headed people and elephants who wrote Greek. Regardless, there is no doubt that the ancient Greek word for the limestone traces back to a combination of sárx, meaning "flesh," and a derivative of phagein, a verb meaning "to eat."
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 2, 2025 is:
presage • \PRESS-ij\ • verb
To presage something is to give or be a sign that it will happen in the future. Presage is a formal synonym of foreshadow, foretell, and predict.
// The sudden gloom and ominous dark clouds clearly presaged a nasty storm.
See the entry >
Examples:
“What we’re really looking for are handsome, vigorous chickens who do well in cold climes. … Adding birds of different breeds presaged an important change in our understanding: now that it was easier to tell birds apart, the distinct personalities of individuals began to reveal themselves more clearly.” — Sy Montgomery, What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird, 2024
Did you know?
Although sages, being known for their great wisdom, are sometimes believed to possess the ability to predict the future, there is no connection between the noun sage and the verb presage, which means—as you’ve likely foreseen—“to foretell or predict.” While sage comes from the Latin verb sapere (“to be wise”), presage comes instead from a different Latin source: the adjective praesagus, a combination of the prefix prae and sagus, meaning “prophetic.” Presage entered English first as a noun referring to an omen, that is, something that foreshadows or portends a future event. A couple of centuries later it was joined by the verb, which is used for the action of foreshadowing, as in “the current economic slowdown could presage another recession,” and may apply to suggesting a coming event or indicating its likelihood.
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 1, 2025 is:
disputatious • \dis-pyuh-TAY-shus\ • adjective
Disputatious is a formal word used to describe someone who often disagrees and argues with other people (in other words, someone inclined to dispute). It can also describe something marked or characterized by arguments or controversies, or something that provokes debate or controversy.
// The podcast is hosted by a disputatious pair whose sparring has drawn legions of listeners.
See the entry >
Examples:
"The 1990s were especially disputatious; civil wars arose on multiple continents, as did major wars in Europe and Africa." — Paul Poast, The Atlantic, 17 Nov. 2023
Did you know?
Quarrelsome, contentious, polemical—the English language sure loves a multisyllabic word to describe your tetchier types, and who are we to argue? Disputatious is another lengthy adjective applied to people who like to start arguments or find something to disagree about, and it can be used to characterize situations and issues as well. For example, court trials are disputatious; that is, they are marked by the action of disputing. And an issue or matter is disputatious if it provokes controversy. However, if a matter, such as an assertion made by someone, is open to question rather than downright controversial, it’s merely disputable. In any case, there’s no arguing that disputatious, dispute, and disputable have diverged somewhat in meaning from their Latin source: the verb dispurare means simply "to discuss."
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 31, 2025 is:
encroach • \in-KROHCH\ • verb
To encroach is to gradually move or go into an area that is beyond the usual or desired limits, or to gradually take or begin to use or affect something that belongs to, or is being used by, someone else. Encroach is often followed by on or upon.
// Conflicts between people and bears increase as humans continue to encroach on bear territory.
// They argue that the law would encroach on states' authority.
See the entry >
Examples:
"In their young adult years, Mufasa and Taka find their courage and loyalty tested when a group of white lions encroach upon the pride." — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Dec. 2024
Did you know?
The history behind encroach is likely to hook you in. The word comes from the Middle English verb encrochen, which means "to get or seize." The Anglo-French predecessor of encrochen is encrocher, which was formed by combining the prefix en- ("in") with the noun croche ("hook"). Croche is also an ancestor of our word crochet; that word first referred to a crochet hook or to the needlework done with it. Encroach carries the meaning of "intrude," both in terms of privilege and property. The word can also hop over legal barriers to describe a general advancement beyond desirable or normal limits (such as a hurricane that encroaches on the mainland).
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 30, 2025 is:
audition • \aw-DISH-un\ • noun
An audition is a short performance to show the talents of someone (such as an actor or a musician) who is being considered for a role in a play, a position in an orchestra, etc.
// Auditions will be held next week for the spring musical.
// She had an audition for a small part but ended up landing a starring role.
See the entry >
Examples:
“When she was 18, Hannah D’Amato auditioned for a spot at the Berklee College of Music. Midway through her audition, one of the male judges walked up to her guitar amp and lowered the volume knob. Demoralized and insulted, D’Amato decided to bypass the prestigious institution and start a band on her own. Thus the origin story of Fake Fruit, the Bay Area punk trio she’s been fronting over several incarnations since 2016.” — Zach Schonfeld, Pitchfork, 23 Aug. 2024
Did you know?
Today, audition most often refers to an artistic performance, but that wasn’t always the case. Audition has roots in the Latin verb audīre meaning “to hear,” and was first used in the late 16th century to refer to the power or sense of hearing. Audīre is also the root of such hearing-related words in English as audible (“capable of being heard”), audience (which first meant “the act or state of hearing”), and the combining form audio-, which appears in various words relating to sound. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the noun audition began being used for an entertainer’s trial performance. And the verb audition, meaning “to test or try out in an audition,” didn’t appear on the English language stage until the mid-20th century.
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 29, 2025 is:
facetious • \fuh-SEE-shuss\ • adjective
Facetious is used to describe something, such as a remark or behavior, that is meant to be humorous or funny but is sometimes instead annoying, silly, or improper. It can also be used to describe someone who is joking, often implying that they are doing so inappropriately.
// The emcee delivered several facetious quips throughout the night that the audience found in poor taste.
// I was just being facetious—I didn't mean it seriously.
See the entry >
Examples:
"In September, 1818, Byron told Moore of a new undertaking: 'It is called "Don Juan," and is meant to be a little quietly facetious upon every thing. ... I shall try the experiment, anonymously, and if it don't take it will be discontinued.' Safe to say that he continued, taking advantage of that freedom to cram into the poem pretty much anything that came to mind: shipwreck, cannibalism, lobster, cross-dressing, violent slurs upon the Duke of Wellington." — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024
Did you know?
As many puzzle fans know, facetious is one of a small group of English words that not only use all five vowels once, but use them in alphabetical order. Other members of this exclusive club include abstemious (and abstemiously), and arsenious. (There is also an odd class of words which contain each vowel, used once, in reverse order: Pulmonifera, Muscoidea, and subcontinental.) Facetious comes from the Middle French adjective facetieux, which traces to the Latin word facētia, meaning "cleverness or wit." In English, it is used to describe speech or behavior that is intended to be playfully cheeky.
