Word of the Day: Juggernaut | Merriam-Webster In the early 14th century, Franciscan missionary Friar Odoric brought to Europe the story of an enormous carriage that carried an image of the Hindu god Vishnu (whose title was Jagannāth, literally, '
Word of the Day: Quibble | Merriam-Webster There's not much to quibble about when it comes to the origins of the verb quibble: it followed the noun quibble, meaning 'an evasion of or shift from the point' and 'a minor objection or criticism,'
Word of the Day: Imbroglio | Merriam-Webster Ever noticed how an imbroglio embroils people in controversy? There’s a reason for that—an etymological one, anyway Both the noun imbroglio (referring to, among other things, a scandal or bitter
Word of the Day: Adroit | Merriam-Webster The meaning and history of adroit is straightforward, so we’ll get right to the point English speakers borrowed the word with its meaning from French in the mid 1600s, but the word’s ultimate source
Word of the Day: Grudging | Merriam-Webster What It Means Grudging is an adjective used to describe something that is said, done, or given unwillingly or reluctantly It can also describe someone who is unwilling or reluctant to do something Her theories have begun to win grudging acceptance in the scientific community A number of his former critics have become grudging admirers See the entry > grudging in Context
Word of the Day: Elicit | Merriam-Webster Say them fast—or even slow—in isolation, and no one will know which one you mean: elicit and illicit both rhyme with the likes of explicit and complicit But beyond being auditorily indistinguishable,
Word of the Day: Troubadour | Merriam-Webster Unscramble the letters to create a word for an itinerant medieval entertainer proficient in juggling, acrobatics, music, and recitation: RONJGELU VIEW THE ANSWER
Word of the Day: Midriff | Merriam-Webster Today, the word midriff is likely to evoke a plummy tummy or some fab abs, but the “mid-torso” sense of midriff is relatively young, having bellied up to the bar of English usage only in the early
Word of the Day: Ungainly | Merriam-Webster What do you have to gain by knowing the root of ungainly? Plenty The gain in ungainly is an obsolete English adjective meaning 'direct' that ultimately comes from the Old Norse preposition gegn,
Word of the Day: Mangle | Merriam-Webster If you’re an aficionado of ironing appliances, you may be steamed that we did not highlight the noun mangle (“a machine for ironing laundry by passing it between heated rollers”) or its related verb (