Author: Paul Schleifer
Word of the Day: Conflate
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Merriam-Webster, is conflate. The history of this word is quite interesting. Merriam-Webster gives two definitions: “Two closely related meanings of the verb conflate […]
Word of the Day: Flay
Today’s word of the day, thanks to WordReference.com, is flay, a verb that means “‘to strip the skin off an animal or a person’ or ‘to strip the outer covering […]
Word of the Day: Meliorism
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of the Word Gurus, is meliorism. Interestingly, the email I received from the Word Gurus spelled the word with two ls (melliorism), but I […]
Word of the Day: Mnemonic
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of vocabulary.com, is mnemonic. “A mnemonic is a memory aid for something, often taking the form of a rhyme or an acronym. I before […]
Word of the Day: Malapropism
Today’s word of the day is malapropism. A malapropism is “an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, especially by the confusion of words that are similar in sound” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/malapropism). […]
Word of the Day: Bunkum
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Merriam-Webster, is bunkum. The dictionary’s website says this about this noun: “Bunkum is an old-fashioned and informal word that refers to foolish or […]
Word of the Day: Peccant
Today’s word of the day, thanks to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Gard, is peccant (https://wordsmith.org/words/today.html). Peccant is an adjective that means “sinning; guilty of a moral offense” or “violating a rule, […]
Word of the Day Angel
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of the Old English Wordhord, is angel, though on the Wordhord website it is actually engel. An angel is, of course, a spiritual being, […]
Word of the Day: Gargoyles
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of Merriam-Webster, is gargoyle. A gargoyle is “a strange or grotesque human or animal figure that sticks out from the roof of a building […]
Word of the Day: Kvetch
Today’s word of the day, thanks to the New York Times, is kvetch. Kvetch can be either a noun or a verb. As a verb, it means to “express complaints, […]
Word of the Day: Conundrum
Today’s word of the day, courtesy of the Dictionary Project, is conundrum, a noun which means “a riddle, with an answer that is a pun or play on words” or […]
Word of the Day: Tenacious
Today’s word of the day, thanks to The Dictionary Project’s daily newsletter, is tenacious. It is an adjective with several meanings that depend, partly, on whether it is modifying a […]