Word of the Day: Fugacious | Merriam-Webster Fugacious is a formal word that describes something that lasts only a short time The rock band’s early success proved fugacious; within two years its members had moved on to other careers
Word of the Day: Lugubrious | Merriam-Webster Everybody hurts, as the classic R E M song goes, and when your day is long and the night is yours alone, lugubrious is a perfect word for describing such sorrowful feelings, or that which inspires
Word of the Day: Impetuous | Merriam-Webster Impetuous types make impetuous decisions: they leap before they look, put carts before horses, count their chickens before even the tiniest of cracks appear on the eggs In other words, they’re
Word of the Day: Pugnacious | Merriam-Webster Did You Know? Pugnacious individuals are often looking for a fight While unpleasant, at least their fists are packing an etymological punch Pugnacious comes from the Latin verb pugnare (meaning "to fight"), which in turn comes from the Latin word for "fist," pugnus Another Latin word related to pugnus is pugil, meaning "boxer " Pugil is the source of our word pugilist, which means "fighter
Word of the Day: Fortuitous | Merriam-Webster Before its meaning expanded, fortuitous meant one thing only: “happening by chance ” This was no accident; its Latin forebear, fortuitus, shares the same ancient root as fors, the Latin word for “
Word of the Day: Vociferous | Merriam-Webster Hear ye! Hear ye! To vociferate is to cry out loudly and insistently Those who vociferate qualify as vociferous, especially when they loudly or insistently show their support for or displeasure in
Word of the Day: Fastidious | Merriam-Webster If you presume that the adjective fastidious bears some relation to fast, not so fast Fastidious comes from Latin fastidium, meaning 'aversion' or 'disgust ' Fastidium is believed to be a combination
Word of the Day: Sumptuous | Merriam-Webster Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens may be a few of your favorite things, but are they sumptuous? Alas, though the best things in life are often free, sumptuous is a child of the Latin word
Word of the Day: Bodacious | Merriam-Webster Some of our readers may know bodacious as a word that figured prominently in the lingo of the 1989 film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Others may recall the term's frequent use in the long-
Word of the Day: Circuitous | Merriam-Webster In J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the titular hero Bilbo Baggins takes a circuitous route to the Lonely Mountain, which he helps to reclaim from a monstrous dragon Although he successfully arrives