Apr 14, 2026 · Learn a new word every day! Follow Merriam-Webster for the most trusted Word of the Day, trending info, word games, and more.

Mar 6, 2025 · Career later gained additional senses applied to the movement of horses, such as “to prance or caracole ” (“to turn to one side and another in running”), as well as one—“to rush forward …

Jul 26, 2014 · Benjamin Franklin used it as a synonym of "velocity." And the speedy term (which can be traced back to "celer," a Latin word meaning "swift") is still keeping pace today.

Mar 24, 2026 · A cadence is a rhythm, or a flow of words or music, in a sequence that is regular (or steady as it were). But lest we be mistaken, cadence also lends its meaning to the sounds of Mother …

Mar 25, 2026 · Undulate and inundate (“to cover something with a flood of water”) are word cousins that flow from unda, the Latin word for “wave.” No surprise there. But would you have guessed that …

Feb 15, 2026 · The climactic scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Vertigo features, appropriately, a dramatic climb—and fall—from a vertiginous bell tower. Vertiginous, which describes things that cause

Jun 29, 2025 · Impetus provides the “why” for something: it can be understood as a driving force (as when winning a competition is the impetus for training), an incentive (as when increased skills serve …

Aug 10, 2023 · Of course, you may dish out your own encomiums in any manner or velocity you wish—and verily we shall tip our chapeaux.

Feb 22, 2026 · For centuries, foray referred only to a sudden or irregular invasion or attack, but in the late 19th century it began to venture into gentler semantic territory. While the newer sense of foray still

Jun 1, 2024 · In Death on the Rocks, a 2013 mystery novel by Deryn Lake, the hero John Rawlings is described as having “svelte eyebrows” (he raises them also in 1995’s Death at the Beggar’s Opera). …