Quiddity

 WORD OF THE DAY

quiddity / noun / KWID-uh-tee

Definition
1a: whatever makes something the type that it is
1b: essence
2a: a trifling point
2b: quibble
2c: crochet, eccentricity

Examples
“This is typical [of author Karl Ove] Knausgaard. He observes a subject so closely, mining so far into its essence—its quiddity—that the observations transcend banality and become compelling. In other words, he draws the space between the objects.”
— Peter Murphy, The Irish Times, 20 Mar. 2018

Our skulls are like space helmets; we are trapped in our heads, unable to convey the quiddity of our sensations.
— Jason Pontin, WIRED, 16 Apr. 2018

Did You Know?
When it comes to synonyms of quiddity, the Q's have it.
Consider quintessence, a synonym of the "essence of a thing" sense of quiddity (this oldest sense of quiddity dates from the 14th century).
Quibble is a synonym of the "trifling point" sense; that meaning of quiddity arose from the subtler points of 16th-century academic arguments.
And quirk, like quiddity, can refer to a person's eccentricities.
Of course, quiddity also derives from a "Q" word, the Latin pronoun quis, which is one of two Latin words for "who" (the other is qui).
Quid, the neuter form of quis, gave rise to the Medieval Latin quidditas, which means "essence," a term that was essential to the development of the English quiddity.

Motley

WORD OF THE DAY

motley / adjective / MAHT-lee

Definition
1: variegated in color
2: made up of many different people or things
3: a woolen fabric of mixed colors made in England between the 14th and 17th centuries
4a: a garment made of motley
4b: the characteristic dress of the professional fool
5: jester, fool
6: a mixture especially of incongruous elements

Examples
"As evidenced by Burmese pythons and ubiquitous iguanas, there’s a motley roster of nonnative reptile species surviving in Florida—three times the amount of indigenous species—but there are two in particular that are on the rise."
— Bill Kearney, The South Florida Sun Sentinel, 12 Aug. 2022

Megan’s second studio album, Traumazine, is a thrill ride of a listen, a motley mix of slick bops and searing confessionals that wonderfully encapsulate all of her various vibes.
— Will Dukes, Rolling Stone, 12 Aug. 2022

Did You Know?
The word motley wears many colorful hats, each having a distinct use.
As an adjective it implies variety, be it in hues or humans.
As a noun it can identify an eclectic variety, a multicolored fabric, a garment made from such a fabric, or the jester known for wearing such garments in the European courts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
The word's origin is unknown, but some etymologists suspect that Middle English mot, meaning "mote" or "speck," may be its source.
There may be a speck of truth to that. Surely, etymologists (and lexicographers) don’t jest.

Onomatopoeia

 WORD OF THE DAY

onomatopoeia / noun / ah-nuh-mah-tuh-PEE-uh

Definition
1a: the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz, hiss)
1b: a word formed by onomatopoeia
2: the use of words whose sound suggests the sense

Examples
“[John] Madden’s influence, steeped in Everyman sensibilities and studded with wild gesticulations and paroxysms of onomatopoeia—wham! doink! whoosh!—made the N.F.L. more interesting, more relevant and more fun for over 40 years.”
— Ben Shpigel, The New York Times, 28 Dec. 2021

Thousands of fireflies, called kelip-kelip in Malaysia — their name is a sort of visual onomatopoeia for their twinkling — can settle on riverside trees. 
—  Joshua Sokol, Quanta Magazine, 20 Sep. 2022

Did You Know?
English speakers have only used the word onomatopoeia since the 1500s, but people have been creating words inspired by the sounds heard around them for much longer.
It may not surprise you to learn that fizz, jingle, toot, and pop are onomatopoeic in origin, but did you know the same is true of bounce, tinker, and blimp?
Boom! Now you do. In fact, the presence of so many imitative words in language spawned the linguistic bowwow theory, which postulates that language originated in the imitating of natural sounds.
While it’s highly unlikely that onomatopoeia is the sole impetus for human language, it certainly made a mark, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Wheedle

 WORD OF THE DAY

wheedle / verb / WEE-dul

Definition
1: to influence or entice by soft words or flattery
2: to gain or get by wheedling
3: to use soft words or flattery

Examples
"In the book [Françoise Gilot] recalls a moment when Claude, a small boy, pleaded to be allowed into her studio. Loitering just outside her door, he wheedled, 'I love you, Mama.' No luck. He liked her painting, he told her, adding after a time, 'It's better than Papa's.' At that, she weakened and welcomed him inside."
— Ruth La Ferla, The New York Times, 19 Jan. 2022

The aim of Just Stop Oil and Letzte Generation has been to wheedle people for not caring more about the climate crisis.
 — Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic, 27 Oct. 2022

Did You Know?
Wheedle has been a part of the English lexicon since the mid-17th century, though no one is quite sure how it wheedled its way in.
(It has been suggested that the term may have come from the Old English word wǽdlian, which meant "to beg," but this is far from certain.)
Be careful not to confuse wheedle with the similar-sounding weasel.
While both words are applied in situations in which someone is trying to persuade another person, weasel is especially apt in cases in which the persuader is being clever or dishonest in their efforts, while wheedle always specifically involves soft words and flattery.

Vamoose

WORD OF THE DAY

vamoose / verb / vuh-MOOSS

Definition
: to depart quickly

Examples
"[Ali S.] Khan's group packed fast and vamoosed on a small airplane, which rose straight into a thrashing thunderstorm."
— David Quammen, The New Yorker, May 4, 2020

Nearby, a woman was making her own bathroom right next to the entrance of a residential building, vamoosing only when the doorman, Clever Santos Chavez, chased her away.
— Washington Post, 24 Feb. 2020

Did You Know?
In the 1820s and '30s, the American Southwest was rough-and-tumble territory—the true Wild West. English-speaking cowboys, Texas Rangers, and gold prospectors regularly rubbed elbows with Spanish-speaking vaqueros in the local saloons, and a certain amount of linguistic intermixing was inevitable.
One Spanish term that caught on with English speakers was vamos, which means "let's go."
Cowpokes and dudes alike adopted the word, at first using a range of spellings and pronunciations that varied considerably in their proximity to the original Spanish form.
But when the dust settled, the version most American English speakers were using was vamoose.

Leonine

 WORD OF THE DAY

leonine / adjective / LEE-uh-nyne

Definition
: of, relating to, suggestive of, or resembling a lion

Examples
“As I tried harder and harder ... I began to understand more about what [Fabio] meant at the time, to both me and to his fans. For me, I kind of thought he was just a hood ornament of '90s masculinity. Heroic and leonine, ripped like He-Man but draped in finely tailored Italian linen. There always seemed to be a wind machine plugged in somewhere just out of his frame.”
— Jason Sheeler, People.com, 11 Aug. 2021

Most famously, leonine tenor saxophonist Von Freeman remains a symbol of the music even after his death here in 2012, at age 88.
— Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 22 Sep. 2019

Did You Know?
Hear us roar! Most people or characters described as leonine aren’t cowardly (with one famous exception, of course), but rather noble, strong, regal, or possessed of similarly positive virtues associated with pride-forming big cats.
Leonine clawed its way into the English language from the Latin word leo (“lion”), which in turn comes from the Greek word leōn.
Today, we have an interesting range of words that relate back to leōn: leopard (leōn + pardos, a Greek word for a panther-like animal); chameleon (leōn + the Greek chamai, meaning “on the ground”); and the names Leo, Leon, and Leonard.
But the dancer’s and gymnast’s leotard is not named for its wearer’s cat-like movements. Rather, it was simply named after its inventor, Jules Léotard, a 19th-century French aerial gymnast.

Temerity

WORD OF THE DAY

temerity / noun / tuh-MAIR-uh-tee

Definition
1a: unreasonable or foolhardy contempt of danger or opposition
1b: rashness, recklessness
2: a rash or reckless act

Examples
"As Jackson sauntered during the ensuing break in play, his chin up defiantly and jaw clenched, James did a double-take at the apparent temerity, his next-play focus transforming into disapproval."
— Houston Mitchell, The Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2022

He defeated giant corporations—the auto industry, big pharma—back when no one else was even trying to; he had the temerity to believe that fighting for safety and quality and transparency was a quintessentially American thing to do.
—  Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Feb. 2007

Did You Know?
When you’re feeling saucy, there’s no shortage of words in the English language you can use to describe the particular flavor of your metaphorical sauce, from audacity and effrontery to the Yiddish-derived fan favorite chutzpah.
If we may be so bold, let us also suggest temerity: it comes from the Latin temere, meaning “recklessly” or “haphazardly,” and is good for suggesting boldness even in the face of danger or likely punishment.
Temerity is a formal word, rarely used in casual writing or conversation, but provided you have the cheek to flout this convention, you may be thinking “what have I got to lose?”
When it comes to flagrant boldness, temerity, audacity, hardihood, and effrontery have the cheek to get your meaning across.
Of those synonyms, temerity suggests boldness arising from contempt of danger, while audacity implies a disregard of the restraints commonly imposed by convention or prudence.
Hardihood implies firmness in daring and defiance, and effrontery suggests a shameless disregard of propriety and courtesy.
If you're looking for a more informal term for a brash attitude, you might consider nerve, cheek, gall, or chutzpah.

Farce

WORD OF THE DAY

farce / noun / FAHRSS

Definition
1: stuff
2: to improve or expand (something, such as a literary work) as if by stuffing
3a: a savory stuffing
3b: foremeat
4: a light dramatic composition marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot
5: the broad humor characteristic of farce
6: an empty or patently ridiculous act, proceeding, or situation

Examples
"It seems absurd that [Manchester United manager Erik] Ten Hag, after only a matter of weeks in charge, could be under such scrutiny despite being parachuted into a situation not of his making, but many fans would argue that the club has long since descended into farce."
— Rob Dawson, ESPN.com, 18 Aug. 2022

Satires like Ginder’s that retain a warmth and perhaps just enough of a spirit of farce can point out the wounds without hurting too badly.
—  John Warner, Chicago Tribune, 7 May 202

Did You Know?
From Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, many of us are familiar with farce in its dramatic sense.
However, when farce first appeared in English, it had to do with cookery, not comedy. In the 14th century, English adopted farce from Middle French with its original meaning of "forcemeat"—that is, a highly seasoned, minced meat or fish often served as a stuffing.
In the 16th century, English imported the word again, this time to refer to a kind of knockabout comedy already popular in France.
French farce had its origins in the 13th-century practice of "stuffing" Latin church texts with explanatory phrases.
By the 15th century, a similar practice of inserting unscripted buffoonery into religious plays had arisen.
Such farces—which included clowning, acrobatics, reversal of social roles, and indecency—soon developed into a distinct dramatic genre and spread rapidly in various forms throughout Europe.

Nugatory

WORD OF THE DAY

nugatory / adjective / NOO-guh-tor-ee

Definition
1a: of little or no consequence
1b: trifling, inconsequential
2a: having no force
2b: inoperative

Examples
“Elsewhere [on Death Cab for Cutie’s latest album], [Ben Gibbard] … continues his apparent affinity for writing songs about driving on ‘Wheat Like Waves’ and the gorgeously golden ‘Rand McNally,’ named after the now nugatory road atlas books.”
— Madeline Roth, The Daily Beast, 27 Aug. 2022

Yet all of these questions seem, increasingly, merely nostalgic, nugatory, in the face of the dissolution of the common solidarity of principles that had once made the liberation happen.
—    Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 6 June 2019

Did You Know?

Just because nugatory isn’t the most common word in the English language doesn’t mean it’s trifling.
Rather, nugatory is literally trifling because the two words are synonymous, as in “comments too nugatory to merit attention.”
Like its synonyms vain, idle, empty, and hollow, nugatory means "without worth or significance."
But while nugatory suggests triviality or insignificance ("a monarch with nugatory powers," for example), vain implies either absolute or relative absence of value (as in "vain promises").
Idle suggests being incapable of worthwhile use or effect (as in "idle speculations").
Empty and hollow suggest a deceiving lack of real substance or genuineness (as in "an empty attempt at reconciliation" or "a hollow victory").
Nugatory first appeared in English in the 17th century; it comes from the Latin adjective nugatorius, which can mean  “trifling”, “frivolous” and "futile”  but also is ultimately a derivative of the noun nugae, meaning "trifles."
This sense carried over into English as well, and so in some contexts nugatory means “ineffective” or “having no force,” as when Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson invoked “the nugatory value of the contemporary penny.”
Nugatory may mean little to some, but we think it’s worth a pretty penny

Hummock

 WORD OF THE DAY

hummock / noun / HUM-uk

Definition
1: a rounded knoll or hillock
2: a ridge of ice

Examples
“...Yellowlegs nest on the ground, often at the base of a small tree or mossy hummock, so I watched my feet carefully. The nest is a small cup in the moss, typically lined with little dead leaves, lichens, and sedges.”
— Mary F. Wilson, The Juneau (Alaska) Empire, 14 June 2022

Its hummock was part of a wetland spiked with tamarack saplings and carpeted with wild cranberries.
—  Paul A. Smith, Journal Sentinel, 14 Aug. 2022

Did You Know?
Having trouble telling a hummock from a hammock from a hillock?
Not to worry: all three words refer to a small hill or earthen mound.
Hummock, in fact, is an alteration of hammock; this 16th century pair share an ancestor with the Middle Low German words hummel (“small height”) and hump (“bump”), the latter of which is also a distant relative of our English word hump.
As for the 14th-century vintage hillock, a version of the suffix -ock has been attached to nouns to designate a small one of whatever since the days of Old English.
Note that the hilly hammock mentioned here is not related to the hammock offering a swaying repose between supports. That hammock comes from the Spanish hamaca, and ultimately from Taino, a language spoken by the original inhabitants of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas.

Augur

WORD OF THE DAY

augur / verb / AW-gur

Definition
1: to foretell especially from omens
2a: to give promise of
2b: presage

Example
"This year, MLS has increased the pipeline that is in place for women to be leaders at the team level. This is exemplified by the number of groundbreaking hires that have occurred. ... The addition of these women in their team front offices augurs well for the future."
— Richard Lapchick, ESPN.com, 9 Nov. 2021

ByteDance’s growth in emerging markets could be an augur of what’s to come.
—  Chris Stokel-walker, Wired, 22 Nov. 2021

Did You Know?
In ancient Rome, augurs were official diviners whose function it was to divine whether the gods approved of a proposed undertaking, such as a military move.
They did so by various means, among them observing the behavior of birds and examining the entrails of sacrificed animals.
 We doubt the Romans predicted that augur would eventuate into a verb meaning “presage or foretell,” but in retrospect, augur’s path must have been in the stars.

Magnanimous

WORD OF THE DAY

magnanimous / adjective / mag-NAN-uh-mus

Definition
1: showing or suggesting a lofty and courageous spirit
2: showing or suggesting nobility of feeling and generosity of mind

Examples
“[Former Olympic champion, Mark] Spitz was in a three-day period between his finals, the last of which was a full day off. At the routine Thursday night press conference for medal winners, Spitz asked to be excused from questions so the spotlight could play on his three relay teammates ‘because this is their first gold medal.’ ... It was a wonderfully magnanimous gesture, but I knew from past interviews that winning the 100-meter butterfly that night was much bigger to him than he was indicating...”
— Bob Hammel, The Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana), 4 Sept. 2022

Rosengart’s legal guidance has helped make possible this magnanimous humanitarian effort.
— Malina Saval, Variety, 20 Apr. 2022

Did You Know?
When you see anima, animus, or a similar formation in a word, it’s often an indicator of something alive, lively, or spirited.
Something described as animated is full of life, for example, and the word animal refers to a living thing. The Latin word anima means “breath” or “soul” and animus means “spirit.”
In magnanimous, animus is joined by the Latin word magnus, meaning “great.” Basically meaning “greatness of spirit,” magnanimity is the opposite of selfishness.
A truly magnanimous person can lose without complaining and win without gloating, and angry disputes can sometimes be resolved when one side makes a magnanimous gesture toward the other.

Crucible

WORD OF THE DAY

crucible / noun / KROO-suh-bul

Definition
1: a vessel of a very refractory (see REFRACTORY entry 1 sense 3) material (such as porcelain) used for melting and calcining a substance that requires a high degree of heat
2: a severe test
3: a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development

Examples
“Fungi have helped trees adapt on a millennial scale. They could be crucial to helping trees adapt in the climate crisis. ‘In difficult times, organisms find new symbiotic relationships in order to expand their reach,’ said Dr. [Cosmo] Sheldrake, the biologist. ‘Crisis is the crucible of new relationships.’”
— Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, 27 July 2022

But it’s a country far from the battlefield that has turned into a kind of crucible of the global moment.
— Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 5 July 2022

Did You Know?
Unless you’re studying Arthur Miller’s The Crucible in school, it may not be crucial to learn the story behind crucible, but it can’t hurt! Crucible looks like it should be closely related to the Latin combining form cruc- (“cross”); however, unlike crucial, it isn’t.
It was forged instead from the Medieval Latin crucibulum, a noun for an earthen pot used to melt metals, and in English it first referred to a vessel made of a very heat-resistant material (such as porcelain) used for melting a substance that requires a high degree of heat.
It’s possible that the resemblance between cruc- and crucible encouraged people to start using crucible to mean “a severe trial,” as that sense is synonymous with one meaning of cross, but the idea of simmering in a literal crucible also sounds plenty severe.
The newest sense of crucible (“a situation in which great changes take place,” as in “forged in the crucible of war”) recalls the fire and heat required to transform some solids into liquids.

Bilious

WORD OF THE DAY

bilious / adjective / BILL-yus

Definition
1a (biology): of or relating to a yellow or greenish fluid that is secreted by the liver and that aids especially in the emulsification and absorption of fats
1b: of or relating to bile
1c (biology): marked by or suffering from liver dysfunction and especially excessive secretion of bile
1d: appearing as if affected by a bilious disorder
2: of or indicative of a peevish ill-natured disposition
3: sickeningly unpleasant

Examples
"Inserting a character inspired by Big Daddy Pollitt in Tennessee Williams's 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' into a scenario patched together from three William Faulkner works, Orson Welles so thoroughly dominates 'The Long, Hot Summer' as Will Varner, the bilious magnate of Mississippi small town, that the other actors struggle to make themselves known."
— Scott Tobias, The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2022

Today Is the Today — into a bilious noise-rock confection, all rumbling bass, spat-out vocals and rusty-wire guitar.
—  Hank Shteamer, SPIN, 27 Sep. 2022

Did You Know?
Bilious is one of several words whose origins trace to the old belief that four bodily humors (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood) control temperament.
Just like phlegmatic ("of a slow and stolid phlegm-driven character"), melancholy ("experiencing dejection associated with black bile"), and sanguine ("of a cheerful, blood-based disposition"), bilious suggests a personality associated with an excess of one of the humors—in this case, yellow bile.
Such a personality may also be described as unreasonable, peevish, or ill-tempered, as typified by Charlotte Brontë in her 1849 novel, Shirley: "These two men, of hard, bilious natures both, rarely came into contact but they chafed each other’s moods."

Encapsulate

WORD OF THE DAY

encapsulate / verb / in-KAP-suh-layt

Definition
1: to enclose in or as if in a capsule
2: epitomize, summarize

Examples
"Catherine Lutz, a longtime valley journalist, edited the book for correct style and punctuation purposes, without altering [writer Peggy] Clifford’s content. She also wrote the captions to go along with each photo. ‘The captions for the photos were purposed to encapsulate the text of the book, so if someone were to just flip through without reading the text, they could get its essence from the photos and their captions,’ Lutz said...”
— Jacqueline Reynolds, The Aspen (Colorado) Daily News, 21 Aug. 2022

After giving birth to her second child with Kanye West, Saint, in 2015, the reality star decided to encapsulate her placenta to try and avoid postpartum depression. 
—  Christina Butan, Peoplemag, 26 Oct. 2022

Did You Know?
Keeping it brief by encapsulating the history of this word in just a few sentences.
Encapsulate and its related noun, capsule, come to us from capsula, a diminutive form of the Latin noun capsa, meaning “box.” (Capsa also gave us the “container” or “box” meaning of the noun case.)
The earliest examples of encapsulate are for its literal use (“to enclose something in a capsule”) and date to the late 19th century.
Its extended meaning, “to give a summary or synopsis of something,” plays on the notion of a capsule being something compact, self-contained, and often easily digestible.

Serendipity

 WORD OF THE DAY

serendipity / noun / sair-un-DIP-uh-tee

Definition
1a: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for
1b: an instance of this

Examples
“One of the things I find so fascinating about New York Times Cooking is that reading one recipe often leads me to another, and the serendipity leads me to make something entirely different from what I had intended to make when I logged on.”
— Sam Sifton, The New York Times, 2 Oct. 2022

As they leapfrog from South Africa to Singapore in search of local delicacies, the authors prove again and again that serendipity is the traveler's strongest ally: many of their most memorable meals issue from the hands of generous strangers …
— Sarah Karnasiewicz, Saveur, June/July 2008

Did You Know?
The word serendipity did not come about by luck; rather, it was intentionally coined by 18th century author Horace Walpole, who was eager to share a happenstance discovery he had made while researching a coat of arms.
In a letter to his friend Horace Mann he wrote:

“This discovery indeed is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word, which as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavor to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’: as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of ...”

Walpole’s memory of the tale (which, as luck would have it, was not quite accurate) gave serendipity the meaning it retains to this day.

Gauche

 WORD OF THE DAY

gauche / adjective / GOHSH

Definition
1a : lacking social experience or grace
1b: not tactful
1c: crude
1d: crudely made or done
2: not planar

Examples
“When he completed his performance, [Olympic figure skater Nathan Chen] punched the air in celebration. Normally I find this display of open emotion a little bit gauche, but for Nathan, I’ll allow it. He was exquisite.”
— Chris Schleicher, Slate, 8 Feb. 2022

We were suburban housewives and mothers. As poets we took a respectful backseat to the male poets. We did not talk about our husbands and children in public; that would have been gauche indeed.
— Maxine Kumin, In Deep, 1987

Did You Know?
Although it doesn’t mean anything sinister, gauche is one of several words (including sinister) with ties to old suspicions and negative associations relating to the left side and use of the left hand.
In French, gauche literally means “left,” and it has the extended meanings “awkward” and “clumsy.”
These meanings may have come about because left-handed people could appear awkward trying to manage in a mostly right-handed world, or perhaps because right-handed people appear awkward when trying to use their left hand.
 Regardless, awkwardness is a likely culprit. Fittingly, 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.”

Rapscallion

 WORD OF THE DAY

rapscallion / noun / rap-SKAL-yun

Definition
1: a person who causes trouble
2: rascal, ne'er-do-well

Examples
“Schmigadoon manages to collect practically every genre trope and cliche as well as outmoded cultural lens—from the small town rapscallion who can’t be tamed to the pure disbelief that meets the idea of a woman doctor—to lampoon in pitch perfect musical fun.”
— Brandon Katz, Observer, 6 July 2021

The embattled First Order military man could be the most stressed-out guy in the galaxy, first watching as Starkiller Base was blown sky high and then having to chase various rapscallions in the Resistance.
— Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2017

Did You Know?
The word rascal has been part of English since the 15th century, but it apparently failed to fully capture the disagreeable nature of the wily knaves of yore: by the 16th century, English speakers had expanded rascal to rascallion. But it seems that even that term didn’t sound quite mischievous enough.
Eventually, rascallion was further altered, resulting in the snappier, plosive-enhanced rapscallion, which is still commonly used as a synonym for varlet, scoundrel, and rogue.
And although rapscallion has zero connection with scallion, it does add a figuratively spicy kick to one’s speech, not unlike chawbacon and other cheeky insults that may be of interest and use.

Fustigate

 WORD OF THE DAY

fustigate / verb / FUSS-tuh-gayt

Definition
1: cudgel
2: to criticize severely

Examples
“This article explores major ways in which comedy exemplifies the power of popular culture to defy political censorship, advance freedom of expression, and contribute to the democratization of political culture in contemporary Africa. ... The article does so from the combined perspectives of political history and social philosophy. The latter perspective refers to the comedians’ conjuring up of Islamic and West African religious creeds to fustigate particular social flaws and moral deviancies that affect their society.” 
— Mohamed Saliou Camara, Nokoko (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada), 1 Jan. 2022

Although they're sitting atop the standings now, the team went through a rough patch of getting absolutely fustigated by their division rivals.

Did You Know?
A modern fustigation won’t leave a bump on your head, but severe criticism can be a blow to your self-esteem.
When fustigate first left its mark on the English language in the mid-17th century, it did so with the meaning “to cudgel or beat with a short heavy club”—a sense that reflects the word’s Latin source, the noun fustis, meaning “club” or “staff.” (Beat, “to strike repeatedly,” is also a distant relative of fustis.)
The “criticize” sense of fustigate may be more common these days, but the violent use is occasionally a hit with sportswriters who employ it metaphorically to suggest how badly a team has been drubbed by their opponent.

Sallow

 WORD OF THE DAY

sallow / adjective / SAL-oh

Definition
1: any of several Old World broad-leaved willows (such as Salix caprea) including important sources of charcoal and tanbarkl
2: of a grayish greenish yellow color

Examples
"As a member of the 101st Airborne Division, Guy Whidden was among the first American paratroopers to head for Normandy in the early hours of June 6, 1944. The day before, he'd posed for a picture with a few of the other paratroopers. Sixty years later, he flashed the same impish grin, though his hair was white and his skin a little sallow."
— Tamela Baker, The Herald-Mail (Hagerstown, Maryland), 25 Sept. 2022

His round face, once crimson, had become sallow, and acquired deep lines and wrinkles; his eyes too had become like his father’s, the rims swollen and red, a feature common to most peasants who work by the sea….
— Leslie T. Chang, The New York Review of Books, 21 Sep. 2022

Did You Know?
In Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel A Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian’s unscrupulous friend Lord Henry Wotton impresses upon the young Dorian what the process of aging will do, saying "Time is jealous of you, and wars against your lilies and your roses.
You will become sallow, and hollow-cheeked, and dull-eyed." Literature of the 19th century abounds with sallow people—Charles Dickens applied the word to characters in no fewer than 12 novels—but the word had been in use with the same meaning for centuries before that literary heyday.
Its synonymous Old English forbear is salu, which shares an ancestor with an Old High German word meaning "murky" as well as with a Russian word meaning "yellowish gray."