Pathos

WORD OF THE DAY

pathos / noun / PAY-thahss

Definition
1: an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion
2: an emotion of sympathetic pity

Examples
"It's all in good fun, though. This is Maverick's movie, as the title declares. As a character study of an iconic hero, Cruise and Kosinski do fine work, plumbing pathos and power out of a mythic One Last Flight."
— Eric Webb, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, 27 May 2022

There is a pathos to the deflated certainties that left the Washington lawyer Leonard Garment weeping, inconsolable, outside the Senate chamber as the debate was ended.
— Garry Wills, New York Times Book Review, 10 Sept. 1989

Did You Know?
The Greek word páthos means "experience, misfortune, emotion, condition,” and comes from Greek path-, meaning “experience, undergo, suffer.”
In English, pathos usually refers to the element in an experience or in an artistic work that makes us feel compassion, pity, or sympathy.
The word is a member of a big family: empathy is the ability to share someone else’s feelings. Pathetic (in its gentlest uses) describes things that move us to pity.
Though pathology is not literally "the study of suffering," it is "the study of diseases." Other relatives of pathos include sympathy, apathy, and antipathy.

Ostentatious

 WORD OF THE DAY

ostentatious / adjective / ah-stun-TAY-shus

Definition
1: attracting or seeking to attract attention, admiration, or envy often by gaudiness or obviousness : overly elaborate or conspicuous
2: characterized by, fond of, or evincing ostentation

Examples
"The Met Gala, in full ostentatious, crowd-pleasing costumery, returned this week, flooding the fashion news cycle."
 — Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 11 May 2022

That pompous excuse for a plush ride is a thumb in the eye to every taxpayer—and in the case of an ostentatious cost-cutter, genuine hypocrisy.
— William Safire, New York Times, 2 May 1991

Did You Know?
Showy, pretentious, and ostentatious all mean "given to outward display," but there are subtle differences in their meanings.
Showy implies an imposing or striking appearance, but usually also implies cheapness or bad taste. Pretentious suggests an appearance of importance not justified by a thing's value or a person's standing.
Ostentatious is the biggest show-off, stressing the vanity of the display. English speakers derived ostentatious from the noun ostentation, which can be traced back, via Middle French, to the Latin verb ostentare (meaning "to display"), a frequentative form of the verb ostendere, meaning "to show."

Apropos

 WORD OF THE DAY

apropos / preposition / ap-ruh-POH

Definition
1: being both relevant and opportune
2a: with regard to (something)
2b: apropos of
3a: at an opportune time
3b: seasonably
4a: by way of interjection or further comment
4b: with regard to the present topic

Examples
"It was July 2020 and, apropos of the times, they were in a Zoom meeting."
— Alix Wall, The New York Times, 20 May 2022

This short yet spacious and powerful book … reminds us of the careful and apropos writing of J.M. Coetzee, W.G. Sebald and Uwe Timm.
— Thomas McGuane, New York Times Book Review, 24 June 2007

Did You Know?
English speakers borrowed apropos from the French phrase à propos, literally "to the purpose."
Since it first appeared in the 17th century, apropos has been used as an adverb, adjective, noun, and preposition. Left alone, the word probably wouldn't have gotten much attention, but in 1926 noted language expert H. W. Fowler declared of apropos "that it is better always to use of rather than to after it…."
While this prescription seems to be based on the use of the preposition de ("of") in the French construction à propos de, rather than the actual usage history of apropos in English, some language commentators take Fowler's recommendation to be virtually a commandment.
But others have noted that apropos is sometimes used by itself in professionally edited prose, or, more rarely, is followed by to.

Luddite

 WORD OF THE DAY

Luddite / noun / LUH-dyte

Definition
1: one of a group of early 19th century English workmen destroying laborsaving machinery as a protest
2 (broadly): one who is opposed to especially technological change

Example
“A high school English teacher who has been working for more than a quarter century, Beasley is no Luddite. She taught online courses before the pandemic and has used a learning-management system for years, unlike some of her colleagues, who still prefer a traditional pen-and-paper grade book.”
— Alyson Klein, Education Week, 8 Mar. 2022

Did You Know?
Long before your Luddite friend was waxing poetic about how blissful it is to not have a smartphone, Luddites were protesting the textile machinery that was slowly replacing them.
It was toward the end of 1811, in the vicinity of Nottingham, England, when handicraftsmen formed organized bands and began to riot for the destruction of the new machinery.
Their name is of uncertain origin, but it may be connected to a (probably mythical) person named Ned Ludd.
According to an unsubstantiated account in George Pellew's Life of Lord Sidmouth (1847), Ned Ludd was a Leicestershire villager of the late 1700s who, in a fit of rage, rushed into a stocking weaver's house and destroyed his equipment; subsequently, his name was proverbially connected with machinery destruction.
With the onset of the information age, Luddite gained a broader sense describing anyone who shuns new technology.

Conscientious

WORD OF THE DAY

conscientious / adjective / kahn-shee-EN-shus

Definition
1: meticulous, careful
2a: governed by or conforming to the dictates of conscience
2b: scrupulous

Examples
“Findings from Gosling’s studies revealed that highly conscientious people tend to have homes or offices that are clean and in good condition. Books, TV remotes, and magazines may be neatly arranged and conveniently located, for example. Their music records and books might be organized and grouped together on the bookshelf by type or genre.”
— Brian Collisson, Psychology Today, 25 May 2022

Because Puckett was a conscientious lieutenant … his men did not have to stint on their fire. He had made sure that every man was carrying a basic load of ammunition and then some to spare …
— Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1988

Did You Know?
According to American writer and editor H. L. Mencken, "Conscience is the inner voice which warns us someone may be looking."
A person who is conscientious makes sure that if others are watching, they approve of what they see. This is true for someone who is “governed by their conscience” as the oldest sense of the word is defined—as in “a conscientious objector to the war”—but it is also true for the conscientious person paying close, careful attention to the task at hand.
Conscientious came to English from French, centuries after Middle English had adopted conscience from Old French; both ultimately come from Latin scire, “to know.”

Extradite

WORD OF THE DAY

extradite / verb / EK-struh-dyte

Definition
1: to deliver up to extradition
2: to obtain the extradition of

Examples
"The U.S. State Department on Friday asked authorities in El Salvador to 'immediately' extradite leaders of the international criminal gang MS-13 to be put on trial in the United States."
— Nelson Renteria and Brendan O'Boyle, Reuters, 24 June 2022

Sweden and Finland applied for membership in May, but their entry appeared to hit a snag when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded that the countries extradite members of a Kurdish rebel group that Turkey considers terrorists.
— Paul Best, Fox News, 6 July 2022

Did You Know?
Extradite and its related noun extradition are both ultimately Latin in origin: their source is tradition-, tradition, meaning “the act of handing over.”
The word tradition, though centuries older, has the same source; consider tradition as something handed over from one generation to the next.
While extradition and extradite are of 19th century vintage, the U.S. Constitution, written in 1787, addresses the idea in Article IV: “A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.”

Iconoclast

WORD OF THE DAY

iconoclast / noun / eye-KAH-nuh-klast

Definition
1: a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions
2: a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration

Examples
"David Bowie was the ultimate iconoclast, a man who took his unique vocal instrument and used it to reinvent rock music almost album to album. From otherworldly Ziggy Stardust to the ethereal Thin White Duke, Bowie played fast and loose with style and sexuality throughout a five-decade career."
— Marco della Cava, USA Today, 28 May 2022

Filmmaker Claire Denis has always been something of a quiet iconoclast in France’s clamorous avant-garde.
— Erik Morse, Vogue, 9 July 2022

Did You Know?
Iconoclast is a word that often shows up on vocabulary lists and College Board tests. How will you remember the meaning of this vocabulary-boosting term?
If you already know the word icon, you're halfway there.
An icon is a picture that represents something. The most common icons today are those little images on our computers and smartphones that represent a program or function, but in the still-recent past, the most common icons were religious images.
Icon comes from the Greek eikōn, which is from eikenai, meaning "to resemble."
Iconoclast comes to us by way of Medieval Latin from Middle Greek eikonoklastēs, which joins eikōn with a form of the word klan, meaning "to break." Iconoclast literally means "image destroyer."

Emolument

 WORD OF THE DAY

emolument / noun / ih-MAHL-yuh-munt

Definition
1: the returns arising from office or employment usually in the form of compensation or perquisites
2 (archaic): advantage 

Examples
“The Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Enforcement Act, introduced in November, would: (1) codify the emoluments clause’s prohibition by barring federal officials from receiving foreign emoluments absent congressional approval; (2) increase transparency by requiring disclosure of such emoluments; (3) authorize the Office of Government Ethics to create rules to ensure compliance, and also empower the Office of the Special Counsel to investigate any violations.”
— Editorial, The Boston Globe, 16 Apr. 2022

Clearly, there were also going to be debates on whether the charges should include obstruction of justice and emoluments (the president using his office to profit).
— Susan Dominus, New York Times, 18 Nov. 2019

Did You Know?
The U.S. Constitution includes two emoluments clauses: the foreign emoluments clause, in Article 1, Section 9, prohibits federal officeholders from accepting gifts, payments, or other items of value from foreign states or rulers; the domestic emoluments clause, in Article 2, Section 1, prohibits the president from receiving any compensation from the federal government or from any state beyond what Section 1 outlines for compensation for service as the nation’s chief executive.
Like most technical legal terms, emolument is Latin in origin, but chew on this: its Latin predecessor meant simply “advantage,” but that word’s source is emolere, meaning “to produce by grinding,” and its relations include such toothsome words as mill and molar.

Nuance

 WORD OF THE DAY

nuance / noun / NOO-ahnss

Definition
1: a subtle distinction or variation
2a: a subtle quality
2b: nicety
3: sensibility to, awareness of, or ability to express delicate shadings (as of meaning, feeling, or value)

Examples
“Chiwetel Ejiofor gets to go all kinds of over-the-top as an alien who has come to Earth to save both our planet and his own, but [Naomie] Harris has the difficult job of countering that with believable reactions. She's our eyes into this sometimes inspired show, and Harris gives the character nuance that so many other actresses would have missed.”
 — Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 22 June 2022

In every silky statement from General Musharraf about the need for a short—in other words: limited—war, and in every nuance of the Pakistani official posture, I was sure I detected the local version of Schadenfreude.
— Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair, January 2002

Did You Know?
The history of nuance starts in Latin with the noun nūbēs, meaning "cloud."
Nūbēs floated into Middle French as nue, also meaning “cloud,” and nue gave rise to nuer, meaning “to make shades of color.”
Nuer in turn produced nuance, which in Middle French meant “shade of color.”
English borrowed nuance from French, with the meaning “a subtle distinction or variation,” in the late 18th century. That use persists today.
Additionally, nuance is sometimes used in a specific musical sense, designating a subtle, expressive variation in a musical performance (such as in tempo, dynamic intensity, or timbre) that is not indicated in the score.

Sanction

 WORD OF THE DAY

sanction / verb / SANK-shun

Definition
1: to make valid or binding usually by a formal procedure (such as ratification)
2: to give effective or authoritative approval or consent to
3a: to attach a sanction or penalty to the violation of (a right, obligation, or command)
3b: to impose a sanction or penalty upon

Examples
"Johnson himself was fined 50 pounds (about $63), making him the first British prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office."
— Jaweed Kaleem, The Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2022

 In low-income countries, families spend 42% of their household incomes on food but as Western nations moved to sanction Russia, the price of fuel and staple food items like wheat, sugar and cooking oil soared.
— Sara Edwards, USA TODAY, 8 July 2022

Did You Know?
The noun sanction, meaning "authoritative approval" or "a coercive measure," entered English in the 15th century, and originally referred to a formal decree or law, especially an ecclesiastical decree. The Latin sancire, meaning "to make holy," is an ancestor.
The noun's meaning then extended in different directions. By the end of the 17th century, it could refer to both a means of enforcing a law (a sense that in the 20th century we began using especially for economic penalties against nations violating international law) and the process of formally approving or ratifying a law.
When the verb sanction appeared in the 18th century, it had to do with ratifying laws as well, but it soon acquired an additional, looser sense: "to approve."

Behemoth

 WORD OF THE DAY
behemoth / noun / bih-HEE-muth
 
Definition
1 (often capitalized, religion): a mighty animal described in Job 40:15–24 as an example of the power of God
2: something of monstrous size, power, or appearance
2: something of monstrous size, power, or appearance
 
Examples
In his previous position, with Wintershall Holding, a German crude oil and natural gas producer, Seele had worked with Gazprom, the Russian natural gas behemoth, and was a strong supporter of the Nord Stream pipeline.
— Souad Mekhennet, Washington Post, 5 July 2022

The behemoth is now the fifth-longest superyacht in the global fleet and one of the biggest in the world in terms of volume.

— Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 5 July 2022

 

Did You Know

In the biblical book of Job, Behemoth is the name of a powerful grass-eating, river-dwelling beast with bones likened to bronze pipes and limbs likened to iron bars. Scholars have speculated that the biblical creature was inspired by the hippopotamus, but details about the creature’s exact nature are vague.
The word first passed from Hebrew into Latin, where, according to 15th century English poet and monk John Lydgate it referred to "a beast rude full of cursednesse."
In modern English, behemoth mostly functions as an evocative term for something of monstrous size, power, or appearance.

Validate

 WORD OF THE DAY

validate / verb / VAL-uh-dayt

Definition
1a: to make legally valid
1b: ratify
c: to grant official sanction to by marking
d: to confirm the validity of (an election)
1e: to declare (a person) elected
2a: to support or corroborate on a sound or authoritative basis
2b: to recognize, establish, or illustrate the worthiness or legitimacy of

Examples
“I’ve had to learn how to validate my own experiences. I now give myself permission to feel angry, upset, disappointed, or whatever negative emotions I’m experiencing.”
— Kiara Imani, Forbes, 31 May 2022

In one of these software systems, a large computer (the prover) validates financial transactions and places the validation computation into a PCP, so that a smaller computer (the verifier) can validate the transactions much faster.
— Quanta Magazine, 23 May 2022

Did You Know?
Validate, confirm, corroborate, substantiate, verify, and authenticate all mean to attest to the truth or validity of something.
Validate implies establishing validity by authoritative affirmation or factual proof ("a hypothesis validated by experiments").
Confirm implies the removing of doubts by an authoritative statement or indisputable fact ("evidence that confirmed the reports").
Corroborate suggests the strengthening of what is already partly established ("witnesses who corroborated the story").
Substantiate implies the offering of evidence that sustains the contention ("claims that have yet to be substantiated").
Verify implies the establishing of correspondence of actual facts or details with those proposed or guessed at ("statements that have been verified").
Authenticate implies establishing genuineness by legal or official documents or expert opinion ("handwriting experts who authenticated the diaries").

Saga

 WORD OF THE DAY

saga / noun / SAH-guh

Definition
1: a prose narrative recorded in Iceland in the 12th and 13th centuries of historic or legendary figures and events of the heroic age of Norway and Iceland
2: a modern heroic narrative resembling the Icelandic saga
3a: a long detailed account
3b: a dramatic and often complicated story or series of events

Examples
"Hill said that the key to the show’s look and tone is always influenced by 'The Godfather.' The show is simply a version of the Corleone family saga that continually undermines its heroes’ attempts at maintaining power, keeping their enemies close, and their dinner rolls closer."
— Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 20 June 2022

The insulin saga epitomizes the challenges facing U.S. healthcare regarding access, equity, pricing, and rebates.
— Joshua Cohen, Forbes, 2 July 2022

Did You Know?
Saga was originally used to describe Icelandic prose narratives composed in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The word first appeared in English in that sense during the 18th century; by the middle of the 19th century we were employing saga in a somewhat looser fashion, in reference to modern stories involving heroic deeds that bore some resemblance to the Icelandic tales of yore.
By the 20th century saga had come to be applied to other written works, typically a novel or series of novels, especially those that took place over a significant period of time.
Today the word may also be used to describe a long and drawn-out story that is either written or spoken (as in “my neighbor told me the saga of his divorce again”).
Saga comes from an Old Norse word of the same spelling.
It does not have any connection with the adjective sagacious (“possessing quick intellectual perceptions”), which comes from the Latin sagax (“sagacious”).

Eccentric

 WORD OF THE DAY

eccentric / adjective / ik-SEN-trik

Definition
1a: deviating from conventional or accepted usage or conduct especially in odd or whimsical ways
1b: deviating from an established or usual pattern or style
2a: deviating from a circular path
2b: elliptical
2c: located elsewhere than at the geometric center
2d: having the axis or support so located
3a: a person who behaves in odd or unusual ways
3b: an eccentric person
4a: a mechanical device consisting of an eccentric disk communicating its motion to a rod so as to produce reciprocating motion

Examples
"This children’s adventure movie from Vietnam is like 'E.T.'—but sloppier and more eccentric."
— Beatrice Loayza, The New York Times, 2 June 2022

It was Charles Darwin's eccentric mathematician cousin Francis Galton who in 1874 ignited the nature-nurture controversy.  …
— Matt Ridley, Time, 2 June 2003

Did You Know?
Eccentric comes to us through Middle English from the Medieval Latin word eccentricus, but it is ultimately derived from a combination of the Greek words ex, meaning "out of," and kentron, meaning "center."
The original meaning of eccentric in English was "not having the same center" (as in "eccentric spheres"). In this sense, it contrasts with concentric, meaning "having a common center" (as in "concentric circles," one within another).
But since the 17th century, English speakers have also used eccentric to describe those who are figuratively off-center.
It can also be used to describe something that doesn't follow a truly circular path, as in "an eccentric orbit."

Gibbous

 WORD OF THE DAY

gibbous / adjective / JIB-us

Definition
1a: marked by convexity or swelling
1b: of the moon or a planet
1c: seen with more than half but not all of the apparent disk illuminated
2a: having a hump
2b: humpbacked

Examples
"Eventually, we lay our heads down on our pillows beneath a clear sky (no tent required) and a bright gibbous moon that left the canyon well illuminated. I never even unpacked a flashlight."
— David Courtney, Texas Monthly, July 2022

Tonight the waxing gibbous Moon will be close to Antares, the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius.
— Jamie Carter, Forbes, 3 July 2022

Did You Know?
The adjective gibbous has its origins in the Latin noun gibbus, meaning "hump."
It was adopted into Middle English to describe rounded, convex things.
While it has been used to describe the rounded body parts of humans and animals (such as the back of a camel) and to describe the shape of certain flowers (such as snapdragons), the term is most often used to describe the moon: a gibbous moon is one that is between half full and full.

Recidivism

 WORD OF THE DAY

recidivism / noun / rih-SID-uh-viz-um

Definition
1a: a tendency to relapse into a previous condition or mode of behavior
1b: relapse into criminal behavior

Examples
"The company's success rate, measured by residents who move on to self-sufficient housing before relapse or recidivism, turns statistics upside down. Forman says more than 60% of residents are clean, sober and employed after 2 years or more."
— Christian Grace, Cape Gazette (Lewes, Delaware), 31 May 2022

The virtual event, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Baltimore County and the Randallstown NAACP, also touched upon the candidates’ qualifications for the job, juvenile justice issues, preventing recidivism and other topics.
— Alison Knezevich, Baltimore Sun, 28 June 2022

Did You Know?
The re- in recidivism is the same re- in relapse and return, and like those words recidivism is about going back: it’s a tendency to relapse, especially into criminal behavior.
Recidivism is a 19th century French borrowing that’s ultimately from a Latin word meaning “to relapse into sin or crime.”
In borrowing recidivism, English was itself engaging in a kind of recidivism: the same Latin source of recidivism had been nabbed in the 16th century to form the much less common recidivate, meaning “to fall into or exhibit recidivism.”

Cantankerous

 WORD OF THE DAY

cantankerous / adjective / kan-TANK-uh-rus

Definition
: difficult or irritating to deal with

Examples
“The episode centers around the Daffodil Ball, a magnificent cow, and a cantankerous pig. I would also be cantankerous if veterinarians who hadn't even passed their exams were chasing me around with a scalpel.”
— Alice Burton, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2022

Contemporaries often found him aloof, standoffish, and cantankerous and his mannerisms and diction inscrutable.
— Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books, 22 Oct. 2009

Did You Know?
Cantankerous people are cranky: they’re grumpy and angry and if we think charitably about them for a moment we might consider that they possibly suffer from a health affliction that sours the mood.
It’s been speculated that cantankerous is a product of the Middle English contack, meaning “contention,” under the influence of a pair of words: rancorous and cankerous.
Rancorous brings the anger and "bitter deep-seated ill will" (as rancor can be understood to mean).
And cankerous brings the perhaps understandable foul mood: a cankerous person suffers from painful sores—that is, cankers.

Inscrutable

 WORD OF THE DAY

inscrutable / adjective / in-SKROO-tuh-bul

Definition
1: not readily investigated, interpreted, or understood
2: mysterious

Examples
“Rosters were reconstructed by enlisting former NHLers, players from the KHL and other leagues in Europe and from the college ranks and major-junior level. There is enough of a mixture of guys who are a bit past their prime and others who are relatively unknown or waiting to be discovered to make the outcome more inscrutable than usual.”
— Marty Klinkenberg, The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada), 5 Feb. 2022

Supersymmetry is a magic mirror, and everything in what we imagine to be the real world has its ghostly, inscrutable mirror image.
— Ian Stewart, Prospect, September 2003

Did You Know?
You may have to scrutinize this word closely in order to speculate as to its origins, but there is at least one clue in this sentence.
Inscrutable derives from the Late Latin adjective inscrutabilis, which can be traced back to the verb scrutari, meaning "to search or to examine."
"Scrutari" is also the source of the English words "scrutinize" and "scrutiny."
Incidentally, the antonym "scrutable" ("capable of being deciphered or understood") is a part of our language as well, though it's less common than "inscrutable."

Yankee

 WORD OF THE DAY

Yankee / noun /  YANG-kee

What It Means

1: a native or inhabitant of New England

2: a native or inhabitant of the U.S.

EXAMPLE

We're pretty good here in Vermont about being mindful about recycling. It is in our genes. Depression-era residents used to keep everything, from small jars for nails, to the nails themselves after they were retrieved from old boards. That Yankee ingenuity absolutely comes from the resourcefulness and ability not to waste anything." 

— editorial, The Rutland (Vermont) Herald, 31 May 2022

Did You Know?

We don’t know the origin of Yankee but we do know that it began as an insult. 

British General James Wolfe used the term in a 1758 letter to express his low opinion of the New England troops assigned to him, and from around the same time period there is a report of British troops using Yankee as a term of abuse for the citizens of Boston. 

In 1775, however, after the battles of Lexington and Concord showed that colonials could stand up to British regulars, Yankee was proudly adopted by colonials as a self-descriptor in defiance of the pejorative use. Both derisive and respectable uses have existed ever since.

Debunk

WORD OF THE DAY

debunk / verb / dee-BUNK

Definition
: to expose the sham or falseness of

Examples
"The idea that dogs spend every waking moment trying to usurp their human masters and become 'the alpha' in the house ... [was] first introduced by a wolf ecologist in the mid-20th Century, [and] was later debunked after ecologists realised that the original observations of dominance behaviours were based on captive wolves (unrelated to one another) kept in a zoo enclosure."
— Jules Howard, Science Focus, 19 May 2022

The group attempts to debunk the notion that being in the office together allows for serendipitous moments of collaboration and creation.
— Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, 9 May 2022

Did You Know?
If you guessed that debunk has something to do with bunk, meaning "nonsense," you're correct. We started using bunk around the turn of the 20th century. (It derived, via bunkum, from a remark made by a congressman from Buncombe County, North Carolina.)
Within a couple of decades, debunk was first used in print for the act of taking the bunk out of something.
There are plenty of synonyms for debunk, including disprove, rebut, refute, and the somewhat rarer confute.
Even falsify can mean "to prove something false," in addition to "to make something false."
Debunk itself often suggests that something is not merely untrue but also a sham; one can simply disprove a myth, but if it is debunked, the implication is that it was a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim.