The word for today is… incisive (adjective): : impressively direct and decisive (as in manner or presentation) Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : An incisive person doesn’t hem and haw—they get straight to the point. The original meaning of incisive, from around 1600, was "having a cutting edge or piercing
The word for today is… diminution (noun): : the act, process, or an instance of becoming gradually less (as in size or importance) : the act, process, or an instance of diminishing : decrease Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : In his late 14th century tragic poem Troilus and Criseyde, Geoffrey Chaucer employed the word
The word for today is… cloister (noun, verb): noun 1a: a monastic establishment b: an area within a monastery or convent to which the religious are normally restricted c: monastic life d: a place or state of seclusion 2: a covered passage on the side of a court usually having
The word for today is… apathy (noun): 1: lack of feeling or emotion : impassiveness 2: lack of interest or concern : indifference Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : While its siblings antipathy, sympathy, and empathy refer to often strong emotions, whether tender or terrible, apathy is unconcerned with all that. Whether one is
The word for today is… spurious (adjective): 1: born to parents not married to each other 2: outwardly similar or corresponding to something without having its genuine qualities : false 3a: of falsified or erroneously attributed origin : forged b: of a deceitful nature or quality Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : The classical
The word for today is… incongruous (adjective): : lacking congruity, such as a: not harmonious : incompatible b: not conforming : disagreeing c: inconsistent within itself d: lacking propriety : unsuitable Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Incongruous is a spin-off of its antonym, congruous, which means "in agreement, harmony, or correspondence." Etymologists are
The word for today is… elegy (noun): 1: a poem in elegiac couplets 2a: a song or poem expressing sorrow or lamentation especially for one who is dead b: something (such as a speech) resembling such a song or poem 3a: a pensive or reflective poem that is usually nostalgic
The word for today is… tenable (adjective): : capable of being held, maintained, or defended : defensible, reasonable Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Tenable means "holdable". In the past it was often used in a physical sense—for example, to refer to a city that an army was trying to "
The word for today is… rebellion (noun): 1: opposition to one in authority or dominance 2a: open, armed, and usually unsuccessful defiance of or resistance to an established government b: an instance of such defiance or resistance Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Plenty of teenagers rebel against their parents in all
The word for today is… lexicon (noun): 1: a book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language and their definitions : dictionary 2a: the vocabulary of a language, an individual speaker or group of speakers, or a subject b: the total stock of morphemes in a language 3:
The word for today is… servile (adjective): 1: of or befitting a menial position 2: meanly or cravenly submissive : abject Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Latin served us servile with the help of servilis, itself from servus, the Latin word for "slave." Servus is also an ancestor of serve,
The word for today is… pillage (noun, verb): noun 1: the act of looting or plundering especially in war 2: something taken as booty verb : to plunder ruthlessly : loot Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Pilfer is a synonym of steal, but it typically implies a particular kind of stealing. What is
The word for today is… tempestuous (adjective): : of, relating to, or resembling a tempest : turbulent, stormy Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : A deluge of words in English do double duty in describing both the weather and the various emotions, relationships, and travails of humankind. You might be glad to know (or
The word for today is… resplendent (adjective): : shining brilliantly : characterized by a glowing splendor Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Resplendent has a lot in common with splendid (meaning, among other things, "shining" or "brilliant"), splendent ("shining" or "glossy"), and splendor ("brightness"
The word for today is… presume (verb): transitive verb 1: to undertake without leave or clear justification : dare 2: to expect or assume especially with confidence 3: to suppose to be true without proof 4: to take for granted : imply intransitive verb 1: to act or proceed presumptuously or on
The word for today is… pedagogy (noun): : the art, science, or profession of teaching Source : Merriam -Webster Etymology : Pedagogical and its cognates present us with an excellent example of how different words can come from the same root, retain closely related meanings, and yet take on distinctive connotations. Pedagogical, pedagogy,
