Podcasts about word of the day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 23, 2026 is: frenetic • frih-NET-ik • adjective Something described as frenetic is filled with excitement, activity, or confusion. The word is a synonym of frantic. // The event was noisy and frenetic, which prompted us to leave early. See the entry > Examples: “As Marty Mauser, a wannabe table tennis champion who dreams and deceives his way through his shamble of a life ... [Timothée Chalamet] injects his scenes with enough nervous energy to fuel a plane. Nowhere will you see a performance more frenetic or impressive.” — Ralph Jones, Vanity Fair, 9 Feb. 2026 Did you know? In modern use, frenetic can describe a focused and intense effort to meet a deadline, or dancing among a hyped-up crowd, but the word's Middle English predecessor, frenetik, had a narrower use: it was used to describe those exhibiting a severely disordered state of mind. If you trace frenetic back far enough, you'll find that it comes from Greek phrenîtis, a term referring to an inflammation of the brain. As for frenzied and frantic, they're not only synonyms of frenetic but relatives as well. Frantic comes from frenetik, and frenzied traces back to phrenîtis.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 22, 2026 is: apotheosis • uh-pah-thee-OH-sis • noun Apotheosis refers to the perfect form or example of something, or to the highest or best part of something. It can also mean “elevation to divine status; deification.” It is usually singular, but the plural form is apotheoses. // Some consider (however ironically) french fries to be the apotheosis of U.S. cuisine. // Their music reached its creative apotheosis in the late 2010s, which is also when they won two Grammys. See the entry > Examples: “At its simplest level, Canada appears in American literature as a wilderness escape from a more urbanized United States. ... The apotheosis of this view of Canada as a wilderness getaway might be Sylvia Plath's poem ‘Two Campers in Cloud Country,' subtitled ‘Rock Lake, Canada' and written about a camping trip she and her husband Ted Hughes took through Canada and the northeastern US in 1959.” — Brooke Clark, LitHub.com, 17 Apr. 2025 Did you know? Among the ancient Greeks, it was sometimes thought fitting to grant someone “god” status. Hence the word apothéōsis, from the verb apotheóō or apotheoûn, meaning “to deify.” (All are rooted in the Greek word theós, meaning “god,” which we can also thank for such religion-related terms as theology and atheism.) There's not a lot of literal apotheosizing to be had in modern English, but apotheosis is thriving in the 21st century. It can refer to the highest or best part of something, as in “the celebration reaches its apotheosis in an elaborate feast,” or to a perfect example or ultimate form, as in “a movie that is the apotheosis of the sci-fi genre.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 21, 2026 is: scrutinize • SKROO-tuh-nyze • verb To scrutinize something is to examine it carefully especially in a critical way. // I closely scrutinized my opponent's moves before making my own. See the entry > Examples: "The governor proposes a balanced budget, and the General Assembly scrutinizes every line." — J.B. Jennings, The Baltimore Sun, 5 Feb. 2026 Did you know? Scrutinize the history of scrutinize far back enough and you wind up sifting through trash: the word comes from Latin scrutari, which means "to search, to examine," and scrutari likely comes from scruta, meaning "trash." The etymology evokes one who searches through trash for anything of value. The noun scrutiny preceded scrutinize in English, and in its earliest 15th century use referred to a formal vote, and later to an official examination of votes. Scrutinize was established in the 17th century with its familiar "to examine closely" meaning, but retained reference to voting with the specific meaning "to examine votes" at least into the 18th century. (Votes are still commonly said to be scrutinized in the general sense of the word.) And while the term scrutineer can be a general term referring to someone who examines something, it is also sometimes used in British English specifically as a term for someone who takes or counts votes.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 20, 2026 is: eureka • yoo-REE-kuh • adjective As an interjection, eureka is used to express excitement when a discovery has been made. When used as an adjective, eureka describes something (typically a moment) that is characterized by a usually sudden triumphant discovery.  // After years of trying to piece together a concrete business idea, I had a eureka moment and everything made sense.   See the entry >  Examples: “Back in 2020, Trautmann and fellow college student Max Steitz were lamenting the unrelenting loss of Louisiana wetlands, while sharing a bottle of wine. It was a eureka moment, as Trautmann and Steitz realized that by crushing wine bottles and other disposable glass into sand, they could relieve pressure on landfills and simultaneously help fend off coastal erosion.” — Doug MacCash, nola.com (New Orleans, Louisiana), 5 Dec. 2025  Did you know? When people exclaim “Eureka!” they are harking back to a legendary event in the life of the Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes. While wrestling with the problem of how to determine the purity of gold, he had the sudden realization that the buoyancy of an object placed in water is equal in magnitude to the weight of the water the object displaces. According to one popular version of the legend, he made his discovery at a public bathhouse, whereupon he leapt out of his bath, exclaiming in Greek “Heurēka! Heurēka!” (“I have found it!”), and ran home naked through the streets. The absence of a contemporary source for this anecdote has done nothing to diminish its popularity over the centuries. The English word eureka, which of course hails from heurēka, has also retained its popularity; its use as an interjection dates to the early 17th century, and it gained a brand-new use in the early 20th century as an adjective describing moments of discovery or epiphany.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 19, 2026 is: nadir • NAY-deer • noun Nadir refers to the lowest or worst point of something. When used in astronomy, nadir describes the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer. // Only once the novel's protagonist reaches her nadir does she arouse the reader's empathy, and we root for her to climb back to respectability. See the entry > Examples: “Sacrament dives right into the nadir of the 2020 health crisis, following a group of nurses who have moved into makeshift housing near a California hospital, to isolate from their families during the height of the case surge.” — James Folta, LitHub.com, 1 July 2025 Did you know? Nadir is part of the galaxy of scientific words that have come to us from Arabic, a language that has made important contributions to the English lexicon especially in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry. The source of nadir is naḍhīr, meaning “opposite”—the opposite, that is, of the zenith, the highest point of the celestial sphere which is positioned vertically above the observer. (The word zenith itself is a modification of another Arabic word that means “the way over one's head.”) Though born of the heavens, both words are called upon to refer to earthy things too, especially a significant point or period of time, be it a high point or low one.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 18, 2026 is: jejune • jih-JOON • adjective Jejune is a formal word that means "uninteresting" or "boring." It is also used as a synonym of juvenile to describe things (such as behaviors, attitudes, etc.) that are immature, childish, or simplistic. // The movie adaptation employed surreal visual effects to tell the story, making the plot, jejune in the novel, archetypal rather than artless. // The professor made rude and jejune remarks about the students' artwork. See the entry > Examples: "While [author Helen] Garner has journaled most of her life, she burned her early diaries in a bonfire having deemed them too embarrassing or jejune." — The Irish Times, 29 Mar. 2025 Did you know? Starved for excitement? You won't get it from something jejune. The term comes to us from the Latin word jejunus, which means "empty of food," "hungry," or "meager." When English speakers first used jejune back in the 1600s, they applied it in ways that mirrored the meaning of its Latin parent, lamenting "jejune appetites" and "jejune morsels." Something that is meager rarely satisfies, and before long jejune was being used not only for meager meals or hunger, but also for things lacking in intellectual or emotional substance. It's possible that the word gained its now-popular "juvenile" or "childish" sense when people confused it with the look-alike French word jeune, which means "young."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 17, 2026 is: Erin go bragh • air-un-guh-BRAW • phrase Erin go bragh is an Irish phrase that means “Ireland forever.” // They proudly waved the Irish flag during the parade, shouting “Erin go bragh!” See the entry > Examples: “Dressed in full Irish regalia, Fitzgerald rode his horse, Jack, through the streets of Clinton every St. Patrick's Day. Jack was also dressed for the occasion, with green ribbons on his mane and a green blanket with gold lettering, ‘Erin Go Bragh.'” — Craig S. Semon, The Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram & Gazette, 22 Dec. 2025 Did you know? March 17th is the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. In the United States, it is also the day of shamrocks, leprechauns, and green beer (and green everything else). Blue was once the color traditionally associated with St. Patrick, but the color green has several links to Ireland, including its use on Ireland's flag in the form of a stripe, its symbolism of Irish nationalism and the country's religious history, and its connection to Ireland's nickname, The Emerald Isle. On St. Patrick's Day, people turn to their dictionary to look up Erin go bragh, which means “Ireland forever.” The original Irish phrase was Erin go brách (or go bráth), which translates literally as “Ireland till doomsday.” It's an expression of loyalty and devotion that first appeared in English during the late 18th-century Irish rebellion against the British.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 16, 2026 is: putative • PYOO-tuh-tiv • adjective Putative is a formal word used to describe something that is generally believed, supposed, or assumed to be something specified. It is always used before a noun. // The group's putative leader was conspicuously absent from the meeting. See the entry > Examples: "... the painting is swept up in questions of identity, provenance, authenticity and putative value." — Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2025 Did you know? There's no need to make assumptions about the root behind putative—we know it comes from a form of the Latin verb putare, which means "to consider" or "to think." Putative is a rather formal word that has been part of English since the 15th century. Like apparent, presumed, and ostensible, it leaves room for a smidgen of doubt: a putative ally will very probably be there for you, and a putative successor is very likely to be the next one in charge, but life offers no guarantees in either case.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 15, 2026 is: tranche • TRAHNSH • noun Tranche refers to a division or portion of a whole. // A tranche of leaked documents was delivered to the newspaper anonymously, with more promised to come. See the entry > Examples: “Congress approved an initial tranche of funding legislation in November as the longest shutdown in history came to an end.” — Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 16 Dec. 2025 Did you know? In French, tranche means “slice.” Cutting deeper into the word's etymology, we find the Old French word trenchier, meaning “to cut,” which has its likely origin in a Latin word meaning “to cut in three,” from Latin trini meaning “three each.” Tranche emerged in the English language in the late 19th century to refer to a division or portion of a larger pool or whole, and later developed a finance-specific meaning referring to an offering for sale of typically a set of bonds “cut” from a larger group of bonds, the tranche being differentiated by such factors as maturity or rate of return.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 14, 2026 is: rash • RASH • adjective Rash describes something done or made quickly and without thought about what will happen as a result. It can also describe someone who is doing something rash. // I later regretted having made such a rash promise in a moment of chaos. // Don't be rash about this decision. Take your time. See the entry > Examples: “The climactic scenes toy with the blurred lines between hallucination and reality, but the logic falls apart; threads like Hana's rash decision to undertake a dangerous surgical fix virtually evaporate without much payoff.” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Feb. 2026 Did you know? Is it possible that the origins of the noun rash (referring to a group of red spots on the skin that is caused by an illness or a reaction to something) and the adjective rash (meaning “overly hasty”) are the same? Not so fast! Like many homonyms—“two or more words spelled and pronounced alike but different in meaning”—the two rashes have distinct sources. The noun rash, which first appeared in English in the late 17th century, probably comes ultimately from the Latin verb rādere, meaning “to scrape, scratch, shave.” The adjective rash appears to be about two centuries older, and comes from a Middle English word rasch meaning “active, quick, eager.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 13, 2026 is: immure • ih-MYOOR • verb To immure something is to enclose it within or as if within walls. Immure is also sometimes used synonymously with imprison. // Scientists at the research station in Antarctica are immured by the frozen wild that surrounds them. See the entry > Examples: "The Torlonia collection, which Alessandro Torlonia moved into a private museum in Rome in 1875, went into hiding in the early 1940s. ... Disputes among family members and with the government left the marbles hidden away, gathering dust and grime. For all those years scholars had to beg and bribe to get in. One government official, desperate to see what gems the Torlonia prince had immured, resorted to dressing up as a cleaner." — Jason Farago, The New York Times, 16 Apr. 2025 Did you know? Like mural, immure comes from murus, a Latin noun meaning "wall." Immure came to English by way of the Medieval Latin verb immurare, formed from murus and the prefix in- (meaning "in" or "within"). Immure, which first appeared in English in the late 16th century, literally means "to wall in" or "to enclose with a wall," but it has extended meanings as well. In addition to senses meaning "to imprison" and "to entomb," the word sometimes has broader applications, essentially meaning "to shut in" or "to confine." One might remark, for example, that a very studious acquaintance spends most of her time "immured in the library."

Good Morning, Fake or For Real, and Jeff's Italian Word of the Day: tariff... 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 March 12, 2026 is: gambit • GAM-bit • noun A gambit is something done or said in order to gain an advantage or to produce a desired effect. // The workers' opening gambit in the negotiations was to demand a wage hike. See the entry > Examples: “Now the book publishing industry has sent a message to all A.I. companies: Our intellectual property isn't yours for the taking, and you cannot act with impunity. This settlement is an opening gambit in a critical battle that will be waged for years to come.” — Andrea Bartz, The New York Times, 1 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Don't let the similarities of sound and general flavor between gambit and gamble trip you up; the two words are unrelated. Gambit first appeared in English in a 1656 chess handbook that was said to feature almost a hundred illustrated gambetts. Gambett traces back first to the Spanish word gambito, and before that to the Italian gambetto, from gamba meaning “leg.” Gambetto referred to the act of tripping someone, as in wrestling, in order to gain an advantage. In chess, gambit (or gambett, as it was once spelled) originally referred to a chess opening whereby the bishop's pawn is intentionally sacrificed—or tripped—to gain an advantage in position. Gambit is now applied to many other chess openings, but after being pinned down for years, it also finally broke free of chess's hold and is used generally to refer to any “move,” whether literal or rhetorical, done to get a leg up, so to speak. While such moves can be risky, gambit is not synonymous with gamble, which likely comes from Old English gamen, meaning “amusement, jest, pastime”—source too of game.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Thursday, 3-12-26, Part 2 of 1 John 2:1-9.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 11, 2026 is: besotted • bih-SAH-tud • adjective Someone described as besotted is so in love that they are unable to think clearly; they are utterly infatuated. Besotted can also be used as a synonym of drunk. // The opening scene of the movie follows a besotted couple at a party, the camera's focus emphasizing their ignorance of all that's around them. See the entry > Examples: “Kathrin [tour guide] is endearingly besotted with her adopted country and spoke about it with the reverence of a convert. Some more things I heard from her that contribute to people in Finland being happy included: sauna culture discouraging fatphobia; emphasis on design—that means even very basic, cheap things are beautiful and robust; and, of course, nature.” — Imogen West-Knights, Slate, 27 Aug. 2025 Did you know? Stumble on the word sot and you will likely find it attached to a person who tends to over-imbibe. The word has referred to a habitual drunkard since the late 16th century, and before that—from the days of Old English—it referred to a fool generally. The now-archaic verb sot followed a similar trajectory, its original meaning of “to cause to appear foolish” being joined later by its “to drink alcohol excessively” meaning. The earliest known recorded use of the related adjective besotted (in the late 16th century, from the the verb besot), however, described a state of figurative intoxication: one besotted was stupefied by love rather than liquor. The still-current sense of besotted meaning “drunk” didn't show up until the early 19th century. In fact, evidence of the “infatuated” sense of besotted also predates the tipple-related senses of the noun sot, verb sot, and verb besot, suggesting perhaps that love may be the strongest intoxicant of all.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Wednesday 3-11-25: 1 John 1: 1-10 Part 1 of 4.:" The 3Testof True Christianity."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 10, 2026 is: mea culpa • may-uh-KOOL-puh • noun The noun mea culpa is used for a formal acknowledgment of personal fault or error. // The podcast host's mea culpa did little to satisfy those who found the episode deeply offensive. See the entry > Examples: "... his apology was the best public mea culpa of this century. ... It was delivered without hesitation, qualification or blame shifting." — John Mosig, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 24 Oct. 2025 Did you know? Mea culpa means "through my fault" in Latin. Said by itself, it's an exclamation of apology or remorse that is used to mean "It was my fault" or "I apologize." Mea culpa is also a noun, however. A newspaper might issue a mea culpa for printing inaccurate information, or a politician might give a speech making mea culpas for past wrongdoings. Mea culpa is one of many English terms that come from the Latin culpa, meaning "guilt." Some other examples are culpable ("meriting condemnation or blame especially as wrong or harmful"), culprit ("one guilty of a crime or a fault"), and exculpate ("to clear from alleged fault or guilt").

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Tuesday 3-10-26(12-23-25) Romans 6: 1-23: "Dead to Sin, Alive to God!" Perfect!  Now we can get busy with walking like Jesus also!  ;()

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 9, 2026 is: hector • HEK-ter • verb To hector someone is to criticize or question them in a threatening way. // The judge ordered the attorney to stop hectoring the witness. See the entry > Examples: “He continued to hector Neal about his inattention to business (‘I have been waiting to hear from you,' again, and again, and again), without any tangible results.” — Jem Aswad, Variety, 5 Aug. 2025 Did you know? In Homer's Iliad, Hector, the eldest son of King Priam of Troy, was a model soldier, son, father, and friend, the champion of the Trojan army until he was killed by the Greek hero Achilles. So how did his name become a verb meaning “to intimidate or harass”? That use was likely influenced by gangs of rowdy street toughs who roamed London in the 17th century and called themselves “Hectors.” They may have thought themselves gallant young blades (that's sense 3b(3)), but to the general populace they were swaggering bullies who intimidated passersby and vandalized property.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Monday 3-9-26 (12-22-25)Isaiah 11:1-5: "The Reign of Jesse's Offspring."

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Friday, 3-6-26: John 5: 24-47: "Life and Judgement are through the Son."

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Saturday 3-7-26: Isaiah 61 (1-10--26)

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 8, 2026 is: crepuscular • krih-PUHSS-kyuh-ler • adjective Crepuscular means “of, relating to, or resembling twilight.” It is used in zoological contexts to describe creatures that are active during twilight, or the activities of such creatures. // As evening came on, fireflies began to appear in the crepuscular gloaming. See the entry > Examples: “To gaze upon a platypus is to witness a jumble of contradictions. … Even when you see one with your own eyes—say, paddling underwater, absorbed in her crepuscular rooting—the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) remains hard to believe.” — Kathleen Yale, Orion, Winter 2025/2026 Did you know? The early Romans had two words for the twilight. Crepusculum was favored by Roman writers for the half-light of evening, just after the sun sets; diluculum was reserved for morning twilight, just before the sun rises—it is related to lūcidus, meaning “bright.” (Crepusculum was likely modeled on diluculum, from the assumed root krepos-, meaning “twilight.”) English speakers didn't embrace either of these Latin nouns as substitutes for the word twilight, but they did form the adjective crepuscular in the 17th century. The word's zoological sense, relating to animals that are most active at twilight, developed in the 19th century.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 7, 2026 is: libertine • LIB-er-teen • noun A libertine is in broad terms a person who is unrestrained by convention or morality. More narrowly, the word describes someone who leads an immoral life. // The legend of Don Juan depicts him as a playboy and libertine. See the entry > Examples: "As horrifying as some of the sins of Victorian scholarship may have been, it would have been anathema to these students of classical philosophy to simply throw out Plato. But that's what some of their modern inheritors have tried to do. … It's worth noting that we might not have Plato's work at all, were it not carefully studied and preserved by the Islamic scholars (hardly libertines themselves) of the medieval period." — R. Bruce Anderson, The Ledger (Lakeland, Florida), 1 Feb. 2026 Did you know? "I only ask to be free," says Mr. Skimpole in Charles Dickens' Bleak House. His words would undoubtedly have appealed to the world's first libertines. The word libertine comes from the Latin lībertīnus, a word used in early writings of Roman antiquity to describe a formerly enslaved person who had been set free (the Roman term for an emancipated person was the Latin lībertus). Middle English speakers used libertine to refer to a freedman, but by the late 1500s its meaning was extended to freethinkers, both religious and secular, and it later came to imply that an individual was a little too unrestrained, especially in moral affairs. The likely Latin root of libertine is līber, the ultimate source of our word liberty.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 6, 2026 is: vaunted • VAWN-tud • adjective Vaunted describes someone or something that is often spoken of or described as very good or great. // The team's vaunted defense faltered in the second half of the game. See the entry > Examples: “After much initial hype, the much vaunted new production partnership fizzled out after just two seasons, leaving the franchise scrambling for a new direction and without a lead actor in its signature role.” — Lacy Baugher, Den of Geek, 22 Jan. 2026 Did you know? The verb vaunt has been used since the 15th century with the meaning “to make a vain display of one's own worth or attainments”—in other words, “to brag or boast.” Over time, vaunt developed the meaning “to boast of (a particular thing),” as in “the promotional flier vaunts the natural beauty of the area,” and that use gave rise to the adjectival form vaunted. The history of vaunt and vaunted leads back to the Latin word vānus, with the meanings “lacking content, empty, illusory, marked by foolish or empty pride.” The word vain itself is also a descendant of vānus.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 5, 2026 is: deem • DEEM • verb Deem is a somewhat formal word used when someone comes to think something or to have something as an opinion after some consideration. // The covered bridge was closed to automobile traffic for the winter because town officials deemed it a hazard to motorists. See the entry > Examples: “bbno$ is an artist who has certainly taken some flak over the years for his style. Some find it to be a gimmick, while others deem it corny. Despite this, he does have a pretty sizable fanbase.” — Alexander Cole, HotNewHipHop.com, 10 Jan. 2026 Did you know? If you feel a sense of doom when asked to define deem, we're here with some details for your dome (sense 7). While today deem is used generally as a synonym of consider (as in “a movie deemed appropriate for all ages”), its origins are more formal, coming specifically from the realm of law. The oldest meaning of deem, which comes from the Old English verb dēman (relative of dōm, meaning “doom”) is “to sit in judgment upon,” as employed by Edmund Spenser in The Faerie Queen: “... at th'one side six Judges were dispos'd, / To view and deem the deeds of arms that day.” This sense was obsolete by the early 17th century, and other senses including “to expect or hope” have come and gone, but deem's use overall has never dimmed. In fact, today's most common meaning of “to come to think or judge something; to consider” has also been in use since Old English and is still deemed quite common.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Thursday, 3-5-26; Matthew 18: 1-35 (11-13-25) "Who is the Greatest?"

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 4, 2026 is: ad hoc • AD-HOCK • adjective Ad hoc describes something that is formed or used for a special purpose, or that is made or done without planning because of an immediate need. // An ad hoc committee was formed to investigate the matter. // The company will hire more staff on an ad hoc basis. See the entry > Examples: "At the centre of the plan were tools designed to help governments and councils move beyond ad hoc responses to extreme weather." — Kirsty Johnston, The New Zealand Herald, 31 Jan. 2026 Did you know? In Latin ad hoc literally means "for this," and in English the term describes anything that can be thought of as existing "for this purpose only." For example, an ad hoc committee is generally authorized to look into a single matter of limited scope, not to broadly pursue any issue of interest. Ad hoc can also be used as an adverb meaning "for the particular end or case at hand without consideration of wider application," as in "decisions were made ad hoc."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 3, 2026 is: spiel • SPEEL • noun A spiel is a fast speech that someone has often said before and that is usually intended to persuade people to buy something or to agree to something. // The founder gave us a long spiel about the benefits of joining the running club. See the entry > Examples: “We were in a hotel and when he and his publicist exited one door of the suite, I slipped out the other to meet him at the elevator. I gave him my spiel about the film and handed him a rough cut on VHS. He said, ‘Alright, we'll take a look.'” — Ed Burns, quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Jan. 2026 Did you know? Here's our spiel on spiel: it's well-known as a noun, and you may also be aware that spiel can be used as a verb meaning “to talk extravagantly,” but did you know that the verb can also mean “to play music”? That, in fact, is the word's original meaning, and one it shares with its German root, spielen. Spiel is also found in glockenspiel, the name of a musical instrument similar to the xylophone.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Tuesday, 3-3-26(10-14-25) Revelation 14: 1-20; "The Lamb and the 144,000, and the Proclamation of the Three Angels."

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 2, 2026 is: exhilarate • ig-ZIL-uh-rayt • verb Exhilarate means "to cause (someone) to feel very happy and excited." It is usually used in the passive voice as (be) exhilarated. // She was exhilarated by the prospect of attending her dream school. See the entry > Examples: "I'll say it: winter is my favorite season for jazz in Chicago. Summer may be busier and splashier, but there's nothing quite like nestling into a darkened club, cheeks flushed from the cold, for a singular and inventive night of music. It does more than thaw frozen fingers: It exhilarates, inspires and inflames, in the best way." — Hannah Edgar, The Chicago Tribune, 11 Jan. 2026 Did you know? Many people find exhilarate a difficult word to spell. It's easy to forget that silent "h" in there, and is it an "er" or "ar" after the "l"? It may be easier to remember the spelling if you know that exhilarate ultimately comes from the Latin adjective hilarus, meaning "cheerful." (This also explains why the earliest meaning of exhilarate is "to make cheerful.") Exhilarate comes from exhilaratus, a form of exhilarare, which combines ex- and hilarare, a verb from hilarus that means "to cheer or gladden." If hilarus looks familiar, that may be because it's also the source of hilarious and hilarity (as well as hilariously and hilariousness, of course).

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Monday 3-2-26 (11-2-25) Galatians 3: 19-29

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 1, 2026 is: paean • PEE-un • noun Paean is a literary word that refers to a song of joy, praise, or victory. It can also be used as a synonym of tribute for a work that praises or honors its subject. // Her retirement party featured many paeans for her long years of service to the company. // Critics considered the movie both a thrilling Western and a paean to the natural beauty of the Rockies. See the entry > Examples: “The show is a tender study of people struggling to do right by themselves and others. It's also a paean to Chicago, my hometown ...” — Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2025 Did you know? In ancient Greece, Paiā́n (or Paiṓn) was a name used for the god Apollo when in the guise of physician to the gods (Paiā́n/Paiṓn comes from the name of an older Mycenaean healer god). Paiā́n and paiṓn were also used to refer to hymns of thanksgiving and praise sung especially to Apollo, as was their Latin descendant, paean. When paean first appeared in English in the late 16th century, it was used both in the context of Greek history and in general for a joyous song or hymn of praise, tribute, thanksgiving, or triumph. Over time, the word became even more generalized, and it is now used for any kind of tribute.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Saturday, 2-28-26 (10-11-25) Jeremiah 23:1-8 "The Branch of Righteousness."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 28, 2026 is: congruous • KAHNG-groo-us • adjective Something described as congruous is in agreement, harmony, or correspondence with something else. Congruous can also describe something that is appropriate for a particular circumstance or requirement, or a thing that is marked or enhanced by harmonious agreement among its constituent elements. // Their professional achievements were congruous with their academic abilities. // The low bookshelf forms a congruous barrier between the spaces. // It is a congruous, plausible story, consistent in all its details. See the entry > Examples: “Hannah is a sustainability consultant and climate impact manager, which is congruous with an outdoor ethos and the culture around bike guiding ...” — Wendy Altschuler, Forbes, 3 Sept. 2024 Did you know? Congruous had only been part of the English language for a few decades in 1615, when a book about the Church of Rome referred to “teaching most congruous to reason.” The word has remained more or less true to its Latin roots: it comes from Latin congruus, an adjective that comes from the verb congruere, meaning “to come together” or “to agree.” (Its more common antonym, incongruous is about the same age.) Another familiar congruere descendant in English is congruent, which first appeared at least a century earlier with the same meaning as congruous. English also acquired congrue, a verb meaning “to be in harmony” or “to agree,” from congruere, but it has since become obsolete.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 27, 2026 is: nettle • NET-ul • verb To nettle someone is to make them angry or annoyed. // Though he tried to maintain a friendly tone, the town official was clearly nettled by the reporter's suggestion that the town was at fault. See the entry > Examples: "I can't help but be reminded of an idiom that irked me no end during times of familial stress ... : 'Use it or lose it.' The message being that if a skill or resource is not regularly utilised, over time, we will lose it. As nettled as I was by it, I now feel obliged to acknowledge the obvious truth behind the catchphrase." — Gwen Loughman, The Journal (Ireland), 21 Aug. 2025 Did you know? If you've ever brushed against nettles, you know those plants have sharp bristles that can leave you smarting and itching. The painful and irritating rash that nettles cause can last for days, but at least it is a rash with a linguistic silver lining. The discomfort caused by nettles can serve to remind one that the verb nettle is a synonym of irritate. Nettle originated as a plant name that we can trace to the Old English word netel. Eventually, people likened the persistent stinging itch caused by the plant to the nagging aggravation of being annoyed, and nettle joined the likes of vex, peeve, and irk in describing such little miseries.

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Friday 2-27-26(10-17-25) Ezra 8:15-20

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday For Wednesday 2-25-26(8-13-25)  Deuteronomy 11: 1-32: "Love and Obedience Rewarded."  Thank goodness, because we all know what happens with the opposite of those!   Sometimes you just have to get rid of the bad things in your life, once and for all before they drag you down to where they are going!  "You are better to enter into life with one eye than to go to hell with two eyes!"

The Word of the Day with Rene' Holaday for Thursday 8-21-25.Luke 17: 1-37: "Jesus Warns of Offenses."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 26, 2026 is: knackered • NAK-erd • adjective Knackered is an adjective mostly used informally in British English to mean “very tired or exhausted.” // Unfortunately, I was too knackered after work to join them for dinner. See the entry > Examples: “‘How are you doing?' ‘Yeah, good thanks... just tired.' I don't know about you, but it feels like I'm having a version of this exchange at least once a day. It seems that everyone I know is genuinely and profoundly knackered. My friends say it. My postman says it. My teenage son says it. Even my partner, who usually has the energy levels of a Duracell-powered soft toy, grudgingly admits his batteries are drained.” — Sara Robinson, The Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales), 22 Nov. 2025 Did you know? An apt synonym for knackered might be the phrase “dead tired” for more than one reason. Knackered is a 20th century coinage that comes from the past participle of knacker, a slang term meaning “to kill,” as well as “to tire, exhaust, or wear out.” This verb knacker likely comes from an older noun knacker, which first referred to a harness-maker or saddlemaker, and later to a buyer of animals no longer able to do farmwork (or their carcasses). Knackered is used on both sides of the Atlantic but is more common among British speakers.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 25, 2026 is: onomatopoeia • ah-nuh-mah-tuh-PEE-uh • noun Onomatopoeia refers to the creation of words that imitate natural sounds. It can also refer to the words themselves, such as buzz and hiss. // The author's clever use of onomatopoeia delights children especially. See the entry > Examples: “As they began to slurp, columns of noodles steadily streamed upward into their open jaws. The jazz soundtrack of Hiromi's Sonicwonder playing ‘Yes! Ramen!!' was punctuated by a gurgling roar reminiscent of shop vacs inhaling shallow pools. ‘We call it ‘hitting the zu's,'' says Steigerwald, noting the reference to zuru zuru, the onomatopoeia for slurping ramen in Japanese comics.” — Craig LaBan, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 18 Jan. 2026 Did you know? English speakers have only used the word onomatopoeia since the 1500s, but people have been creating words that imitate the sounds heard around them for much longer; chatter, for example, dates to the 1200s. Some onomatopes (as onomatopoeic words are sometimes called) are obvious—fizz, jingle, toot, and pop do not surprise. But did you know that other onomatopes include bounce, tinker, and blimp? Boom! Now you do. In fact, the presence of so many imitative words in language spawned the linguistic bowwow theory, which hypothesizes that language originated in the imitating of natural sounds. While it's highly unlikely that onomatopoeia is the sole impetus for human language, it certainly made a mark, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 24, 2026 is: umpteen • UMP-teen • adjective Umpteen is an informal adjective meaning "very many" or "indefinitely numerous." // The artist has painted the same subject umpteen times, yet each piece has its own unique quality. See the entry > Examples: "The life of a showgirl often includes umpteen costume changes, elaborate props and copious amounts of hairspray." – The Economist, 4 Oct. 2025 Did you know? There may not be a gazillion ways in English to refer to a large, indefinite number, but there are definitely more than a soupçon. Many of these, such as zillion, bazillion, kazillion, jillion, and bajillion, start with -illion (as in million) and add a satisfying consonant or syllable in front for some extra oomph. The adjective umpteen does the same for -teen, with the oomph provided by the ump in umpty. Umpty, an adjective meaning "such and such" (as in "umpty percent" or "umpty-four") arose, like umpteen, in the latter half of the 1800s. We only occasionally use umpty these days, but you're bound to hear or read umpteen and umpteenth ("latest or last in an indefinitely numerous series") any number of times.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 23, 2026 is: culminate • KUL-muh-nayt • verb To culminate is to reach the end or the final result of something. Culminate is usually used with in or with. // Their efforts have culminated in the discovery of a new treatment. See the entry > Examples: “The grand emotions of these cartoons-come-to-life culminate in huge song and dance numbers, the songs sung by the voices you know and love from the movies and the dances enhanced by the grace of topflight figure skating.” — Christopher Arnott, The Hartford Courant, 11 Jan. 2026 Did you know? When a star or other heavenly body culminates, it reaches its highest point above the horizon from the vantage point of an observer on the ground. The English verb culminate was drawn (via Medieval Latin) from the Late Latin verb culminare, meaning “to crown,” specifically for this astronomical application. Its ultimate root is the Latin noun culmen, meaning “top.” Today, the word's typical context is less lofty: it can mean “to reach a climactic point,” as in “a long career culminating in a prestigious award,” but it can also simply mean “to reach the end of something,” as in “a sentence culminating in a period.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 22, 2026 is: foray • FOR-ay • noun A foray is an initial and often hesitant attempt to do something in a new or different field or area of activity, as in “the novelist's foray into nonfiction.” In martial contexts, foray means “a sudden or irregular invasion or attack for war or spoils.” // The professional wrestler's surprise foray into ballet was at first met with skepticism, but he eventually proved himself a dancer of grace and poise. See the entry > Examples: “Bryan Escareño's foray into fashion was the result of happenstance. In 2018, the designer, who was born and raised in Venice, California, bought a green vintage Singer sewing machine at a garage sale determined to learn to make the perfect pair of denim pants. … He began honing his sewing skills, eventually crafting cut-and-sew flannel shirts that caught the eye of his colleagues at LA's Wasteland, a high-end resale boutique.” — Celia San Miguel, USA Today, 3 Dec. 2025 Did you know? For centuries, foray referred only to a sudden or irregular invasion or attack, but in the late 19th century it began to venture into gentler semantic territory. While the newer sense of foray still involves a trek into a foreign territory, the travel is figurative: when you make this kind of foray, you dabble in an area, occupation, or pastime that's new to you. Take the particularly apt example (stay tuned) of mushroom hunting. The likely ancestor of foray is an Anglo-French word referring to the violent sort who do invasion forays, but that word could also refer to a forager—that is, one who wanders in search of food. (Forage has the same etymological source.) Interestingly, foray has seen a resurgence of use connected to its foraging roots, as evidenced by the growing popularity of mycophile-led mushroom “forays” that have been lately popping up like toadstools.