Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 30, 2026 is:





oblivion • \uh-BLIV-ee-un\ • noun

Oblivion can refer to the state of something that is not remembered or thought about any more, or to the state of being unconscious or unaware. It also sometimes refers to the state of being destroyed.

// After so many days of exhaustingly difficult work, he longed for the oblivion of sleep.

// The sandcastles of summer had long since been swept into oblivion by the ocean waves.

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Examples:

“... automobiles with manual transmission appear to be on a road to oblivion as technology transforms cars into computers on wheels.” — Michael Diedtke, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), 3 Jan. 2026





Did you know?

Oblivion asks forgetfulness of us in both its meaning and etymology. The word’s Latin source, oblīvīscī, means “to forget, to put out of mind,” and since its 14th century adoption into English, oblivion has hewed close to meanings having to do with forgetting. The word has also long had an association with the River Lethe which according to Greek myth flowed through the Underworld and caused anyone who drank its water to forget their past; 17th century poet John Milton wrote about “Lethe the River of Oblivion” in Paradise Lost. The adjective oblivious (“lacking remembrance, memory, or mindful attention”) followed oblivion a century later, but not into oblivion—both words have proved obdurate against the erosive currents of time.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 29, 2026 is:





cadge • \KAJ\ • verb

To cadge something is to persuade someone to give it to you for free. Cadge can also mean “to take, use, or borrow (something) without acknowledgment.”

// I don’t know how, but my brother always manages to cadge an extra scoop of ice cream on his sundaes.

// The last line of the poem is cadged from Shelley’s “Ozymandias.”

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Examples:

“How could a convenient route between housing estates—and friends’ homes—be an issue? Let me explain—it was all Sherlock Holmes’ fault. Him and his terrifying Hound Of The Baskervilles. … There were occasions when my imagination took over completely and I ended up going the long way round through the busier, better-lit roads of the village. Those beasties wouldn't dare to come off the greens and into the gardens. I never admitted this to any of my friends, not even those brave enough to cadge a lift from me on occasion.” — Mary-Jane Duncan, The Press and Journal (Scotland), 18 Oct. 2025





Did you know?

Long ago, peddlers traveled the British countryside, each with a packhorse or a horse and cart—first carrying produce from rural farms to town markets, then returning with small wares to sell to country folk. The Middle English word for such traders was cadgear; Scottish dialects rendered the term as cadger. The verb cadge was created as a back-formation of cadger (which is to say, it was formed by removal of the “-er” suffix). At its most general, cadger meant “carrier,” and the verb cadge meant “to carry.” More specifically, the verb meant to go about as a cadger or peddler. By the 1800s, it was used when someone who posed as a peddler turned out to be more of a beggar, from which arose the present-day use of the verb cadge for the action of trying to get something for free by persuading or imposing on another person.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 28, 2026 is:





fiscal • \FISS-kul\ • adjective

Fiscal is used to describe things relating to money and especially to the money a government, business, or organization earns, spends, and owes.

// The recent change in leadership was essential for addressing the fiscal health of the university.

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Examples:

“The Town of Java [New York] ... has received exemplary audits from the State Comptroller’s Office, while continuing to streamline government and demonstrate fiscal responsibility.” — The Daily News (Batavia, New York), 13 Feb. 2026





Did you know?

Fiscal comes from the Latin noun fiscus, meaning “basket” or “treasury.” In ancient Rome, fiscus was the term for the treasury controlled by the emperor, where the money was literally stored in baskets and was collected primarily in the form of revenue from the provinces. Fiscus also gave English confiscate, which is most familiar as a verb meaning “to seize by or as if by authority,” but can additionally refer to the forfeiting of private property to public use. Today, we often encounter fiscal in “fiscal year,” a 12-month accounting period not necessarily coinciding with the calendar year.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 27, 2026 is:





dross • \DRAHSS\ • noun

Something referred to as "dross" is of low value or quality. Dross may also be used as a technical term to refer to unwanted material that is removed from a mineral to make it better.

// He's a skilled editor who has a talent for turning literary dross into gold.

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Examples:

"Hollywood optimists argue that AI's greatest weakness will be originality. After all, viewers already complain of being deluged with formulaic, low-budget dross churned out by streaming platforms because an algorithm deems it popular." — Tom Leonard, The Scottish Daily Mail, 23 Feb. 2026





Did you know?

Dross has been a part of the English language since Anglo-Saxon times. It comes from the Old English word drōs, meaning "dregs," those solid materials that fall to the bottom of a container full of a liquid such as coffee or wine. While dross today is used to refer to anything of low value or quality, its earliest use is technical: dross is a metallurgy term referring to solid scum that forms on the surface of a metal when it is molten or melting—remove the dross to improve the metal. The metallurgical sense of the word is often hinted at in its general use, with dross set in contrast to gold, as when 19th century British poet Christina Rossetti wrote "Besides, those days were golden days, / Whilst these are days of dross."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 26, 2026 is:





zany • \ZAY-nee\ • adjective

Zany describes people or things that are very strange and silly.

// The cartoon series centers around two zany characters, best friends who also happen to be space aliens, constantly amusing each other with outrageous antics.

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Examples:

“The fourth and final episode centers on a birthday party for The Cat in the Hat. ... Seeing where the clues lead, the friends embark on a joyous adventure of songs, dances, silly challenges, and plenty of zany energy from their wacky striped friend.” — Sarah Scott, Parents, 22 Dec. 2025





Did you know?

The oddballs among us are likely familiar with zany as an adjective, meaning “eccentric.” But did you know the word originated as a noun—one that has withstood the test of time? Zanies have been theatrical buffoons since the heyday of the Italian commedia dell’arte, in which a “zanni” was a stock servant character, often an intelligent and proud valet with abundant common sense and a love of practical jokes. Zanni comes from a dialect nickname for Giovanni, the Italian form of John. The character quickly spread throughout European theater circles, inspiring such familiar characters as Pierrot and Harlequin, and by the late 1500s an anglicized version of the noun zany was introduced to English. The adjective appeared within decades, and eventually both adopted more general meanings to refer to or describe those of us who are quipsters and weirdos.