The word for today is… gingerly (adjective, adverb): adjective : very cautious or careful adverb : with extreme care concerning the result of a movement or action : very cautiously and carefully Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Always extra pleasure when WOTD features an adverb – breaks up the endless procession of nouns, adjectives and
The word for today is… salary (noun): : fixed compensation paid regularly for services Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Middle English salarie, salaire “compensation, payment,” borrowed from Anglo-French (also continental Old French), borrowed from Latin salarium “official pay given to the holder of a civil or military post,” noun derivative from neuter
The word for today is… admonish (verb): 1a: to indicate duties or obligations to b: to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner 2: to give friendly earnest advice or encouragement to 3: to say (something) as advice or a warning Source : Merriam -Webster
The word for today is… tenuous (adjective): 1a: having little substance or strength : flimsy, weak b: shaky 2: not thick : slender 3: not dense : rare Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Something tenuous has been stretched thin and might break at any time. A person with a tenuous hold on his sanity
The word for today is… qua (preposition): : in the capacity or character of : as Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : A preposition today – what a treat. A preposition is a word—and almost always a very small, very common word—that shows direction (to in “a letter to you”), location (at in
The word for today is… circumlocution (noun): 1: the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea 2: evasion in speech Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : In The King’s English (1906), lexicographers H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler advised, “Prefer the single word to the
The word for today is… inalienable (adjective): : incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Alien, alienable, inalienable—it’s easy enough to see the Latin word alius, meaning “other,” at the root of these three words. Alien joined our language in the 14th century, and one
The word for today is… furlong (noun): : a unit of distance equal to 220 yards Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Furlong is an English original that can be traced back to Old English furlang, a combination of the noun furh (“furrow”) and the adjective lang (“long”). Though now standardized as a
The word for today is… brusque (adjective): 1: markedly short and abrupt 2: blunt in manner or speech often to the point of ungracious harshness Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : If you’ve ever felt swept aside by someone with a brusque manner, that makes a certain amount of etymological sense.
The word for today is… surfeit (noun, verb): noun 1: an overabundant supply : excess 2: an intemperate or immoderate indulgence in something (such as food or drink) 3: disgust caused by excess transitive verb : to feed, supply, or give to surfeit intransitive verb archaic : to indulge to satiety in a
The word for today is… discomfit (verb, noun): verb 1: to put into a state of perplexity and embarrassment : disconcert 2a: to frustrate the plans of : thwart b: archaic : to defeat in battle noun : the state of being confused, embarrassed, or upset : discomfiture Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Disconcerted by discomfit
The word for today is… vicarious (adjective): 1: experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic participation in the experience of another 2a: serving instead of someone or something else b: that has been delegated 3: performed or suffered by one person as a substitute for another or to the benefit
The word for today is… aegis (noun): 1: a shield or breastplate emblematic of majesty that was associated with Zeus and Athena 2a: protection b: controlling or conditioning 3a: auspices, sponsorship b: control or guidance especially by an individual, group, or system Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : English borrowed aegis from
The word for today is… fatuous (adjective): : complacently or inanely foolish : silly Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : “I am two fools, I know, / For loving, and for saying so / In whining Poetry,” wrote John Donne, simultaneously confessing to both infatuation and fatuousness. As any love-struck fool can attest, infatuation can make
The word for today is… redoubt (noun): 1a: a small usually temporary enclosed defensive work b: a defended position : protective barrier 2: a secure retreat : stronghold Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Based on its spelling, you might think that redoubt shares its origin with words such as doubt and redoubtable, both
The word for today is… conjecture (noun, verb): noun 1a: inference formed without proof or sufficient evidence b: a conclusion deduced by surmise or guesswork c: a proposition (as in mathematics) before it has been proved or disproved 2 obsolete a: interpretation of omens b: supposition verb 1: to arrive
