Podcasts about word of the day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 3, 2026 is: hornswoggle • HORN-swah-gul • verb To hornswoggle someone is to trick or deceive them. // I think we were hornswoggled by that magician. See the entry > Examples: "Netflix users have been warned to look out for an insidious, AI-powered email scam that looks nearly indistinguishable from the real deal. ... If you have been already hornswoggled by such a scheme, Netflix advises changing your password and reaching out to your bank." — Ben Cost, The New York Post, 3 Mar. 2025 Did you know? Hornswoggle is a slang word of some considerable mystery, at least where its etymology is concerned. The word appears to have originated in the southern United States in the early 19th century. The earliest known written record comes from an 1829 issue of The Virginia Literary Magazine in its glossary of Americanisms. The magazine states that hornswoggle comes from Kentucky, and that its oddness matches nicely with other 19th-century Americanisms, such as sockdolager, absquatulate, callithump, slumgullion, and skedaddle. While the exact point at which hornswoggle entered our language, and the way in which it was formed, may remain unknown, it is a charming addition to our language, joining bamboozle and honeyfuggle as colorful ways to say "to deceive."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 2, 2026 is: prescience • PRESH-ee-unss • noun Prescience is a formal word used to refer to the ability to see or anticipate what will or might happen in the future. // He predicted the public's response to the proposed legislation with remarkable prescience. See the entry > Examples: "... novelists have always faced technological and social upheaval. They have mostly addressed it in one of two ways. The first is to imagine an altered future with the prescience of science fiction; Mary Shelley's warning that humans are not always in control of their creations is, if anything, even more resonant today than when Frankenstein was first published in 1818." — Jessi Jezewska Stevens, The Dial, 2 Dec. 2025 Did you know? If you know the origin of science you already know half the story of prescience. Science comes from the Latin verb sciō, scīre, "to know," also source of such words as conscience, conscious, and omniscience. Prescience has as its ancestor a word that attached prae-, a predecessor of pre-, to this root to make praescire, meaning "to know beforehand."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 1, 2026 is: gargantuan • gahr-GAN-chuh-wun • adjective Gargantuan describes something that is very large in size or amount; something gargantuan is, in other words, gigantic. // Bigfoot is said to be a creature of gargantuan proportions. See the entry > Examples: “By the late 1870s, he was asked to take part in the gargantuan task of evaluating and cataloguing the results of the five-year Challenger expedition—an ambitious British global research voyage, the first ever dedicated purely to science. [Ernst] Haeckel's contribution to the final 50-volume Report of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger took a decade to complete and spanned three volumes, 2,750 pages, and 130 plates.” — Michael Benson, Nanocosmos: Journeys in Electron Space, 2025 Did you know? Gargantua is the name of a giant king in François Rabelais's 16th-century satiric novel Gargantua, the second part of a five-volume series about the giant and his son Pantagruel. All of the details of Gargantua's life befit a giant. He rides a colossal mare whose tail switches so violently that it fells the entire forest of Orleans. He has an enormous appetite, such that in one incident he inadvertently swallows five pilgrims while eating a salad. The scale of everything connected with Gargantua led to the adjective gargantuan, which since William Shakespeare's time has been used for anything of tremendous size or volume.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 31, 2026 is: short shrift • SHORT-SHRIFT • noun Short shrift means “little or no attention or thought” or “quick work.” In religious use it refers to barely adequate time for confession before execution. // Certain neighborhoods have received short shrift from the city government. See the entry > Examples: “[Charlie] Caplinger echoed the concerns of many speakers at the meeting, with charter captains saying the recreational fishing industry's economic contributions were being given short shrift.” — Mike Smith, NOLA.com (New Orleans, Louisiana), 6 Nov. 2025 Did you know? We've got a confession to make, but we'll keep it brief: while it's technically possible to make “long shrift” of something, you're unlikely to find long shrift in our dictionary anytime soon. Short shrift, on the other hand, has been keeping it real—real terse, that is—for centuries. The earliest known use of the phrase comes from Shakespeare's play Richard III, in which Lord Hastings, who has been condemned by King Richard to be beheaded, is told by Sir Richard Ratcliffe to “Make a short shrift” as the king “longs to see your head.” Although now archaic, the noun shrift was understood in Shakespeare's time to refer to the confession or absolution of sins, so “make a short shrift” meant, quite literally, “keep your confession short.” However, since at least the 19th century the phrase has been used figuratively to refer to a small or inadequate amount of time or attention given to something.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 30, 2026 is: preeminent • pree-EM-uh-nunt • adjective Preeminent is a formal word used to describe someone or something more important, skillful, or successful than their counterparts or peers. It is used synonymously with outstanding and supreme. // She's the preeminent chef in a city renowned for its cuisine. See the entry > Examples: "In this warmly engaging intellectual biography, [author Paul R.] Viotti traces the life and ideas of Kenneth Waltz, a preeminent figure in post–World War II international relations scholarship." — G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025 Did you know? What is noteworthy about the following sentence? "Mount Kilimanjaro is a prominent eminence on the Tanzanian landscape." You very likely recognized two words that are closely related to preeminent: prominent and eminence. All three words are rooted in the Latin verb stem -minēre, which is taken to mean "to stand out" though there is no record of its use without a prefix. Mount also deserves an honorable mention: it comes from the Latin mont- or mons, meaning "mountain," which is understood to share a common ancestor with -minēre. Mount leads us in turn to paramount, a word closely related in meaning to preeminent.

What time is "too late" for a party to start? That's today's Hot Topic - plus an all-new 2nd Date Update, and Normal or Nope!

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Friday, 1-30-26, Matt 24 & 25: "No One Knows the Day or the Hour."

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 29, 2026 is: reciprocate • rih-SIP-ruh-kayt • verb To reciprocate is to do something for or to someone who has done something similar for or to you. Reciprocate can also mean “to have (a feeling) for someone who has the same feeling for you.” // It was kind of my friend to give me a ride to the airport, and on the flight I was thinking of how to reciprocate the favor. See the entry > Examples: “She entered the post office and greeted Tommaso, who reciprocated with a smile, then Carmine, who stroked his beard and shot her the usual skeptical glance.” — Francesca Giannone, The Letter Carrier (translated by Elettra Pauletto), 2025 Did you know? “Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours,” “do unto others as you would have them do to you,” “share and share alike”: such is the essence of the verb reciprocate, which implies a mutual or equivalent exchange or a paying back of what one has received. Reciprocate traces back to the Latin verb reciprocare (“to move back and forth”), which in turn comes from the adjective reciprocus, meaning “returning the same way” or “alternating.” Indeed, one of the meanings of reciprocate is “to move forward and backward alternately,” as in “a reciprocating saw.” Most often, however, reciprocate is used for the action of returning something in kind or degree, whether that be a gift, favor, or feeling.

What's your good luck charm? That's today's Hot Topic, plus an all-new 2nd Date Update, Chantel's Roses and Playlist Playoff!

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Thursday, 1-29-26: (7325) Isaiah 54: 1-17 "A Perpetual Covenant of Peace" that is part three of my min-series from July 2nd forward, if you cared to scroll back through my video library and look up the entire series. I can guarantee you'll be glad you did! What the Holy Spirit downloads to me is stellar and always fascinating, with new revelation about scripture most of us well studied Bible students have never pieced together before!  This show is not me doing it! Glory goes completely to the Holy Spirit, who is the teacher of those who diligently seek Him, and that is me! ;()  So join me to hear Part 3 of a review of this short Mini-series on a few of the chapters in Isaiah! ;() You comments and questions are always welcome below and I will get to each comment sooner or later!  OR you can email me directly which will reach me faster at: ReneHoladay@gmail.com Blessings to all of you!

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 28, 2026 is: bombast • BAHM-bast • noun Bombast is a formal word that refers to speech or writing that is meant to sound important or impressive but that is not sincere or meaningful. // You need less bombast and more substance in this speech. See the entry > Examples: “This is bombast that has not been thought through from a policy perspective. I know that many in the space community find this to be exciting and want to believe the hype behind such an announcement. Mars is exciting. However ... I think we have to ask ourselves whether getting to Mars is worth the moral costs in addition to the economic costs and potential risks to human lives.” — P. J. Blount, quoted in Newsweek, 28 Jan. 2025 Did you know? Bombast settled softly into English in the mid-late 16th century as a textile term used to refer to cotton or other soft fibrous material used as padding or stuffing (its ultimate source is likely the Middle Persian noun pambak, meaning “cotton”), but within a decade it had extended from literal stuffing to figurative stuffing, referring to speech or writing that is padded with pretentious verbiage. The adjective bombastic, which followed bombast a century later, has been a favorite choice to describe blowhards, boasters, and cockalorums ever since.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Wednesday, 1-28-26: Luke 12: 1-12, "Jesus Teaches the Fear of God."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 27, 2026 is: fiduciary • fuh-DOO-shee-air-ee • adjective Fiduciary is a formal word describing something relating to or involving trust, such as the trust between a customer and a professional. // The bank's fiduciary obligations are clearly stated in the contract. See the entry > Examples: "Banks and brokerage firms hold a fiduciary responsibility to protect their customers, including from scams." — Carter Pape, American Banker, 11 Aug. 2025 Did you know? Fiduciary relationships are often of the financial variety, but the word fiduciary does not, in and of itself, suggest pecuniary ("money-related") matters. Rather, fiduciary applies to any situation in which one person justifiably places confidence and trust in someone else, and seeks that person's help or advice in some matter. The attorney-client relationship is a fiduciary one, for example, because the client trusts the attorney to act in the best interest of the client at all times. Fiduciary can also be used as a noun referring to the person who acts in a fiduciary capacity, and fiduciarily or fiducially can be called upon if you are in need of an adverb. The words are all faithful to their origin: Latin fīdere, which means "to trust."

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Tuesday, 1-27-26, (91625)  John 17: 1-26.  This re-visit to my episode I recorded last September that dovetails so nicely with the 3 Part mini-series I covered yesterday, Saturday and Friday of last week!  Such a beautiful chapter showing Jesus's dicine connection that is so close to the Father, and therefore we that are in Him are close to the ever-loving Father as well!  We are perfected in Christ- made whole in Him.  Beautiful!  Come and see!  ;()

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 26, 2026 is: oaf • OHF • noun Oaf is used to refer to someone as big, clumsy, and slow-witted. // The main character starts the movie as a tactless, bumbling oaf who is constantly causing offense to everyone around them, but eventually learns a valuable lesson about kindness and courtesy. See the entry > Examples: “Let me give you a rose. Well, just an imaginary rose. ‘What?' ‘What's the occasion?' ‘What for?' Because I want to participate in an act of kindness. ... It's impossible, even for a blustering, clumsy oaf like me, to ignore the positive effects of a rose in hand.” — Anthony Campbell, The Advertiser-Gleam (Guntersville, Alabama), 24 Oct. 2025 Did you know? In long-ago England, it was believed that elves sometimes secretly exchanged their babies for human babies—a belief that served as an explanation when parents found themselves with a baby that failed to meet expectations or desires: these parents believed that their real baby had been stolen by elves and that a changeling had been left in its place. The label for such a child was auf, or alfe, (meaning “an elf's or a goblin's child”), which was later altered to form our present-day oaf. Auf is likely from the Middle English alven or elven, meaning “elf” or “fairy.” Today, the word oaf is no longer associated with babies and is instead applied to anyone who appears especially unintelligent or graceless.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Monday1-26-26: Part 3, Revelation 22:14.Genesis 2 & 3: The Tree of Life! Revelation from the Holy Spirit about Revelation 22:14!  Come and See!  ;()

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 25, 2026 is: resplendent • rih-SPLEN-dunt • adjective Resplendent is a literary word used to describe someone or something as very bright and attractive. // She looked resplendent in her green evening gown. See the entry > Examples: “Her box braids were tied in a top bun that poked out of her green and gold headscarf... . Pretty as the braids were, he quietly missed the natural hair they protected. When unbound, her hair was a resplendent halo of vitality. But he knew the halo required a complex, labor-intensive morning and night routine for which she had lost patience.” — Karim Dimechkie, The Uproar: A Novel, 2025 Did you know? Resplendent shares a root with splendid (meaning, among other things, “shining” or “brilliant”), splendent (“shining” or “glossy”), and splendor (“brightness” or “luster”). Each of these glowing terms gets its shine from the Latin verb splendēre (“to shine”). In the case of resplendent, the prefix re- added to splendēre formed the Latin resplendēre, meaning “to shine back.” Splendent, splendor, and resplendent were first used in English during the 15th century, but splendid didn't light up our language until almost 200 years later; its earliest known use dates from the early 1600s.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 24, 2026 is: garner • GAHR-ner • verb Garner means "to acquire by effort; earn" or "to accumulate or collect." // The new research findings have garnered the attention of medical experts. // The group has garnered support from community organizations. See the entry > Examples: "The novel was already a favourite among literary critics but it's sure to garner wider, more mainstream appeal following the Booker Prize win." — Daisy Lester, The Independent (United Kingdom), 11 Nov. 2025 Did you know? What do you call a building in which grain is stored? These days, English speakers are most likely to call it a granary, but there was a time when garner was also a good candidate. That noun made its way into the language in the 12th century (ultimately from Latin granum, "grain"); the verb garner followed three centuries later with a closely related meaning: "to gather into a granary." Today the verb has largely abandoned its agrarian roots—it usually means "to earn" or "to accumulate." Meanwhile the noun garner is rare in contemporary use. It's found mostly in older literary contexts, such as these lines from Sir Walter Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor: "Or, from the garner-door, on ether borne, / The chaff flies devious from the winnow'd corn."

Word of the Day with Rene Holaday for Saturday 1-24-26 Revelation 22 -- The River of Life

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 23, 2026 is: astrolabe • A-struh-layb • noun An astrolabe is a compact instrument used to observe and calculate the position of celestial bodies before the invention of the sextant. // The new astronomy exhibit featured various gadgets and instruments, including an extensive collection of astrolabes. See the entry > Examples: “‘Renaissance Treasures' includes two contemporary navigational devices, a planispheric astrolabe from Persia and a pocket compass (think of them as beta-version GPS), as well as two Mercator globes. One dates from 1541 and shows the surface of the Earth. The other dates from 1551 and shows the heavens ...” — Mark Feeney, The Boston Globe, 9 May 2025 Did you know? “Thyn Astrolabie hath a ring to putten on the thombe of thi right hond in taking the height of thinges.” Thus begins a description of an astrolabe in A Treatise on the Astrolabe, a medieval user's guide penned by an amateur astronomer by the name of Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer is best known for his Middle English poetic masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, but when his nose wasn't buried in his writing, Chaucer was stargazing, and some of his passion for the heavens rubbed off on his son Lewis, who had displayed a special “abilite to lerne sciences touching nombres and proporciouns.” Chaucer dedicated his treatise to the 10-year-old boy, setting his instructions not in the usual Latin, but in “naked wordes in Englissh” so that little Lewis could understand. When he got older, Lewis may have learned that the word astrolabe traces to the Late Greek name for the instrument, astrolábion.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 22, 2026 is: disheveled • dih-SHEV-uld • adjective A disheveled person or thing is not neat or tidy. // His wrinkled suit gave him a disheveled appearance. See the entry > Examples: “My mother is waking up. ... She dresses quickly. Her oblong, Scots-Irish face may be too idiosyncratic for the screen anyway, the hollow cheekbones and sharp eyes, the straw-blond hair worn in a low-slung and slightly disheveled beehive.” — Matthew Specktor, The Golden Hour: A Story of Family and Power in Hollywood, 2025 Did you know? These days, the adjective disheveled is used to describe almost anything or anyone marked by disorder or disarray. Rumpled clothes, for example, often contribute to a disheveled appearance, as in Colson Whitehead's novel Crook Manifesto, when the comedian Roscoe Pope walks onstage “disheveled, in wrinkled green corduroy pants.” Apartments, desks, bedsheets, you name it—all can be disheveled when not at their neatest and tidiest. Hair, however, is the most common noun to which disheveled is applied (along with hairdo terms like bun and beard), a fact that makes etymological sense. Disheveled comes from the Middle English adjective discheveled, meaning “bareheaded” or “with disordered hair.” That word is a partial translation of the Anglo-French word deschevelé, a combination of the prefix des- (“dis-“) and chevoil, meaning “hair.”

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Thursday 1-22-26: Matthew 26: 14-56 Judas Betrays Jesus! We all know this story, but there's more that you may not know and may not have put together with this account.  Come and see!

Jeff's Italian Word of the Day and News That Didn't Make the News: The Dr. Pepper Jingle singer... 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 January 21, 2026 is: schmooze • SHMOOZ • verb To schmooze is to warmly chat with someone often in order to gain favor, business, or connections. // The event provides an opportunity for local business owners to network and schmooze. See the entry > Examples: "After wrapping up her speech filled with anecdotes and policy promises, the candidate schmoozed with the crowd, seemingly determined to shake every hand before her staff ushered her back to the bus." — Mike Kropf, The News Virginian (Waynesboro, Virginia), 4 Sept. 2025 Did you know? Schmooze (also spelled shmooze) schlepped into English from the Yiddish schmues, meaning "talk," which itself is from the Hebrew shěmu'ōth, meaning "news" or "rumor." Although originally used to indicate simply talking in an informal and warm manner, the word now commonly suggests conversation for the purpose of gaining favor, business, or connections. Schmooze is one of a number of English schm- words originating from Yiddish; other classics include schmaltz (referring to rendered animal fat or excessively sentimental music or art), schmuck (a slang word for "jerk"), schmutz ("a filthy or soiling substance"), and schmear ("a layer of cream cheese").

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Wednesday, 1-21-26: Romans 10: 1-21(71625) "Israel Needs the Gospel!"  No kidding!  We are approaching the time of the fullness of the Gentiles, therefore, Israel needs the gospel in full force ASAP! Come and join me for a review of this chapter from July 16th, 2025!

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 20, 2026 is: quiddity • KWID-uh-tee • noun Quiddity refers to the essence of a thing—that is, whatever makes something the type of thing that it is. Quiddity can also refer to a small and usually trivial complaint or criticism, or to a quirk or eccentricity in someone's behavior. // The novelist's genius was her unparalleled ability to capture the quiddity of the Maine seacoast in simple prose. // He portrayed the character's quirks and quiddities with tender playfulness. See the entry > Examples: “When I was gathering my odes into a book—or rather, piling up my effusions in prose and verse and trying to work out which ones were odes and which weren't—my friend Carlo gave me a magical concept. He called it ‘the odeness.' It's the essential quality, quiddity, … uniqueness of whatever you're trying to write about. It's what your ode is attempting to first identify and then celebrate. It's the odeness of your ode.” — James Parker, The Atlantic, 30 Sept. 2025 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” meaning of quiddity, and quibble, a synonym of the “trifling point” use. And let's not forget about quirk: like quiddity, quirk can refer to a person's eccentricities. Of course, quiddity also comes 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, led to the Medieval Latin quidditas, which means “essence,” a term that was essential to the development of the English word quiddity.

Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Monday, 1-19-26: Luke 15:1-32

Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Tuesday, 1-20-26: Psalm 118: 1-29

Jeff's Italian Word of the Day: Miracle and News That Didn't Make the News: National DJ Day! 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 January 19, 2026 is: ephemeral • ih-FEM-uh-rul • adjective Something described as ephemeral lasts only for a very short time. // The performance was not recorded, a fact that made its ephemeral nature all the more poignant. See the entry > Examples: "Like most garden moments, fresh holiday wreaths are ephemeral. Having accomplished their purpose of seeing us through the darkest days of winter, removing this traditional symbol of the wheeling seasons is a way to recognize the birth of a new year and celebrate the returning light." — Lorene Edwards Forkner, The Seattle Times, 16 Nov. 2025 Did you know? In its aquatic immature stages, the mayfly (order Ephemeroptera) has all the time in the world—or not quite: among the approximately 2,500 species of mayflies, some have as much as two years, but a year is more common. But in its adult phase, the typical mayfly hatches, takes wing for the first time, mates, and dies within the span of a few short hours. This briefest of heydays makes the insect a potent symbol of life's ephemeral nature. When ephemeral (from the Greek word ephēmeros, meaning "lasting a day") first appeared in print in English in the late 16th century, it was a scientific term applied to short-term fevers, and later, to organisms (such as insects and flowers) with very short life spans. Soon after that, it acquired an extended sense describing anything fleeting and short-lived, as in "ephemeral pleasures."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 18, 2026 is: elicit • ih-LISS-it • verb Elicit is a formal word meaning “to get (a response, information, etc.) from someone.” // The announcement of the final amount raised by the charity walk elicited cheers from the crowd. // The teacher's question elicited no response. See the entry > Examples: “By the end of the ceremony, the attendees knew where each soon-to-be graduate would be studying next. The students lined up and stormed the stage, screaming their names and their postsecondary destinations while hoisting flags from the institutions in the air. ... Each proud declaration elicited raucous clapping and hooting from the crowd.” — Elizabeth Hernandez, The Denver Post, 15 May 2025 Did you know? 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, they are used very differently. Illicit is an adjective applied to no-nos. It's used to describe things people aren't supposed to do. Something illicit is not permitted especially because it is illegal. Elicit, on the other hand, is a verb most often used to talk about calling forth or drawing out a response or reaction from someone, as in “her onstage antics elicited roars of laughter from the audience.” The Latin ancestors of this pair are easy to confuse too. Elicit comes from elicitus, illicit from illicitus. But going back just a little further, we find that elicit traces back beyond elicitus to lacere, meaning “to allure,” while illicitus comes ultimately from licēre, meaning “to be permitted.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 17, 2026 is: notorious • noh-TOR-ee-us • adjective Notorious describes people and things that are well-known or famous, especially for something bad or unfavorable. // Their city is notorious for its extremely hot and humid summers. See the entry > Examples: “Given Long Island's cul-de-sac geography and notorious traffic, proposed bridges and tunnels to Connecticut are bound to get attention on the Island.” — Peter Gill, Newsday, 8 Dec. 2025 Did you know? For those who don't give a fig about a bad reputation, being notorious for unpopular behavior is no biggie. (Being notorious for topping the Billboard charts? Now that's a Biggie.) Although notorious (which comes from Latin noscere, “to come to know”) can be a synonym of famous, it's more often a synonym of infamous, having long ago developed the additional implication of someone or something disreputable. The Book of Common Prayer of 1549 includes one of the first known uses of the unfavorable meaning in print, referring to “notorious synners.” You know what they say: more notorious synners, more problems.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 16, 2026 is: vendetta • ven-DET-uh • noun Vendetta refers to an active and mutual hatred between two families or groups, also known as a blood feud. It can also refer to an often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts, or to a commitment to carrying out such acts. // The student insisted that the principal had a personal vendetta against her. See the entry > Examples: "Rita publicly refused a vendetta at his funeral. She wouldn't ask her sons to avenge him, even though that wasn't just normal for the time, it was expected." — Rita Halász, Deep Breath: A Novel (translated by Kris Herbert), 2025 Did you know? English speakers borrowed vendetta, spelling and all, from Italian in the 19th century; literally meaning "revenge," vendetta first referred specifically to Italian and especially Corsican family- or clan-based feuds. It later extended in meaning to cover the acts that tend to feature in such feuds, and later still expanded further to refer to a commitment to carrying out such acts. Vendetta ultimately traces to the Latin verb vindicta, meaning "revenge" or "vindication." That Latin word is also in the family tree of other English terms related to getting even, including avenge, revenge, vengeance, vindicate, and vindictive.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Friday, 1-17-26: 1Kings 19: 1-21: "Elijah Escapes From Jezebel!"

Fake or For Real, Jeff's Italian Word of the Day, and News That Didn't Make the News... 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 January 15, 2026 is: cloying • KLOY-ing • adjective Cloying is used disapprovingly to describe something that is too sweet, pleasant, or sentimental. // She finds most romantic comedies cloying and predictable. See the entry > Examples: “Images of her came to me often, as did snatches of songs in her repertoire, which she sang to me as lullabies. ... What I couldn't quite summon, despite what I thought of as my keen smell memory, was her fragrance. As a kid, I had never liked it. Bellodgia was heavy, spicy, and floral; when my mother would lean over me to comb my hair ... the cloying rose and carnation combined with her tugging on my scalp always threatened to give me a headache. Still ... I missed that fragrance now.” — Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 10 July 2025 Did you know? The history of cloying isn't sweet—it's tough as nails. Cloying comes from the verb cloy, which in Middle English meant “to hinder or seriously injure”; its source is an Anglo-French word meaning “to prick (a horse) with a nail in shoeing.” English cloy too carried this farriery meaning (a farrier being a person who shoes horses) in the early 16th century, but it also had a general sense relating to clogging and stuffing, and in particular to overloading with especially sweet or rich food. From there quickly arose meanings of cloy still in use today: “to supply with an unwanted or distasteful excess usually of something originally pleasing” and “to be or become insipid or distasteful usually through an excess of an originally pleasurable quality (such as sweetness).” The adjective cloying, which describes things that are too sweet, pleasant, or sentimental, was doing the job it does today by the end of the 16th century.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 14, 2026 is: delegate • DEL-uh-gayt • verb To delegate something (such as control, responsibility, authority, or a job or duty) is to trust someone else with it. // Those tasks can be delegated to someone else. See the entry > Examples: “In practice, principals shuttle back and forth, sometimes multiple times a day, or divide their schedule between mornings and afternoons, or alternate full days at each school. When they're off-site, they must formally delegate authority, but parents and teachers say it's not always clear who holds decision-making power.” — Isabel Teotonio, The Toronto Star, 1 Dec. 2025 Did you know? To delegate is to literally or figuratively send someone else in your place, an idea that is reflected in the word's origin: it is a descendant of the Latin word lēgāre, meaning “to send as an envoy” (a messenger or representative). The noun delegate, which refers to a person who is chosen or elected to vote or act for others, arrived in English in the 14th century, while the verb didn't make its entrée till the early 16th century. (Note that the verb rhymes with relegate while the noun rhymes with delicate.) Some distant cousins of the word delegate that also trace back to lēgāre include legacy, colleague, relegate, and legate, “an official representative sent to a foreign country.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 13, 2026 is: umbrage • UM-brij • noun Umbrage refers to a feeling of being offended by what someone has said or done. It is often used in the phrase “take umbrage.” // Some listeners took umbrage at the podcaster's remarks about the event. See the entry > Examples: “The one item on offer was considered to be so good that the chef took umbrage at being asked for mustard.” — The Irish Times, 31 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Umbrage is a word born in the shadows. Its ultimate source (and that of umbrella) is Latin umbra, meaning “shade, shadow,” and when it was first used in the 15th century it referred to exactly that. But figurative use followed relatively quickly. Shakespeare wrote of Hamlet that “his semblable is his mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage, nothing more,” and by the 17th century this meaning of “vague suggestion; hint,” had been joined by other uses, including the “feeling of resentment or offense” heard today in such sentences as “many took umbrage at the speaker's tasteless jokes.” The word's early literal use is not often encountered, though it does live on in literature: for example, in her 1849 novel, Charlotte Brontë describes how the titular Shirley would relax “at the foot of some tree of friendly umbrage.”

Duji slips in a word of the day. Arizona wants to get rid of the speed limit. 

Moist, ski jumps, and Jeffrey's word of the day. Rover judges Duji's parking. Krystle's New Orleans trip consisted of dancing in the streets, clogged toilets, and bed bugs.

Moist, ski jumps, and Jeffrey's word of the day. Rover judges Duji's parking. Krystle's New Orleans trip consisted of dancing in the streets, clogged toilets, and bed bugs. Duji slips in a word of the day. Arizona wants to get rid of the speed limit. Make 2026 your best year ever. Video of a hockey fight during the game between Hershey Bears and the Cleveland Monsters. Magician and unicyclist halftime shows. A transformer blew up in Cleveland. Tropical temperatures in the studio. The Beatles documentary. A man flew to England to do an interview about his micro penis.

Moist, ski jumps, and Jeffrey's word of the day. Rover judges Duji's parking. Krystle's New Orleans trip consisted of dancing in the streets, clogged toilets, and bed bugs. Duji slips in a word of the day. Arizona wants to get rid of the speed limit. Make 2026 your best year ever. Video of a hockey fight during the game between Hershey Bears and the Cleveland Monsters. Magician and unicyclist halftime shows. A transformer blew up in Cleveland. Tropical temperatures in the studio. The Beatles documentary. A man flew to England to do an interview about his micro penis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Duji slips in a word of the day. Arizona wants to get rid of the speed limit. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Moist, ski jumps, and Jeffrey's word of the day. Rover judges Duji's parking. Krystle's New Orleans trip consisted of dancing in the streets, clogged toilets, and bed bugs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Tuesday, 1-13-26: Psalm 11: 1-7: "Faith in the Lord's Righteousness!"  Great chapter!  You'll appreciate this content this morning!  Come and see! ;()

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 12, 2026 is: brackish • BRACK-ish • adjective Brackish, meaning “somewhat salty,” usually describes water or bodies of water, such as rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The word can also mean “not appealing to the taste” or “repulsive.” // The river becomes brackish as we approach the tidemark. See the entry > Examples: “The blood-testing organs don't measure water levels but rather the concentration of salt, whose healthy range lies at almost exactly the same concentration as that of the brackish intertidal water in which vertebrates first evolved (which is about one-third as salty as seawater).” — Dan Samorodnitsky, Wired, 28 Sept. 2025 Did you know? When the word brackish first appeared in English in the 1500s, it simply meant “salty,” as did its Dutch parent brac. Then, as now, brackish was used to describe water that was a mixture of saltwater and freshwater, such as one encounters where a river meets the sea. Since that time, however, brackish has developed the additional meanings of “unpalatable” and “repulsive,” presumably because of the oozy, mucky, and sometimes stinky (or stinkyish, if you prefer)—not just salty—qualities of coastal estuaries and swamps.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 11, 2026 is: paradox • PAIR-uh-dahks • noun Paradox refers to something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible. It can also refer to someone who does two seemingly opposite things or who has qualities that are opposite; to a statement that seems to say two opposite things but that nonetheless may be true; or to the use of such statements in writing or speech. // It is a paradox that computers need time-consuming updates so often, since they are meant to save people time. // As an actor, she's a paradox—she loves being in the spotlight but fiercely guards her privacy. See the entry > Examples: “In some ways, I think the idea of a ‘serious lady' might even be a paradox, if to be serious means to understand the world according to one's own precepts, experiences, and observations, and to behave in a way that reflects this. A lady, on the other hand, follows rules that others have devised. How, then, can a ‘serious lady' be anything other than a very peculiar and odd creature—which the women in this book certainly are?” — Sheila Heti, from the introduction to Two Serious Ladies: A Novel by Jane Bowles, 2025 (orig. 1943) Did you know? The ancient Greeks were well aware that a paradox—the saying “less is more,” for example—can take us outside our usual way of thinking. They combined the prefix para-, “beyond” or “outside of,” with the verb dokein, “to think,” forming paradoxos, an adjective meaning “contrary to expectation.” Latin speakers used that word as the basis for a noun paradoxum, which English speakers borrowed during the 1500s as paradox.