The word for today is… heinous (adjective) – hatefully or shockingly evil : abominable Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Humans have contrasted love with hate and good with evil for eons, putting love and good on one side and hate and evil on the other. The etymology of heinous reflects the association of
The word for today is… blithesome (adjective) – : with lightheartedness or unconcern Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Blithe had been bounding about in the language for six centuries before English speakers attached a -some to its tail to make blithesome. Poet Robert Greene appears to have been among the first to employ
The word for today is… exhilarate (verb)- : to make (someone) very happy and excited or elated Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Many people find “exhilarate” a difficult word to spell. It’s easy to forget that silent “h” in there, and is it an “er” or “ar” after the “l”? It
The word for today is… veracity (noun) – 1 : conformity with truth or fact : accuracy 2 : devotion to the truth : truthfulness 3 : power of conveying or perceiving truth 4 : something true Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Veracity has been a part of English since at least 1623, and we can honestly tell
The word for today is… importunate (adjective) – troublesomely urgent : overly persistent in request or demand Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Importunate has been part of the English language since the 16th century, and the synonymous “importune” arrived even earlier, in the 15th century. The seemingly superfluous inclusion of the suffix -ate
The word for today is… actuary (noun) – 1 obsolete : clerk, registrar 2 : a person who calculates insurance and annuity premiums, reserves, and dividends Source : Online Etymology Dictionary Etymology : First known use in the 1550s. Registrar, clerk from Medieval Latin actuarius. Copyist, account-keeper, short-hand writer, from Latin actus in
The word for today is… paean (noun) – 1 : a joyous song or hymn of praise, tribute, thanksgiving, or triumph 2 : a work that praises or honors its subject Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : According to the poet Homer, the Greek god Apollo sometimes took the guise of Paean, physician to the
The word for today is… plethora (noun) – 1 : a bodily condition characterized by an excess of blood and marked by turgescence and a florid complexion 2 : abundance, profusion Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Plethora comes from a similar Greek word meaning “fullness.” It was first used in English in the 16th
The word for today is… frugal (adjective) – : characterized by or reflecting economy in the use of resources Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Those who are frugal are unwilling to (lavishly) enjoy the fruits of their labors, so it may surprise you to learn that frugal ultimately derives from the Latin frux,
The word for today is… archipelago (noun) – 1 : an expanse of water with many scattered islands 2 : a group of islands 3 : something resembling an archipelago Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The Greeks called it the Aegean Pelagos and the Italians referred to it as Arcipelago (principal sea), but English speakers
The word for today is… deep-six (verb)) – 1 : to get rid of, discard, eliminate 2 slang : to throw overboard Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : From the leadsman’s call by the deep six for a depth corresponding to the sixth deep on a sounding line. Before the introduction of shipboard
The word for today is… sprightly (adjective) – 1 : marked by a gay lightness and vivacity 2 : having a distinctively piquant taste Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Sprightly comes from spright, an archaic version of the word we now use for an elf or fairy: sprite. Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest
The word for today is… succumb (verb) – 1 : to yield to superior strength or force or overpowering appeal or desire 2 : to be brought to an end (such as death) by the effect of destructive or disruptive forces Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If the idea of someone succumbing brings to
The word for today is… conciliatory (adjective) – : tending to win over from a state of hostility or distrust Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If you are conciliatory towards someone, you’re trying to win that person over to your side. The verb conciliate was borrowed into English in the mid-16th
The word for today is… Rubicon (noun, geographical name) – noun : a bounding or limiting line – especially : one that when crossed commits a person irrevocably geographical name : river 15 miles long in north central Italy flowing east into the Adriatic Sea Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar
The word for today is… ignorant (adjective) – 1a : destitute of knowledge or education – an ignorant society also : lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified – parents ignorant of modern mathematics b : resulting from or showing lack of knowledge or intelligence – ignorant errors 2 : unaware, uninformed Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : First
