Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 8, 2025 is:
exemplary • \ig-ZEM-pluh-ree\ • adjective
Something described as exemplary is extremely good and deserves to be admired and copied.
// Our research team was awarded for our exemplary work on the project.
See the entry >
Examples:
“[Director, Oliver] Hermanus again shows highly polished craftsmanship, adding the subtlest hint of sepia tones to evoke the period in the early sections, but never to the point where the characters compete with the settings. His direction of the actors is exemplary, even with characters seen only briefly ...” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 May 2025
Did you know?
It’s usually not a good thing if someone wants to make an example of you, unless, of course, it’s because you happen to be exemplary. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, someone or something may be deemed exemplary if they, by their example, are worthy of imitation. Like a few other English words beginning with ex—such as exceptional and extraordinary—exemplary describes that which is a cut above the rest. But though exemplary, which comes from the Latin noun exemplum (“example”), describes something “excellent,” it almost always carries the further suggestion that the thing described is an excellent model to follow.
--------
1:45
--------
1:45
procrastinate
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 7, 2025 is:
procrastinate • \pruh-KRASS-tuh-nayt\ • verb
To procrastinate is to be slow or late about doing something that should be done, or about doing or attending to things in general.
// Tickets to the event are selling swiftly, so don't procrastinate—buy yours today.
// Not one to procrastinate, Harry set to work on the project immediately.
See the entry >
Examples:
"Researchers found that individuals who tend to procrastinate often do so because they fear not meeting their high standards or worry too much about failing. The study also showed that this fear of failure and the habit of overgeneralizing failures (like thinking one mistake means you're a failure) strongly connect perfectionism to procrastination." — Mark Travers, Forbes, 28 May 2025
Did you know?
We won't put off telling you about out the origins of procrastinate: it comes from the Latin prefix pro-, meaning "forward," and crastinus, meaning "of tomorrow." To procrastinate is to work or move slowly so as to fall behind; it implies blameworthy delay especially through laziness or apathy. English has other words with similar meanings, such as defer and postpone, but none places the blame so directly on the person responsible for choosing a later time to do something. Procrastinate is also a malleable word: English speakers have wasted no time creating clever variations, most of them delightfully self-explanatory. Don't let coinages like procrastibake, procrastinetflix, and procrasticlean pass you by; they may not meet our criteria for entry into the dictionary, but their potentials for use are undeniable.
--------
2:06
--------
2:06
procrastinate
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 7, 2025 is:
procrastinate • \pruh-KRASS-tuh-nayt\ • verb
To procrastinate is to be slow or late about doing something that should be done, or about doing or attending to things in general.
// Tickets to the event are selling swiftly, so don't procrastinate—buy yours today.
// Not one to procrastinate, Harry set to work on the project immediately.
See the entry >
Examples:
"Researchers found that individuals who tend to procrastinate often do so because they fear not meeting their high standards or worry too much about failing. The study also showed that this fear of failure and the habit of overgeneralizing failures (like thinking one mistake means you're a failure) strongly connect perfectionism to procrastination." — Mark Travers, Forbes, 28 May 2025
Did you know?
We won't put off telling you about the origins of procrastinate: it comes from the Latin prefix pro-, meaning "forward," and crastinus, meaning "of tomorrow." To procrastinate is to work or move slowly so as to fall behind; it implies blameworthy delay especially through laziness or apathy. English has other words with similar meanings, such as defer and postpone, but none places the blame so directly on the person responsible for choosing a later time to do something. Procrastinate is also a malleable word: English speakers have wasted no time creating clever variations, most of them delightfully self-explanatory. Don't let coinages like procrastibake, procrastinetflix, and procrasticlean pass you by; they may not meet our criteria for entry into the dictionary, but their potentials for use are undeniable.
--------
2:06
--------
2:06
antic
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 6, 2025 is:
antic • \AN-tik\ • noun
Antic refers to an attention-drawing, often wildly playful or funny act or action. It is usually used in its plural form, and is often used disapprovingly.
// It wasn't clear which students were ultimately responsible for the antics that unfolded in the cafeteria that day.
See the entry >
Examples:
“A couple of adult gorillas, including one majestic silverback, lay indolently on the ground—seemingly reveling in the early morning sunshine, while a pair of young gorillas tumbled down from a mound and played together on the muddy earth. It was remarkable to see how similar they are to humans. They live in family groups and their movements, antics and expressions are so like ours. In fact, data shows that humans and gorillas differ in only 1.75 per cent of their DNA, far less than previously assumed. (Chimpanzees—our closest relatives—differ only 1.37 per cent from our genomes.)” — Zeineb Badawi, An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence, 2025
Did you know?
When referring to one of the grotesques—the fanciful, often fantastical mural paintings found in the ruins of ancient Roman buildings—the Italian descendants of the ancient Romans used the word antico, meaning “ancient thing.” In 16th-century English, antico (itself a descendant of the Latin word for “ancient,” antiquus) became antic, and got applied as both a noun and an adjective in contexts related to decorative art—sculptures, painting, architecture, etc.—inspired by the original grotesques. Antic shifted in meaning over time, eventually gaining the senses we use more often today: antic as an adjective describes the absurd or whimsical, and antic as a usually plural noun refers to attention-grabbing, playful or funny acts and actions.
--------
2:16
--------
2:16
cantankerous
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 5, 2025 is:
cantankerous • \kan-TANK-uh-rus\ • adjective
A cantankerous person is often angry and annoyed, and a cantankerous animal or thing is difficult or irritating to deal with.
// Although the former postman was regarded by some townspeople as a scowling, cantankerous old coot, he was beloved by neighborhood children, to whom he would regularly hand out butterscotch candies from his front stoop with a twinkle in his eye.
See the entry >
Examples:
“The film ‘Hard Truths,’ which opens in New York on Friday and nationwide in January, centers on [Marianne] Jean-Baptiste’s Pansy, a cantankerous middle-aged woman who spits venom at unsuspecting shop assistants, bald babies, her 20-something son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) and her dentist, among others.” — Simran Hans, The New York Times, 9 Dec. 2024
Did you know?
A person described as cantankerous may find it more difficult than most to turn that frown upside down, while a cantankerous mule/jalopy/etc. is difficult to deal with—it may not turn in your desired direction. It’s been speculated that cantankerous is a product of the obsolete word contack, meaning “contention,” under the influence of a pair of “difficult” words still in use: rancorous and cankerous. Rancorous brings the anger and “bitter deep-seated ill will” (as rancor can be understood to mean), and cankerous brings the perhaps understandable foul mood: a cankerous person suffers from painful sores—that is, cankers.
USA