Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 6, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    ad hominem  \ad-HAH-muh-num\   adjective
    Something described as ad hominem involves an attack on an opponent’s character rather than an answer to assertions or points that the opponent has made.

// The debate between the mayoral candidates was going smoothly until the ad hominem attacks began. 

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    Examples:
    “Ad hominem arguments are viewed, almost universally, as bad, bad, bad.... Students are taught to differentiate between their opponent and their opponent’s argument. The rationale for doing so makes perfect sense. In theory, a person’s merits are irrelevant to whether their argument makes logical sense. An argument depends on nothing more than whether its conclusion follows its premises; the speaker, you might say, is just the messenger.” — Mehdi Hasan, Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking, 2023
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    Ad hominem literally means “to the person” in New Latin (Latin as used since the end of the medieval period). In centuries past, the term was used in the phrase “argument ad hominem” (or argumentum ad hominem, to use the full New Latin phrase) to refer to a method of persuasion in which one introduces issues that relate personally to one’s opponent, such as the opponent’s habits, practices, or circumstances, instead of just sticking to principles or facts. What exactly came into play in such persuasions eventually expanded, and ad hominem came to describe an attack aimed at an opponent’s character rather than their ideas. The hostile nature of such attacks has led to an understanding of the term as meaning “against the person,” rather than its original Latin meaning of “to the person.”

ad hominem

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 5, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    luminary  \LOO-muh-nair-ee\   noun
    A luminary is a person of prominence or brilliant achievement. The word luminary may also refer to a celestial body, such as the sun or moon.

// Luminaries of the art world congregated at the international convention.

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    Examples:
    "The upcoming documentary will dive deep into the lives of the next generation of basketball luminaries, Jonquel Jones, Nneka Ogwumike, and Breanna Stewart, as well as WNBA legend, Sheryl Swoopes." — Okla Jones, Essence, 18 Dec. 2023
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    As, dare we say, leading lights of the dictionary game, we're here to brighten your day with the 411 on luminary. This word has been casting its glow in English since the 15th century, and it traces back to the Latin word lumen, meaning "light." Other lumen descendants in English include illuminate ("to light up"), luminous ("emitting light"), phillumenist ("one who collects matchbooks or matchbox labels"), and bioluminescence ("the emission of light from living organisms").

luminary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 4, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    salubrious  \suh-LOO-bree-us\   adjective
    Salubrious is a formal word that means “favorable to or promoting health or well-being.”

// They picked up several salubrious habits on their wellness retreat in Bali. 

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    Examples:
    “Despite their salubrious sounding name, fruit flies ... eat food that is decaying. They inhabit rubbish bins, compost heaps or any place where food is present, including drains.” — Primrose Freestone, The Conversation, 31 Aug. 2023
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    Salubrious, like healthful and wholesome, describes things that are favorable to the health of the mind or body. (A rather formal and somewhat rare word, it is related by its Latin ancestor salubris to the very common English word safe.) Unlike healthful and wholesome, salubrious tends to apply chiefly to the helpful effects of climate or air, as in “the salubrious climate of the tropical island.” Salubrious seems to be expanding semantically; we occasionally see evidence of it being used as a descriptor of prosperous people or locales. This is the sense used by British author Zadie Smith in her 2023 historical novel The Fraud when she writes: “Following the more salubrious element of the crowd, they found themselves on the second floor of Lady Blessington’s Old Gore House, recently converted into a restaurant by Alexis Soyer.”

salubrious

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 3, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    connive  \kuh-NYVE\   verb
    To connive is to secretly help someone do something dishonest or illegal.

// Roger suspected that his coworkers were conniving to get him fired when in reality they were planning his surprise birthday party. 

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    Examples:
    "The truth is that conflict on the river will never be stilled because there will always be more demand for the water than there is water. As I reported in 'Colossus,' my 2010 book about the building of Hoover Dam, [Herbert] Hoover and his deputy, Arthur Powell Davis, connived in 1922 to exaggerate the Colorado River's flow in order to persuade all seven states that it carried enough water to serve their interests, then and into the future." — Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times, 8 Feb. 2023
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    Connive may not seem like a term that would raise many hackles, but it certainly raised those of Wilson Follett, a usage critic who lamented that the word "was undone during the Second World War, when restless spirits felt the need of a new synonym for plotting, bribing, spying, conspiring, engineering a coup, preparing a secret attack." Follett thought connive should only mean "to wink at" or "to pretend ignorance." Those senses are closer to the Latin ancestor of the word: connive comes from the Latin verb connivēre, which means "to close the eyes" and which is descended from -nivēre, a form akin to the Latin verb nictare, meaning "to wink." But many English speakers disagreed, and the "conspire" sense is now the word's most widely used meaning.

connive

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 2, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    proximity  \prahk-SIM-uh-tee\   noun
    Proximity is the quality or state of being near or proximate. The word proximity is synonymous with closeness.

// The apartment's proximity to hiking trails is a definite plus.

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    Examples:
    "... research on employee proximity conducted at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that sitting near senior colleagues led junior engineers to learn more and to be less likely to leave their jobs, an effect that was particularly pronounced for women and younger employees." — Amy Edmondson, WIRED, 8 Jan. 2024
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    The fact that the star closest in proximity to our sun (approximately 4.2 light-years distant) is named Proxima Centauri is no coincidence. The history of proximity hinges on the idea of closeness, both physical and metaphorical. English speakers borrowed the word from Middle French, which in turn acquired it from forms of the Latin adjective proximus, meaning "nearest" or "next." Close relatives of proximity in English include proximal, proximate, and the somewhat more rare approximal (meaning "contiguous"). A number of other languages, including Catalan, Portuguese, and Italian, have similar words that come from the Latin proximus.

proximity

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 1, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    inveterate  \in-VET-uh-rut\   adjective
    Inveterate is a formal word used to describe someone who is always or often doing something specified. For instance, a person could be an inveterate liar, or inveterate prankster. Inveterate can also mean "firmly established by long persistence," as in "an inveterate tendency to overlook the obvious."

// She's an inveterate traveler who constantly searches for flight deals to her next destination.

// Carla’s inveterate optimism keeps her going during challenging times. 

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    Examples:
    "I am an inveterate name dropper as you have just very politely pointed out. I left it to the editor to decide whether something was too much ... and she just said, 'That is a reflection of how your brain works.'" — Richard E. Grant, quoted in The Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2023
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    Despite how it may seem at first glance, inveterate has nothing to do with lacking a spine. That’s invertebrate, which came into English in the early 19th century from New Latin, the Latin vocabulary used in scientific description and classification. Inveterate, on the other hand, is a true veteran of the English language, with a membership card dating to the 15th century. Like veteran, inveterate ultimately comes from the Latin adjective vetus, which means "old." (In times past, inveterate had among its meanings "old.") The more direct source of inveterate, however, is the Latin adjective inveteratus, with which it shares the meaning "firmly established by long persistence." Today inveterate most often describes someone who so frequently or invariably engages in a particular habit or attitude as to be regularly identified with that habit or attitude, as when political columnist Jamelle Bouie observed "The truth is that our best presidents—or at least our most successful ones—have been inveterate flip-floppers, willing to break from unpopular positions, move with political winds, and adjust to new complications."

inveterate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 29, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    demean  \dih-MEEN\   verb
    To demean someone or something is to cause that person or thing to seem less important or worthy of respect.

// By refusing to condemn the unlawful actions of her supporters, the governor demeaned the office she was elected to hold. 

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    Examples:
    “Balding, bespectacled [Hubert] Eaton didn’t lack self-esteem. He went by the godlike nickname ‘the Builder,’ and in the early days of his cemetery, he crafted a mission statement that sounded more like a set of holy commandments than a business plan. He had the Builder’s Creed etched onto a giant stone tablet that still stands in front of the Great Mausoleum. The creed demeans traditional cemeteries as ‘unsightly stone-yards full of inartistic symbols and depressing customs’ and promises all who read it that the Builder will offer a better place for people to go after their deaths.” — Greg Melville, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Sept. 2022
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    There are two words spelled demean in English. One has a construction similar to its synonym, debase: where debase combines the prefix de- with an adjective base, meaning “low” or “vile,” demean applies de- to the adjective mean, meaning “inferior or contemptible.” The basic meaning the pair shares, “to lower in character or esteem,” is quite at odds with that of the other demean: “to conduct or behave oneself.” This demean comes from the Anglo-French verb demener (“to conduct”), and is generally used in formal contexts to specify a type of behavior, as in “he demeaned himself in a most unfriendly manner”; “she demeaned herself as befitting her station in life”; and “they knew not how to demean themselves in the king’s presence.” As such, it may be possible to demean someone for the way they demean themselves, though we assert that would be doubly mean.

demean

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 28, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    jeopardy  \JEP-er-dee\   noun
    Jeopardy is defined as "exposure to or imminence of death, loss, or injury"; it is synonymous with danger. In legal contexts, jeopardy refers specifically to the danger that an accused person is subjected to when on trial for a criminal offense.

// Rather than risk placing passengers in jeopardy, the pilot waited for the storm to pass before taking off.

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    Examples:
    "As Dior rises to prominence with his groundbreaking, iconic imprint of beauty and influence, Chanel’s reign as the world’s most famous fashion designer is put into jeopardy." — Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 16 Nov. 2023
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    We'll start with the answer and you provide the question: A word meaning "danger" that inspired the title of a popular game show. Got it? If you buzzed in "what is jeopardy?" you are correct! Today’s word dates back to at least the 1300s, but its Middle English form can make it hard to spot: it appears in the phrase "in jupartie" with a meaning very much akin to the word's meaning in the modern phrase "in jeopardy"—that is, "in danger." The spellings of what we now render only as jeopardy were formerly myriad. The Oxford English Dictionary reports that between the late 14th and mid-17th centuries the word was spelled in a great variety of ways, among them ieupardyes (the spelling Chaucer used in The Canterbury Tales), iupertie, iupartye, ieoperdis, and juperti. Indeed, like the eponymous quiz show Jeopardy!, today’s word has a long history; we’d wager it has a long future, too.

jeopardy

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 27, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    translucent  \trans-LOO-sunt\   adjective
    Translucent describes something that is not completely clear or transparent but is clear enough to allow light to pass through.

// They admired the translucent gemstones on the display at the museum.

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    Examples:
    "What you want to buy are dry scallops, which have never been soaked or treated. Dry scallops are visually distinguishable from their wet counterparts: Their cylindrical edges are more clearly defined, while the firm meat has a moist sheen and looks almost translucent." — Tim Cebula, The Portland (Maine) Press Herald, 14 Jan. 2024
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    Let’s shine a light on translucent and a couple of its relatives. Look closely and you will see the same group of three letters in translucent, elucidate, and lucid, illuminating the family relationship between the three words. All descend from the Latin word lucēre, meaning "to shine." Translucent is from lucēre plus trans-, which means "through"—hence, something translucent allows light to pass through. To elucidate something is to metaphorically shine a light on it by explaining it clearly; a lucid person is able to think clearly, and lucid writing is easy to understand. We hope this light explainer helps clarify things.

translucent

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 26, 2024 is:
    
  
  
  
    retinue  \RET-uh-noo\   noun
    A retinue is a group of helpers, supporters, or followers.

// The venue relies on a retinue of workers to carry out large events. 

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    Examples:
    "Royal Island, a swanky Caribbean oasis in The Bahamas, awaits its next king or queen and their lucky retinue of family and friends." — Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 11 Jan. 2024
  
  
  
    Did you know?
    Retinue comes via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb retenir, meaning "to retain or keep in one's pay or service." Another retenir descendant is retainer, which has among its meanings "one who serves a person of high position or rank." In the 14th century, such retainers typically served a noble or royal of some kind, and retinue referred to a collection of retainers—that is, the noble's servants and companions. Nowadays, the word retinue is often used with a bit of exaggeration to refer to the assistants, guards, publicists, and other people who accompany a high-profile individual in public. You might also hear such a collection of folks called a suite or entourage, two other words that come from French.

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