The word for today is… preen (verb): 1 of a bird : to groom with the bill especially by rearranging the barbs and barbules of the feathers and by distributing oil from the uropygial gland 2: to dress or smooth (oneself) up : primp 3: to pride or congratulate (oneself) on an
The word for today is… malaise (noun): 1: an indefinite feeling of debility or lack of health often indicative of or accompanying the onset of an illness 2: a vague sense of mental or moral ill-being Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Malaise, whose Old French ancestor was formed from the
The word for today is… desolate (adjective, verb): adjective 1: devoid of inhabitants and visitors : deserted 2: joyless, disconsolate, and sorrowful through or as if through separation from a loved one 3a: showing the effects of abandonment and neglect : dilapidated b: barren, lifeless c: devoid of warmth, comfort, or hope
The word for today is… debonair (adjective): 1a: suave, urbane b: lighthearted, nonchalant 2archaic : gentle, courteous Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : French has a certain cachet, a fanciness and prestige owing in part to its deep etymological, historical, and political connections with English. This extends to many French words that English
The word for today is… gumption (noun): 1: enterprise, initiative 2 chiefly dialectal : common sense, horse sense Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : English speakers have had gumption (the word, that is) since the early 1700s. The term’s source isn’t known, but early examples of it are found in Scottish
The word for today is… incarcerate (verb): 1: to put in prison 2: to subject to confinement Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Just as English is full of nouns referring to places where prisoners are confined, from the familiar (jail and prison) to the obscure (calaboose and bridewell), so we have
The word for today is… quirk (noun, verb): noun 1a: an abrupt twist or curve b: a peculiar trait : idiosyncrasy c: accident, vagary 2: a groove separating a bead or other molding from adjoining members verb : curve, twist Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Did you expect quirk to be a noun
The word for today is… ancillary (adjective): 1: subordinate, subsidiary 2: auxiliary, supplementary Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Ancillary comes from the Latin word ancilla, meaning “a female servant,” which also gave us the rarer English word ancilla, meaning “an aid to achieving or mastering something difficult.” While the English ancilla
The word for today is… pilfer (verb): : steal, especially to steal stealthily in small amounts and often again and again Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Pilfer is a synonym of steal, but it typically implies a particular kind of stealing. What is pilfered is usually stolen stealthily—furtively, so that no
The word for today is… hoi polloi (plural noun): 1: the general populace : masses 2: people of distinction or wealth or elevated social status : elite Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Since hoi polloi is a transliteration of the Greek for “the many,” some critics have asserted that the phrase should not
The word for today is… flimflam (noun, verb): noun 1: deceptive nonsense 2: deception, fraud verb : to subject to a flimflam Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : English is full of words concerned with trickery and deception, ranging from the colorful “flimflam,” “bamboozle,” and “hornswoggle” to the more mundane “deceive,” “mislead,” and
The word for today is… stoic (noun, adjective): noun 1 capitalized : a member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium about 300 b.c. holding that the wise man should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submissive to natural law 2: one apparently
The word for today is… exhort (verb): : to incite by argument or advice : urge strongly Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Exhort is a 15th-century coinage. It derives from the Latin verb hortari, meaning “to incite,” and it often implies the ardent urging or admonishing of an orator or preacher. English
The word for today is… evince (verb): 1: to constitute outward evidence of 2: to display clearly : reveal Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : To evince something is to show it clearly; the thing evinced is typically an intangible, such as an attitude or intent. Before the current use of evince was
The word for today is… corollary (noun): 1: a proposition inferred immediately from a proved proposition with little or no additional proof 2a: something that naturally follows : result b: something that incidentally or naturally accompanies or parallels Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The history of corollary is related to flowers. Indeed,
The word for today is… castigate (verb): : to subject to severe punishment, reproof, or criticism Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Castigate has a synonym in chastise. Both verbs mean to punish or to censure someone. Fittingly, both words derive from the same root: the Latin castigare, formed from the words for
