Tag: etymology
Word of the Day: Bailiwick
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Merriam-Webster, is bailiwick (/ ˈbeɪ ləˌwɪk /), a noun which refers to “the district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction” or […]
Word of the Day: Auspicious
Today’s word of the day, thanks to the Dictionary Project’s daily email, is auspicious. The adjective means “fortunate, likely to bring good luck” or “indicative of a favorable outcome.” Dictionary.com […]
Word of the Day: Ineluctable
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Vocabulary.com, is ineluctable (https://www.vocabulary.com/word-of-the-day/), which defines the adjective as “impossible to avoid.” Dictionary.com defines it as “incapable of being evaded; inescapable” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ineluctable). Etymonline […]
Words of the Day: Balderdash and Twaddle
Today’s word of the day is actually two words of the day: balderdash and twaddle. Balderdash means “senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense” and “a muddled mixture of […]
Word of the Day: Apocrypha
Today’s word of the day, partly thanks to the Grandiloquent Word of the Day (https://www.grandiloquentwordoftheday.com/), is apocrypha. In English, historically, the word is initially a proper noun, Apocrypha, but the […]
Word of the Day: Robot
Today’s word of the day is robot. A noun, robot means “a machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command” or “a person who acts and […]
Word of the Day: Myopic
Today’s word of the day is myopic. The Dictionary Project’s email this morning defines the adjective in two ways: 1. “nearsighted; unable to see distant objects clearly”; and 2. “shortsighted; […]
Word of the Day: Buttonhole
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Dictionary.com, is buttonhole. Buttonhole can be either a noun or a verb. As a noun, it refers to the hole through which a […]
Word of the Day: Gratuitous
Today’s word of the day, thanks to the Dictionary Project, is gratuitous. The email gives four definitions for this adjective: 1. “given freely, without recompense; given or received without requiring […]
Word of the Day: Conflate
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Merriam-Webster, is conflate. The history of this word is quite interesting. Merriam-Webster gives two definitions: “Two closely related meanings of the verb conflate […]
Word of the Day: Flay
Today’s word of the day, thanks to WordReference.com, is flay, a verb that means “‘to strip the skin off an animal or a person’ or ‘to strip the outer covering […]
Word of the Day: Meliorism
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of the Word Gurus, is meliorism. Interestingly, the email I received from the Word Gurus spelled the word with two ls (melliorism), but I […]