Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day Podcast

turpitude • \TER-puh-tood\  • noun
: inherent baseness : depravity; also : a base act

Example sentence:
The judge declared that the murders were the product of a gross moral turpitude.

Did you know?
"Turpitude" came to English from Latin by way of Middle French. The Latin word "turpitudo" comes from "turpis," which means "vile" or "base." The word is often heard in the phrase "moral turpitude," an expression used in law to designate an act or behavior that gravely violates the sentiment or accepted standard of the community. A criminal offense that involves "moral turpitude" is considered wrong or evil by moral standards, in addition to being the violation of a statute.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 05, 2008 is:

macadam • \muh-KAD-um\  • noun
: a roadway or pavement of small closely packed broken stone

Example sentence:
We left the old city with much regret, passing from its quaint cobblestones to lumpy macadam, leaving our vacation behind and returning reluctantly to the workaday world.

Did you know?
In 1783, inventor John Loudon McAdam returned to his native Scotland after amassing a fortune in New York City. He became the road trustee for his district and quickly set his inventiveness to remedying the terrible condition of local roads. After numerous experiments, he created a new road surfacing material made of bits of stone that became compressed into a solid mass as traffic passed over them. His invention revolutionized road construction and transportation, and engineers and the public alike honored him by using his name (respelled "macadam") as a generic term for the material or pavement made from it. He is further immortalized in the verb "macadamize," which names the process of installing macadam on a road.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 04, 2008 is:

inalienable • \in-AY-lee-uh-nuh-bul\  • adjective
: incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred

Example sentence:
"Just because I can use my work e-mail for personal correspondence doesn't mean I have the inalienable right to do so," Brian explained.

Did you know?
"Alien," "alienable," "inalienable" -- it's easy enough to see the Latin word "alius," meaning "other," at the root of these three words. "Alien" joined our language in the 14th century, and one of its earliest meanings was "belonging to another." By the early 1600s that sense of "alien" had led to the development of "alienable," an adjective describing something you could give away or transfer ownership of, and "unalienable," its opposite. By about 1645, "inalienable" was also in use as a synonym of "unalienable." "Inalienable" is the more common variant today, but it was "unalienable" that was used in the Declaration of Independence to describe rights like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 03, 2008 is:

peregrine • \PAIR-uh-grin\  • adjective
: having a tendency to wander

Example sentence:
"Birders are peregrine by nature, typically traveling to distant destinations in pursuit of their hobby. . .." (James F. McCarty, Plain Dealer [Cleveland], June 1, 2006)

Did you know?
The current meaning of "peregrine" has wandered a bit from its earlier meanings. The word originally meant "foreign," as did its Latin predecessor "peregrinus." But even before "peregrine" appeared on its own in English, it was part of the name of that well-known bird of prey, the peregrine falcon. The bird's appellation derives from "falco peregrinus" -- literally, "pilgrim falcon" in Medieval Latin. Peregrine falcons typically nest in high places, such as on cliff ledges or, in modern times, city skyscrapers. Because of the nests' inaccessibility, medieval falconers who wanted young peregrine falcons to train had capture them on their first flights or migratory "pilgrimages." That practice led to a new sense of "peregrine" ("engaged in or traveling on a pilgrimage"), which was later broadened to "wandering."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 02, 2008 is:

reify • \RAY-uh-fye\  • verb
: to regard (something abstract) as a material or concrete thing : to give definite content and form to (something abstract)

Example sentence:
"He describes the phenomenal popularity of Edwin Markham's proletarian poem 'The Man With the Hoe,' which reified labor's feelings of injustice." (Neal Gabler, The Washington Post, February 18, 1996)

Did you know?
"Reify" is a word that attempts to provide a bridge between what is abstract and what is real. Fittingly, it derives from a word that is an ancestor to "real" -- the Latin noun "res," meaning "thing." Both "reify" and the related noun "reification" first appeared in English in the mid-19th century, though "reification" is a few years older and some dictionaries consider "reify" to be a back-formation of the noun. In general use, the words refer to the act of considering or presenting an abstract idea in real or material terms, or of judging something by a concrete example.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 01, 2008 is:

trichotillomania • \trick-uh-till-uh-MAY-nee-uh\  • noun
: an abnormal desire to pull out one's hair

Example sentence:
Connie's trichotillomania left her with an unfortunate array of bald spots along the crown of her head.

Did you know?
The word "trichotillomania" derives from the Greek "trich-" ("hair") and "tillein" ("to pull or pluck"), along with the suffix "-mania" (from "mainesthai," meaning "to be mad"). People suffering from trichotillomania will routinely pluck hair from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes or other parts of the body, usually impulsively but sometimes with careful deliberation (such as by using tweezers). Some researchers believe that it may be a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The word for this condition first appeared in English around the dawn of the 20th century (it's generally thought to have been first coined in French by a French dermatologist).

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 30, 2008 is:

decimate • \DESS-uh-mayt\  • verb
1 : to take or destroy the tenth part of *2 : to cause great destruction or harm to

Example sentence:
Farmers struggled to feed their families after their crops were decimated by blight.

Did you know?
The connection between "decimate" and the number ten harks back to a brutal practice of the army of ancient Rome. A unit that was guilty of a severe crime (such as mutiny) was punished by selecting and executing one-tenth of its soldiers, thereby scaring the remaining nine-tenths into obedience. It's no surprise that the word for this practice came from Latin "decem," meaning "ten." From this root we also get our word "decimal" and the name of the month of December, originally the tenth month of the calendar before the second king of Rome decided to add January and February. In its extended uses "decimate" strayed from its "tenth" meaning and nowadays refers to the act of destroying or hurting something in great numbers.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 29, 2008 is:

jog trot • \JOG-TROT\  • noun
1 : a horse's slow measured trot *2 : a routine habit or course of action

Example sentence:
The weekly Friday-night dances provided the townsfolk with a few hours of respite from the jog trot of life.

Did you know?
The jog trot is a kind of careful, deliberate trot that is sometimes required at horse shows, among other things. "Jog" is thought to have come from an alteration of "shog," a verb meaning "to shake" or "to jolt" and used primarily in dialect. "Trot" has been part of English since the 14th century. The phrase "jog trot," which first appeared in print in 1796, developed a figurative sense as well; it can refer to a steady and usually monotonous routine, similar to the slow, regular pace of a horse at a jog trot. There is a suggestion with the generalized sense that the action is uniform and unhurried, and perhaps even a little dull.

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 28, 2008 is:

sentient • \SEN-shee-unt\  • adjective
*1 : responsive to or conscious of sense impressions 2 : aware 3 : finely sensitive in perception or feeling

Example sentence:
"Pets are sentient beings, just like you and me," explained Ted, "so it's important to treat them kindly."

Did you know?
You may have guessed that "sentient" has something to do with the senses. The initial spelling "sent-" or "sens-" is often a giveaway for such a meaning. A "sentient" being is one who perceives and responds to sensations of whatever kind -- sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell. "Sentient" ultimately comes from the Latin verb "sentire," which means "to feel" and is related to the noun "sensus," meaning "feeling" or "sense." A few related English words are "sentiment" and "sentimental," which have to do with emotions, and "sensual," which relates to more physical "sensations."

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 27, 2008 is:

euphuism • \YOO-fyuh-wiz-um\  • noun
1 : an elegant Elizabethan literary style marked by excessive use of balance, antithesis, and alliteration and by frequent use of similes drawn from mythology and nature *2 : artificial elegance of language

Example sentence:
Cora, given to euphuism, exclaimed, "Oh, glorious auroral orb!" and Paul agreed, "Yeah, nice sunrise."

Did you know?
Nowadays, someone who uses euphuism might be accused of linguistic excess and affectation, but "euphuism" hasn't always had a negative connotation. When John Lyly employed this verbose form of rhetoric in his prose works Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and His England (1580), it was a style that appealed to many of his contemporaries. "Euphuism" comes from the name of the character Euphues, whom Lyly described as a "young gallante, of more wit then wealth, and yet of more wealth then wisdome." The name was probably inspired by a Greek word meaning "witty." The term "euphuism" came into being to refer to Lyly's (and other writers') style a dozen or so years after his works appeared.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 26, 2008 is:

bespoke • \bih-SPOHK\  • adjective
*1 : custom-made 2 : dealing in or producing custom-made articles

Example sentence:
The shop employs renowned tailors who create the finest bespoke suits from luxurious cloths.

Did you know?
In the English language of yore, the verb "bespeak" had various meanings, including "to speak," "to accuse," and "to complain." In the 16th century, "bespeak" acquired another meaning -- "to order or arrange in advance." It is from that sense that we get the adjective "bespoke," referring to clothes and other things that are ordered before they are made. You are most likely to encounter this adjective in British contexts, such as the recent Reuters news story about a young pig in Northern England who was fitted with "bespoke miniature footwear" (custom-made Wellington boots) to help it overcome a phobia of mud.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.