Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 25, 2021 is:

obtuse • \ahb-TOOSS\  • adjective

Obtuse means "difficult to understand" or "unable to understand what is obvious."

// The attorney explained the obtuse language in the contract to her client.

// Maybe I am being obtuse, but I didn't understand the end of the movie.

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Examples:

"There are speeches and flags and somewhat obtuse artistic presentations, then at or near the end, the Olympic flame enters the stadium and is delivered to a cauldron … to burn for the next 16 days." — Brandon Veale, The Duluth (Minnesota) News-Tribune, 23 July 2021

Did you know?

Obtuse comes from a Latin word meaning "dull" or "blunt." It can describe a geometric angle that is not acute or a person who is mentally "dull." In addition, obtuse can mean "hard to comprehend." That meaning is probably from confusion with the similar-sounding abstruse.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 24, 2021 is:

hobnob • \HAHB-nahb\  • verb

Hobnob means "to come or be together as friends."

// Local business owners hobnobbed at the fundraiser.

// The entertainment columnist learns about the latest gossip by hobnobbing with celebrities.

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Examples:

"Does declaring affection for Tanglewood, the iconic venue in the Berkshires, make me seem like a self-important muckety-muck eager to hobnob with elites from Boston and Manhattan? Well, so be it." — Chris Churchill, The Times-Union (Albany, New York), 25 July 2021

Did you know?

In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Sir Toby Belch warned Viola (who was disguised as a man) that Sir Andrew wanted to duel. "Hob, nob is his word," said Sir Toby, using "hob, nob" to mean something like "hit or miss." Sir Toby's term is probably an alteration of "hab nab," a phrase that meant "to have or not have, however it may turn out." After Shakespeare's day, hob and nob were used in the phrases "to drink hob or nob" and "to drink hobnob," which meant "to drink alternately to each other." Since "drinking hobnob" was generally done among friends, hobnob came to refer to congenial social interaction.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 23, 2021 is:

chastise • \chass-TYZE\  • verb

Chastise means "to criticize (someone) harshly for doing something wrong."

// The boss eventually had to chastise certain employees for being consistently late.

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Examples:

"I used to chastise people for not working as efficiently as the WWE. … I was judgmental and I was apprehensive and I wanted to be back in the ring because I loved that immediate gratification." — John Cena, quoted in USA Today, 5 Aug. 2021

Did you know?

There are many words to express the infliction of a penalty in return for wrongdoing—for example, chastise, castigate, chasten, correct, discipline, and punish. Of these, chastise, chasten, and castigate share similar origins as well as similar meanings. Chastise developed as an altered form of chasten, which comes from the Anglo-French chastier, which has its roots in the Latin verb castigare, which also gave English the word castigate.