Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 30, 2025 is: expunge • \ik-SPUNJ\  • verb To expunge something is to remove it completely, whether by obliterating it, striking it out, or marking it for deletion. Expunge is most commonly applied in cases in which documentation of something is removed from an official record. // Due to an error, the charges were expunged from their record. See the entry > [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/expunge] Examples: “... Bland et al. found that an offer to expunge a criminal record after participation in a rehabilitation program reduced crime as well as the measure of harm. This appears to indicate that motivation drives rehabilitation—which is important to consider in judging character in the present.” — Wendy L. Patrick, Psychology Today, 1 Dec. 2024 Did you know? In medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, a series of dots was used to mark mistakes or to label material that should be deleted from a text, and those deletion dots—known as puncta delentia—can help you remember the history of expunge. Puncta comes from the Latin verb pungere, which can be translated as “to prick or sting” (and you can imagine that a scribe may have felt stung when their mistakes were so punctuated in a manuscript). Pungere is also an ancestor of expunge, as well as a parent of other dotted, pointed, or stinging terms such as punctuate [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punctuate], compunction [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compunction], poignant [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poignant], puncture [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puncture], and pungent [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pungent].

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 29, 2025 is: impetus • \IM-puh-tus\  • noun Impetus refers to a force or impulse that causes something (such as a process or activity) to be done or to become more active. It is often used with for and sometimes with to. // Her work provided the major impetus behind the movement. // The tragic accident became an impetus for changing the safety regulations. // The high salary and generous benefits package were impetus enough to apply for the job. See the entry > [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impetus] Examples: “... using the many tools now available, I built a family tree with over twelve hundred names of people living in some two dozen countries. If there is anything approaching a single story of humanity, it is surely one of movement, whatever the impetus.” — Diana McCaulay, LitHub.com, 27 Feb. 2025 Did you know? 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 as an impetus for taking a class), or encouragement (as when difficulties are the impetus for improvements). But its root packs more of a wallop: Latin impetus means “assault” as well as “impetus,” and it comes from impetere meaning “to attack.” (Impetere itself comes from petere, meaning “to go to, seek.”) If these origins seem a tad aggressive for such a genteel-sounding word as impetus, consider phrases and idioms like light a fire under someone [https://bit.ly/45DEkAc] and push comes to shove [https://bit.ly/4cLbzVR], both used when a strong impetus is provided for someone to act, decide, or accomplish something.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 28, 2025 is: restive • \RES-tiv\  • adjective Restive can describe a person or group feeling impatience or uneasiness, or it can describe someone who is stubbornly resistant to control. // The audience grew increasingly restive as the speaker droned on and on. // The school's focus on artistic expression helps restive youths stay engaged in their learning. See the entry > [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restive] Examples: "One of the most important triggers for industrial revolution in England was the draining of the population from the rural areas into the cities. ... [T]his meant that there was a growing shortage of agricultural workers and a concomitant fall in food production both in terms of quality and quantity. The immediate consequence was that available food not only became more expensive but increasingly so with time. Under these circumstances, the workers became restive, demanding the provision of the food they needed to save themselves from starvation." — Adebayo Lamikanra, The Nation (Nigeria), 13 Apr. 2025 Did you know? Restive is descended from the Anglo-French verb rester, meaning "to stop, resist, or remain." Its initial meaning in the 15th century was "stubbornly resisting control or guidance; obstinate in refusal," and for some time the word was primarily applied to animals such as horses. Over the next few centuries, restive gained additional, closely related meanings (such as "inflexible," "sluggish," and "persistent") and the word often described people as well as animals. In the 19th century this semantic drift extended to encompass the meaning "marked by impatience or uneasiness." Although the original "balky [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/balky]" sense of restive hasn't died out completely, it is overshadowed by this more recent "fidgety or impatient" one. Some usage guides still recommend against using restive in this modern sense, despite well over a century and a half of skilled writers employing it. If you're among the restive (earlier meaning) ones who balk at new meanings of words, we apologize if this news makes you feel restive (newer one).

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 27, 2025 is: oblige • \uh-BLYJE\  • verb To oblige a person or entity to do something is to require or force them to do it, either because of a law or rule, or because it is necessary. To simply oblige someone is to do them a favor. // The law obliges the government to release certain documents to the public. // When my friend said he needed someone to taste test his new recipe for the cooking competition, I was happy to oblige. See the entry > [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oblige] Examples: “I was irked 30 years ago when our neighbor said she intended to install a free-standing fence between our driveways. … It seemed unneighborly to humans and wildlife alike. We were a family who spent more time outdoors than in, always nearby when our neighbor pulled into her driveway. Once the fence was up, she was no longer obliged to speak to us.” — Margaret Renkl, New York Times, 2 June 2025 Did you know? If you are obliged by a rule or law you are metaphorically bound by it—that is, you are required to obey it. The idea of binding links the word to its Latin source, ligāre, meaning “to fasten, bind.” But in other common uses, the idea of binding is somewhat masked: it is applied when someone is bound by a debt for some favor or service, as in “We’re much obliged to you for the help,” but in the phrase “happy to oblige” it simply expresses a willingness to do someone a favor, as in “They needed a ride and we were happy to oblige.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 26, 2025 is: sumptuous • \SUMP-shuh-wus\  • adjective Sumptuous is used to describe things that are very expensive, rich, luxurious, or magnificent. // The celebratory meal was a sumptuous feast of dishes from our host’s homeland. See the entry > [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sumptuous] Examples: “With comfy living areas with bistro tables, sumptuous marble bathrooms, and large private lanais with sweeping views of the ocean, mountain, or gardens, guests have ample room to spread out, relax, and really make themselves at home.” — Elizabeth Brownfield, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025 Did you know? Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens may be a few of your favorite things, but are they sumptuous? Alas, though the best things in life are often free, sumptuous is a child of the Latin word sumptus, meaning “expense,” and it typically describes things that can only be had at some significant expense. A sumptuous lifestyle, for example, is more likely to involve silver-white bling [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bling] than a silver-white winter that melts into spring. Sumptus has another English relation, this one tied even more closely to conspicuous consumption [https://bit.ly/3GlIqEz]: sumptuary [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sumptuary] laws are largely historical regulations limiting extravagant expenditures and habits, especially on moral or religious grounds. (The sump is consumption is coincidental; that word comes from consume, which has its roots in Latin sumere meaning “to take up, take.”)