 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 22, 2021 is: devotion &#149; dih-VOH-shun  &#149; noun Devotion means being dedicated or loyal, or expressing dedication or loyalty. // The organizer's devotion to the cause of the fundraiser was greatly admired. // The students' devotion of their time to the science project was not overlooked by their teacher. See the entry > Examples: "Restaurant loyalties run deep. Look at the scads of eateries that have drawn devotion for decades in the Park Cities, Preston Hollow, and environs." — Kathy Biehl, The Preston Hollow People (Dallas, Texas), 14 Sept. 2021 Did you know? Devotion and the verb devote come from the act of taking a vow (the Latin verb vovēre means "to vow"). Devote was once used as an adjective that could mean either "devout" or "devoted." While devout implies faithfulness of a religious nature ("a devout parishioner), devoted refers to one's commitment to another through love and loyalty ("a singer's devoted fans"). 

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

devotion

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 21, 2021 is: untoward &#149; un-TOH-erd  &#149; adjective Untoward means "unruly, unfavorable, or improper." // The rules specify that untoward behavior will not be tolerated. See the entry > Examples: "At 82, Judy Collins retains the crystalline tone that made her an icon of the early 1960s folk music movement, sounding so youthful … it's hard not to ask her whether she's made an untoward bargain with the devil." — Andrew Gilbert, The San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Sept. 2021 Did you know? For centuries, toward was used for "forward-moving" youngsters, the kind who showed promise and were open to listening to their elders. The adjective then came to mean "obliging." The opposite of this toward is froward, meaning "disobedient." Froward has fallen out of common use, and the cooperative sense of toward is obsolete, but untoward is still moving forward. 

untoward

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 20, 2021 is: batten &#149; BAT-un  &#149; verb Batten means "to furnish or fasten with or as if with supports." // Residents battened down their doors and windows before the storm. See the entry > Examples: "Everything was battened down and they were all set to leave the round-the-clock eatery—until they discovered there was no key to the front door. It had been that long since they'd locked it." — Bob Yesbek, The Cape Gazette (Lewes, Delaware), 7 May 2021 Did you know? Batten comes from the name for an iron bar used to secure the covering of a hatchway on a ship, which was especially useful in preparation of stormy weather. The verb batten is used in variations of the phrase "batten down the hatches," which means "to prepare for a difficult or dangerous situation." It winds back to Latin battuere, meaning "to beat." 

batten

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 19, 2021 is: nomenclature &#149; NOH-mun-klay-cher  &#149; noun Nomenclature can mean "name," but it is most often used for a system of names or naming for things especially in science. // Starting a new job or entering a new field of study means becoming familiar with the nomenclature. See the entry > Examples: "Conkles Hollow, located less than two miles north of … the state park visitors' center, isn't technically part of the park…. But the nomenclature means little for visitors, who will find … myriad waterfalls along Conkle Hollow's two hiking trails." — Steve Stephens, The Lancaster (Ohio) Eagle Gazette, 19 Sept. 2021 Did you know? Nomenclature comes from a Latin word meaning "the assigning of names." English's name and noun is rooted in the Latinate nomen. 

nomenclature

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 18, 2021 is: zaftig &#149; ZAHF-tig  &#149; adjective Zaftig means "having a full, rounded figure." // Portraits of zaftig models are exhibited in the artist's collection. See the entry > Examples: "The photography exhibition revels in depictions of Coney Island, including Lisette Model's widely-reproduced 1939-40 portrait of a zaftig woman  … laughing as waves lap at her feet…." — Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 29 Aug. 2021 Did you know? Zaftig is one of a number of Yiddish-derived words that entered the English language during the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. It comes from Yiddish zaftik, which means "juicy" or "succulent" and itself derives from zaft, meaning "juice" or "sap." 

zaftig

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 17, 2021 is: perpetuity &#149; per-puh-TOO-uh-tee  &#149; noun Perpetuity is a state of continuing forever or for a very long time. // The property will be passed on from generation to generation in perpetuity.   See the entry > Examples: "Nearly 120 acres in Bradford County … will be free from development in perpetuity, thanks to a conservation easement acquisition by the North Florida Land Trust." — The Florida Times-Union, 18 Sept. 2021 Did you know? Continual existence—that elusive philosophical concept is reflected in perpetuity, which traces to Latin perpetuus, an adjective meaning "continual" or "uninterrupted." The word has specific legal use. It can refer, for example, to an arrangement in a will rendering land forever incapable of being surrendered or transferred (or at least, for a period longer than is set by rules against such arrangements) or to an annuity that is payable forever. 

perpetuity

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 16, 2021 is: gossamer &#149; GAH-suh-mer  &#149; adjective Gossamer means "extremely light, delicate, or tenuous." // Except for a few gossamer clouds, the sky was clear and blue. See the entry > Examples: "The dragonfly is our state insect…. As a beautiful predator with gossamer wings…, this insect deserves far more appreciation." — Barbara Hunt, The Mat-Su Valley (Alaska) Frontiersman, 2 Aug. 2021 Did you know? In the days of Middle English, a period of mild weather in late autumn or early winter was sometimes called a gossomer, literally "goose summer." People may have chosen that name for a late-season warm spell because October and November were the months when people felt that geese were at their best for eating. Gossomer was also used in Middle English as a word for filmy cobwebs floating through the air in calm, clear weather, apparently because somebody thought the webs looked like the down of a goose. This sense eventually inspired the adjective gossamer, which means "light, delicate, or tenuous"—just like cobwebs or goose down. 

gossamer

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 15, 2021 is: embellish &#149; im-BELL-ish  &#149; verb Embellish means "to make (something) more appealing or attractive with fanciful or decorative details." // As they grew older, the children realized their grandfather embellished the stories of his travels abroad. // The gift shop had cowboy shirts and hats embellished with beads and stitching. See the entry > Examples: "Well, I've always wanted to write a children's book. This is just partly based on a story I used to tell Krishna, my daughter, when she was going to bed at night, but we just embellished it and embellished it." — Padma Lakshmi, quoted in Bon Appétit, 27 May 2021 Did you know? Embellish is related to the French word for "beautiful," bel, and, traditionally, it has been used to imply beautifying an object with the addition of things unessential. That's still true; however, it is equally appealing as an adjective for making statements or stories sound more entertaining. 

embellish

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 14, 2021 is: cabal &#149; kuh-BAHL  &#149; noun A cabal is a group secretly united in a plot. // Military police arrested members of the cabal who were planning to overthrow the government. See the entry > Examples: "February 14? … That's an arbitrary date picked by a cabal of florists and greeting card manufacturers. Love can happen any time of the year…." — Bruce Gravel, Peterborough (Ontario) This Week, 4 Feb. 2021 Did you know? Cabal has been associated with a group of five ministers in the government of England's King Charles II. The initial letters of the names or titles of those men (Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale) spelled cabal, and they have been collectively dubbed as the "Cabal Cabinet" or "Cabal Ministry." But these five names are not the source of the word cabal, which was in use decades before Charles II ascended the throne. The term traces back to cabbala, the Medieval Latin name for the Kabbalah, a traditional system of esoteric Jewish mysticism. Latin borrowed Cabbala from the Hebrew qabbālāh, meaning "received or traditional lore." 

cabal

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 13, 2021 is: odious &#149; OH-dee-us  &#149; adjective Odious means "causing strong hatred or dislike." // The biography is an in-depth account of one of the most odious serial killers in American history. See the entry > Examples: "There are probably few things more emotion-laden and odious as taxes. But for a society to function for the common good, they are a necessary evil." — William P. Cawley, The Richmond (Virginia) Times Dispatch, 15 Sept. 2021 Did you know? Odious comes from Latin odiosus; that adjective is from the word for "hatred," odium. Odium is related to the English verb annoy, and it is used in English to mean "hatred" or "disgrace." 

odious

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 12, 2021 is: extricate &#149; EK-struh-kayt  &#149; verb Extricate means "to free or remove someone or something from an entanglement or difficulty." // Firefighters extricated the passengers from the wreckage. // The wife of the accused hired an attorney to extricate herself from the allegations brought against her husband. See the entry > Examples: "The skylight has been lifted off Toland Hall to create an opening large enough to extricate the panels by crane." — Sam Whiting, The San Francisco Chronicle, 31 Aug. 2021 Did you know? Extricate is used for the act of freeing someone or something from a tangled situation. Its spelling and meaning comes from Latin extricatus, which combines the prefix ex- ("out of") with the noun tricae, meaning "trifles or perplexities." The resemblance of tricae to trick is no illusion—it's an ancestor. 

extricate

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 11, 2021 is: restaurateur &#149; res-tuh-ruh-TER  &#149; noun A restaurateur is a person who owns or manages a restaurant. // The restaurateur has created an exquisite menu to match the elegantly renovated dining room. See the entry > Examples: "Savvy restaurateurs have been turning to milkshakes to create buzz for their brands in recent years thanks to the visual nature of maxed-out milkshakes … with their over-the-top flavors laden with indulgent toppings like churros, whole cake slices and ice cream bars." — The Nation's Restaurant News, 20 Aug. 2021 Did you know? Restaurateur and restaurant are French words from Latin restaurare, meaning "to restore." Of the two words, restaurant is more common—a fact that may have influenced the development of the variant spelling restauranteur for restaurateur. Some people consider restauranteur to be an error, but it is still on the menu as an acceptable word choice. 

restaurateur

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 10, 2021 is: amicable &#149; AM-ih-kuh-bul  &#149; adjective Amicable means "showing a polite and friendly desire to avoid disagreement and argument." // The partners maintained an amicable relationship after selling the business. See the entry > Examples: "I value the hours of amicable, nuanced conversations on complex topics with the people I have met, which always prove to be full of disagreement but also surprising amounts of agreement and understanding." — John Rochford, The Iowa State Daily (Ames, Iowa), 21 Aug. 2021 Did you know? Amicable comes from Latin amīcābilis, meaning "friendly," and amāre, "to feel affection for" or "to love." Amāre has a number of English descendants, including amiable ("friendly, sociable, and congenial"), amorous ("strongly moved by love and especially sexual love"), and amateur, which, though it might seem surprising, is related to amāre by way of the Latin amātor, which means "lover" as well as "enthusiastic admirer" and "devotee." 

amicable

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 9, 2021 is: fret &#149; FRET  &#149; verb Fret means "to become worried or concerned." // The director fretted over every detail of the show's opening night performance. See the entry > Examples: "Notre Dame had four players who needed surgery this week. … It's a troubling start that every coach frets about. — Mike Hutton, Sports Illustrated, 9 Sept. 2021 Did you know? The meat-and-potatoes meaning of fret is "to eat." The verb is used literally, as in "Moths fretted the clothing," but more often figuratively to describe actions that corrode or wear away. A river "frets away" at its banks, or something might be said to be "fretted out" with time or age. Fret also applies to emotional experiences so that something that "eats away at someone" is "fretting the heart or mind." 

fret

 Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 8, 2021 is: scion &#149; SYE-un  &#149; noun A scion is an heir or descendant of a wealthy or influential family. // As scions of the celebrity family, the siblings have options when choosing their career paths. See the entry > Examples: "Walker was the beloved, indulged scion of a wealthy East Coast family, the son of the first curator of the National Gallery and a descendant of Thomas More, the author of the 15th-century satire 'Utopia.'" — Parul Sehgal, The New York Times, 1 Aug. 2021 Did you know? Scion comes from Anglo-French cioun, meaning "offspring" or "new growth of a plant." When it first sprouted in English, it referred to a plant's shoot; the word was then applied to portions of a plant that have been grafted. The figurative meaning, "descendant," blossomed later, with particular reference to those who were descendants of notable families. 

scion

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hubhopper

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

hubhopper