Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 7, 2020 is:

maverick • \MAV-rik\  • noun

1 : an unbranded range animal; especially : a motherless calf
2 : an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party

Examples:

"'My record company wanted more of "The River & The Thread" but I couldn't do it,' she said. 'It seemed false. So I went in another direction.' It's not surprising for [Rosanne] Cash, who has been a maverick during her lengthy career, to go another way." — Ed Condran, The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), 6 Feb. 2020

"Audubon, a naturalist, artist, hunter, showman, and conservationist, was a maverick in his day, and his legacy has come to mean the very heart of bird conservation." — The Pontiac (Illinois) Daily Leader, 8 Feb. 2020

Did you know?

When a client gave Samuel A. Maverick 400 cattle to settle a $1,200 debt, the 19th-century south Texas lawyer had no use for them, so he left the cattle unbranded and allowed them to roam freely (supposedly under the supervision of one of his employees). Neighboring stockmen recognized their opportunity and seized it, branding and herding the stray cattle as their own. Maverick eventually recognized the folly of the situation and sold what was left of his depleted herd, but not before his name became synonymous with such unbranded livestock. By the end of the 19th century, the term maverick was being used to refer to individuals who prefer to blaze their own trails.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 6, 2020 is:

incarcerate • \in-KAHR-suh-rayt\  • verb

1 : to put in prison

2 : to subject to confinement

Examples:

Because the accused man presented a serious threat to society, the judge ordered that he remain incarcerated while he awaited trial.

"But he said that some research demonstrates that when incarcerated people earn a degree, recidivism rates can drop by as much as 40%." — Eliza Fawcett, The Hartford Courant, 24 Feb. 2020

Did you know?

A criminal sentenced to incarceration may wish their debt to society could be canceled; such a wistful felon might be surprised to learn that incarcerate and cancel are related. Incarcerate comes from incarcerare, a Latin verb meaning "to imprison." That Latin root comes from carcer, meaning "prison." Etymologists think that cancel probably got its start when the spelling of carcer was modified to cancer, which means "lattice" in Latin—an early meaning of cancel in English was "to mark (a passage) for deletion with lines crossed like a lattice." Aside from its literal meaning, incarcerate has a figurative application meaning "to subject to confinement," as in "people incarcerated in their obsessions."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 5, 2020 is:

forsooth • \fer-SOOTH\  • adverb

: in truth : indeed — often used to imply contempt or doubt

Examples:

"For sure and forsooth, that means savings for you, dear Renaissance-loving reveler, if you purchase your entry to the weekend-whimsical Irwindale festival by Jan. 6, 2020." —NBCLosAngeles.com, 26 Dec. 2019

"There is a man haunts the forest, that / abuses our young plants with carving 'Rosalind' on / their barks; hangs odes upon hawthorns and elegies / on brambles, all, forsooth, deifying the name of / Rosalind." — William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 1599

Did you know?

Forsooth sounds like a dated word, but it is still part of modern English; it is primarily used in humorous or ironic contexts, or in a manner intended to play off the word's archaic vibe. Forsooth was formed from the combination of the preposition for and the noun sooth. Sooth survives as both a noun (meaning "truth" or "reality") and an adjective (meaning "true," "sweet," or "soft"), though it is rarely used by contemporary speakers and writers. It primarily lives on in the verb soothe (which originally meant "to show, assert, or confirm the truth of") and in the noun soothsayer (that is, "truthsayer"), a name for someone who can predict the future.