Podcasts about merriam webster

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 23, 2025 is: bespoke • bih-SPOHK • adjective Bespoke describes something that is custom-made—that is, made to fit the needs or requirements of a particular person. // As a tailor, Lana specialized in crafting bespoke clothing for her clients, each piece unique and suited to their tastes. See the entry > Examples: “The vehicles are bespoke machines with every little detail thought of, from embroidered seats to custom floor mats to retro paint jobs.” — Charlie Berrey, SlashGear.com, 10 Nov. 2025 Did you know? In the English language of yore, the verb bespeak had various meanings, including “to speak,” “to accuse,” and “to complain.” In the 16th century, bespeak acquired another meaning: “to order.” It is from that sense that we get the adjective bespoke, referring to clothes and other things that are ordered before they are made. Bespoke has enjoyed a spike in usage in recent years, perhaps due to consumer trends that champion all things artisanal over those that are prefab.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 22, 2025 is: temporize • TEM-puh-ryze • verb To temporize is to avoid making a decision or giving a definite answer in order to have more time. // Pressured by voters on both sides of the issue, the congressman temporized. See the entry > Examples: "The question is, Did you eat the last piece of pie? And the politician who ate the last piece of pie doesn't want to say yes, because they might get in trouble. Doesn't want to say no, because that's an outright lie. So they waver, they equivocate, they temporize, they put things in context, and they talk like a politician." — David Frum, The Atlantic (The David Frum Show podcast), 21 May 2025 Did you know? Temporize comes from the Middle French word temporiser, which in turn likely traces back via Medieval Latin temporizāre, "to delay," to the Latin noun tempus, meaning "time." Tempus is also the root of such words as tempo, contemporary, and temporal. If you need to buy some time, you might resort to temporizing, but you probably won't win admiration for doing so, as the word typically carries a negative connotation. For instance, a political leader faced with a difficult issue might temporize by talking vaguely about possible solutions without actually doing anything. The point of such temporizing is to avoid taking definitive—and possibly unpopular—action, in hopes that the problem will somehow go away.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 21, 2025 is: hibernaculum • hye-ber-NAK-yuh-lum • noun Hibernaculum (plural hibernacula) refers to a shelter occupied during the winter by a dormant animal, such as an insect, snake, bat, or marmot. // Local scientists are studying the longevity of bats who use bridges and other aboveground hibernacula versus that of bats who roost all winter in subterranean caves. See the entry > Examples: “Adult female bees begin looking for a hibernation location, or hibernaculum, in the fall. If the gardener is planning to deadhead any spent flowers from the summer, aim to prune stems at varying heights (8" to 24") as a nesting site for these bees. Many perennial flowers and shrubs have pithy stems that will serve as a good location. A few common Oklahoma garden plants that are good candidates include roses, purple coneflower, salvia, bee balm, and sunflowers.” — Sherry Clark, The Shawnee (Oklahoma) News-Star, 8 Oct. 2025 Did you know? If you're afraid of snakes or bats, you probably won't enjoy thinking about hibernacula, where hundreds, even thousands, of these creatures might be passing the wintry months. Other creatures also use hibernacula, though many of these tend to be less crowded. The word hibernaculum has been used for the burrow of a woodchuck, for instance, as well as for a cozy caterpillar cocoon attached to a wintry twig, and for the spot in which a frog has buried itself in mud. Hibernacula are all around us and have been around for a long, long time, but we have only called them such since the late 1700s, making hibernaculum only a few decades older than the more familiar verb hibernate. Both words come from the Latin verb hibernare, meaning “to pass the winter,” which in turn comes from hibernus, meaning “winter.”

Welcome back to another hour of digital cynicism. We kick things off with a FOLLOW UP on Amazon's Fallout recaps, which were apparently so hallucination-heavy they made the actual wasteland look organized; naturally, they've been nuked along with the "Video Recaps" feature. In a massive dose of IN THE NEWS, Tesla is finally getting a legal side-eye in California for its deceptive "Autopilot" branding, while TikTok is performing a corporate shell game by selling a 45% stake to Oracle and friends to keep the feds happy. Reddit is fighting Australia's under-16 ban like it's a constitutional crisis, Louisiana's age-verification law just got benched by a judge, and Merriam-Webster officially crowned "slop" as the Word of the Year—which is fitting, given that OpenAI is selectively hiding chat logs from murder-suicides while their Chief Scientist warns that recursive AI self-improvement might end the human experiment by 2030. If the "intelligence explosion" doesn't get us, the CRASH Clock says we've got roughly 2.8 days before Elon's satellite swarm turns low-earth orbit into a permanent scrapyard.In our MEDIA CANDY segment, we mourn the transition year of Star Trek, which was mostly a series of unmitigated disasters and corporate retreats, though the Oscars moving to YouTube in 2029 means we can finally ignore them in 4K. Meta is testing a "pay-to-share-links" feature because they clearly haven't alienated creators enough, and a new study suggests Amazon's "dynamic pricing" is basically just a high-tech way to gouge public school districts for pencils. Moving to APPS & DOODADS, iOS 26.2 is here with a "Liquid Glass" slider—groundbreaking stuff, really—while Microsoft's Copilot+ push is effectively killing the laptop market by making 16GB of RAM a luxury item only a data center could love. Meanwhile, iRobot has officially sucked its last bit of dust into a Chapter 11 filing, proving that even a twenty-year head start can't save you from a 46 percent tariff and better Chinese competition.AT THE LIBRARY, we find out that librarians are ready to quit because people keep demanding books that only exist in a ChatGPT hallucination, proving once again that the "Information Age" was a lie. We descend into THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE with the tireless Dave Bittner to discuss why modern movies feel like plastic, the bizarre paradox of James Cameron's Avatar dominance, and a bittersweet farewell to Rob Reiner. We wrap it up with the return of The Muppets, a look at plug-in solar panels for the budget-conscious prepper, and the Sedaris siblings proving that even grief can be a podcast topic. It's all the tech "progress" you never asked for, delivered with the appropriate amount of Gen-X side-eye.Show notes at https://gog.show/727Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hHnGD4lIFzASponsors:MasterClass - Get up to 50% off at MASTERCLASS.com/GRUMPYOLDGEEKSPrivate Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordFOLLOW UPAmazon pulls its bad AI video recaps after Fallout falloutIN THE NEWSTesla used deceptive language to market Autopilot, California judge rulesTikTok agrees to deal to cede control of US business to American investor groupReddit sues Australia over underage social media banJudge blocks Louisiana's social media age verification lawMurder-suicide case shows OpenAI selectively hides data after users dieTrump orders creation of litigation task force to challenge state AI laws'Slop' is Merriam-Webster's word of the yearAnthropic's Chief Scientist Says We're Rapidly Approaching the Moment That Could Doom Us AllModel collapseOpenAI Is Going Into the New Year With Some Real Loser EnergyNew ‘CRASH Clock' Warns of 2.8-Day Window Before Likely Orbital CollisionA Facebook test makes link-sharing a paid feature for creatorsStudy links Amazon's algorithmic pricing with erratic, inflated costs for school districtsMEDIA CANDYA Man on the Inside S2Oh. What. Fun.The End of an EraThe West WingF1® The Movie - Apple TVThe Running ManWelcome to DerryWake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out MysteryIs it Cake?Apple TV releasing Pluribus season finale early next weekWarner Bros. Discovery rejects Paramount's hostile bid2025 Was a Turning Point for ‘Star Trek', Whether It Knew It or NotTHE ACADEMY PARTNERS WITH YOUTUBE FOR EXCLUSIVE GLOBAL RIGHTS TO THE OSCARS® AND OTHER ACADEMY CONTENT STARTING IN 2029APPS & DOODADSiOS 26.2 is here with another Liquid Glass tweak, new Podcasts features and moreOh, the Irony: Microsoft's Push for Copilot+ PCs Could Stall Laptop SalesiRobot has filed for bankruptcy and may be taken over by its primary supplierAT THE LIBRARYFlybot by Dennis E. TaylorMaking Space (The Time Traveler's Passport) by R. F. KuangFor a Limited Time Only (The Time Traveler's Passport) by Peng ShepherdLibrarians Are Tired of Being Accused of Hiding Secret Books That Were Made Up by AITHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingWhy Movies Just Don't Feel "Real" AnymoreThe Avatar Paradox - Why Nobody Talks About These MoviesDon't F**k with James CameronEvery James Cameron Movie, Explained by James Cameron | Vanity Fair‘The Muppet Show' Returns for One Night Only Next FebruaryThe Muppet Show | Official Teaser | Disney+Small plug-in solar panels gain traction as an affordable way to cut electricity bills'You don't know what it's like till you lose a parent': Sedaris siblings share their grief storyCLOSING SHOUT-OUTS“Enshittification” YouTube“Enshittification” Spotify“Enshittification” SoundCloud (with a direct download)Len (a.k.a. Funny Name)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 20, 2025 is: decorous • DECK-er-us • adjective Decorous is a formal adjective used to describe an attitude or behavior characterized by propriety and good taste. // The ceremony was conducted with a decorous solemnity. See the entry > Examples: “... Elizabeth reveals, later, that she felt she never belonged to the decorous world of parties and corsets and curls and feathers on the head ...” — Ryan Lattanzio, Indie Wire, 13 Oct. 2025 Did you know? One of the earliest recorded uses of decorous appears in a book titled The Rules of Civility (1671): “It is not decorous to look in the glass, to comb, brush, or do any thing of that nature to ourselves, whilst the said person be in the Room.” This rule of thumb may be a bit outdated; like many behaviors once deemed unbecoming, public primping is unlikely to offend in modern times. Though mores shift, decorous lives on to describe timeless courtesies like polite speech, proper attire, and (ahem) covering one's cough.

Building artificial intelligence tools requires a lot of graphic processing units, and those GPUs need huge amounts of ultra-fast memory to feed them data. Micron Technology is one of a handful of memory chip makers that has been selling a whole lot of memory, thanks to the AI boom.Plus, cloud company Oracle's data center debt is coming under scrutiny. And Merriam-Webster names the word of the year for 2025: slop.Marketplace's Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, to learn more on this week's Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review.

Building artificial intelligence tools requires a lot of graphic processing units, and those GPUs need huge amounts of ultra-fast memory to feed them data. Micron Technology is one of a handful of memory chip makers that has been selling a whole lot of memory, thanks to the AI boom.Plus, cloud company Oracle's data center debt is coming under scrutiny. And Merriam-Webster names the word of the year for 2025: slop.Marketplace's Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, to learn more on this week's Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 19, 2025 is: veracity • vuh-RASS-uh-tee • noun Veracity is a formal word that can refer to truth or accuracy, or to the quality of being truthful or honest. // The jury seemed not to doubt the veracity of the witness. See the entry > Examples: "Raise your hand if you've been questioning the veracity of real events, news stories and images posted on social media lately. It used to be we'd have to tiptoe around a minefield of hoaxes only once a year, on April 1. But thanks to the proliferation of misinformation spawned by artificial intelligence, every day on the internet is an exercise in judgment and media literacy." — Laura Yuen, The Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator, 9 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Veracity has been in use since the early 17th century, and we can honestly tell you that it comes from the Latin adjective vērāx, "truthful," which in turn comes from the earlier verus, "true." Verus also gives us the words verity ("the quality of being true"), verify ("to establish the truth of"), and verisimilitude ("the appearance of truth"), among other words. In addition, vērāx is the root of the word veraciousness, a somewhat rarer synonym and cousin of veracity.

Dictionary.com's word of the year isn't really a word — it's a number that went viral on TikTok. The selection caused a ruckus among lexicographers. But editors argued that social media is a major force in creating new words these days, and the whole point of choosing a word of the year is to “reveal the stories we tell about ourselves and how we've changed.”It's no surprise to author Stefan Fatsis, who chronicles the rise of the modern dictionary in his new book, “Unabridged: The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary.” He joined Kerri Miller on this week's Big Books and Bold Ideas to nerd out over words and to talk about the power the humble dictionary has to shape our lives. “Language bubbles up from below,” Fatsis says. “For at least the last 60 years, the dictionary's function is to be descriptive, to reflect back on culture the way we humans use language — as opposed to prescriptive, the belief for many generations, which was that dictionaries should tell people how to use language.”Fatsis also talks about his time being embedded as a lexicographer-in-training at America's most famous dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, and how the internet and AI threaten this most foundational of books. Guest:Stefan Fatsis is a journalist and the author of many books. He's also responsible for defining 15 words in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, including a Kerri Miller favorite — sheeple. His new book is “Unabridged: The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary.”Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.Subscribe to Big Books and Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RSS or anywhere you get your podcasts.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they reflect on all that the year 2025 brought our way through the lens of the biggest trends in culture. These trends from across our nation and our globe provide a good picture of all that's happening culturally—where we've been and perhaps even where we're headed. Episode Links Today's conversation was sparked by Google's annual “Year in Search,” capturing the top searches from around the world in a number of categories. You can look through the top searches in the U.S. HERE. Dr. White also mentioned a blog that he wrote at the beginning of the year, reflecting on how much of it has indeed come to pass in 2025. You can read “Twelve Predictions for 2025” HERE. Alexis then mentioned a recent article from the Pew Research Center on their “Striking findings from 2025.” Of the 12 findings they revealed, Dr. White named five that stood out to him, including how parents have seemed to throw in the towel when it comes to social media. There are three articles that you may be interested in reading related to this trend: Emma Bazilian, “50% of Gen Z ‘Can't Live Without YouTube' and Other Stats That Will Make You Feel Old,” Adweek. Jacob Dirnhuber, “Children Turn Backs on Traditional Careers in Favour of Internet Fame, Study Finds,” The Sun. Tanith Carey, “Can Social Media School Make Your 16-Year-Old a Star?” The Telegraph. The discussion inevitably turned to AI, as the widespread use of it is having a huge impact on our culture today. Oxford Dictionary's “Word of the Year” is “rage bait,” defined as "online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive.” And people are increasingly struggling to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake. However, Merriam-Webster selected their word of the year - “slop” - to refer to “creepy, zany and demonstrably fake content.” It's very telling, though, that both selections had to do with AI. This was also the topic of a recent Church & Culture Podcast - CCP174: On AI and the Church - which you can listen to HERE. The discussion then turned to YouTube's end of the year recap and the significant impact that YouTube has on today's world. This was also the topic covered on the C&C Podcast related to the platform's 20th anniversary. You can find CCP149: On YouTube HERE. Dr. White even wrote about YouTube as it relates to the younger generations and the church in his book Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, which you can find on Amazon HERE. YouVersion - a platform that has now reached more than one billion downloads of the Bible - also announced the 2025 verse of the year. Isaiah 41:10 was selected and “marks the fourth time in six years the verse has claimed the top spot, which is a testament to the enduring need for God's reassurance in uncertain times.” Indeed. Dr. White referenced a book written by Tim Alberta called The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, where he writes about the motivation of fear impacting American evangelicals that you might find insightful. And finally, he also mentioned an article from The Atlantic highlighting the effects of this fear seizing hold in our culture. You can read “Decivilization May Already Be Under Way“ HERE. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

What's so special about Merriam Webster's word of the year, "Slop"? ABC News Digital Reporter Mason Leath joined Arizona's Morning News to discuss the new meanings of an old word, and he also discusses a set of pennies that sold for $16 million at auction. 

It has been the year of AI.. and it seems we're just getting started OpenAI is on track to hit $13B of 2025 revenue, up from $4B in 2024, according to The Information. It's looking at annualized revenue now of up to $19B. But, Merriam Webster has named 'slop' as the word of the year - the dangerous byproduct of AI use. Slop is "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence". You start to see it on Reddit, emails, documents.. it's now just so easy to create 'text' that it can appear in abundance - which isn't always ideal. Passkeys are starting to have their moment too The new alternative to passwords which verify the website you're trying to log into before actually sending any information to them. They're great because they eliminate phishing attacks, but.. they are a little tricky because unless they're shared to a password manager, they're stuck on that single device. So if you can't access that device, or it's destroyed, stolen etc, then you can't login. So, you need to make sure that 1) you sync them to a trusted manager like 1Password or a built in password manager like in Microsoft Edge and 2) that you have a recovery method, like a recovery email, set up on the account. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 18, 2025 is: jaunty • JAWN-tee • adjective Something described as jaunty is lively in manner or appearance. Jaunty can also describe something, such as an article of clothing, that suggests a lively and confident quality. // The server whistled a jaunty tune as she wiped the tables and set out fresh flowers in preparation for the day's diners. See the entry > Examples: “He stood at the front of the room and announced that we would begin with a quiz, which we all failed because the quiz was over material that we were supposed to have covered during the last class. When he handed the quizzes back to us after the break, he did so in a frenetic, almost jaunty way, running up and down the aisles and announcing our grades—‘Zero, zero, zero'—loudly before tossing the quizzes down in front of us ...” — Lori Ostlund, Are You Happy?: Stories, 2025 Did you know? Does throwing on a jaunty hat make someone appear more genteel? Maybe, but something more definitive links the words: both jaunty and genteel come from the French word gentil, meaning “of aristocratic birth.” Genteel was borrowed first to describe things associated with aristocratic people. Jaunty joined the language just a few years later in the mid-17th century as a synonym of stylish and also as a synonym for genteel. While genteel has maintained its associations of propriety and high social class, jaunty has traipsed into less stuffy territory as a descriptor of tunes and hats and other things that suggest lively confidence.

Oscars ditch traditional TV for YouTube, ChatGPT's image upgrades are significant, 5.2 launches with an entire app store, Merriam-Webster crowns “slop” as 2025's word of the year, and who are the players in the battle for your TV.Ad-Free + Bonus EpisodesShow Notes via EmailWatch on YouTube!Join the CommunityEmail Us: podcast@primarytech.fm@stephenrobles on Threads@jasonaten on Threads------------------------------Sponsors:Udacity - You can try Udacity risk-free for seven days. Head to Udacity.com/PRIMARY and use code PRIMARY for 40% off your order.MasterClass - Get up to 50% OFF an annual membership at MasterClass! Sign up today at: masterclass.com/primarytech------------------------------Links from the showShop Rock Paper Pencil — iPad Paper Screen Protector + Apple Pencil Tips - Astropad‎Capture App - App StoreiOS 26.3: New features for your iPhone - 9to5MacOscars Bolts from ABC to YouTube Starting in 2029My Favorite Murder and The Breakfast Club podcasts are ditching YouTube for Netflix | The VergeThe Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach landmark agreementReThinking: Margaret Atwood on… - Worklife with Adam Grant - Apple PodcastsIntroducing GPT-5.2 | OpenAIOpenAI's ChatGPT Updated to Make Images Better and Faster - BloombergDevelopers can now submit apps to ChatGPT | OpenAIAI Thumbnail Comparison @stephenrobles.com on BlueskyGoogle announces Gemini 3 Flash, rolling out to Gemini appInstagram is putting Reels on your TV | The VergeMerriam-Webster's 2025 word of the year is ‘slop' | The VergeNew M5 iMac model aimed at pro users might be coming, per leak - 9to5Mac ★ Support this podcast ★

Just weeks ago, OpenAI declared a code red. This week, they are rolling out announcements of new partnerships all over the place. Where does AI go from here? Will it bust or continue to grow. We discuss a bunch of interesting stories on the AI front. Plus we get you caught up on other tech news and have some tips and picks to help you get out there and tech better. Watch on YouTube! - Notnerd.com and Notpicks.com INTRO (00:00) Amazingly Awkward Christmas Playlist (02:40) MAIN TOPIC: The State of AI: bust, boom, or bologna? (04:35) Sam Altman issues 'code red' at OpenAI as ChatGPT contends with rivals The Architects of AI Are TIME's 2025 Person of the Year Adobe Announces Image and PDF Integration with ChatGPT The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI Reach Landmark Agreement to Bring Beloved Characters from Across Disney's Brands to Sora Disney Accuses Google of Using AI to Engage in Copyright Infringement on 'Massive Scale' Apple Music is coming to ChatGPT, OpenAI announces Not lovin' it: McDonald's pulls AI-generated Christmas ad after social media backlash DAVE'S PRO-TIP OF THE WEEK: Selectively Copy Messages Text (22:55) JUST THE HEADLINES: (28:15) Merriam-Webster's 2025 word of the year is 'slop' Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri Authorities intercept drone carrying crab legs, Old Bay seasoning, weed for prison inmates Russia continues tech crackdown by blocking Snapchat, FaceTime access Texas sues TV makers for taking screenshots of what people watch RAM is so expensive, Samsung won't even sell it to Samsung Hollywood director found guilty of blowing $11 million Netflix budget on crypto and Ferraris TAKES: Robot vacuum Roomba maker files for bankruptcy after 35 years (34:15) SpongeBob and PowerWash Simulator headline today's six additions to Apple Arcade (37:35) BONUS ODD TAKE: Alien Baby Name Generator (42:10) PICKS OF THE WEEK:  Dave: Insta360 X5 8K 360 Action Cam (47:15) Nate: INKEE GC12 Portable LED Photography Light Wand,Bi Color Magnetic Handheld Video Wand Stick 2700K-6500K,2500mAh Built-in Rechargable Inflatable Light for Video Recording Dimmable Camera Light Tube (50:55) https://notpicks.com/2025-gadget-gift-guide-for-geeks/ (54:20) RAMAZON PURCHASE OF THE WEEK (55:55)  

Rob Reiner and his wife tragically killed in an alleged attack by their son, who now faces murder charges and possibly the death penalty. Taylor Swift opens up about the terrifying terrorist threat during her Eras Tour in her new Disney+ docuseries. Plus, Mariah Carey breaks a Billboard Hot 100 record, FIFA slashes World Cup ticket prices after backlash, and Merriam-Webster's word of the year is officially “slop.” We've also got updates on the Chiefs missing the playoffs, the Oscars shortlists, and a creepy new UFO movie trailer from Steven Spielberg.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 17, 2025 is: espouse • ih-SPOWZ • verb To espouse an ideology, belief, etc., is to take it up and support it as a cause. Espouse is usually encountered in formal speech and writing. // The article explores some of the lesser-known viewpoints espoused by the charismatic leader. See the entry > Examples: “Crammed into a tiny apartment in Greenwich Village, they [Yoko Ono and John Lennon] immersed themselves in the city's counterculture, absorbing progressive politics whenever they weren't glued to the television set. Lennon's celebrity secured the duo a large platform to espouse these ideas ...” — Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Pitchfork, 11 Oct. 2025 Did you know? As you might guess, the words espouse and spouse are hitched, both coming from the Latin verb spondēre, meaning “to promise” or “to betroth.” In fact, the two were once completely interchangeable, with each serving as a noun meaning “a newly married person” or “a partner in marriage” and also as a verb meaning “to marry.” Their semantic separation began when the noun espouse fell out of use. Nowadays, espouse is almost exclusively encountered as a verb used in the figuratively extended sense “to commit to and support as a cause.”

Police in Australia have charged the surviving suspected gunman in the Bondi Beach Massacre. The Trump administration is ordering a total blockade of oil tankers from Venezuela. Authorities are appealing for more video footage in the search for the Brown University shooter. FIFA have responded to backlash over their World Cup ticket prices. Plus, Merriam-Webster has chosen to commemorate low quality AI videos as their word of the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2024, 'polarization' was Merriam-Webster's word of the year. That division still grows, making it increasingly difficult to connect to one another. But there are people having important conversations and they have advice for us all. From fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Colombia, championing human rights in Southern Africa and working for a two-state solution post Oct. 7, the winners of the The Global Centre for Pluralism awards tell host Nahlah Ayed about how minds can and do change, and why we need to not only talk, but listen.

"slop"... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Hot Topics! Our host, Gabrielle Crichlow, invites guest Russell Van Brocklen to discuss the Specialty-First Literacy Blueprint and the effective strategies parents can use to support their dyslexic children at home. Dyslexia is a learning difference that affects approximately 15-20% of learners, making reading and writing challenging for many students. However, with the right approach and resources, children with dyslexia can develop their skills and thrive academically.In this episode, we explore how to make reading enjoyable and accessible for your child. Follow these steps to create a personalized reading experience:Find What Your Child Likes: Talk to your child about their favorite things, such as animals, sports, or superheroes, and write down what they love.Pick a Book: Choose a print book that matches their interests and is slightly more challenging—at least one grade level above what they usually read.Get the Audiobook: Find the same book as an audiobook or record someone reading it clearly. This helps them follow along.Listen and Follow: Have your child listen to the audiobook while following the words in the book with their finger for 10 minutes.Circle Hard Words: Help your child identify difficult words and circle them in the book. If they prefer not to write in the book, they can type these words in a Word document instead.Look Up Word Meanings: Use the Merriam-Webster app together to check the meanings of those hard words. Encourage your child to verbalize the word after hearing the pronunciation in the app.Do More Vocabulary Work: Spend another 10 minutes finding and learning about any other hard words they come across.Make Sentences: Ask your child to create sentences using the new words to help reinforce their memory.Re-Read: Return to the section of the book they just read. Have them listen to the audio and read along again, focusing on the challenging words they just looked up.Keep Going: Repeat steps 4 to 9 until they finish the book, and celebrate their achievements to keep them excited about reading!Join us as we delve into the importance of personalized learning and structured literacy methods, empowering parents to help their children overcome reading challenges associated with dyslexia and thrive in their educational journey.Who is Russell Van Brocklen?From Russell: "Dyslexia touches as many as 15–20 % of all learners, yet most families still hear 'wait and see.' I flip that script. As the Dyslexia Professor, I translate structured-literacy methods proven most effective for struggling readers into bite-size actions parents can use tonight. Your audience leaves knowing exactly why multisensory routines beat generic worksheets and how to start seeing progress before the next report card."You can find Russell:On the web: https://dyslexiaclasses.com/On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dyslexiaclasses/On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dyslexiaclassesus/On X: https://twitter.com/dyslexiaclassesOn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-van-brocklen-2007ab87/On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_cqwfxn9FqFx1Idl0YbeHgWatch this on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/VoZJ3_Z8nEYRate this episode on IMDB: TBA********************************************Follow Gabrielle Crichlow:On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabrielle.crichlowOn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabrielle.crichlowOn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-crichlow-92587a360Follow A Step Ahead Tutoring Services:On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/astepaheadtutoringservicesOn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astepaheadtutoringservicesOn X: https://www.x.com/ASATS2013On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a-step-ahead-tutoring-services/On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@astepaheadtutoringservicesOn TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@asats2013On Eventbrite: https://astepaheadtutoringservices.eventbrite.comVisit us on the web: https://www.astepaheadtutoringservices.comSign up for our email list: https://squareup.com/outreach/a41DaE/subscribeSign up for our text list: https://tapit.us/cipPJOCheck out our entire "Hot Topics!" podcast: https://www.astepaheadtutoringservices.com/hottopicspodcastSupport us:Cash App: https://cash.app/$ASATS2013PayPal: https://paypal.me/ASATS2013Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/ASATS2013Zelle: success@astepaheadtutoringservices.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/hot-topics--5600971/supportOriginal date of episode: September 5, 2025

Today's Headlines: As of late Sunday, the suspect in Saturday's mass shooting at Brown University — which killed two people and injured nine — remains at large. Police released new photos after clearing a briefly detained person of interest, while local officials say there's no immediate threat. Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel falsely claimed a suspect had been caught, statements later contradicted by Providence police. In Australia, the death toll from a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney rose to 16, the country's deadliest shooting in nearly 30 years; authorities say a father and son carried out the attack, and ISIS flags were found in their car. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is pledging even stricter gun laws. Back in the U.S., California police are investigating an antisemitic attack on a Jewish family's Hanukkah-decorated home, while federal authorities arrested four men accused of plotting a New Year's Eve terrorist attack. In Los Angeles, the son of director Rob Reiner was arrested on suspicion of murdering Reiner and his wife; Trump blamed the deaths on “Trump derangement syndrome,” drawing backlash. Elsewhere, the administration is arguing in court against providing live ASL interpreters at White House events and against halting construction of Trump's planned White House ballroom. A JetBlue pilot narrowly avoided a midair collision with a U.S. military aircraft in the Caribbean, and President Zelensky says the U.S. has agreed to security guarantees for Ukraine as talks continue. Finally, Merriam-Webster named “slop” — low-quality AI-generated content — its 2025 word of the yea Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: Providence Journal: Brown University mass shooting suspect new images released Axios: Brown University shooting person of interest being released, officials say NBC News: From Charlie Kirk to Brown University, Trump officials have posted inaccurate info in wake of tragedy Reuters: Australia plans tougher gun laws after police say father and son killed 15 at Bondi Beach LA Times: Attack on Jewish family's Redlands home under investigation as a possible hate crime WaPo: Justice officials say they stopped a terror plot in Southern California LA Times: Live Updates: Rob Reiner's son arrested in fatal stabbings of the Hollywood legend and his wife CNN: Trump's Rob Reiner post on Truth Social undercuts Republicans' claims to civility Axios: Republican lawmakers slam Trump's "inappropriate" posts on Rob Reiner Axios: "Very bad for our country": Trump doubles down on Rob Reiner attacks Live 5: Trump administration says sign language services ‘intrude' on Trump's ability to control his image AP News: Trump administration says White House ballroom construction is a matter of national security WaPo: ‘Outrageous': JetBlue pilot describes near-collision with Air Force plane off Venezuela AP News: US officials say Washington has agreed to give Ukraine security guarantees in peace talks Axios: "Slop" to the top: Merriam-Webster's word of the year is here Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 16, 2025 is: conversant • kun-VER-sunt • adjective Conversant, usually used in the phrase "conversant with," describes someone who has knowledge of or experience with something. // The ideal candidate for the sommelier position will have expert knowledge of the various wines served in the restaurant and be conversant with the rich world of viniculture. See the entry > Examples: "The advantages of franchise expansion are obvious. These shows benefit from name recognition and a dedicated audience, as well as writers, producers and crew members already conversant with that audience's expectations." — Alexis Soloski, The New York Times, 6 July 2025 Did you know? The adjectives conversant and conversational both descend from the Latin verb conversari, meaning "to associate with." Conversant dates to the Middle Ages; an early meaning of the word was simply "having familiar association." One way to associate with others is to have a conversation with them—in other words, to talk. For a short time in the 19th century conversant could mean "relating to or suggesting conversation," but for the most part that meaning stayed with conversational while conversant went in a different direction. Today, conversant is sometimes used, especially in the United States, with the meaning "able to talk in a foreign language," as in "she is conversant in several languages," but it is more often associated with knowledge or familiarity, as in "conversant with the issues."

Segment - Coco shares her daily news with the crew as they react. Market Basket is going to trial, Merriam-Webster releases their word of the year, and more on today's edition.

Analyst firm Forrester has projected that AI-native cloud solutions could generate $20 billion in revenue by 2026, significantly reshaping enterprise IT operations. However, the transition to these solutions raises concerns about governance gaps that could lead to outages. Organizations are increasingly redesigning their systems across various sectors, including education and infrastructure financing, to manage the risks associated with AI. This shift is underscored by a recent Gallup poll indicating that 45% of U.S. employees are using AI at work, reflecting a growing reliance on AI tools for operational efficiency.The term "SLOP" has been designated as Merriam-Webster's 2025 Word of the Year, highlighting the cultural implications of AI's integration into daily communication. This term encapsulates the challenges of quality control in AI outputs, as the rapid scaling of AI tools often outpaces human judgment. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are urged to focus on helping clients discern which AI outputs are reliable and which require scrutiny, emphasizing the need for quality control over mere automation.In the education sector, a notable trend is the adoption of oral exams to assess student learning, ensuring evaluations reflect genuine understanding rather than reliance on AI-generated content. Additionally, major tech companies like Microsoft and Google are adopting innovative financing strategies, such as short-term leasing agreements for computing power, to mitigate financial risks associated with AI infrastructure investments. These strategies allow companies to scale their AI capabilities while maintaining flexibility in their financial commitments.For MSPs and IT service leaders, the evolving landscape of AI presents both challenges and opportunities. The emphasis on governance and quality control in AI tools indicates a shift in how organizations will approach AI adoption, necessitating new validation steps and risk models. MSPs can leverage this moment by providing guidance on AI evaluation and compliance, ensuring that clients can navigate the complexities of AI integration while minimizing potential liabilities. Four things to know today 00:00 AI Adoption Surges as Forrester, Gallup, and Merriam-Webster Signal a Quality Problem04:40 -Education and Big Tech Respond to AI by Reworking Assessment and Risk Models07:13 OMB Uses Procurement Power to Set Federal Standards for Truthful, Unbiased AI Tools09:11 Disney Sets AI Rules:  This is the Business of Tech.    Supported by:  https://cometbackup.com/?utm_source=mspradio&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sponsorship

Power outages are rolling across Colorado's Front Range (thanks, Xcel Energy), and Connery is deeply concerned about the real victims: local strip clubs. Meanwhile, Zootopia 2 has accidentally inspired chaos in China, as a character named Gary leads young people to start buying venomous pit vipers. Aussie DeHuff weighs in on whether a deadly snake makes a good holiday gift (spoiler: probably not). Merriam-Webster crowns its Word of 2025 as “slop,” a not-so-subtle jab at the flood of AI-generated garbage taking over the internet — including, potentially, this sentence. Colin Cowherd of FOX Sports shows unexpected love to Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos, and Broncos Wire breaks down exactly how Denver can win the AFC West and snag the #1 seed this weekend. And finally, a reminder for humanity: wear clothes when you work out at a public gym. We shouldn't have to say it, but here we are. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hour 2 begins with a light discussion on unusual weather before diving into serious topics. Mary Katherine Martin of the Thomas Moore Society shares a victory over Kirkwood School District for airing an LGBTQ+ video without parental consent, emphasizing parents' rights to opt out and assert religious freedom. Former Senator John Lamping critiques Republican hesitation on redistricting and filibuster strategies, while analyzing St. Louis County's $81 million budget deficit and regional economic shifts. The hour closes with lighter “In Other News” stories: a man found in a Waymo trunk, Merriam-Webster's 2025 word of the year “slop,” Denny's syrup-filled sneakers, and a Kentucky DoorDash driver jailed for pepper-spraying a customer's food.

On today's show: We're thawing out, but is there more bad weather on the way? Good Vibes at 6:55! Someone left a paper bag on Bill's doorstep and Alyssa has assumed the worst. The Group Chat: Nathan wants to make it a special Christmas for his future step-daughters. Merriam-Webster has announced their word of the year. Alyssa's College of Knowledge! Bill experienced a major ChatGPT fail. Plus, have you ever purchased a gift, hid it, and forgot about it? Or even worse, forgot where you hid it?

McDonald's in Thailand is selling Party Fries. “Slop” was first used in the 1700s to mean soft mud, but it evolved more generally to mean something of little value. The definition has since expanded to mean “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TRENDING - Erika Kirk and Candace Owens both say they had a productive meeting to discuss Charlie Kirk's death, 'slop' is Merriam-Webster's 2025 word of the year, Brian Walshe found guilty of wife's murder.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

McDonald's in Thailand is selling Party Fries. “Slop” was first used in the 1700s to mean soft mud, but it evolved more generally to mean something of little value. The definition has since expanded to mean “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” Please Like, Comment and Follow 'Philip Teresi on KMJ' on all platforms: --- Philip Teresi on KMJ is available on the KMJNOW app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you listen to podcasts. -- Philip Teresi on KMJ Weekdays 2-6 PM Pacific on News/Talk 580 AM & 105.9 FM KMJ | Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Podcast | Amazon | - Everything KMJ KMJNOW App | Podcasts | Facebook | X | Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this edition of Trend Fu: The Legend Continues…, Jack and Miles discuss their respective weekends, the Bondi Beach shooting, the murder of Rob Reiner (featuring a truly unhinged Trump response), Merriam-Webster's word of the year: Slop, Virginia Christmas tree farms vs AI farms, and much more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 15, 2025 is: dreidel • DRAY-dul • noun A dreidel is a 4-sided toy marked with Hebrew letters and spun like a top in a game of chance. The game, played by children especially at Hanukkah, is also called dreidel. // All the kids in the family look forward to playing dreidel together during Hanukkah. See the entry > Examples: “The Jewish tradition has always been syncretic, adapting and responding to the culture around it, he [Rabbi Steven Philp] said. Hanukkah is ‘a great example of this,' Philp said, noting that the holiday's traditions—like spinning the dreidel, eating latkes or potato pancakes, and munching on ... jelly-filled doughnuts—are customs that were borrowed from neighboring cultures over time.” — Kate Heather, The Chicago Sun-Times, 25 Dec. 2024 Did you know? If your dreidel is spinning beneath the glow of the menorah, it's probably the Jewish festival of lights known as Hanukkah. The holiday celebrates the miracle of a small amount of oil—enough for one day—burning for eight days in the Temple of Jerusalem. And though it's a toy, the dreidel's design is very much an homage: on each of its four sides is inscribed a Hebrew letter—nun, gimel, he, and shin—which together stand for Nes gadol haya sham, meaning “A great miracle happened there.” (In Israel, the letter pe, short for po, “here,” is often used instead of shin). In the game of dreidel, each letter bears its own significance: the dreidel is spun and depending on which letter is on top when it lands, the player's currency, or gelt, is added to or taken from the pot. Nun means the player does nothing; gimel means the player gets everything; he means the player gets half; and shin means the player adds to the pot. Wherever you land on holiday traditions, we wish you words of gimel: gratitude, grub, and, of course, gaiety.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 14, 2025 is: multitudinous • mul-tuh-TOO-duh-nus • adjective Multitudinous is a formal word with meanings that relate to multitudes. It can mean “existing in a great multitude”—that is, “very many”; or “including a multitude of individuals”; or “existing in or consisting of innumerable elements or aspects.” // The two old friends reminisced about the multitudinous ways in which their lives had changed. // The author's appearance is expected to attract a multitudinous gathering that will fill the auditorium. See the entry > Examples: “Launched as Holton's artistic inquiry into his own Chinese heritage, the project has evolved into a profound examination of family dynamics, migration, and cultural hybridity in contemporary New York, where the American identity is multitudinous.” — Natasha Gural, Forbes, 11 June 2025 Did you know? “I am large, I contain multitudes.” So wrote Walt Whitman in his most celebrated poem, “Song of Myself.” He was expressing his ability to hold within himself contradictory statements, facets, opinions, beliefs, etc. Another, if less poetic, way of saying “I contain multitudes” might be “I am multitudinous,” using the sense of that five-syllable word meaning “existing in or consisting of innumerable elements or aspects.” Multitudinous doesn't have a lot of meanings—three to be exact—but each one concerns, well, a lot. In addition to serving Whitmanesque purposes as noted above, multitudinous is the kind of highly expressive word that you can rely upon when you want something a little more emphatic than plain old numerous, as in “multitudinous possibilities.” Lastly, its original sense—still in use today—is a synonym of populous meaning “including a multitude of individuals,” as in “the multitudinous city.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 13, 2025 is: alleviate • uh-LEE-vee-ayt • verb To alleviate something is to make it less painful, difficult, or severe. Alleviate can also mean "to partially remove or correct." // There's no cure for the common cold, but there are various treatments that may alleviate some of the symptoms. // The new tunnel should alleviate traffic congestion on the bridge. See the entry > Examples: "The funds are meant to alleviate monetary barriers and enhance the fashion industry's talent pipeline." — Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 30 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Now for a bit of light reading. Alleviate comes from Latin levis, meaning "having little weight." (Levis also gave rise to the English adjective light as in "not heavy.") In its early days during the 16th century, alleviate could mean both "to cause (something) to have less weight" or "to make (something) more tolerable." The literal "make lighter" sense is no longer used, and today only the "relieve, lessen" sense remains. Incidentally, not only is alleviate a synonym of relieve, it's also a cousin: relieve comes from Latin levare ("to raise"), which in turn comes from levis.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 12, 2025 is: waggish • WAG-ish • adjective Waggish describes someone who is silly and playful, and especially someone who displays a mischievous sense of humor. The word can also describe things that such a person might do or possess. // He had a waggish disposition that could irk adults but typically delighted children. // She denied the prank but did so with a waggish smirk that didn't match her disavowal. See the entry > Examples: “[Patricia] Lockwood began her writing life quietly, as a poet. She found her first major audience on Twitter, posting self-proclaimed ‘absurdities' ... that quickly came to define the medium's zany, waggish ethos ...” — Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 25 Aug. 2025 Did you know? One who is waggish acts like a wag. What, then, is a wag? It has nothing to do with a dog's tail; in this case a wag is a clever person prone to joking. Though light-hearted in its use and meaning, the probable source of this particular wag is grim: it is thought to be short for waghalter, an obsolete English word that translates as gallows bird, a gallows bird being someone thought to be deserving of hanging (wag being the familiar wag having to do with movement, and halter referring to a noose). Despite its gloomy origins, waggish is now often associated with humor and playfulness—a wag is a joker, and waggery is merriment or practical joking. Waggish can describe the prank itself as well as the prankster type; the class clown might be said to have a “waggish disposition” or be prone to “waggish antics.”

1141. We look at the controversy that caught Stefan Fatsis by surprise when he defined the word "sheeple" for Merriam-Webster, leading to public complaints. We also look at the origin and purpose of the obscure "Backward Index" invented by Webster's Third editor Philip Gove and how quickly Merriam added COVID-related words to the dictionary.Find Stefan Fatsis on his website, Bluesky or Facebook. Get the book, Unabridged.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 11, 2025 is: leviathan • luh-VYE-uh-thun • noun Leviathan is a word with literary flair that can refer broadly to something very large and powerful, or more narrowly to a large sea animal, or a totalitarian state having a vast bureaucracy. // Towering leviathans of the forest, giant sequoias often reach heights of more than 200 feet. See the entry > Examples: “These are dim days for the leviathan merchants. The smart whaling families have diversified and will hang onto their wealth for years to come. ... The less smart, those convulsed by the strange desire to continue doing what had always been done, who consider it a divinely issued directive to rid the waves of great fish, now face a problem: the Atlantic whale that built their houses and ships has seemingly wised up ...” — Ethan Rutherford, North Sun, or The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther: A Novel, 2025 Did you know? Old Testament references to a huge sea monster, Leviathan (in Hebrew, Liwyāthān), are thought to have been inspired by an ancient myth in which the god Baal slays a multiheaded sea monster. Leviathan appears in the Book of Psalms as a sea serpent that is killed by God and then given as food to creatures in the wilderness, and it is mentioned in the Book of Job as well. After making a splash in English in the 1300s, the word Leviathan began to be used, capitalized and uncapitalized, for enormous sea creatures both imagined and real—including as a synonym of whale over 100 times in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, as in “ere the Pequod's weedy hull rolls side by side with the barnacled hulls of the leviathan.” Today, leviathan can be used for anything large and powerful, from ships to corporations.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 10, 2025 is: grift • GRIFT • verb To grift is to use dishonest tricks to illegally take money or property. // The email scammer shamelessly grifted thousands of dollars from unwitting victims. See the entry > Examples: "When the families demanded he return the jewellery he had grifted from them he arranged meetings and then did not show." — Peter Spriggs, The Echo (South Essex, England), 31 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Someone who grifts is a thief, but of a particular sort: they illegally obtain money or property by means of cleverness or deceit, and do not usually resort to physical force or violence. A grifter might be a pickpocket, a crooked gambler, a scammer, or a con artist. The most plausible etymology we have for the murky term is that grift is an early 20th century alteration of graft, a slightly older word which refers to the acquisition of money or property in dishonest or questionable ways. Both grift and graft have noun and verb forms.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 9, 2025 is: paltry • PAWL-tree • adjective Paltry is a formal word that can describe something that is very small or too small in amount, or something that has little meaning, importance, or worth. // They're offering a paltry salary for the position. // The professor announced they'd finally had enough of the students' paltry excuses for being late to class. See the entry > Examples: "When the witty and wry English fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett interviewed Bill Gates for GQ in 1995, only 39% of Americans had access to a home computer. According to the Pew Research Center, the number who were connected to the internet was a paltry 14%." — Ed Simon, LitHub.com, 25 Nov. 2024 Did you know? Before paltry was an adjective, it was a noun meaning trash. That now-obsolete noun came from palt or pelt, a dialect term referring to a piece of coarse cloth, or more broadly, to trash. The adjective paltry, which dates to the mid-16th century, originally described things considered worthless, or of very low quality, but it's gained a number of meanings over the centuries, none of which are complimentary. A paltry house might be neglected and unfit for occupancy; a paltry trick is a trick that is low-down and dirty; a paltry excuse is a poor one; and a paltry sum is small and insufficient.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 8, 2025 is: bravado • bruh-VAH-doh • noun Bravado refers to confident or brave talk or behavior that is intended to impress other people. // She tells the stories of her youthful exploits with enough bravado to invite suspicion that they're embellished a bit. // The crew of climbers scaled the mountain with youthful bravado. See the entry > Examples: "One problem that exists in the whitewater community overall is that people don't always understand the basic elements associated with water and their ignorance and bravado often lead to an incident where someone gets injured or killed." — Tracy Hines, The Durango (Colorado) Herald, 19 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Displays of bravado may be show-offish, daring, reckless, and inconsistent with good sense—take, for example, the spectacular feats of stuntpeople—but when successful, they are still likely to be met with shouts of "bravo!" Celebrities, political leaders, corporate giants, and schoolyard bullies, however, may show a different flavor of bravado: one that suggests an overbearing boldness that comes from arrogance or from being in a position of power. The word bravado originally comes from the Italian adjective bravo, meaning "wild" or "courageous," which English can also thank for the more common brave.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 7, 2025 is: enigmatic • en-ig-MAT-ik • adjective Something or someone described as enigmatic is mysterious and difficult to understand. // The band's lead singer has always been an enigmatic figure, refusing to use social media or even sit for interviews. See the entry > Examples: “For thirty years, Perlefter's carpet hung peacefully on the wall in the museum, delighting visitors with its beauty, its unusual palette, enigmatic motifs and its echoes of four empires.” — Dorothy Armstrong, Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets, 2025 Did you know? The noun enigma can refer to a puzzle, a riddle, a question mark. It's no mystery then, that the adjective enigmatic describes what is hard to solve or figure out. An enigmatic person, for example, may be someone with a bit of je ne sais quoi. What's behind a stranger's enigmatic smile? Your guess is as good as ours. Does the vocabulary in the short story you're reading render it a tad enigmatic? Better grab a dictionary! Both enigma and enigmatic come from the Greek verb ainissesthai, meaning “to speak in riddles.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 6, 2025 is: sensibility • sen-suh-BIL-uh-tee • noun Sensibility is a formal word often used in its plural form to refer someone's personal or cultural approach to what they encounter, as in “the speaker made sure to tailor his speech to the sensibilities of his audience.” Sensibility can also be used for the kind of feelings a person tends to have in general, as well as for the ability to feel and understand emotions. // Many older cartoons feel out of line with modern sensibilities. // She brought an artistic sensibility to every facet of her life, not just her celebrated painting. See the entry > Examples: “[Lady] Gaga's absurdist sensibilities have long been an underrated facet of her work—probably because she's so good at delivering them with a straight face.” — Rich Juzwiak, Pitchfork, 10 Mar. 2025 Did you know? The meanings of sensibility run the gamut from mere sensation to excessive sentimentality, but we're here to help you make sense of it all. In between is a capacity for delicate appreciation, a sense often pluralized. In Jane Austen's books, sensibility is mostly an admirable quality she attributes to, or finds lacking in, her characters: “He had ... a sensibility to what was amiable and lovely” (of Mr. Elliot in Persuasion). In Sense and Sensibility, however, Austen starts out by ascribing to Marianne sensibleness, on the one hand, but an “excess of sensibility” on the other: “Her sorrows, her joys, could have no moderation ... she was everything but prudent.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 5, 2025 is: inoculate • ih-NAHK-yuh-layt • verb To inoculate a person or animal is to introduce immunologically active material (such as an antibody or antigen) into them especially in order to treat or prevent a disease. Inoculate can also mean "to introduce (something, such as a microorganism) into a suitable situation for growth," and in figurative use, it can mean "to protect as if by inoculation" or "to introduce something into the mind of." // In 1796, the English physician Edward Jenner discovered that inoculating people with cowpox could provide immunity against smallpox. // The cheese is inoculated with a starter culture to promote fermentation. See the entry > Examples: "Truffle farmers ... inoculate oak or hazelnut seedlings with truffle spores, plant the seedlings and wait patiently often a decade or more for the underground relationship to mature. The eventual harvest is a reward for years of cooperation between tree and fungus." — David Shubin, The Weekly Calistogan (Calistoga, California), 30 Oct. 2025 Did you know? If you think you see a connection between inoculate and ocular ("of or relating to the eye"), you have a good eye—both words look back to oculus, the Latin word for "eye." But what does the eye have to do with inoculation? Our answer lies in the original use of inoculate in Middle English: "to insert a bud into a plant for propagation." The Latin oculus was sometimes applied to things that were seen to resemble eyes, and one such thing was the bud of a plant. Inoculate was later applied to other forms of engrafting or implanting, including the introduction of vaccines as a preventative against disease.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 4, 2025 is: frowsy • FROW-zee • adjective Something described as frowsy has a messy or dirty appearance. // The lamp, discovered in a neglected corner of a frowsy antique store, turned out to be quite valuable. See the entry > Examples: “Footage from his early shows is sublime. In one, models with frowsy hair totter along the catwalk in clogs, clutching—for reasons not explained—dead mackerel.” — Jess Cartner-Morley, The Guardian (London), 4 Mar. 2024 Did you know? Despite its meanings suggesting neglect and inattention, frowsy has been kept in steady rotation by English users since the late 1600s. The word (which is also spelled frowzy and has enjoyed other variants over the centuries) first wafted into the language in an olfactory sense describing that which smells fusty and musty—an old factory, perhaps, or “corrupt air from animal substance,” which Benjamin Franklin described as “frouzy” in a 1773 letter. Frowsy later gained an additional sense describing the appearance of something (or someone) disheveled or unkempt. Charles Dickens was a big fan of this usage, writing of “frowzy fields, and cowhouses” in Dombey and Son and “a frowzy fringe” of hair hanging about someone's ears in The Old Curiosity Shop. Both senses are still in use today.

What weighs five pounds, hasn't been seen in print for 20 years, but still shapes the way we think about language? Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary — and author Stefan Fatsis is here to tell us why it matters.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 3, 2025 is: alchemy • AL-kuh-mee • noun Alchemy refers to a power or process that changes or transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way. // They practiced their alchemy in the kitchen, turning a pile of vegetables and legumes into an extravagant meal. // The shopkeepers hoped for some sort of economic alchemy that would improve business. See the entry > Examples: “Forty years ago, the Nintendo Entertainment System hit North American shores, singlehandedly resurrecting the video-game market after its infamous post-Atari crash in 1983. To do so, it needed a heavy hitter, a killer must-have title that could put butts in seats and lock audiences into the tube TV until their eyes bleed. That game was Super Mario Bros.—a product so potent, its exact alchemy has never been re-created.” — Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 18 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Alchemy—the medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy that focused on the attempt to change less valuable metals into gold, to find a universal cure for disease, and to discover a means of prolonging life indefinitely—was practiced in much of the ancient world, from China and India to Greece. Alchemy as practiced in ancient Egypt was later revived in 12th-century Europe through translations of Arabic texts into Latin, which led to the development of pharmacology and to the rise of modern chemistry. The word alchemy was first used in English in the 1400s, and by the mid-1500s it had developed figurative senses relating to powers and processes that can change or transform things in mysterious or impressive ways.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 2, 2025 is: cajole • kuh-JOHL • verb To cajole someone is to use flattery or gentle urging to persuade them to do something or to give you something. Cajole can also mean “to deceive with soothing words or false promises.” It is often used with the word into. // She cajoled her partner into going to the party with her. // They hoped to cajole him into cooperating with local officials. See the entry > Examples: “... I cajoled my father into letting me use the company season tickets which were supposed to be used for clients, but sometimes wound up in my hands.” — Sal Maiorana, The Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, 22 Oct. 2025 Did you know? However hard we try, we can't cajole the full history of cajole from the cages of obscurity. We know that it comes from the French verb cajoler, meaning “to give much attention to; to make a fuss over; to flatter or persuade with flattery,” and goes back to the Middle French cajoller, meaning “to flatter out of self-interest.” But the next chapter of the word's history may, or may not, be for the birds: it's possible that cajoller relates to the Middle French verb cageoller, used for the action of a jay or other bird singing. Cageoller, in turn, traces back to gaiole, a word meaning “birdcage” in a dialect of Picardy.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 1, 2025 is: pseudonym • SOO-duh-nim • noun A pseudonym is a name that someone (such as a writer) uses instead of their real name. // bell hooks is the pseudonym of the American writer Gloria Jean Watkins. See the entry > Examples: “Edgar Wright, the filmmaker and genre specialist who has given the world modern gems like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Baby Driver, estimates he was around 13 years old when he read ‘the Bachman Books,' a collection of four novels that Stephen King published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman during the early years of his career.” — Don Kaye, Den of Geek, 9 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Pseudonym has its origins in the Greek adjective pseudōnymos, which means “bearing a false name.” French speakers adopted the Greek word as the noun pseudonyme, and English speakers later modified the French word into pseudonym. Many celebrated authors have used pseudonyms. Samuel Clemens wrote under the pseudonym “Mark Twain,” Charles Lutwidge Dodgson assumed the pseudonym “Lewis Carroll,” and Mary Ann Evans used “George Eliot” as her pseudonym.