Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 4, 2021 is:

jeopardize • \JEP-er-dyze\  • verb

Jeopardize means "to expose to danger or risk."

// "I'm not willing to jeopardize my friendship with Camille by lying to her," said Luis.

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Examples:

"Drugmakers believe offering a drug before studies are finished could impair its development and jeopardize FDA approval." — Christina Bennett, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , 25 July 2021

Did you know?

It may be hard to believe that jeopardize was once controversial, but in 1870 a grammarian called it "a foolish and intolerable word," a view shared by many 19th-century critics. The preferred word was jeopard , which first appeared in print in the 14th century. (The upstart jeopardize didn't arrive until the late 16th century.) In 1828, Noah Webster himself declared jeopardize to be "a modern word, used by respectable writers in America, but synonymous with jeopard , and therefore useless." Unfortunately for the champions of jeopard , jeopardize is now much more popular.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 3, 2021 is:

gasconade • \gas-kuh-NAYD\  • noun

Gasconade is confident talk or behavior that is intended to impress other people.

// After all his gasconade , the contestant couldn't manage to complete the obstacle race.

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Examples:

"His malevolence was only equalled by his audacity,—and this was, if possible, surpassed by his gasconade ." — Nathaniel Pitt Langford, Vigilante Days and Ways , 1996

Did you know?

The citizens of Gascony in southwestern France have proverbially been regarded as prone to bragging. Their reputation has been immortalized in such swashbuckling literary works as Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac . Linguistically, the legend survives in the word gascon , meaning "a swaggering person" or "braggart," as well as in gasconade itself.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 2, 2021 is:

doff • \DAHF\  • verb

Doff means "to take off or remove (a hat or a piece of clothing)."

// They doffed their coats when they came inside the house.

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Examples:

"The public address announcer asked fans to salute the field of 33 cars as they zipped around the illustrious track on the warm-up lap. Thousands and thousands of fans doffed their caps and roared in approval of the drivers." — Dan Gelston, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch , 31 May 2021

Did you know?

Time was, people talked about doffing and donning articles of clothing with about the same frequency. But in the mid-19th century the verb don became significantly more popular and left doff to flounder a bit in linguistic semi-obscurity. Doff and don have been a pair from the start: both date to the 14th century, with doff arising as a Middle English contraction of the phrase "to do off" and don as a contraction of "to do on." Shakespeare was among the first, as far as we know, to use the word as it's defined in the more general sense of "to rid oneself of" or "put aside." He has Juliet give voice to this sense when she says, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet. / … Romeo, doff thy name; / And for that name, which is no part of thee, / Take all myself."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 1, 2021 is:

regnant • \REG-nunt\  • adjective

Regnant means "reigning" or "dominant."

// The regnant kings commanded their armies in the battle.

// Christianity became the regnant religion during the Emperor's reign.

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Examples:

"The bare-chested Washington is draped in a Roman toga and clad in Roman sandals. Seated on an ornately carved chair (again, crafted according to the regnant style of Greco-Roman antiquity), he points the index finger of his right hand upward toward Heaven and in his left holds out a sheathed sword…." — Cameron Hilditch, The National Review , 4 June 2021

Did you know?

The origin of regnant is straightforward: it comes from the Latin verb regnare , meaning "to reign." Regnare , in turn, traces back to the noun regnum , meaning "reign." (Regnum was bestowed with the meaning "kingdom" in English.) These words ultimately descend from rex , the Latin for "king" and a word familiar to those who have read or seen the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex .

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 31, 2021 is:

desultory • \DEH-sul-tor-ee\  • adjective

Desultory means "marked by lack of definite plan or purpose."

// After graduation, he moved from job to job in a desultory manner.

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Examples:

"So my friend goes into the office with his copy, walks up to the creative director's desk, gently puts it down in front of him, and waits. The creative director looks baffled and irritated. He picks up the copy and gives it a desultory read." — Rob Long, Martini Shot (KCRW radio), 9 Apr. 2008

Did you know?

The Latin adjective desultorius was used by the ancients to refer to a circus performer (called a desultor ) whose trick was to leap from horse to horse without stopping. It makes sense, then, that someone or something desultory "jumps" from one thing to another. (Desultor and desultorius , by the way, come from the Latin verb salire , meaning "to leap.") A desultory conversation leaps from one topic to another and doesn't have a distinct point or direction. A desultory student skips from one subject to another without applying serious effort to any particular one. A desultory comment is a digressive one that jumps away from the topic at hand. And a desultory performance is one resulting from an implied lack of steady, focused effort.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 30, 2021 is:

numinous • \NOO-muh-nus\  • adjective

Numinous describes things having a mysterious or spiritual quality.

// I was filled with a numinous sensation when, in the dark of night, a shooting star flashed across the sky.

// The tourists were overcome by the numinous atmosphere of the catacombs.

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Examples:

"A musician, educator and serial collaborator, Win is also a collector of objects, thoughts and, of course, words—her poetry an illumination of the everyday beauty found in things both tangible and numinous ." — Denise Sullivan, Datebook (The San Francisco Chronicle), 19 Oct. 2020

Did you know?

Numinous is from the Latin word numen , meaning "nod of the head" or "divine will" (the latter sense suggesting a figurative nod, of assent or of command, of the divine head). English speakers have been using numen for centuries with the meaning "a spiritual force or influence." The meanings of the adjective include "supernatural" or "mysterious" (as in "possessed of a numinous energy force"), "holy" ("the numinous atmosphere of the catacombs"), and "appealing to the aesthetic sense" ("the numinous nuances of her art"). There are also the nouns numinousness and numinosity , although these are rare.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 29, 2021 is:

lollygag • \LAH-lee-gag\  • verb

Lollygag means "to spend time doing things that are not useful or serious"—in other words, "to fool around and waste time."

// Stop lollygagging and get to work!

// The player was kicked off the team for lollygagging during practice.

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Examples:

"During Saturday's game, Sanchez lollygagged when a pitch in the dirt bounced a few feet to his right with Phillies speedy second baseman Jean Segura on first. Looking like he didn't have a care in the world, Sanchez leaned down slowly and tried to retrieve the ball with his mitt instead of his throwing hand…." — Randy Miller, The Jersey Journal (New Jersey), 15 June 2021

Did you know?

Since the 19th century, lollygag (sometimes also spelled lallygag ) has been used as a slang word to describe acts of wasting time as well as displays of affection. Nowadays, lollygag doesn't usually refer to flirting or cuddling, but back in 1946, one Navy captain considered lollygagging enough of a problem to issue this stern warning: "Lovemaking and lollygagging are hereby strictly forbidden.... The holding of hands, osculation and constant embracing of WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service], corpsmen or civilians and sailors or any combination of male and female personnel is a violation of naval discipline...."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 28, 2021 is:

hubris • \HYOO-bris\  • noun

Hubris means "exaggerated pride or confidence."

// His failure was brought on by his hubris .

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Examples:

"Bezos, who softly needled Branson's trip as being a bit too low in altitude to really be called space, scheduled his flight for Tuesday, the anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch. That is hubris of the least subtle kind." — Mitch Albom, The News Herald (Panama City, Florida), 26 July 2021

Did you know?

English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of their mortality.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 27, 2021 is:

amenable • \uh-MEE-nuh-bul\  • adjective

Amenable means "willing to agree to or accept something that is wanted or asked for."

// The team leader was amenable to any reasonable suggestion.

// My boss asked if I would be amenable to working overtime.

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Examples:

"Our arboreal past left us forever craving the dangling fruits of the forest, a supreme source of high-calorie sugars that ensured survival. … But humans were just as amenable to dining on the bulbs, rhizomes and tubers of the savanna , especially once fire came along." — Bret Stetka, NPR.org, 18 June 2021

Did you know?

Nowadays, amenable is often used to describe someone who is favorably disposed to something, but it ultimately comes from Latin minari , meaning “to threaten.” Since the 16th century, English speakers have been using it in courtrooms and law with the meaning “answerable,” as in “citizens amenable to the law.” It later developed the meanings “suited” (“a simple function ... which is perfectly amenable to pencil-and-paper arithmetic”—Nature , April 1973) and “responsive” (as in “illnesses that are amenable to drug therapy”). It also came to be used of people with a general disposition to be agreeable—like Mr. Dick in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield , who was “the most friendly and amenable creature in existence.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 26, 2021 is:

fugitive • \FYOO-juh-tiv\  • noun

A fugitive is a person who runs away to avoid being captured or arrested.

// News channels showed frequent descriptions of the fugitive .

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Examples:

"Subsequent to Hopkins' arrest, an arrest warrant for his mother … was issued on July 9, 2021 for harboring a fugitive from justice." — Kathleen Guill, The Frederick (Oklahoma) Press-Leader , 13 Jul. 2021

Did you know?

Fugitive was adopted into English as both a noun and an adjective in the 14th century from the Latin adjective fugitivus , which itself comes from the verb fugere, meaning “to flee.”