Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 20, 2022 is:

ad hoc • \AD-HOCK\  • adjective

Ad hoc means "concerned with a particular end or purpose" or "formed or used for specific or immediate problems or needs."

// An ad hoc committee was formed to investigate the matter.

// There was an unexpected change of plans and ad hoc solutions had to be made.

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Examples:

"The council voted unanimously last fall to establish an ad hoc advisory strategic planning board tasked with writing a new long-range plan for the town." — Jodie Wagner, The Palm Beach (Florida) Daily News, 12 Apr. 2022

Did you know?

In Latin ad hoc literally means "for this," and in English it describes anything that can be thought of as existing "for this purpose only." For example, an ad hoc committee is generally authorized to look into a single matter of limited scope, not to pursue any issue of interest. Ad hoc can also be used as an adverb meaning "for the particular end or case at hand without consideration of wider application," as in "decisions were made ad hoc."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 19, 2022 is:

kibosh • \KYE-bosh\  • noun

Kibosh refers to something that serves as a check or stop. It is usually used in the phrase "put the kibosh on."

// The rain put the kibosh on the Fourth of July fireworks display.

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Examples:

"The state Senate last week put the kibosh on up to $60 million more in aid for school districts." — Kevin Landrigan, The (Manchester) New Hampshire Sunday News, 24 Apr. 2022

Did you know?

Evidence of kibosh dates the word to only a few years before Charles Dickens used it in an 1836 sketch, but despite kibosh being relatively young in English its source is elusive. Claims were once made that it was Yiddish, despite the absence of a plausible Yiddish source. Another hypothesis pointed to Irish caidhp bhais, literally, "coif (or cap) of death," explained as headgear a judge put on when pronouncing a death sentence, or as a covering pulled over the face of a corpse when a coffin was closed. But evidence for any metaphorical use of this phrase in Irish is lacking, and kibosh is not recorded in English as spoken in Ireland until decades after Dickens' use. More recent source theories include a heraldic term for an animal’s head when born with only its face fully showing, and an Arabic word meaning “whip, lash,” but as the note at our etymology explains, no theory has sufficient evidence to back it.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 18, 2022 is:

indoctrinate • \in-DAHK-truh-nayt\  • verb

Indoctrinate means "to teach (someone) to fully accept the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of a particular group and to not consider other ideas, opinions, and beliefs."

// The goal of the professor is to teach politics, rather than to indoctrinate students with a narrow set of political beliefs.

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Examples:

"Moreover, in a pluralistic society, parents from varied backgrounds want to know their children can receive a public education without being indoctrinated into a faith not their own." — David Callaway, The Parsons (Kansas) Sun, 26 Dec. 2020

Did you know?

Indoctrinate means "brainwash" to many people, but its meaning isn't always so negative. When the verb first appeared in English in the 17th century, it simply meant "to teach"—a meaning linked closely to its source, the Latin verb docēre, which also means "to teach." (Other offspring of docēre include docile, doctor, document, and, of course, doctrine). By the 19th century, indoctrinate was being used in the sense of teaching someone to fully accept only the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of a particular group.