Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 30, 2025 is:
iconoclast • \eye-KAH-nuh-klast\ • noun
Iconoclast originally referred to someone who destroys religious images or who opposes their veneration. It is now used to refer broadly to anyone who criticizes or opposes beliefs and practices that are widely accepted.
// The comedian had developed a reputation as a contrarian and an iconoclast for whom no topic was off-limits.
See the entry >
Examples:
“Chicago will be the only U.S. city to see the 92-year-old iconoclast Yoko Ono’s new show. ... ‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ goes back to the start of the artist’s career in the mid-’50s, and the role she played in the creative worlds of New York, Tokyo and London.” — Carrie Shepherd, Axios, 1 Apr. 2025
Did you know?
Iconoclast comes from the Middle Greek word eikonoklástēs, which translates literally as “image destroyer.” While the destruction wrought by today’s iconoclasts is figurative—in modern use, an iconoclast is someone who criticizes or opposes beliefs and practices that are widely accepted—the first iconoclasts directed their ire at religious icons, those representations of sacred individuals used as objects of veneration. The Byzantine Empire’s Iconoclastic Controversy occurred in the 8th and 9th centuries, but the word iconoclast didn’t find its way to English until the 17th century. Figurative use came later still.
--------
1:58
--------
1:58
exculpatory
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 29, 2025 is:
exculpatory • \ek-SKUL-puh-tor-ee\ • adjective
Something described as exculpatory serves to prove that someone is not guilty of doing something wrong.
// Their lawyer presented insurmountable exculpatory evidence at the trial.
See the entry >
Examples:
“That agreement also requires prosecutors to implement new policies to prevent the misuse of informants, maintain records and audits, and to disclose exculpatory evidence to criminal defendants involving snitches.” — Salvador Hernandez, The Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2025
Did you know?
Exculpatory is the adjectival form of the verb exculpate, meaning “to clear from guilt.” The pair of words cannot be accused of being secretive—their joint etymology reveals all: they are tied to the Medieval Latin verb exculpare, a word that combines the prefix ex-, meaning “out of” or “away from,” with the Latin noun culpa, meaning “blame.” The related but lesser-known terms inculpate (“to incriminate”) and inculpatory (“implying or imputing guilt”) are antonyms of exculpate and exculpatory. A related adjective, culpable, describes someone or something deserving of blame. All of these words are found most often in formal speech and writing, but if you choose to drop them into everyday conversation, your dictionary exculpates you.
--------
1:53
--------
1:53
sustain
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 28, 2025 is:
sustain • \suh-STAYN\ • verb
To sustain someone or something is to provide what is needed for that person or thing to exist or continue. Sustain also means "to hold up the weight of," "to suffer or endure," or "to confirm or prove." In legal contexts, to sustain something is to decide or state that it is proper, legal, or fair.
// Hope sustained us during that difficult time.
// The shed roof collapsed, unable to sustain the weight of all the snow.
// The athlete sustained serious injuries during last week's game.
See the entry >
Examples:
"Pushing fallen leaves into garden beds to insulate plants and nourish the soil will also shelter hibernating insects that, in turn, will sustain ground-feeding birds. It's much better for the ecosystem—and easier for the gardener—than bagging them up and sending them to a landfill." — Jessica Damiano, The Chicago Daily Herald, 12 Oct. 2025
Did you know?
The word sustain is both handy and hardy. Its use has been sustained since the days of Middle English (it traces back to the Latin verb sustinēre meaning "to hold up" or "to sustain") by its utility across a variety of consequential subjects, from environmental protections to legal proceedings to medical reports. The word is so prevalent and so varied in its application, in fact, that it enjoys sustained high ranking as one of our top lookups—evidence of our readers' sustained commitment to, well, sustaining themselves with information about words.
--------
1:54
--------
1:54
cornucopia
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 27, 2025 is:
cornucopia • \kor-nuh-KOH-pee-uh\ • noun
A cornucopia, also known as a horn of plenty, is a curved, hollow goat’s horn or similarly shaped receptacle (such as a horn-shaped basket) that is overflowing, especially with fruit and vegetables. The image of a cornucopia is commonly used as decoration and as a symbol of abundance, but the word cornucopia is today more often encountered in its metaphorical use referring to an overflowing abundance, or to a seemingly inexhaustible amount of something.
// The zoo’s new aviary is a veritable cornucopia of color and sound, with scores of different bird species swooping and squawking through the canopy.
See the entry >
Examples:
“It was rather dark in there. ... However, the counters and their cornucopia of offerings were brightly lit. Want chocolate bars? Nasal sprays? Gummy bears? Bath bombs? Tinctures? Vapes? Mints? Jellies? Peanut butter cups? Lemonade? Fruit punch?” — Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County (California) Register, 1 Sept. 2025
Did you know?
Cornucopia comes from the Late Latin phrase cornu copiae, which translates literally as “horn of plenty.” A traditional staple of feasts, the cornucopia is believed to represent the horn of a goat from Greek mythology. According to legend, it was from this horn, which could be filled with whatever the owner wished, that the god Zeus was fed as an infant by his nurse, the nymph Amalthaea. Later, the horn was filled with flowers and fruits, and given as a present to Zeus. The filled horn (or a receptacle resembling it) has long served as a traditional symbol in art and decoration to suggest a store of abundance. The word first appeared in English in the early 16th century; a century later, it developed the figurative sense of “an overflowing supply.”
--------
2:18
--------
2:18
unabashed
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 26, 2025 is:
unabashed • \un-uh-BASHT\ • adjective
Someone who is unabashed is not embarrassed or ashamed about openly expressing strong feelings or opinions.
// Unabashed by their booing and hissing, the artist continued with the musical performance.
See the entry >
Examples:
“Take the melodramatic storyline of a telenovela and tell it through the unabashed mediums of opera and drag, and you’ll have ‘Inebria Me,’ the subversive experimental opera by San Cha ending its West Coast tour at REDCAT this month. Latin dance fuses with queer storytelling as the sounds of ... punk, classical and electronic make up the performance, which pulls from creator San Cha’s 2019 album ‘La Luz de la Esperanza.’” — Katerina Portela, The Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2025
Did you know?
To abash someone is to shake up their composure or self-possession, as illustrated by Charlotte Brontë in her 1849 novel Shirley: “He had never blushed in his life; no humiliation could abash him.” When you are unabashed you make no apologies for your behavior, nor do you attempt to hide or disguise it; but when you are abashed your confidence has been thrown off and you may feel rather inferior or ashamed of yourself. English speakers have been using abashed to describe feelings of embarrassment since the 14th century, but they have only used unabashed (brazenly or otherwise) since the 15th century (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Brasil