Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 25, 2020 is:

lackluster • \LAK-luss-ter\  • adjective

: lacking in sheen, brilliance, or vitality : dull, mediocre

Examples:

In spite of its owner's hard work, the coffee shop was forced to close due to lackluster sales.

"Say what you will about the Cardinals' record this season, but they've shown fight and played with effort all year other than a lackluster performance during a 34–7 blowout by the Rams." — Bob McManaman, The Arizona Republic, 18 Dec. 2019

Did you know?

In its earliest uses, lackluster (also spelled lacklustre) usually described eyes that were dull or lacking in brightness, as in "a lackluster stare." Later, it came to describe other things whose sheen had been removed; Charles Dickens, in his 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit, writes of the faded image of the dragon on the sign outside a village alehouse: "many a wintry storm of rain, snow, sleet, and hail, had changed his colour from a gaudy blue to a faint lack-lustre shade of grey." In addition to "a glow or sheen," luster can refer to a superficial attractiveness or appearance of excellence; it follows then that lackluster is often used as a synonym for unspectacular.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 24, 2020 is:

euphoria • \yoo-FOR-ee-uh\  • noun

: a feeling of well-being or elation

Examples:

"In February 2014, Xenia gave birth to their daughter, Ella. Ben still recalls the euphoria of watching the nurse place their newborn on Xenia's chest. He still can't quite believe the song that played on the operating room radio, the refrain resounding in that moment: God only knows what I'd be without you." — Caitlin Gibson, The Washington Post Magazine, 9 Dec. 2019

"The floor became a dance-off—in one corner, dozens of girls put all their bags and backpacks in one giant pile, so nobody had to worry where their stuff was, and then danced around the pile in a circle that was really moving to behold, an example of how a Harry Styles concert creates crucial moments of utopian unity and shared euphoria." — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 14 Dec. 2019

Did you know?

Health and happiness are often linked, sometimes even in etymologies. Nowadays euphoria generally refers to happiness, but it derives from euphoros, a Greek word that means "healthy." Given that root, it's not surprising that in its original English uses euphoria was a medical term. Its entry in an early 18th-century dictionary explains it as "the well-bearing of the Operation of a Medicine; that is, when the Sick Person finds himself eas'd or reliev'd by it." Modern physicians still use the term, but they aren't likely to prescribe something that will cause it. In contemporary medicine and psychology, euphoria can describe abnormal or inappropriate feelings such as those caused by an illicit drug or an illness.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 23, 2020 is:

outlandish • \out-LAN-dish\  • adjective

1 : of or relating to another country : foreign

2 a : strikingly out of the ordinary : bizarre

b : exceeding proper or reasonable limits or standards

3 : remote from civilization

Examples:

"In a letter sent to his mother … [T.S. Eliot] wrote, 'I really think that I have far more influence on English letters than any other American has ever had, unless it be Henry James.' It's an outlandish claim, even if one allows for the kind of hyperbole to be found in a letter meant to impress one's parents." — Kevin Dettmar, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2019

"Seana Benz and Jimmy Johansmeyer create a hilarious series of outlandish costumes for the Carnegie sequence, which Woodall showcases in rapid succession." — Gene Terruso, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 15 Dec. 2019

Did you know?

In olden times, English speakers used the phrase "outlandish man" to refer to a foreigner—or, one who came from an outland, which originally meant "a foreign land." From here, outlandish broadened in usage from a word meaning "from another land" to one describing something unfamiliar or strange. Dress was a common early target for the adjective; English novelist Henry Fielding, in Tom Jones (1749), writes of a woman who was "drest in one of your outlandish Garments." Nowadays, the word can be applied to anything that strikes us as out of the ordinary, from bizarre conspiracy theories to exaggerated boasting.