Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

word | 1 Sep 2003 06:00

doxology

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The Word of the Day for September 1 is:

doxology   \dahk-SAH-luh-jee\   noun
      : a usually short hymn of praise to God

Example sentence:
      During the worship service, the congregation sang a joyous 
doxology that reflected the beauty and warmth of the glorious 
sunny morning.

Did you know? 
      "Doxology" passed into English from the Medieval 
Latin "doxologia," which in turn comes from the Greek 
term "doxa," meaning "opinion" or "glory," and the suffix 
"-logia," which refers to oral or written expression. It's 
logical enough, therefore, that "doxology" has referred to an 
oral expression of praise and glorification since it first 
appeared in English around 1645. The word ultimately derives 
from the Greek verb "dokein," meaning "to seem" or "to seem 
good." Two cousins of "doxology" via "dokein" are "dogma" 
and "paradox"; more distant relatives include "decent" 
and "synecdoche."  The _Gloria in Excelsis_ and the _Gloria 
Patri_ are two of the best-known and most often sung doxologies 
in contemporary Christianity.

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word | 2 Sep 2003 06:00

ostracize

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The Word of the Day for September 2 is:

ostracize   \AHSS-truh-syze\   verb
     : to exclude from a group by common consent

Example sentence:
      As a result of her penchant for gossip and lying, Jane has 
been ostracized by her coworkers and now sits alone in the 
company lunchroom. 

Did you know?
      In ancient Greece, prominent citizens whose power or 
influence threatened the stability of the state could be exiled 
by a practice called ostracism. Voters would elect to banish 
another citizen by writing that citizen's name down on a 
potsherd (a fragment of earthenware or tile). Those receiving 
enough votes would then be subject to temporary exile from the 
state (usually for ten years). The English verb "ostracize" can 
mean "to exile by the ancient method of ostracism," but these 
days it usually refers to the general exclusion of one person 
from a group at the agreement of its members. "Ostracism" 
and "ostracize" derive from the Greek "ostrakizein" ("to banish 
by voting with potsherds"). Its ancestor, the Greek "ostrakon" 
("shell, potsherd"), also helped to give us the word "oyster."

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word | 3 Sep 2003 06:30

convoluted

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The Word of the Day for September 3 is

convoluted   \KAHN-vuh-loo-tud\   adjective
     1 : having convolutions 
    *2 : involved, intricate 

Example sentence:
     According to my sister's convoluted reasoning, I still owed 
her $20. 

Did you know?
     Convolutions, in the concrete sense, are folded, winding 
shapes. (The irregular ridges on our brain are 
convolutions.) "Convoluted" and "convolution" are from 
Latin "volvere," meaning "to roll." "Volvere" has given English 
many words, but one of the following is NOT from "volvere." Can 
you pick it out?

vault     voluminous     volley     voluble     devolve

The path from "vault" to "volvere" leads (rather convolutedly) 
through Middle English, Anglo-French, and Vulgar Latin to 
Latin "volutus," past participle of  "volvere." "Voluble" 
meant  "rolling easily" before it meant "speaking readily,"

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word | 4 Sep 2003 06:30

smashmouth

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The Word of the Day for September 4 is:

smashmouth   \SMASH-mouth\   adjective
     : characterized by brute force without finesse

Example sentence:
     Monday night's game, between two teams known for their hard-
hitting, aggressive styles, promises to be entertaining if you 
like smashmouth football.

Did you know?
     "Smashmouth" crashed its way into the English language 
during the 1984 football season to describe the brutally hard-
hitting play that is characteristic of the game. It has since 
been used to describe similar physicality in other contact 
sports, such as hockey and basketball, and has even forced its 
way out of the realm of sports into politics; we've been using 
it to describe hardball tactics in politics since the 1984 U.S. 
presidential election. However, this political application 
of "smashmouth" never made it into the end zone. It occurs too 
rarely in English to merit its own sense in the dictionary.

NOTE:  Today's Word of the Day can be found in the NEW Eleventh 
Edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, along with

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word | 5 Sep 2003 06:30

megillah

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The Word of the Day for September 5 is:

megillah   \muh-GHIH-luh\   noun
     slang : a long involved story or account

Example sentence:
     Mom could never make a long story short --- she always had 
to tell the whole megillah in excruciating detail.

Did you know? 
     Although "megillah" is a slang word in English, it has 
perfectly respectable Hebrew origins. "Megillah" derives from 
the Yiddish "megile," which itself comes from the Hebrew 
word "megillah," meaning "scroll" or "volume." ("Megillah" is 
especially likely to be used in reference to the Book of Esther, 
which is read aloud at Purim celebrations.)  It makes sense, 
then, that when "megillah" first appeared in English in the mid-
20th century, it referred to a story that was so long (and often 
also tedious or complicated) that it was reminiscent of the 
length of the megillah scrolls.  The Hebrew word is serious, but 
the Yiddish "megile" can be somewhat playful, and our "megillah" 
has also inherited that lightheartedness.

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word | 6 Sep 2003 06:30

gauche

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The Word of the Day for September 6 is:

gauche   \GOHSH\   adjective 
    *1 : lacking social experience or grace; also : not 
tactful : crude
     2 : crudely made or done 

Example sentence:
     "I can't believe she'd be so gauche as to ask you how much 
money you earn," Courtney huffed. 

Did you know? 
     "Gauche" is one of several words that come from old 
suspicions or negative associations surrounding the left side 
and use of the left hand. In French, "gauche" literally 
means "left," and it has the extended meanings "awkward" 
and "clumsy." Presumably these meanings came about because left-
handed people could appear awkward trying to manage in a right-
handed world -- or perhaps because right-handed people appear 
awkward when they try to use their left hand. In fact, "awkward" 
itself comes from the Middle English "awke," meaning "turned the 
wrong way" or "left-handed." On the other hand, "adroit" 
and "dexterity" have their roots in words meaning "right" or "on 
the right side."

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word | 7 Sep 2003 06:30

haruspex

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The Word of the Day for September 7 is:

haruspex    \huh-RUSS-peks\   noun 
     : a diviner in ancient Rome basing his predictions on 
inspection of the entrails of sacrificial animals 

Example sentence: 
 The haruspex declared that the outcome of the battle would be 
favorable.

Did you know? 
      "Haruspex" was formed in Latin by the combination of 
"haru-" (which is akin to "chorde," the Latin word for "gut") 
and "-spex" (from the verb "specere," meaning "to look"). 
Appropriately, "haruspex" can be roughly defined as "one who 
looks at guts." The ancient Romans had a number of ways of 
determining whether the gods approved of a particular course of 
action. Such divination was called "augury," and a haruspex was 
a type of "augur," an official diviner of ancient Rome. (Other 
augurs divined the will of the gods through slightly less 
gruesome means, such as observing the behavior of birds or 
tracking celestial phenomena.) "Haruspex," like "augur," has 
developed a general sense of "one who prophesies," but this use 
is somewhat rare.

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word | 8 Sep 2003 06:00

prolegomenon

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The Word of the Day for September 8 is:

prolegomenon   \proh-lih-GAH-muh-nahn\   noun
     : prefatory remarks; specifically : a formal essay or 
critical discussion serving to introduce and interpret an 
extended work 

Example sentence:
     The book is introduced by a lengthy prolegomenon, which is 
followed by 17 chapters of analysis.

Did you know? 
     "Prolegomenon" is the singular and "prolegomena" is the 
plural of this scholarly word, though people sometimes 
mistakenly interpret "prolegomena" as the singular. The word, 
which comes from the Greek verb "prolegein" ("to say 
beforehand"), first appeared in print around 1652. It has 
appeared in the titles of noteworthy scholarly and philosophical 
works, but it has never been as common in general use as its 
older cousin "prologue." "Prologue" usually refers to an 
introduction to a literary work or to a speech addressed to the 
audience at the beginning of a play. "Prolegomenon" is most 
often used of the introduction to a work of scholarly analysis. 
Both words can also be used in a broader sense to refer

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word | 9 Sep 2003 06:30

repine

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The Word of the Day for September 9 is:

repine   \rih-PYNE\   verb  
    *1 : to feel or express dejection or discontent : complain 
     2 : to long for something

Example sentence:
     "They saw less of each other, and Robyn was aware that this 
did not cause her to repine as much as perhaps it should have 
done." (David Lodge, _Nice Work_) 

Did you know?
     In longing, one can "repine over" something ("repining over 
her lost past"), or one  can "pine for" something. The two 
words, used thus, mean close to the same thing, but not 
exactly. "Pining" is intense longing for what one once 
knew. "Repine" adds an element of discontent to any longing -- 
an element carried over from its first sense ("to feel or 
express dejection or discontent"), which has been in use since 
the16th century. (Washington Irving used the first sense in his 
1820 work _The Sketch Book_: "Through the long and weary day he 
repines at his unhappy lot.") "Pine" and "repine" are from Old 
English "pinian" ("to suffer") and probably ultimately from 
Latin "poena" ("punishment"). "Poena" also gave us our

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word | 10 Sep 2003 06:00

fastidious

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The Word of the Day for September 10 is:

fastidious   \fass-TIH-dee-uss\   adjective
     1 : having high and often unpredictable standards 
    *2 : showing a meticulous or demanding attitude 

Example sentence: 
     The celebrated imperial Easter eggs designed by goldsmith 
Peter Carl Faberge are regarded as the ultimate in fastidious 
workmanship.

Did you know?  
     There's nothing offensive about fastidious workmanship, and 
yet the word "fastidious" traces to the Latin noun "fastidium," 
meaning "disgust."  "Fastidium" itself is most likely a 
combination of the Latin words "fastus," meaning "arrogance," 
and "taedium," meaning "irksomeness."  ("Taedium" also gave us 
our "tedium.")  In keeping with its Latin roots, "fastidious" 
once meant "haughty" or "scornful" or "disgusting" 
or "disagreeable," although those uses are now archaic or 
obsolete. The word then came to be applied to someone who was 
overly difficult to please or squeamish, and later, to work 
which reflected a demanding or precise attitude.

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