Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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 en

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 reflec

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 10, 2026 is: collude • \kuh-LOOD\  • verb To collude is to work with others secretly especially in order to do something illegal or dishonest. Collude is used as a synonym of conspire and plot. // She is accused of colluding with known criminals. See the entry > Examples: "Two lawsuits filed in April accuse hundreds of insurers of colluding to drop policyholders and force them onto the plan, which offers limited policies that typically cost more." — Laurence Darmiento, The Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2025 Did you know? Colluding—working secretly with others to do something deceitful or illegal—is not a game, but you'd never know it if you took your cues on the meaning of collude solely from its etymology. Collude comes from the Latin verb colludere, which in turn combines the prefix com-, meaning "together," and the verb ludere, "to play." Ludere, in turn, comes from ludus, mean

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 9, 2026 is: innocuous • \ih-NAH-kyuh-wus\  • adjective Innocuous describes either something that is not likely to bother or offend anyone (as in “an innocuous comment”), or something that causes no injury, or is otherwise considered harmless (as in “an innocuous prank”). // The reporter asked what seemed like an innocuous question, but it prompted the candidate to storm off, abruptly ending the press conference. See the entry > Examples: “Strong solar storms can be dangerous for astronauts in space, and can cause problems for GPS systems and satellites. ... But solar storms can also have more innocuous consequences on Earth, such as supercharged displays of the northern lights.” — Denise Chow, NBC News (online), May 15, 2025 Did you know? Innocuous is rooted in a lack of harm: it comes from the Latin adjective innocuus, which was formed by combining the negative prefix in- wi

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 8, 2026 is: gumbo • \GUM-boh\  • noun Gumbo refers to a soup thickened with okra pods or filé and containing meat or seafoods and usually vegetables. The word is also used figuratively to refer to a mixture or blend of something. // The reputation of the family’s gumbo guaranteed them an invitation to any and all neighborhood potlucks. // She draws her artistic inspiration from the city’s rich gumbo of musical styles. See the entry > Examples: “Gram and Aunt Rachel got a big bucket of gumbo on the way home ... and we ate it out of the container with plastic spoons in front of the clubhouse TV, watching episode after episode of Jeopardy!, none of us wagering any answers. Gull sat in my lap and picked out the okra.” — Tennessee Hill, Girls with Long Shadows: A Novel, 2025 Did you know? Gumbo refers to an aromatic soup of the Creole cuisine of Louisiana, combining African, Indig

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 7, 2026 is: eminently • \EM-uh-nunt-lee\  • adverb Eminently is used as a synonym of very and means "to a high degree." // Our team came up with an eminently sensible plan to reduce waste. See the entry > Examples: "This was jazz of the highest order—challenging, yet accessible, eminently entertaining and arrestingly beautiful. Goosebumps were felt." — T'Cha Dunlevy, The Gazette (Montreal, Canada), 8 July 2025 Did you know? When British physician Tobias Venner wrote in 1620 of houses "somewhat eminently situated," he meant that the houses were located at an elevated site—they were literally in a high place. That use has since slipped into obsolescence, as has the word's use to mean "conspicuously"—a sense that reflects its Latin root, ēminēre, which means "to stick out" or "protrude." All three meanings date to the 17th century, but today's figurative sense of "notably" or "ve

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 6, 2026 is: loll • \LAHL\  • verb Loll most often means “to droop or hang loosely.” It can also mean “to act or move in a relaxed or lazy manner.” // We’re counting down the days until the weather will be warm enough again to laze and loll by the pool. See the entry > Examples: “Just across the highway at Año Nuevo State Park, elephant seals loll lazily on the beach.” — Scott Clark, quoted in Saveur, 3 Apr. 2025 Did you know? Despite appearances, loll isn’t an exaggerated version of the abbreviation LOL. It isn’t even related to laughing. Instead, it is about hanging out, both literally and figuratively. Like another relaxing verb, lull (“to cause to rest or sleep”), it probably originated as an imitation of the soft sounds people make when resting or trying to soothe someone else to sleep. In addition to meaning “to hang loosely,” as in “a dog with its tongue lolling out,” lo

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 5, 2026 is: marginalia • \mahr-juh-NAY-lee-uh\  • noun Marginalia is a plural noun that refers to notes or other marks written in the margins of a text, and also to nonessential matters or items. // I loved flipping through my literature textbooks to find the marginalia left behind by former students. // She found the documentary's treatment of not only the major events but also the marginalia of Scandinavian history fascinating. See the entry > Examples: “Marginalia have a long history: Leonardo da Vinci famously scribbled thoughts about gravity years before Galileo Galilei published his magnum opus on the subject; the discovery was waiting under our noses in the margins of Leonardo’s Codex Arundel.” — Brianne Kane, Scientific American, 19 Sept. 2025 Did you know? In the introduction to his essay titled “Marginalia,” Edgar Allan Poe wrote: “In getting my books, I have alway

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 4, 2026 is: titanic • \tye-TAN-ik\  • adjective Something described as titanic is very great in size, force, or power. // The batter saved the game in the bottom of the ninth inning by hitting a titanic home run right out of the park. See the entry > Examples: “Absurdly, though, if you were standing on a Rodinian beach [on the ancient supercontinent of Rodinia] you might not have even noticed the seas rising at all. This is because, as the land bounced back from underneath the weight of the now-vanished ice sheets, and the gravitational pull of these titanic ice sheets on the oceans disappeared, the seas might have appeared to some Rodinian beachgoers to instead retreat from the coast, and even drop by over three hundred feet—despite the unthinkable rise in sea level globally.” — Peter Brannan, The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World, 2025 Di

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 3, 2026 is: senescence • \sih-NESS-unss\  • noun Senescence is a formal and technical word that refers to the state of being old or the process of becoming old. // Our grandparents, now in their senescence, are enjoying spending more time with family and going on new adventures together. See the entry > Examples: “Pilates provides improvements in core strength, flexibility and balance, even when done just once a week. It can help with stress relief, as well as anxiety and depression. Among those 60 years of age and older, Pilates has even been shown to slow the process of senescence.” — Leah Asmelash, CNN, 7 Sept. 2025 Did you know? Senescence can be traced back to Latin senex, meaning “old.” Can you guess which other English words come from senex? Senile might (correctly) come to mind, as well as senior. But another one might surprise you: senate. This word for a legislative