Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23, 2025 is:
desolate • \DESS-uh-lut\ • adjective
Desolate describes places that lack people, plants, animals, etc., that make people feel welcome in a place; desolate places are, in other words, deserted or barren. Desolate can also mean “joyless” or “gloomy.”
// We drove for hours along a desolate stretch of road until finally a lone gas station appeared in the middle of nowhere.
See the entry >
Examples:
“... the great novelists were my guide, and none more so than my grandfather. I learnt from him complexity of motivation, a willingness to take risks with storytelling, and the vital importance of landscape. Like Thomas Hardy, my grandfather was able to make his readers see what he wrote, whether it be the beauty of Rivendell or the desolate landscapes of Mordor.” — Simon Tolkien, LitHub.com, 29 May 2025
Did you know?
The word desolate hasn’t strayed far from its Latin roots: its earliest meaning of “deserted” mirrors that of its Latin source dēsōlātus, which comes from the verb dēsōlāre, meaning “to leave all alone; forsake; empty of inhabitants.” That word’s root is sōlus, meaning “lone; acting without a partner; lonely; deserted,” source too of the “lonely” words sole, soliloquy, solitary, solitude, and solo. Desolate also functions as a verb (its last syllable rhymes with wait rather than what) with its most common meanings being “to lay waste” and “to make wretched; to make someone deeply dejected or distressed.”
--------
2:00
--------
2:00
metonymy
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 22, 2025 is:
metonymy • \muh-TAH-nuh-mee\ • noun
Metonymy refers to a figure of speech in which a word that is associated with something is used to refer to the thing itself, as when crown is used to mean “king” or “queen.”
// Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood are common examples of metonymy.
See the entry >
Examples:
“The stick used to command the crowd is called a ‘brigadier.’ A brigadier is usually used to describe one who commands a military brigade, yes, but does not a stage manager lead his theater brigade? That’s the idea, according to organizers. It was a term used so often to refer to a stick-wielding stage manager that, through the magic of metonymy, the stick itself is now referred to as a brigadier.” — Emma Bowman, NPR, 6 Aug. 2024
Did you know?
When Mark Antony asks the people of Rome to lend him their ears in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar he is asking them to listen to him, not to literally allow him to borrow their ears. It’s a classic example of the rhetorical device known as metonymy, which comes to English (via Latin) from the Greek word of the same meaning, metōnymia: the use of a word that is associated with something to refer to the thing itself. Metonymy often appears in news articles and headlines, as when journalists use the term crown to refer to a king or queen. Another common example is the use of an author’s name to refer to works written by that person, as in “They are studying Austen.” Metonymy is closely related to synecdoche, which is a figure of speech in which the word for a part of something is used to refer to the thing itself (as in “need some extra hands for the project”), or less commonly, the word for a thing itself is used to refer to part of that thing (as when society denotes “high society”).
--------
2:26
--------
2:26
bloviate
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 21, 2025 is:
bloviate • \BLOH-vee-ayt\ • verb
To bloviate is to speak or write in an arrogant tone and with more words than are necessary.
// The podcaster tends to bloviate endlessly on topics about which he is not particularly knowledgeable.
See the entry >
Examples:
"While other characters bloviate about their lives, Barbara is a much more internal character, her quietness making her seem all the more an outsider in her hometown." — Kristy Puchko, Mashable.com, 13 June 2025
Did you know?
Warren G. Harding is often linked to the word bloviate, but to him the word wasn't insulting; it simply meant "to spend time idly." Harding used the word often in that "hanging around" sense, but during his tenure as the 29th U.S. President (1921-23), he became associated with the "verbose" sense of bloviate, as his speeches tended to be on the long-winded side. Although he is sometimes credited with having coined the word, it's more likely that Harding picked it up from local slang while hanging around with his boyhood buddies in Ohio in the late 1800s. The term likely comes from a combination of the word blow plus the suffix -ate.
--------
1:46
--------
1:46
gauche
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 20, 2025 is:
gauche • \GOHSH\ • adjective
Gauche describes someone or something having or showing a lack of awareness about the proper way to behave. When describing a person or a behavior, gauche can mean “socially awkward” or “tactless”; when describing an object (such as a product with a vulgar image or slogan on it) it can mean “crudely made or done.”
// Some people view giving cash in lieu of a wrapped present to be terribly gauche, but I like knowing that my friends and family will be able to pick out something they truly want.
See the entry >
Examples:
“Ignorance of classical music, for many people, is no longer something to be ashamed of, as it was sixty or seventy years ago. If you are indifferent to it, no one will notice; if you hate it, you may even be praised for your lack of snobbery. Almost no one will be so gauche as to tell you that you are missing out on something that could change your life.” — David Denby, The New Yorker, 20 July 2025
Did you know?
Although it doesn’t mean anything sinister, gauche is one of several words (including sinister) with ties to old suspicions and negative associations relating to the left side and use of the left hand. In French, gauche literally means “left,” and it has the extended meanings “awkward” and “clumsy.” These meanings may have come about because left-handed people could appear awkward trying to manage in a mostly right-handed world, or perhaps because right-handed people appear awkward when trying to use their left hand. Regardless, awkwardness is a likely culprit. Fittingly, awkward itself comes from the Middle English awke, meaning “turned the wrong way” or “left-handed.” On the other hand, adroit and dexterity have their roots in words meaning “right” or “on the right side.”
--------
2:14
--------
2:14
serendipity
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 19, 2025 is:
serendipity • \sair-un-DIP-uh-tee\ • noun
Serendipity refers to luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for, or to an instance of such luck.
// They found each other by pure serendipity.
See the entry >
Examples:
“For new music, I rely on ... radio shows like ‘Late Junction,’ straight-up luck and serendipity, and my wife, who has impeccable taste.” — Liam Brickhill, LitHub.com, 5 Dec. 2024
Did you know?
The word serendipity did not come about by luck; rather, it was intentionally coined by 18th century author Horace Walpole, who was eager to share a happenstance discovery he had made while researching a coat of arms. In a letter to his friend Horace Mann he wrote: “This discovery indeed is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word, which ... I shall endeavor to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’: as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of ...” Walpole’s memory of the tale (which, as luck would have it, was not quite accurate) gave serendipity the meaning it retains to this day.
USA