Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 14, 2025 is:

druthers • \DRUH-therz\  • noun plural

Druthers is an informal word that refers to the power or opportunity to choose?in other words, free choice. It is used especially in the phrase if one had one's druthers.

// If I had my druthers, I would travel all the time.

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Examples:

?If I had my druthers, if I made the sequel to ?Companion,? it would just be a shot of her on the side of the road, cutting out her tracking chip and then cutting to her on a farm with a couple of million dollars.? ? Drew Hancock, quoted in Variety, 1 Feb. 2025

Did you know?

Nowadays, you?re much more likely to encounter the plural noun druthers than its singular forebear, but that wasn?t always the case. Druther, an alteration of ?would rather? in some U.S. English dialects, first appeared in writing in the late 1800s. ?Any way you druther have it, that is the way I druther have it,? says Huck to Tom in Mark Twain?s Tom Sawyer, Detective (a sequel to the more famous Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which also included the word druther). This example of metanalysis (the shifting of a sound from one element of a phrase to another) had been around for some time in everyday speech when Twain put those words in Huck?s mouth. By then, in fact, druthers had also become a plural noun, so Tom could reply, ?There ain?t any druthers about it, Huck Finn; nobody said anything about druthers,? though druthers didn?t overtake druther in popularity (at least in print) until the mid-1900s.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 13, 2025 is:

reminisce • \rem-uh-NISS\  • verb

To reminisce is to talk, think, or write about things that happened in the past.

// After the official reunion dinner, the old friends gathered at a pub to reminisce about their high school days, now long past.

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Examples:

?Our parents would reminisce about their past happiness and point to the oversized photographic portrait taken of them at the county fair sometime in the mid-1970s, before we were born.? ? Nora Lange, Us Fools, 2024

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Do you remember, say, the 21st night of September? Fantastic. Earth, Wind, and Fire does, too, on their classic hit from 1978, ?September.? More than remember, the band reminisces?that is, they share details and express feelings about what they remember: dancing, a bell ringing, souls singing, et al. Reminisce distinguishes itself from words like remember and recollect by implying a casual recalling of experiences long past, often with a sense of nostalgia. Reminisce and its relatives reminiscence and reminiscent all trace back to the Latin verb reminisci, meaning ?remember.? Reminisci in turn shares roots with mens, the Latin word for ?mind.?

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 12, 2025 is:

gustatory • \GUSS-tuh-tor-ee\  • adjective

Gustatory describes things that are related to or associated with eating or the sense of taste.

// The deli has been widely praised for its astonishing variety of gustatory delights.

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Examples:

"For those who have never experienced the gustatory pleasure, these cream puffs consist of freshly baked pastry shells generously covered with powdered sugar and bloated with chilled vanilla pudding that has been pumped into them." ? Carl Hamilton, The Cecil Whig (Elkton, Maryland), 12 Feb. 2025

Did you know?

Gustatory is a member of a finite set of words that describe the senses with which we encounter our world, the other members being visual, aural, olfactory, and tactile. Like its peers, gustatory has its roots in Latin?in this case, the Latin word gustare, meaning "to taste." Gustare is a direct ancestor of gustatory, gustation, meaning "the act or sensation of tasting," and degustation, meaning "the action or an instance of tasting especially in a series of small portions." More distant relatives of gustare include choose and disgust.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 11, 2025 is:

kitsch • \KITCH\  • noun

Kitsch refers to something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often cheap or tacky. Kitsch also refers to a tacky or lowbrow quality or condition.

// The restaurant is decorated with 1950s furniture and kitsch from old TV shows.

// The critic opined that the movie, despite its lofty ambitions, at times descended into kitsch.

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Examples:

?If you were dressing yourself in the early 2000s, you might feel some kind of way about Y2K fashion ruling the runways and the sidewalks once again. But if you weren?t? It?s entirely understandable that mining the annals of recent fashion history?and the vintage shops?would hold a certain appeal. For all its kitsch and camp, Y2K fashion is full of some intriguing gems.? ? Boutayna Chokrane and Christina Pérez, Vogue, 26 Jan. 2025

Did you know?

Have you ever browsed through a flea market or thrift shop? If so, chances are you?re well-acquainted with kitsch, the various bits and bobs of popular culture?fuzzy dice, plastic flamingos, cartoon-themed plastic lunchboxes, etc.?that enjoy widespread popularity but don?t hold much cultural esteem. Or maybe you?re a fan of (what some might call) cheesy movies?action movies and rom-coms that score big at the box office but are panned by critics?kitsch often applies to them, too, as well as to ?lowbrow? art of all kinds. English users borrowed kitsch in the early 20th century from German; according to scholars the word was popularized by Munich painters and art dealers in the 1860s and 1870s who used it to refer to popular and cheap artwork. The word?s earlier origins are found in the German verb kitschen, meaning ?to slap something (such as a work of art) together? as well as ?to scrape up mud from the street.? Despite these muddy origins and the disapproving tone with which kitsch is often deployed, kitsch is not quite the ?dirty? word it once was?kitsch today is as likely to be celebrated as it is to be derided.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 10, 2025 is:

chary • \CHAIR-ee\  • adjective

Chary is usually used with about or of to describe someone who is cautious about doing something.

// The director is chary about spending money.

// I?ve always been chary of travelling alone.

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Examples:

?Overall, Rendell is chary about divulging the selling price of various documents, but he does occasionally reveal some financial details.? ? Michael Dirda, The Washington Post, 3 Feb. 2024

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How did chary, which began as the opposite of cheery, become a synonym of wary? Don?t worry, there?s no need to be chary?the answer is not dreary. Chary?s Middle English predecessor, charri, meant ?sorrowful,? a sense that harks back to the Old English word cearig, meaning ?troubled, troublesome, taking care,? which ultimately comes from an assumed-but-unattested Germanic word, kar?, meaning ?sorrow? or ?worry,? that is also an ancestor of the word care. It?s perhaps unsurprising then, that chary was once used to mean ?dear? or ?cherished.? Both sorrow and affection have largely faded from chary, and today the word is most often used as a synonym of careful.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 9, 2025 is:

vouchsafe • \vowch-SAYF\  • verb

Vouchsafe is a formal and old-fashioned word meaning "to give (something) to someone as a promise or a privilege."

// He vouchsafed the secret to only a few of his closest allies.

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Examples:

"[Arthur] Conan Doyle (1859-1930) wrote several horribly chilling tales of the supernatural, although this might surprise readers who only know his Sherlock Holmes stories. When there are eerie goings-on in the Holmes yarns, a rational explanation is inevitably vouchsafed, à la Scooby-Doo." ? Jake Kerridge, The Daily Telegraph (London), 20 Dec. 2023

Did you know?

Shakespeare fans are well acquainted with vouchsafe, which in its Middle English form vouchen sauf meant "to grant, consent, or deign." The word, which was borrowed with its present meaning from Anglo-French in the 14th century, pops up fairly frequently in the Bard's work?60 times, to be exact. "Vouchsafe me yet your picture for my love," beseeches Proteus of Silvia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. "Vouchsafe me raiment, bed, and food," King Lear begs his daughter Regan. But you needn't turn to Shakespeare to find vouchsafe; today's writers still find it to be a perfectly useful word.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 8, 2025 is:

apparatchik • \ah-puh-RAH-chik\  • noun

Apparatchik is used disapprovingly to refer to a blindly devoted official, follower, or member of an organization, such as a corporation or political party.

// This generation of graduates wants more out of life than to become establishment apparatchiks.

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Examples:

"Played by What We Do in the Shadows' Matt Berry, Shazbor is a faithful party apparatchik and staunch defender of his country's traditions ..." ? Damon Wise, Deadline, 25 Jan. 2025

Did you know?

The apparat in apparatchik (a term English speakers borrowed from Russian) essentially means "party machine," with machine referring to a highly organized political group under the leadership of a boss or small group of individuals: apparatchik originally referred to someone functioning as a cog in the system of the Communist Party. The term is not a flattering one, and its negative connotations reflect the perception of some Communists as obedient drones in the great Party machine. In current use, however, a person doesn't have to be a member of the Communist Party to be called an apparatchik; they just have to be someone who mindlessly follows orders in an organization or bureaucracy.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 7, 2025 is:

malleable • \MAL-ee-uh-bul\  • adjective

Something described as malleable is capable of being stretched or bent into different shapes, or capable of being easily changed or influenced.

// Let the cookie dough thaw until it becomes malleable enough to thinly roll.

// Students' minds are malleable and they need positive influences and guidance.

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Examples:

"She begins by sculpting with malleable French clays to create her figures, then she makes a mold." ? Fina Badolato, The Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, 13 Feb. 2022

Did you know?

Language is constantly evolving; the meanings, spellings, and pronunciations of words are reshaped over time. Take, for example, the Latin noun malleus, meaning "hammer." This word was adapted to create the Latin verb malleare, meaning "to hammer," which led eventually to the English adjective malleable. Malleable originally meant "capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer," and over time adopted the broader sense "capable of being shaped, altered, or controlled." If you guessed that maul and mallet, other English words for specific types of hammers, are also modeled from malleus, you have hit the nail on the head.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 6, 2025 is:

impresario • \im-pruh-SAHR-ee-oh\  • noun

An impresario is a person who manages, puts on, or sponsors a performance or other entertainment, such as a concert, play, or sporting event.

// The former heavyweight retired from the ring and later became a boxing impresario.

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Examples:

?When he stepped on stage during a comedy open mic at Castle Street spot The Barzarre in June of 2022, Louis Maynor, better known as Louis Tee, was mainly known as a producer, a hip-hop impresario who?d been staging shows and concerts around Wilmington since the late 1990s.? ? John Staton, The Wilmington (North Carolina) Star-News, 21 Dec. 2023

Did you know?

Concerts, music festivals, television series, professional wrestling matches?these are quite the undertakings. Luckily, there?s a word for the impressive individuals responsible for organizing and overseeing such productions: impresario. In the 1700s, English borrowed impresario directly from Italian, whose noun impresa means ?undertaking.? (A close relative is the English word emprise, ?an adventurous, daring, or chivalric enterprise,? which, like impresario, traces back to the Latin verb prehendere, meaning ?to seize.?) At first English speakers used impresario as the Italians did, to refer to opera company managers, though today it is used much more broadly. It should be noted that, despite their apparent similarities, impress and impresario are not related. Impress is a descendant of the Latin verb pressare, a form of the word premere, meaning ?to press.?

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 5, 2025 is:

benign • \bih-NYNE\  • adjective

Benign describes something that does not cause harm or damage. In medical contexts it is used to describe something that does not threaten life or health (as in "a benign tumor"). Additional meanings include "mild and pleasant" (as in "benign weather conditions") and "showing kindness and gentleness" (as in "a benign outlook").

// The project required that we manage some inconvenient but ultimately benign conditions.

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Examples:

"'The era of innocent tourism?where it was seen as a benign and universally positive force?ended around 2015,' says Justin Francis, co-founder of Responsible Travel, a UK-based travel agency specialising in ethical tourism. 'In Europe and America, protests against overtourism are growing. People are realising their vacations can leave lasting impacts on others' homes.'" ? Tarang Mohnot, BBC, 18 Feb. 2025

Did you know?

Benign traces back to the Latin adjective benignus, which was formed from bene, meaning "well," and the verb gignere, "to beget"?that is, "to produce or create." Gignere is also the root of such English words as genius and germ, and even shares distant ancestry with kin. The meanings of benign range from describing an absence of danger or harm to that which shows kindness or is gracious or wholesome.