Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Epizódy

• stalwart 22.07.2026 1min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 22, 2026 is: stalwart \STAWL-wert\ adjective Stalwart is a formal word used to describe someone or something that is very loyal and dedicated or that is physically or mentally strong. // He was a stalwart civil rights supporter throughout his political career. // The football team's stalwart defense only gave up a single field goal in the second half. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stalwart) Examples: "Arbour is a stalwart defender of women's rights, having witnessed the struggle for equality during Quebec's [Quiet Revolution](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Quiet-Revolution)." — Allison Hanes, The Montreal Gazette, 6 May 2026 Did you know? Stalwart is a word with ancient roots that has lent its stalwart service to the English language for centuries. Coming, via Middle English, from the Old English word stǣlwierthe, meaning "serviceable," stalwart describes people or things that are marked by outstanding strength and vigor of body, mind, or spirit, as revealed by traits such as loyalty and steadfastness, capability and dependability, or physical robustness. Old oak trees, for example, have long been described as stalwart for their imposing stature and endurance. A baseball team's closing pitcher may be deemed stalwart by showing mental fortitude in consistently striking out opposing batters in high-pressure situations. And a stalwart lover is one who, through thick and thin, is [never gonna give you up](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rickroll), never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and hurt you.
• dog days 21.07.2026 1min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 21, 2026 is: dog days \DAWG-DAYZ\ plural noun Dog days is a plural noun that refers to the hottest time of the year, which in the northern hemisphere is usually between early July and early September. Dog days can also refer to a period of stagnation or inactivity suggestive of hot, sultry weather when it can be difficult to summon the energy required for hard work. // Spending the day at a swimming hole has always been the perfect relief for the dog days of summer. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dog%20days) Examples: “When the dog days of summer were at their fullest, my new friends and I often played scrub baseball at Cameron Street School. We also rode our bicycles all over the south end.” — Gary Baldwin, The Peterborough (Ontario) Examiner, 19 July 2025 Did you know? Idle hands may be the devil’s workshop, but let’s be serious: when it’s stiflingly hot outside, who among us isn’t tempted to shirk work to go [lie doggo](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doggo) in the shade somewhere? Such is the desire of many a creature—not just dogs (or lexicographers)—during the dog days of summer. If you’re curious about how dogs got singled out in this expression, we might say it was in the stars. The dog in dog days is the Dog Star, aka [Sirius](https://www.britannica.com/place/Sirius-star), the star that represents the hound of the hunter [Orion](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Orion) in the eponymous constellation. The star has long been associated with sultry weather in the northern hemisphere because it rises simultaneously with the sun during the hottest days of summer.
• raffish 20.07.2026 1min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 20, 2026 is: raffish \RAF-ish\ adjective Raffish describes people and things that show a careless but usually attractive unconventionality. // She didn't expect to like him but his raffish charm quickly won her over. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raffish) Examples: "Three or four decades ago, the newspaperman was appealingly raffish—at once a bum who drank too much and a knight-errant who charged unafraid at social injustice, succored the weak, and crossed lances with the powerful and arrogant." — David Wingrave, Harper's Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Raffish combines the English noun [raff](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raff) with the suffix [-ish](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ish), which in this case means "characteristic of": when we use the word raffish, we literally mean "resembling raff." But what exactly is raff? You might be more familiar with raff's synonym, [riffraff](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/riffraff), which refers to disreputable people of low social status. Despite the resemblance, these two nouns are distinct in origin. Raff comes directly from the Middle English raf, meaning "rubbish," while riffraff descends from the Anglo-French rif e raf, meaning "altogether." The similarities between raff and riffraff prompted people to start using the two words as synonyms, and raff gained a "[rabble](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rabble)" sense. It was that ragtag raff that gave rise to the adjective raffish in the late 1700s.
• accentuate 19.07.2026 2min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 19, 2026 is: accentuate \ak-SEN-shu-wayt\ verb To accentuate something is to make it more noticeable. // He likes to wear clothes that accentuate his muscular build. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accentuate) Examples: “My mother could make me anything I wanted to be. As a child she transformed me into a swan, a mermaid, a white Persian cat dressed like an elegant Victorian lady with a porkpie hat and a ruffled bustle to accentuate my tail. She’d trained as a costume designer.” — Perdita Finn, Mothers of Magic: Summoning the Wisdom of Our Ancestors, 2026 Did you know? When you accentuate something you put an “accent,” or emphasis, on it. [Stress](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stress) not about the word’s history; its journey into the English language was very straightforward. It comes from the Latin accentus, meaning [“accent”](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accent) (which itself comes in part from cantus, meaning “song”), and since the early 18th century, its meanings haven’t changed much. The word was initially used as a synonym of the verb accent to mean “to pronounce with greater stress or force,” which is a small leap from today’s meaning of “to make something more noticeable; to emphasize.” One excellent way to remember not only how to pronounce accentuate but also its etymological connection to song is the classic (and helpfully titled) tune “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, which has been performed by such luminaries as Dinah Washington, Sam Cooke, and Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.
• quid pro quo 18.07.2026 2min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 18, 2026 is: quid pro quo \kwid-proh-KWOH\ noun Quid pro quo refers to something that is given to you or done for you in return for something you have given to or done for someone else. // If they do us this favor, they’ll expect a quid pro quo. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quid-pro-quo) Examples: “For each proposal, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll have to negotiate with at least one faction, which usually involves some kind of quid pro quo. Maybe you agree to pass a policy they want next, or to advance research on a new technology of their choice.” — Deven McClure, Polygon, 24 Jan. 2026 Did you know? In the 1500s, a quid pro quo was something obtained from an apothecary. That’s because when quid pro quo (New Latin for “something for something”) was first used as a phrase in English it appeared especially in situations where one medicine was substituted for another—whether intentionally (and sometimes fraudulently) or accidentally. The meaning of the phrase was quickly extended, however, and within several decades it was being used for more general equivalent exchanges, and as a noun for the act of substituting, or the substituted thing itself. By the mid-1600s the noun could be used for a bargain made between two parties involving the giving of one thing in return for another, e.g. “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” Although such bargains are not inherently illegal, this sense of quid pro quo often appears today in legal contexts where the giving and taking is less than completely lawful.
• obdurate 17.07.2026 1min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 17, 2026 is: obdurate \AHB-duh-rut\ adjective Obdurate is a formal word that means "resistant to persuasion." It is usually used to describe someone who is not willing to change their methods or opinions, or something that is not easily altered. // Though obdurate problems loom, the organization under its new leadership is poised to make real and effective changes. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obdurate) Examples: "... even great careers must end sometime, and as often as not against obdurate wills." — Greg Baum, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 Dec. 2025 Did you know? When trying to persuade someone who has an obdurate disposition, you may end up feeling rather [dour](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dour) about your ability to change their mind. To [endure](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/endure) such encounters in the future, you may find that you need to be more [durable](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/durable) and not let the person's mulishness get you down. Maybe you will find such situations less stressful if you can face them knowing that the words obdurate, dour, endure, and durable are etymological [kissing cousins](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kissing-cousins). All trace back to the Latin adjective durus, which means "hard."
• bibelot 16.07.2026 1min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 16, 2026 is: bibelot \BEE-buh-loh\ noun A bibelot is a small household ornament or decorative object. // His grandfather set up a table every week at the flea market where he sold all sorts of bibelots and bric-a-brac, from ceramic figurines to tiny blown glass sculptures. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bibelot) Examples: “One by one, the beads and baubles and charms and bibelots have been cleaned and polished and now they are being placed on shelves, in jars and containers, in bins, and in a bathtub in Beadniks’ new store on Main Street.” — Bob Audette, The Brattleboro (Vermont) Reformer, 21 June 2025 Did you know? The English language, it would seem, can’t get enough of synonyms for [trinket](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trinket), including [gewgaw](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gewgaw), [gimcrack](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gimcrack), and [knickknack](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knickknack), just as lovers of [tchotchkes](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tchotchke) can’t get enough of such ornamental trifles. Lady Charlotte Guest (1812-1895) was just such a lover of baubles and bric-a-brac. Not only was Guest an accomplished linguist, educator, publisher, and philanthropist, she also amassed collections of everything from porcelain to playing cards, which she ultimately donated to museums. We also have Guest to thank for the first known use in English of the French word for “trinket,” bibelot, which she recorded in a journal entry in 1873 while in Paris: “After 3, walked up to Lady Hopetoun’s to amuse her with some of our little bibelots.”
• loquacious 15.07.2026 1min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 15, 2026 is: loquacious \loh-KWAY-shus\ adjective Loquacious means “liking to talk and talking smoothly and easily.” Someone described as loquacious might also be called [wordy](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wordy) (prone to using more words than necessary) or [garrulous](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garrulous) (tending to talk a lot). // We were entertained all afternoon by our host’s loquacious parrot and its nonstop script of favored phrases. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/loquacious) Examples: “Due to their loquacious nature, marmosets have recently become a focus of studies on the evolutionary origin of human speech and language.” — Tobias Kahland et al., Nature Communications, 28 Mar. 2026 Did you know? Loquacious undeniably has a poetic ring to it. It’s been a favorite of the writerly sort since it made its first appearance in English in the 17th century and, with poetic license, writers stretched its meaning beyond “talkative,” and especially “excessively talkative,” to describe such things as the chattering of birds and the babbling of brooks. The ultimate source of all this chattiness is loquī, a Latin verb meaning “to talk, speak.” Other words descended from loquī include [colloquial](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colloquial), [eloquent](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eloquent), [soliloquy](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soliloquy), and [ventriloquism](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ventriloquism).
• yaw 14.07.2026 1min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 14, 2026 is: yaw \YAW\ verb The verb yaw when used for the action of a ship, aircraft, spacecraft, or projectile means "to move to the left or right especially in an uncontrolled manner." More broadly, yaw is used as a synonym of [alternate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alternate) to mean "to change from one to another repeatedly." // The rogue wave hit the vessel, and the ship yawed hard to the right. // The album yaws from soulful ballad to [up-tempo](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/up-tempo) pop hit and back again. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yaw) Examples: "The out-of-control motion radiated down to the spacecraft itself, which began yawing and [pitching](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pitch) in response to the force." — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 11 Nov. 2025 Did you know? In the heyday of large sailing ships, numerous nautical words appeared on the horizon. Yaw is one such word. Its origin isn't exactly known, but it began turning up in print in the 16th century, first as a noun meaning "movement off course" or "side to side movement," and then as a verb. For centuries, it remained a sailing word—often alongside [pitch](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pitch) ("to have the front end rise and fall")—with occasional extended use as a synonym of the verb [alternate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alternate). When the era of airplane flight dawned, much of the vocabulary of sailing found new life in aeronautics, and "yawing" was no longer confined to the sea. Nowadays yaw, pitch, and [roll](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/roll) are just as likely to be used by pilots and rocket scientists to describe the motion of their crafts.
• implacable 13.07.2026 1min

  Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 13, 2026 is: implacable \im-PLAK-uh-bul\ adjective Someone or something described as implacable is not capable of being appeased or changed. // The project faced implacable resistance from community members, and is now off the table. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implacable) Examples: “Unlike, say, the globetrotting stories of Ian Fleming or John le Carré, in which victories only temporarily frustrate an implacable foe, [Agatha] Christie’s smaller worlds feel put right when the cover closes or credits roll.” — The Economist, 17 Jan. 2026 Did you know? Implacable is rooted in the Latin verb placare, meaning “to soothe,” but its im- prefix is a variant of the negating prefix in- (as in inactive) and it signals that there’s nothing warm and fuzzy here. Someone or something described as implacable cannot be soothed, which usually means trouble: implacable is most often attached to words like foe, enemy, hatred and hostility. The opposite of implacable is, of course, [placable](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/placable); it means “easily soothed,” but sadly isn’t called upon very often. Another placare word is likely more familiar. [Placate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/placate) means “to soothe or appease”; it’s frequently applied when an angry person is made to feel less so.