Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 25, 2023 is:

quorum • \KWOR-um\  • noun

Quorum refers to the smallest number of people who must be present at a meeting in order for official decisions to be made. Broadly speaking, quorum may refer to any select group.

// The organization's charter states that a quorum of at least seven board members must be present before any voting can take place.

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Examples:

"There has been criticism of several councillors not appearing at committee and council meetings over the last two years forcing some meetings to be cancelled because of a lack of quorum ." — Kevin Werner, The Hamilton (Ontario) Mountain News , 14 July 2022

Did you know?

It takes two drama queens to tango , three Nervous Nellies to change a lightbulb, and 218 U.S. House Representatives to constitute a formal meeting. Each of these minimums—especially the last one—may be described as a quorum . This word, which can be pluralized as quorums or quora , comes directly from the Latin word quorum , which translates as "of whom." At one time, this Latin quorum was used in the wording of the commissions granting power to justices of the peace in England. Later, when it became an English noun, quorum initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present to constitute a legally sufficient bench. That sense is now rare, and today quorum is used to refer to the minimum number of people required to be present at a meeting in order for official business to take place. It can also be used more broadly to mean simply "a select group."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 24, 2023 is:

lionize • \LYE-uh-nyze\  • verb

To lionize someone is to treat them as a person of great interest or importance.

// While her name was not attached to her books in her lifetime (she published anonymously), Jane Austen continues two centuries hence to be lionized as one of the English language's greatest novelists.

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Examples:

“What I love about this memoir, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2019, is its incredible sense of place. [Sarah M.] Broom’s story is submerged in one of the most lionized —and complex—cities in America: New Orleans. More specifically, she focuses on New Orleans East and the yellow shotgun house that the author’s steadfast mother, Ivory Mae, bought in 1961, and where Broom grew up as the youngest of 12 siblings.” — Isaac Fitzgerald, The Atlantic , 10 Aug. 2022

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Across time and across cultures—as evidenced from Chauvet-Pont d’Arc’s paintings to The Lion King —lions have captured people’s imaginations. Though the big cats themselves are fascinatingly complex, it’s perhaps no surprise that humans have long projected qualities of bravery and regality upon the proverbial “king of the beasts.” It is precisely those and similar admirable qualities that led, in the 18th century, to lion being used for a person who is similarly well-regarded, especially after a long and distinguished career in a particular field, as in “lion of the Senate,” or “literary lion.” This sense of lion imbues the verb lionize , which first appeared in English in the early 19th century to apply to acts of treating someone as, perhaps, deserving of roaring applause.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 23, 2023 is:

tenebrous • \TEN-uh-brus\  • adjective

Tenebrous is a formal word that is often used as a synonym of gloomy . It also can be used to describe dark, unlit places (as in “the tenebrous abyss”) or things that are difficult to understand (as in “a tenebrous tangle of lies”).

// The neighborhood children made sure never to approach the abandoned mansion, which sat tenebrous and foreboding at the top of the hill.

// A horror film seems incomplete without someone running through a tenebrous forest or alley.

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Examples:

“On the heels of Greig Fraser’s spectacular work on Dune , the cinematographer gives the film a moody, tenebrous look to match the tortured pit of Batman’s soul, and production designer James Chinlund’s world-building is first-rate, weaving together elements from real cities and sets to form a Gotham that resembles New York while establishing its own gritty, gothic identity, pulsing with menace and mystery.” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter , 28 Feb. 2022

Did you know?

Tenebrous can mean both “obscure” and “murky,” but its history is crystal clear. Etymologists know that the word comes from the Latin noun tenebrae , meaning “darkness.” Tenebrous has been used in English since the 15th century, and in subsequent centuries has been joined by some interesting and even less common relations. Tenebrionid is the name that may be given to any of at least 20,000 species of mostly nocturnal beetles, also called darkling beetles , many of whom love inhabiting dark places. Tenebrism refers to a style of painting—associated especially with the Italian painter Caravaggio —in which most of the figures are engulfed in shadow while some are dramatically illuminated by concentrated light. And let’s not forget the terrific tenebrific , a tenebrous synonym.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 22, 2023 is:

mesmerize • \MEZ-muh-ryze\  • verb

Mesmerize means "to hold the attention of someone entirely; to interest or amaze someone so much that nothing else is seen or noticed." The word is often used in the phrase "be mesmerized."

// The crowd was mesmerized by the flawlessly synchronous movements of the acrobats.

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Examples:

"Yep, Ruth [Handler] ended up naming two of her iconic dolls after her kids. The idea for Barbie and Ken stemmed from a family Europe trip in 1956.... Barbara, then still a teenager, saw a doll that looked like an adult woman in a store window in Switzerland and was mesmerized ." — Korin Miller, Women's Health , 21 July 2023

Did you know?

Experts can’t agree on whether Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) was a quack or a genius, but all concede that the Swabian physician's name is the source of the word mesmerize . In his day, Mesmer was the toast of Paris, where he enjoyed the support of notables including Queen Marie Antoinette. He treated patients with therapeutic procedures (called, appropriately enough, mesmerism ) involving what he claimed was a mysterious force termed animal magnetism . (Many believe that mesmerism was what we now call hypnotism ). Accordingly, the verb mesmerize was first used to mean "to subject to mesmerism" before broadening to be synonymous with hypnotize , and later to mean "to amaze or captivate."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 21, 2023 is:

regimen • \REJ-uh-mun\  • noun

Regimen refers to a plan or set of rules about food, exercise, etc., designed to make someone become or stay healthy.

// Sherry’s personal trainer at the gym started her on a workout regimen of 30 minutes on the treadmill followed by 30 minutes of weight training.

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Examples:

“For those with natural hair, taking on a protective hairstyle is more than an expectation, it’s a symbolic rite of passage. ... That said, tucking your hair into a protective style is not an excuse to completely disregard all hair-care practices. If anything, it's the exact opposite: Establishing an effective hair-care regimen is essential to maximizing and maintaining a protective style, so once it’s removed, both the scalp and hair are healthy and happy.” — Janelle Sessoms, Fashionista.com , 16 June 2023

Did you know?

Being but humble lexicographers, we cannot say whether an apple a day truly keeps the doctor away, but as far as regimens go, one could do a lot worse than snackin’ on a McIntosh. Regimen , which usually refers to a system of rules or guidelines—often for living a healthy life or taking a regular dose of exercise—comes ultimately from a Latin verb, regere , meaning “to direct.” Regere led in apple-pie order to the English word regimen , first by way of the Latin noun regimen , meaning “steering” or “control,” and then via the Medieval Latin regimen , referring to a set of rules. Other regere descendants fell further from the tree, including correct , erect , region , rule , and surge . Be sure not to confuse regimen with another of its kin, regiment , which refers to a military unit, as doing so could upset the apple cart.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 20, 2023 is:

churlish • \CHUR-lish\  • adjective

Churlish is a formal word that means “irritable and rude.”

// It would be churlish not to congratulate the winning team because we lost the match.

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Examples:

“‘Ted Lasso’ has gradually become more of a light drama than a comedy, but it’s such a pleasant one that it seems churlish to even point this out. In that dramatic vein, the show's depiction of Nate is more compelling than I might have anticipated. The series has never been particularly interested in validating the man-child archetype, but it is interested in how insecurity can manifest itself into toxic behavior and Nate is the epitome of that.” — Nina Metz, The Chicago Tribune , 15 Mar. 2023

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In Old English, the word ceorl referred to a free peasant—someone who was neither part of the nobility nor enslaved or in debt. In Anglo-Saxon England, which lasted roughly from the 5th to 11th centuries, ceorls had many rights that peasants of lower social status did not, and a few even rose to the rank of thane . However, as most ceorls were driven into the class of unfree villeins over the centuries, especially following the Norman Conquest , the connotation of the word ceorl —spelled cherl in Middle English and then finally churl —diminished as well, eventually coming to mean “a lowly peasant” and later “a rude, ill-bred person.” Similarly, churlish began in the form ceorlisc in Old English as a simple descriptor of someone with the rank of ceorl, but today it describes a boorish person, or their rude and insensitive behavior.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 19, 2023 is:

pontificate • \pahn-TIF-uh-kayt\  • verb

To pontificate is to speak or express an opinion about something in a pompous or dogmatic way.

// Stan loves to hear himself talk and will often pontificate on even the most trivial issues.

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Examples:

"Fact is, you can find good pizza from Memphis to Salt Lake City. But you have to look a lot harder than you do in Orlando. So, stop with this nonsense already. Similarly, let's abandon the absolutes. This place is THE BEST. That place is THE WORST. These things are entirely subjective and ranted about on the internet by a small but exhaustingly vocal contingent of zealots, many of whom I suspect enjoy pontificating far more than they enjoy pizza." — Amy Drew Thompson, The Orlando (Florida) Sentinel , 8 June 2023

Did you know?

We hate to drone on, so we’ll give you the TL;DR on pontificate . In ancient Rome, a pontifex (plural pontifices ) was a member of an important council of priests. With the rise of Catholicism, the title pontifex was transferred to the Pope and to Catholic bishops. From pontifex , by way of Medieval Latin, comes the English verb pontificate , which in the early 1800s meant “to officiate as a pontiff ”—that is, as a bishop or Pope. (Note that the noun pontificate ), which refers to the state, office, or term of office of a pontiff had been borrowed directly from Latin in the 15th century.) By the late 1800s, pontificate was also being used derisively for lay individuals who spoke as if they had the authority of a member of the clergy. To this day the word connotes an air of spurious superiority—one might consider this sense of pontificate to be the spiritual forerunner of mansplain .

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 18, 2023 is:

zenith • \ZEE-nith\  • noun

Zenith refers to the strongest or most successful period of time for a person or thing.

// At the zenith of her music career in the early 2000s, she released her best-selling album to date.

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Examples:

"Once deemed ‘one of the most underrated musicians in rock history’ by David Bowie, John Cale is best known as the viola-scraping Velvet Underground co-founder who grounded the group in the avant-garde. But those years hardly marked a creative zenith for Cale. Since leaving the band in 1968, he has released more than a dozen solo albums, ranging in style from orchestral pop to new wave and punk; collaborated with luminaries like Patti Smith and Brian Eno; and scored numerous films." — Olivia Horn, The New York Times , 18 Aug. 2023

Did you know?

When you reach the zenith, you're at the top, the pinnacle, the summit, the peak. Zenith developed from an Arabic phrase meaning "the way over one's head," and then traveled through Old Spanish, Medieval Latin, and Middle French before arriving in English. As long ago as the 1300s, English speakers used zenith to name the highest point in the celestial heavens, directly overhead. By the 1600s, zenith was being used for other high points as well. The celestial term is often contrasted with nadir , which refers to the point that is vertically downward from the observer (imagine a line going through the Earth from the observer's feet and out the other side into the sky). Figuratively, nadir simply means "the lowest point."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 17, 2023 is:

shofar • \SHOH-far\  • noun

A shofar is the horn of an animal (usually a ram) blown as a trumpet by the ancient Hebrews in battle and during religious observances. It is used in modern Judaism especially during Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur .

// As a child, Eli's favorite part of the High Holidays was the sounding of the shofar .

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Examples:

"Synagogues will also blow a shofar , a curved ram's horn, during Rosh Hashanah. There are many interpretations of the shofar ’s meaning. One is that it represents the biblical story told in Genesis, in which Abraham sacrifices a ram instead of his son, Isaac. Rabbis have also interpreted the loud blast of the shofar as a wake-up call for the new year. [Rabbi Charlie] Schwartz called the sounding of the shofar 'the pinnacle of the Rosh Hashanah service in synagogues.'" — Marina Pitofsky, USA Today , 2 Sept. 2021

Did you know?

One of the shofar's original uses was to proclaim the Jubilee year (a year of emancipation of enslaved Jews and restoration of alienated lands to their former owners). Today, it is mainly used in synagogues during the High Holidays. It is blown daily, except on Shabbat , during the month of Elul (the 12th month of the civil year or the 6th month of the ecclesiastical year in the Jewish calendar), and is sounded a number of times during the Rosh Hashanah services, and again at the end of the last service (known as neilah ) on Yom Kippur. The custom is to sound the shofar in several series that alternate shorter notes resembling sobbing and wailing with longer unbroken blasts.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 16, 2023 is:

mellifluous • \muh-LIFF-luh-wus\  • adjective

Mellifluous is an adjective used in formal speech and writing to describe things with a smooth, flowing sound. It can also be used to mean “filled with something (such as honey) that sweetens,” as in “mellifluous confections.”

// Though not so enchanting as the dawn chorus of early spring, Sasha looks forward to the fall, when the woods ring again with mellifluous birdsong.

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Examples:

“‘Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory,’ is an homage to the late Pulitzer Prize-winner, but also a walking meditation. The walls act as an altar—the writings, scripts, maps, drafts, letters and photos are thoughtfully placed assemblages that carry Morrison’s spirit. The author’s mellifluous voice, though subtle, echoes throughout the exhibition space, as an edited interview of Morrison at Boston College plays on repeat.” — Felice León, Essence , 2 Mar. 2023

Did you know?

Have a bee in your bonnet to learn some mellifluous facts? Sweet—we won’t make you comb for them. Mellifluous comes from two Latin roots: the noun mel , meaning “honey,” and the verb fluere , meaning “to flow.” These linguistic components flowed smoothly together into the Late Latin word mellifluus , then continued on into the Middle English word mellyfluous , before crystallizing into the adjective we employ today. As it has for centuries, mellifluous typically and figuratively describes sound, and is often at the tip of the tongues of writers who proclaim that a voice or melody is smooth like molasses (molasses , like mellifluous , is a descendant of the Latin mel ). But mellifluous can also be used to describe edibles and potables , such as wine, with a pronounced note of sweetness.