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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Merriam-Webster
Build your vocabulary with Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day! Each day a Merriam-Webster editor offers insight into a fascinating new word -- explaining its meaning, current use, and little-known details about its origin.
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- Today1 min
volition
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 20, 2026 is: volition • \voh-LISH-un\ • noun Volition is a formal word that means “the power to make your own choices or decisions.” Usually, though not always, volition follows own, as in “left the company of her own volition.” // Every choice I made was of my own volition and not due to outside influence. See the entry > Examples: “Believe it or not, a lot of people find worms in their birdbaths. … Some birds, most notably crows, like to give their food a good dunking before eating, so there’s a possibility worms in the birdbath were left by these fastidious birds. The most likely reason is that the worms crawled there on their own volition.” — Joan Morris, The Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, California), 3 May 2026 Did you know? When you do something of your own volition, you do it voluntarily, which makes sense—both volition and voluntary ultimately come from the Latin velle, meaning “to wish” or “to will.” English speakers borrowed volition from French in the 17th century, using it at first to mean “an act of choosing,” a meaning Herman Melville employed in Moby-Dick (1851): “Almost simultaneously, with a mighty volition of ungraduated, instantaneous swiftness, the White Whale darted through the weltering sea.” By then, however, the word had also developed an additional meaning, “the power to choose,” which is now more common.
- Yesterday1 min
aggrandize
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 19, 2026 is: aggrandize • \uh-GRAN-dyze\ • verb To aggrandize someone (or something) is to enhance their power, wealth, position, or reputation. Aggrandize can also mean "to increase or enlarge" or "to praise highly." // Critics of the book argue that the author aggrandizes corrupt politicians. See the entry > Examples: "... many congregants spoke of their admiration for Tsietsi. They came forward to tell stories of previous encounters with him. While some were obvious fabrications, meant to aggrandize the narrator by his association with Tsietsi, most seemed true." — Lynda Schuster, Literary Hub, 16 June 2026 Did you know? Aggrandize is a grand word, and we don't just mean that in praise. The word literally traces back to the Latin adjective grandis, meaning "fully grown, large, great," and it has enhanced the English language for over three centuries. Nowadays, aggrandize is often paired with self, either the word or the prefix: to "aggrandize oneself" or to "be self-aggrandizing" is to glorify oneself, or to intently pursue power, wealth, and the like. It's of course great to take pride in a job well done, but we appreciate those who keep it real—after all, not every hit can be a grand slam.
- 2 days ago2 min
churlish
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 18, 2026 is: churlish • \CHUR-lish\ • adjective Churlish is a formal word used to describe someone or something that is impolite or rude. // I was shocked by the churlish remarks made by my opponent. See the entry > Examples: “… I think a Bob Dylan concert is fundamentally for Bob Dylan himself. You could call it churlish, but I think it’s self-assuredness, an elder’s clarity: The man has a message he needs to send, a message important enough that he’ll strip away anything that might distract from it. A Bob Dylan concert is not about what Bob Dylan’s audience wants to hear; it’s about what Bob Dylan wants to say even if he, you know, mumbles a bit.” —Jared Kaufman, The St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press, 7 July 2026 Did you know? In Old English, the word ceorl referred to a free peasant—someone who was neither part of the nobility nor enslaved or in debt. In Anglo-Saxon England, which lasted roughly from the 5th to 11th centuries, ceorls had many rights that peasants of lower social status did not, and a few even rose to the rank of thane, becoming a member of a kind of local nobility. However, as most ceorls were driven into the class of unfree villeins serving feudal lords over the centuries, especially following the Norman Conquest, the connotation of the word ceorl—spelled cherl in Middle English and then finally churl—diminished as well, eventually coming to mean “a lowly peasant” and later “a rude, coarse person.” Similarly, churlish began in the form ceorlisc in Old English as a simple descriptor of someone with the rank of ceorl, but today it describes a boorish person, or their rude and insensitive behavior.
- 3 days ago2 min
watershed
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 17, 2026 is: watershed • \WAW-ter-shed\ • noun Watershed, used figuratively, refers to a crucial dividing point, line, or factor. Used literally, the word may refer to a ridge from which rivers drain on either side, or to the area of land that includes a particular river or lake and all the rivers, streams, etc. that flow into it. : a crucial dividing point, line, or factor // The protests marked a watershed in the nation’s history. // The Continental Divide is the most well known watershed in the United States. See the entry > Examples: “For thousands of years, elk would have accounted for the second largest amount of meat in the diets of many eastern peoples, after the ubiquitous whitetail deer. Not only were the animals present in the East; for thousands of years they sustained human life and were integral to Indigenous material and spiritual culture. Although they were great and skilled hunters, Native Americans in the East rarely killed all of the elk or all of the deer in an entire watershed.” — Andrew Moore, Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America’s Eastern Wilderness, 2026 Did you know? Opinion on the literal geographic meaning of watershed is divided. On one side of the debate are those who think the word can only refer to a ridge of land separating rivers and streams flowing in one direction from those flowing in the opposite direction. That’s the term’s original meaning, one probably borrowed in the translation of the German Wasserscheide. On the other side of the argument are those who think watershed can also apply to the area through which such divided water flows. The latter sense is now far more common in America, but most speakers have apparently decided to leave the quarrel to hydrologists and geographers, choosing to limit their use of watershed to its figurative “turning point” sense.
- 4 days ago2 min
facsimile
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 16, 2026 is: facsimile • \fak-SIM-uh-lee\ • noun A facsimile is an exact copy of something. The word facsimile is also still sometimes used to refer to a system of transmitting and reproducing graphic matter, such as printed text or photos, though the word fax is more common. // The forged painting was an impressive facsimile of the original. // The documents can be sent by facsimile to the number below. See the entry > Examples: “The installation could be read as an invocation of [Widline] Cadet’s mother’s Washington Heights apartment. … ‘For Haitian families,’ she says, ‘the living room is a sacred place.’ And yet, this is no mere facsimile of a Haitian living room. Like much of Cadet’s work, the installation, titled Altar #2, hovers between reality and fantasy.” — Elly Fishman, Vogue, 8 May 2026 Did you know? The facsimile machine (or fax machine) has long been an office staple, but its name is much, much older. Fac simile is a Latin phrase meaning “make alike.” English speakers began using facsimile to mean “an exact copy” in the late 1600s. In this sense, a facsimile might be a handwritten or hand-drawn copy, or even a copy of a painting or statue. (Today, we also use the phrase “a reasonable facsimile” for a copy that is fairly close but not exact.) In the 1800s, people developed facsimile technology that could reproduce printed material via telegraph. Now, of course, we use telephone lines or wireless technology, and we usually call the resulting facsimile a fax.
- 4 days ago2 min
facsimile
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 16, 2026 is: facsimile • \fak-SIM-uh-lee\ • noun A facsimile is an exact copy of something. The word facsimile is also still sometimes used to refer to a system of transmitting and reproducing graphic matter, such as printed text or photos, though the word fax is more common. // The forged painting was an impressive facsimile of the original. // The documents can be sent by facsimile to the number below. See the entry > Examples: “The installation could be read as an invocation of [Widline] Cadet’s mother’s Washington Heights apartment. … ‘For Haitian families,’ she says, ‘the living room is a sacred place.’ And yet, this is no mere facsimile of a Haitian living room. Like much of Cadet’s work, the installation, titled Altar #2, hovers between reality and fantasy.” — Elly Fishman, Vogue, 8 May 2026 Did you know? The facsimile machine (or fax machine) has long been an office staple, but its name is much, much older. Fac simile is a Latin phrase meaning “make alike.” English speakers began using facsimile to mean “an exact copy” in the late 1600s. In this sense, a facsimile might be a handwritten or hand-drawn copy, or even a copy of a painting or statue. (Today, we also use the phrase “a reasonable facsimile” for a copy that is fairly close but not exact.) In the 1800s, people developed facsimile technology that could reproduce printed material via telegraph. Now, of course, we use telephone lines or wireless technology, and we usually call the resulting facsimile a fax.
- 5 days ago1 min
quorum
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 15, 2026 is: quorum • \KWOR-um\ • noun Quorum refers to the smallest number of people who must be present at a meeting in order for official decisions to be made. Broadly speaking, quorum may refer to any select group. // We need a quorum of fifteen staff members on the call in order to move forward with the items on the meeting agenda. See the entry > Examples: “In Jewish law, some prayers, such as those in the morning service, can only be said communally, in a quorum of 10 Jewish adults, called a minyan.” — Yonat Shimron, NPR, 16 July 2026 Did you know? It takes two drama queens to tango, three Nervous Nellies to change a lightbulb, and 218 U.S. House Representatives to constitute a formal meeting. Each of these minimums—especially the last one—may be described as a quorum. This word, which can be pluralized as quorums or quora, comes directly from the Latin word quorum, which translates as “of whom.” At one time, this Latin quorum was used in the wording of the commissions granting power to justices of the peace in England. Later, when it became an English noun, quorum initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present in order to hear a case. That sense is now rare, and today quorum is used to refer to the minimum number of people required to be present at a meeting in order for official business to take place. It can also be used more broadly to mean simply “a select group.”
- 5 days ago1 min
quorum
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 15, 2026 is: quorum • \KWOR-um\ • noun Quorum refers to the smallest number of people who must be present at a meeting in order for official decisions to be made. Broadly speaking, quorum may refer to any select group. We need a quorum of fifteen staff members on the call in order to move forward with the items on the meeting agenda. See the entry > Examples: “In Jewish law, some prayers, such as those in the morning service, can only be said communally, in a quorum of 10 Jewish adults, called a minyan.” — Yonat Shimron, NPR, 16 July 2026 Did you know? It takes two drama queens to tango, three Nervous Nellies to change a lightbulb, and 218 U.S. House Representatives to constitute a formal meeting. Each of these minimums—especially the last one—may be described as a quorum. This word, which can be pluralized as quorums or quora, comes directly from the Latin word quorum, which translates as “of whom.” At one time, this Latin quorum was used in the wording of the commissions granting power to justices of the peace in England. Later, when it became an English noun, quorum initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present in order to hear a case. That sense is now rare, and today quorum is used to refer to the minimum number of people required to be present at a meeting in order for official business to take place. It can also be used more broadly to mean simply “a select group.”
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About Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
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