Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 12, 2025 is: leitmotif • \LYTE-moh-teef\ • noun A leitmotif is a dominant recurring theme—something (such as a melody, an idea, or a phrase) repeated many times throughout a book, story, opera, etc. // The overcoming of obstacles and a love of theater are the two leitmotifs of her autobiography. See the entry > Examples: “[F. Scott] Fitzgerald considered his year and a half spent on The Vegetable a complete waste, but I disagree, for he followed it with a new novel written with all the economy and tight structure of a successful play—The Great Gatsby. Both The Vegetable and Gatsby shared the theme of the American Dream (first as a spoof for a comedy, finally as the leitmotif of a lyric novel). I don’t think there has ever been a more elusive, mysterious, intriguing character than Gatsby. He’s pure fiction—and pure Fitzgerald: the hopeful, romantic outsider looking in.” — Charles Scribner III, Scribners: Five Generations in Publishing, 2023 Did you know? The English word leitmotif (or leitmotiv, as it is also spelled) comes from the German Leitmotiv, meaning “leading motive,” and is formed from the verb leiten (“to lead”) and the noun Motiv (“motive”). In its original sense, the word applies to opera music; it was first used by writers interpreting the works of composer Richard Wagner, who was famous for associating a melody with a character or important dramatic element. Leitmotif is still commonly used with reference to music and musical drama but it is now also used more broadly to refer to any recurring theme in the arts—“The Imperial March,” heard in the Star Wars film franchise whenever Darth Vader appears on screen, for example—or in everyday life.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 11, 2025 is: cozen • \KUZ-un\ • verb To cozen someone is to deceive, win over, or induce them to do something by coaxing or trickery. // The organization cozened scores of people by persuading them to participate in a fraudulent investment scheme. See the entry > Examples: “It’s only office seekers with no real solutions who rely on cozening the voter.” — The News-Gazette (Lexington, Virginia), 21 June 2023 Did you know? Despite its resemblance to the adjective cozy, the verb cozen has nothing to do with being comfortable. Used in contexts relating to deception or inducement by clever coaxing or trickery, the word is believed to come ultimately from the Italian word for a horse trader, cozzone. Horse-trading, as in the actual swapping of horses, often involves bargaining and compromise—and, in fact, the term horse trade has come to refer to any shrewd negotiation, whether it involves equines or no. Horse traders have historically had a reputation for being less than completely transparent in negotiations, which explains the likely connection between cozzone and cozen’s use in deceiving or winning someone to one’s cause through trickery.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 10, 2025 is: untenable • \un-TEN-uh-bul\ • adjective Something, such as a position, excuse, or situation, that is described as untenable cannot be defended against attack or criticism. // The scientists considered their colleague's theory to be bold but ultimately untenable. See the entry > Examples: "According to The Economist, the disparity between investor enthusiasm about AI and reality might be untenable. They report that only 5% of U.S. businesses say they use AI in their products and services, and few AI start-ups are turning a profit. Most notably, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, expects to lose around $5 billion this year because of huge outflows for employee salaries and the massive energy costs associated with running large language models (LLMs)." — Will Ebiefung, The Motley Fool, 25 Nov. 2024 Did you know? Untenable and its opposite tenable come to us from the Old French verb tenir ("to hold, have possession of"), and ultimately from the Latin verb tenēre ("to hold, occupy, possess"). We tend to use untenable in situations where an idea or position is so off base that holding onto it is unjustified or inexcusable. One way to hold onto the meaning of untenable is to associate it with other tenēre descendants whose meanings are associated with "holding" or "holding onto." Tenacious ("holding fast") is one example. Others are contain, detain, sustain, maintain, and retain. Spanish speakers may also recognize tenēre as a predecessor of the commonplace verb tener, which retains the meaning of "to hold or possess."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 9, 2025 is: excursion • \ik-SKER-zhun\ • noun Excursion refers to a trip, and especially to a short one made for pleasure. Excursion is also often used figuratively to refer to a deviation from a direct, definite, or proper course, and often in particular to a digression. // Some of Maya’s most cherished childhood memories are of fishing excursions with her grandpa. // Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass is an excursion into a fantastical world where nothing is what it seems to be, and everything appears to be what it is not. See the entry > Examples: “… in the late sixties, he [Miles Davis] abandoned acoustic jazz altogether, moving to the easy/uneasy blend of jazz and rock that would cause consternation among jazz purists and come to be known as fusion. Then, in 1975, plagued by profuse health problems and addictions, he left music altogether, not to return until 1981. Audiences and record buyers welcomed his comeback, though jazz’s zealous gatekeepers continued to fret about his stylistic excursions and commercial aspirations.” — James Kaplan, 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool, 2024 Did you know? A Tribe Called Quest’s 1991 album The Low End Theory is not only widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, but one of the genre’s most successful early excursions into jazz, utilizing samples and even featuring legendary bassist Ron Carter on one song. Excursion refers to a usually brief, pleasurable trip, and is often used figuratively—as in the previous sentence—for metaphorical trips outside of one’s usual territory, be they artistic or otherwise. The word comes from the Latin verb excurrere (“to run out” or “to extend”), which combines the prefix ex- meaning “out of” and the verb currere meaning “to run.” Although it is sometimes used to refer to attacks or raids made against an enemy, as in “military excursions,” excursion is mostly used today for much more enjoyable jaunts, junkets, and rambles. Accordingly, on your next excursion, whether to the park, beach, or elsewhere, you could do worse than to queue up The Low End Theory on your playlist. The album’s first track, after all, is titled “Excursions.”