Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

testimonial • \tess-tuh-MOH-nee-ul\ • noun A testimonial is a written or spoken statement in which a person says they used a product or service and liked it, or that they appreciate someone's work, skill, character, etc. Testimonial is also used as a synonym of evidence and testimony. // The website is full of testimonials from satisfied customers. // The book's popularity is a testimonial to its timeliness. See the entry > Examples: "To commemorate their successful journey in the sport, the team released a heartfelt tribute video featuring testimonials from team members sharing their fondest memories." — Lydia Mee, Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2024 Did you know? In 1639, Scottish poet William Drummond responded to the politics of his day with a cheeky set of new laws, including one stipulating that "no man wear a ... periwig, unless he have a testimonial from a town-clerk, that he is either bald, sickly, or asham'd of white hairs." Testimonials take different forms, but always, like in Drummond's facetious law, they provide affirmation or evidence. (Testimonial traces to Latin testimonium, meaning "evidence" or "witness.") In the 19th century, testimonial developed a new use, referring to a tribute—that is, a gift presented as a public expression of appreciation. Today, testimonial is most often used to refer to a statement—such as one posted on any number of websites devoted to consumer reviews—that endorses a product or service.

beatific • \bee-uh-TIFF-ik\ • adjective Beatific is a formal word that describes something or someone having a blissful appearance or showing complete happiness. // As the pair danced, beatific smiles on their faces, the audience sat hushed and almost reverential. See the entry > Examples: “Most vividly, there was Tracy Chapman, back on the Grammys stage after years out of the spotlight to sing ‘Fast Car,’ her gentle yet resolute anthem of self-determination, alongside Luke Combs, the country star who had a huge hit last year with a cover of the decades-old song. As Chapman sang and played guitar, she looked satisfied, serene, almost beatific.” — Mikael Wood, The Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2024 Did you know? When it comes to bliss-themed words, it’s hard to beat beatific. Since the 17th century, beatific has been all about that other b-word, first describing things that impart a feeling of complete and utter happiness, and later those beings with a blissful appearance. Not a bad gig if you can get it. Beatific comes from the Latin adjective beātificus, which means “making happy,” and can be traced further back to the verb beāre, meaning “to make happy.” Bliss, of course, is more like happiness cubed, so beatific tends to be used in formal speech and writing, and reserved for situations where happy itself doesn’t quite cut the mustard. A beatific smile, for example, is one that suggests its wearer is content on a deeper-than-ordinary level, while a beatific location—say, a tranquil tropical lagoon or a majestic mountain—is one that instills such pervasive joy in its beholder.

requite • \rih-KWYTE\ • verb To requite is to give or do something in return for something that another person has given or done, or for a benefit or service that has been provided. // Sam was worried that the feelings she’d expressed on her date were not requited, but was relieved and overjoyed to learn that they were. See the entry > Examples: “I had attracted the interest of some boys ... but mostly, I wrote short stories about my crushes. The girls who summered on Nantucket and eschewed carbs? Their crushes were requited.” — Amy Kaufman, The Los Angeles Times, 4 Jan. 2024 Did you know? Requite is most familiar in the phrase “unrequited love.” Love that has not been requited is love that has not been returned or paid back in kind. Indeed, the idea of repayment undergirds all the senses of the verb requite, which include the most common sense of “to repay” (usually applied to amorous affection or feeling), “to avenge,” and “to make suitable return to for a benefit or service, or for an injury.” The quite in requite is a now-obsolete English verb meaning “to make full payment of” or “to pay.” (The verb's ultimate root is Latin quietus, meaning “quiet; at rest.”) This quite is also related to the English verb quit, the oldest meanings of which include “to pay up” and “to set free.”

qualm • \KWAHM\ • noun A qualm is a feeling of doubt or uncertainty about whether one is doing the right thing, or whether something is right or proper. Qualm is often used in its plural form, as in “I have no qualms with that decision.” // Elena’s parents had no qualms about her organizing a dinner party for her three closest friends. See the entry > Examples: “Pinkerton agents had few qualms about what we consider ethical standards in law enforcement today. Pinkertons lied, bribed (and took bribes), flipped sides for the right price, harassed and intimidated workers.” — Russell Cobb, Ghosts of Crook County: An Oil Fortune, a Phantom Child, and the Fight for Indigenous Land, 2024 Did you know? We're not sure how qualm came to be (it may be related to a similar German word), but we know this word was originally used to refer to a sudden sick feeling, such as nausea or faintness, and then for a sudden attack of usually disturbing emotion, such as grief or doubt. Both these senses are still in use: a person may be described, for example, as experiencing a qualm of nausea or a qualm of fear. These days, though, you’re most likely to hear qualm used in its newest sense, referring to a feeling of uneasiness, particularly about whether a person is following their conscience or better judgment. You’re especially likely to hear this sense of qualm used in negative statements, such as “We have no qualms about telling you what sort of things the word qualm does.”

lexical • \LEK-sih-kul\ • adjective To describe something as lexical is to say that it is related to words or vocabulary. // A dictionary provides lexical information—it tells you what the word "cat" means, not all there is to know about cats. See the entry > Examples: "From his [artist Jean-Michel Basquiat's] lyrical brushstrokes to his lexical compositions, music is imbued even when the reference is subtle or ambiguous. There are obvious portraits of jazz greats and song titles in many works, while others force a more discerning gaze." — Natasha Gural, Forbes, 24 Jan. 2023 Did you know? The word lexical and its relatives have a special place in our hearts (and in our dictionaries). In addition to referring to one's personal vocabulary, lexicon can be used as a synonym of dictionary, and the word lexicography refers to the practice of making dictionaries. Both of these words, as well as lexical, come from the Greek word lexis, meaning "word" or "speech." So, if you’re considering a lexical—that is, word-related—career as a wordsmith or, say, a lexicographer, you may want to add these terms to your lexicon.

allusion • \uh-LOO-zhun\ • noun An allusion is a reference to something that avoids mentioning the thing directly. Allusion may also describe the use of such a statement or the act of alluding to something. // The lyrics contain biblical allusions. // They made allusion to their first marriage, but said nothing more about it. See the entry > Examples: “The Rings of Power is full of echoes and allusions to the original [Lord of the Rings] trilogy.” — James Grebey, Vulture, 4 Oct. 2024 Did you know? An allusion is not a play on words—that would be a pun—but allusion does come from the Latin verb allūdere, which in turn combines the verb lūdere, meaning “play,” with the prefix ad-, which can mean “to,” “toward,” or “near.” One way of thinking about an allusion—an indirect reference, especially (though not exclusively) as used in literature—is that it “plays toward or around” something rather than naming it directly. For example, Picnic, Lightning, the title of a book by poet Billy Collins, is an allusion to a line from Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. This allusion—like most—works on the assumption that there is a body of knowledge shared by the author and reader and that therefore the reader will understand the reference. Don’t be misled by the similar pronunciation and spelling of allusion and illusion, however. You wouldn’t be the first, but the latter—which also comes from lūdere—refers to something that is visually or otherwise misleading.

cavalier • \kav-uh-LEER\ • adjective Someone described as cavalier shows no concern for important or serious matters. Cavalier also describes attitudes, manners, etc., that show the same lack of concern. // The company provides regular training about the dangers of being cavalier in sharing privileged information. See the entry > Examples: “I’d failed math and chemistry the previous quarter; my European history teacher had decried—in front of the class—my ‘flippant and cavalier attitude.’ My GPA was a 1.8. But the night before the assignment was due I wrote a play about the thing that I—and Holden Caulfield—both passionately hated: The phoniness of organized structures, the way that religious belief was—in my fifteen-year-old mind—nothing but pretense and emptiness. … The next day, class began with a flourish. Ted Sod, the visiting playwright, stormed through the door. We’d all done good work, he told us, but one play—in particular—stood out. … And then, to my inestimable shock, he pointed at me.” — Pauls Toutonghi, LitHub.com, 5 Oct. 2023 Did you know? Mount up, fellow language caballeros! We think you’ll agree that the origins of cavalier make a great deal of horse sense. The noun cavalier—which traces back to the Late Latin word caballārius, meaning “horseback rider,” and even further to the Latin word for “work horse,” caballus—originally referred to a gentleman or knight trained in arms and horsemanship. The adjective trotted into English just a few decades after the noun, first describing those thought to embody qualities of gallantry and suaveness associated with such soldiers. However, the English Puritans later applied the noun with disdain to their adversaries, the swashbuckling royalist followers of Charles I, who sported longish hair and swords. Their use undoubtedly contributed to the adjective’s “flippant” sense, which is now the most common. To saddle someone (or their behavior, attitude, etc.) with the descriptor today is to say that they do not demonstrate the expected or required care for serious matters.

venerate • \VEN-uh-rayt\ • verb To venerate someone or something is to feel or show deep respect for them because they are considered great, holy, etc. // Her best-selling trilogy led to her becoming a writer venerated by generations of admirers. See the entry > Examples: “Vietnam is the world’s third-largest rice exporter, and the staple importance to Vietnamese culture is palpable in the Mekong Delta. The fertile patchwork of green fields crisscrossed by silvery waterways has helped stave off famine since the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Rice isn’t just the mainstay of most meals, it is considered a gift from the gods and continues to be venerated.” — Aniruddha Ghosal, The Associated Press, 22 Apr. 2024 Did you know? Among the pantheon of ancient Roman deities, has any been so venerated—that is, deeply respected—over the centuries as Venus, goddess of love and beauty? Of course, one may personally prefer Vulcan or, um, Robigus (the god associated with wheat blight), but from Venus de Milo to the classic pop song “Venus,” Venus has inspired far more enduring reverence. To venerate something or someone—whether an artist or a saint—is to hold them in similarly high regard, which makes sense given venerate’s origins. The word comes from the Latin verb venerārī, which can mean “to solicit the good will of,” “to worship,” “to pay homage to,” and “to hold in awe.” That verb, in turn, is related to—you guessed it—Venus.

immense • \ih-MENSS\ • adjective Something described as immense is very great in size, degree, or amount. // They inherited an immense fortune. // Her movies continue to enjoy immense popularity. See the entry > Examples: "At night, the wind's howls and whistles provide the soundtrack to the immense vista." — Alexandra Sanidad, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 June 2024 Did you know? Just how big is something if it is immense? Huge? Colossal? Humongous? Ginormous? Or merely enormous? Immense is often used as a synonym of all of the above and, as such, can simply function as yet another way for English speakers to say "really, really, really big." But immense is also used in a sense which goes beyond merely really, really, really big to describe something that is so great in size or degree that it transcends ordinary means of measurement. This sense harks back to the original sense of immense for something which is so tremendously big (such as, say, the universe) that it has not been or cannot be measured. This sense reflects the word's roots in the Latin immensus, from in- ("un-") and mensus, the past participle of metiri, "to measure."

pastiche • \pass-TEESH\ • noun Pastiche refers to something (such as a piece of writing, music, etc.) that imitates the style of someone or something else. It can also refer to a work that is made up of selections from multiple other works, or it can be used as a synonym of hodgepodge. // The director’s new murder mystery is a clever pastiche of the 1950s noir films she watched as a girl. // The research paper was essentially a pastiche made up of passages from different sources. // The house is decorated in a pastiche of mid-century styles. See the entry > Examples: “[Ween] were the rare American college radio darlings to directly engage with Black music, by reinforcing the spiritual connections between glam rock and funk and psychedelia. ... But if their early displays of Prince worship blurred the line between pastiche and parody, Chocolate and Cheese offered their most sincere simulacrums of funk and soul to date.” — Stuart Berman, Pitchfork, 1 Sept. 2024 Did you know? When we say the origins of the word pastiche are totally tubular, we’re not just being saucy—we mean it. In Italian, pasticcio (more specifically pasticcio di maccheroni) refers to a decadent pie consisting of a sweet crust filled with meat, truffles, béchamel, and macaroni—that famously tube-shaped pasta. Given such a jumble of (albeit delicious) ingredients, it makes sense that pasticcio in Italian has also long carried such additional meanings as “a mess or confused affair” and “a confused or mixed piece of writing.” It is these meanings that influenced both the English word pasticcio, in use since the 18th century, and the French word pastiche, which English borrowed in the late 19th century and which is now much more common. Both refer to hodgepodges of all kinds, but are most often applied to creative works—literary, artistic, musical, architectural, etc.—that imitate earlier styles or that are made up of parts from other works. A pastiche, you might say, takes a little bit of this and a little bit of that, not unlike the English language itself.

sublimate • \SUB-luh-mayt\ • verb To sublimate something—such as an impulse, desire, or feeling—is to express it in a changed form that is socially acceptable. Sublimate can also mean "to pass directly from the solid to the vapor state." // Nora later came to understand that she had used painting to sublimate her anger. See the entry > Examples: "You might think that because I am arguing that the happiest path is one in which we sublimate our true feelings and desires through greater self-control, I am advocating in effect for inauthenticity. But that's not my intention; rather, I am arguing for authentic self-improvement." — Arthur C. Brookes, The Atlantic, 2 May 2024 Did you know? To sublimate is to change the form, but not the essence. Physically speaking, a solid is said to sublimate when it transforms into a gas without first becoming liquid—a prime example being frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) vaporizing at room temperature. To sublimate psychologically is to change the outlet, or means, of one's expression of desires and feelings from something unacceptable to something more culturally or socially acceptable. A person might sublimate feelings of grief following a disaster, for example, by devoting their time and energy to relief efforts. The word sublimate comes from the Latin verb sublimare, meaning "to elevate"; sublimare is also the ancestor of sublime. Sublimate itself once meant "to elevate to a place of dignity or honor" or "to give a more elevated character to," but these meanings are now obsolete.

brogue • \BROHG\ • noun A brogue is a low shoe, usually made of leather, that is decorated with small holes along the sides at the toe, and that usually features a wing tip. // Even though his brogues are scuffed and old, Dad prefers them to his new loafers. See the entry > Examples: "Paired with a cropped white T-shirt, midi-skirt, and brogues, Gigi [Hadid] was the yin to [Taylor] Swift’s yang." — Hannah Coates, Vogue, 21 June 2023 Did you know? Did you expect brogue to be defined as "an Irish accent"? We're sure you're not alone: brogue has two homographs (words that are spelled—and, in this case, pronounced—the same but have different origins or parts of speech). The brogue that refers to the shoe comes from the Irish word bróg and Scottish Gaelic bròg, and likely traces back to an Old Norse term meaning "leg covering." (That ancestor is related to an ancestor of the English word breech.) Originating in Ireland, the brogue was designed to be a worker's shoe and was made from untanned hides. The "accent" brogue comes from a different Irish word, barróg, which can refer to an accent or speech impediment and translates literally as "tight grip."

fulgent • \FULL-jint\ • adjective Fulgent is a formal, often poetic word used to describe something that is dazzlingly bright. It is a synonym of radiant. // After a long, drizzly morning, a fulgent sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds. See the entry > Examples: "He [Kendrick Lamar] starts rapping a verse with his back to the crowd. … On giant screens behind him, you can see the chrome embellishments along the outseam of his pants, and one of his handles, 'oklama,' emblazoned in bold white Old English letters across the back of his black vest, the yellow gradient of his sunglasses, the fulgent glint of his diamond earrings." — Mitchell S. Jackson, The New York Times, 1 Jan. 2023 Did you know? "The weary Sun betook himself to rest; — / Then issued Vesper from the fulgent west." That's how the appearance of the evening star in the glowing western sky at sunset looked to 19th-century poet William Wordsworth. Fulgent was a particularly apt choice to describe the dazzling light of the sky at sunset. The word comes from the Latin verb fulgēre, meaning "to shine brightly." While not the most common of descriptors, English speakers have been using fulgent to depict radiant splendor since at least the 15th century.

galvanize • \GAL-vuh-nyze\ • verb To galvanize people is to cause them to be so excited or concerned about something that they are driven to action. // The council’s proposal to close the library has galvanized the town’s residents. See the entry > Examples: “The original Earth Day was the product of a new environmental consciousness created by Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, Silent Spring, and of public horror in 1969 that the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was so polluted it caught fire. … On April 22, 1970, some 20 million people attended thousands of events across America, and this galvanizing public demand led in short order to the creation, during Richard Nixon’s presidency, of the Environmental Protection Agency (1970), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1972), and the Endangered Species Act (1973), and much more after that.” — Todd Stern, The Atlantic, 6 Oct. 2024 Did you know? Luigi Galvani was an Italian physician and physicist who, in the 1770s, studied the electrical nature of nerve impulses by applying electrical stimulation to frogs’ leg muscles, causing them to contract. Although Galvani’s theory that animal tissue contained an innate electrical impulse was disproven, the French word galvanisme came to refer to a current of electricity especially when produced by chemical action, while the verb galvaniser was used for the action of applying such a current (both words were apparently coined by German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who modeled them after the French equivalents of magnetism and magnetize). In English, these words came to life as galvanism and galvanize, respectively. Today their primary senses are figurative: to galvanize a person or group is to spur them into action as if they’ve been jolted with electricity.

misbegotten • \miss-bih-GAH-tun\ • adjective Misbegotten describes things that are badly planned or thought out. // They were sent on a misbegotten diplomatic mission that was sure to fail. See the entry > Examples: "After some misbegotten albums and a run of singles that barely scraped the lower reaches of the chart, [Tony] Bennett split with the label in 1971." — Chris Morris, Variety, 21 July 2023 Did you know? In the beginning, there was begietan, and begietan begot beyeten; then in the days of Middle English beyeten begot begeten. All of the Old English and Middle English ancestors above basically meant the same thing as the modern beget—that is, "to father" or "to produce as an effect or outgrowth." That linguistic line, combined with the prefix mis- (meaning "wrongly" or "badly"), brought forth misbegotten. While the word has carried several meanings over the centuries, including "contemptible" (as in "a misbegotten scoundrel"), today it most often describes things—such as beliefs, projects, or adventures—that are poorly planned or thought out.

ambigram • \AM-buh-gram\ • noun An ambigram is an image of a written word or phrase that is intended or able to be oriented in either of two ways for viewing or reading. // Angel started taking calligraphy classes to learn how to create ambigrams and other fun designs that can be read both upside down and right side up. See the entry > Examples: “... when spelled out in the sand, SOS is conveniently readable as an ambigram—readable both right-side-up and upside-down.” — Wendee Wendt, Parade Magazine, 8 June 2024 Did you know? There is little ambiguity about the origins of the word ambigram—it was introduced by cognitive scientist Douglas R. Hofstadter in his 1985 book Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern, in which he wrote of the “pleasing activity of doing ambigrams, where shapes must be concocted that are poised exactly at the midpoint between two interpretations.” Since then, ambigram has been used primarily to refer to an image of a written word or phrase that either forms the same word or a different word when reflected or turned upside down. For instance, when reflected, bud turns into dub, while Malayalam reads the same both ways. And when turned upside down, swims reads the same, while wow turns into mom. Some ambigrams are natural (such as dollop), while others can be designed or created with calligraphy. Calligraphic ambigrams are quite popular and are often used as logos or tattoo designs.

drub • \DRUB\ • verb To drub an individual or team, as in a game or contest, is to defeat them decisively. // Morale after the game was low: the hometown team had been drubbed by the worst team in the league. See the entry > Examples: “Dallas looked like one of the best teams in the NFL through two weeks, drubbing the Giants 40-0 in Week 1 and beating the Jets 30-10 in Week 2.” — David Brandt, The Associated Press, 24 Sept. 2023 Did you know? Sportswriters often use the word drub when a team they are covering is drubbed—that is, routed—but the term’s history reveals that it wasn’t always a sporting word. When drub was first used in English, it referred to a method of punishment that involved beating the soles of the accused’s feet with a stick or cudgel. The term was apparently brought to England in the 17th century by travelers who reported observing the punitive practice abroad. The ultimate origin of drub is uncertain, but the etymological culprit may be the Arabic word ḍaraba, meaning “to beat.” Over the centuries, drub developed the additional milder, and now more common, meanings of “to berate critically” and “to defeat decisively.”

hoity-toity • \hoy-tee-TOY-tee\ • adjective Someone or something described as hoity-toity may also be called snooty or pretentious; hoity-toity people appear to think that they are better, smarter, or more important than other people, and hoity-toity places and things seem to be made for those same people. An informal word, hoity-toity is a synonym of pompous, fancy, and hifalutin. // The guidance counselor emphasized that students do not need to go to a hoity-toity college to achieve success. See the entry > Examples: "Most Summer Olympics show beach volleyball on a beach. This year's spikers will play in front of the Eiffel Tower because they can. And just in case equestrian events aren't hoity-toity enough, the 2024 dressage and jumping will unfold at the Palace of Versailles." — Jen Chaney, Vulture, 24 May 2024 Did you know? In modern use, hoity-toity is used almost exclusively to describe someone who's got their nose stuck up in the air, or something suited for such a person. But for over a hundred years, hoity-toity was used solely as a noun referring to thoughtless and silly behavior. The noun originated as a rhyming reduplication of the dialectical verb hoit, meaning "to play the fool." Accordingly, as an adjective hoity-toity was originally used to describe someone as thoughtless or silly—as when English writer W. Somerset Maugham wrote in his 1944 novel The Razor’s Edge "very hoity-toity of me not to know that royal personage"—but today it is more likely to describe the royal personage, or someone who puts on airs as if they were a royal personage.

eschew • \ess-CHOO\ • verb To eschew something is to avoid it, especially because you do not think it is right, proper, or practical. // Their teacher was known as a Luddite because he eschewed the use of smartphones and tablets in the classroom. See the entry > Examples: “Scheduled work shifts [at Burning Man] were delayed and continually rearranged, causing confusion among campers as to how and when to contribute.... While some of us found ways to help, others took it as an opportunity to eschew their responsibilities. However, those of us who showed up united, and handled business, did so with aplomb...” — Morena Duwe, The Los Angeles Times, 9 Sept. 2024 Did you know? Something to chew on: there’s no etymological relationship between the verbs chew and eschew. While the former comes from the Old English word cēowan, eschew comes instead from the Anglo-French verb eschiver and shares roots with the Old High German verb sciuhen, meaning “to frighten off.” In his famous dictionary of 1755, Samuel Johnson characterized eschew as “almost obsolete.” History has proven that the great lexicographer was wrong on that call, however. Today, following a boom in the word’s usage during the 19th and 20th centuries, English speakers and writers use eschew when something is avoided less for temperamental reasons than for moral or practical ones, even if misguidedly so, as when Barry Lopez wrote in his 2019 book Horizon of ill-fated Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, “with an attitude of cultural superiority, eschewing sled dogs for Manchurian ponies....”

complaisant • \kum-PLAY-sunt\ • adjective Someone described as complaisant is willing or eager to please other people, or is easily convinced to do what other people want. // Derek was a complaisant boy, always happy to oblige whenever his mother or father asked him to run an errand. // She was too complaisant to say no to her sister's demands. See the entry > Examples: “Last month Ferrari lofted its banners over a resort near the southern port of Cagliari and invited journalists to test-drive the new Ferrari Roma Spider, taking advantage of the excellent tarmac, ideal weather and complaisant authorities.” — Dan Neil, The Wall Street Journal, 5 Oct. 2023 Did you know? Complaisant and complacent are often confused, and for good reason. Not only do the words look and sound alike, but they also both come from Latin verb complacēre, meaning “to please greatly.” (The placēre in complacēre is an ancestor of the English word please). Complacent is used disapprovingly to describe someone who is self-satisfied or unconcerned with whatever is going on, but it also shares with complaisant the sense of “inclined to please or oblige.” This sense of complacent is an old one, but that hasn’t kept language critics from labeling its use as an error—and on the whole, modern writers do prefer complaisant for this meaning. Whether you complaisantly oblige, well, that’s up to you.