Did You Know?
Picture yourself serenely succumbing to sleep. Chances are that in the mental image you’ve just formed, you are in a recumbent position—that is, lying down. The position is baked into the etymology: both succumb and recumbent trace back to cumbere, a Latin verb meaning “to lie down.” While recumbency is typically literal, succumbing is about figuratively lying down before something—yielding to it, ceasing to resist it. The word is most often used with regard to faults and foibles and demise—people succumb to temptation, plants succumb to blight—but the word can be applied in happier contexts too, as when one succumbs to sleep in a quiet spot on a sunny afternoon.
enmity (noun|EN-muh-tee)
Enmity is a formal word that refers to a very deep unfriendly feeling, such as hatred or ill will, that is often felt mutually.
// Having to collaborate on the project only increased the bitter enmity between the two coworkers, who had never gotten along.
The resemblance between enmity and enemy is no coincidence: both words come from the Anglo-French word enemi, which literally translates to "enemy." And when you feel enmity for a particular person—that is, deep-seated dislike or ill will—"enemy" may very well be an apt descriptor for them. While it is possible to feel enmity for someone who does not share or return one’s animosity, enmity is typically used for mutual hatred or antagonism between people (or groups, factions, etc.), as when Edgar Allan Poe wrote of the families of Berlifitzing and Metzengerstein in his first published short story: "Never before were two houses so illustrious, mutually embittered by hostility so deadly. The origin of this enmity seems to be found in the words of an ancient prophecy—'A lofty name shall have a fearful fall ...'"
lugubrious (adjective|loo-GOO-bree-us)
Lugubrious is a formal word used chiefly to describe something that is very sad especially in an exaggerated or insincere way. The word can also describe something that shows or expresses gloom.
// The movie’s stunning cinematography could not make up for the lugubrious and plodding plot.
// The lugubrious mood of the room shifted when the voices of children playing erupted outside the window.
Everybody hurts, as the classic R.E.M. song goes, and when your day is long and the night is yours alone, lugubrious is a perfect word for describing such sorrowful feelings, or that which inspires them (a lugubrious song, perhaps). That said, if lugubrious strikes you as a tad unusual, no, no, no, you’re not alone. Lugubrious is the sole surviving English offspring of the Latin verb lugēre, meaning “to mourn.” Its closest kin, luctual, an adjective meaning “sad” or “sorrowful,” was laid to rest centuries ago.
catch-22 (noun|KATCH-twen-tee-TOO)
Catch-22 typically refers to a difficult situation for which there is no easy or possible solution. In the narrowest use of the term, it refers to a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule.
// I’m in a catch-22: to get the job I need experience, but how do I get experience if I can’t get the job?
Catch-22 originated as the title of a 1961 novel by Joseph Heller. (Heller had originally planned to title his novel Catch-18, but the publication of Leon Uris’s Mila 18 persuaded him to change the number.) The catch-22 in Catch-22 involves a mysterious Army Air Forces regulation which asserts that a man is considered mentally unsound if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions but that if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. Catch-22 soon entered the language as a label for any irrational, circular, and impossible situation.
nonpareil (adjective|nahn-puh-REL)
Nonpareil describes that which has no equal because it is better than any other.
// To this day, the band's debut album is still considered nonpareil, raising the bar for every rock group to follow.
Trace nonpareil back to its Middle French origins and you'll find that it comes from a term meaning "not equal." Pareil itself comes from the Latin word par, which means "equal," and non- is a common prefix meaning "not." In addition to its adjectival use, nonpareil also functions as a noun referring to an individual of unequaled excellence (as in "the nonpareil of cellists") as well as to a chocolate candy disk covered with small sugar pellets.
brandish (verb|BRAN-dish)
To brandish something, such as a weapon, is to wave or swing it in a threatening or excited manner.
// Squeals of laughter erupted as three children brandishing squirt guns rounded the corner of the house.
The word brandish is often paired with a word for a weapon, such as knife or handgun. The link between brandish and weaponry is present in the word’s etymology: brandish comes ultimately from a Germanic word meaning “sword.” Since the word’s 14th century introduction to the English language (by way of Anglo-French) weapons have commonly been the things brandished, but also extensive is the use of brandish with things that are wielded to defeat in other ways, such as banners and placards used in the war of ideas. One can even brandish something that isn’t physical, such as a law or one’s intellect. In that case, you are figuratively waving the thing in someone’s face so that it cannot be ignored.
anomaly (noun|uh-NAH-muh-lee)
Anomaly is a somewhat formal word that refers to something that is remarkable in its deviation from what is usual or expected.
// Last summer’s storm was an anomaly for this area.
// We were unable to explain the anomalies in the test results.
You might be familiar with the Greek word homos, which means “same.” It is from this word that we get words like homonym, homogeneous, and homophone, all of which have to do with sameness or similarity. What does this have to do with anomaly? Although it’s not obvious, homos is a part of the etymology of anomaly, too. Anomaly is a descendant—by way of Latin and Middle French—of the Greek word anṓmalos, which means “uneven” or “irregular.” Anṓmalos comes from the prefix a- (meaning “not”) and the word homalόs (meaning “even”)—and homalόs comes from homos.
gesundheit (interjection|guh-ZOONT-hyte)
Gesundheit is an interjection used to wish good health to one who has just sneezed.
// I sneezed three times in a row, and my coworker called "gesundheit!" from the next cubicle.
When English speakers hear "achoo," they usually respond with either "gesundheit" or "God bless you." Gesundheit was borrowed in the early 20th century from German, where it literally means "health"; it was formed from gesund ("healthy") and -heit ("-hood"). Wishing a person good health when they sneeze was historically believed to forestall the illness that a sneeze often portends. "God bless you" had a similar purpose, albeit with more divine weight to the well-wishing. Gesundheit at one time also served as a toast when drinking (much like its English counterpart, "to your health"), but this use is now largely obsolete.
vociferous (adjective|voh-SIF-uh-rus)
Vociferous describes people who express their feelings or opinions loudly and insistently. It is also applied to things, such as objections, that are expressed in such a way.
// We were vociferous in our support of the proposal.
// The decision was made over their vociferous objections.
Hear ye! Hear ye! To vociferate is to cry out loudly and insistently. Those who vociferate qualify as vociferous, especially when they loudly or insistently show their support for or displeasure in something by hootin' and hollerin'. Both vociferate and vociferous come from the Latin verb vociferari, a combining of vox, meaning "voice," with ferre, meaning "to carry." In addition to describing loud and insistent individuals and groups—critics, crowds, fans, et al.—vociferous can be used for anything characterized by loud insistence, as in "vociferous complaints," "a vociferous defense," and "vociferous support."
kerfuffle (noun|ker-FUFF-ul)
Kerfuffle is an informal word that refers to a disturbance or fuss typically caused by a dispute or conflict.
// The reclassification of Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet caused quite a kerfuffle among astronomy lovers.
Fuffle is an old Scottish verb that means “to muss” or “to throw into disarray”—in other words, to (literally) ruffle someone’s (figurative) feathers. The addition of car-, possibly from a Scottish Gaelic word meaning “wrong” or “awkward,” didn’t change its meaning much. In the 19th century carfuffle, with its variant curfuffle, became a noun, which in the 20th century was embraced by a broader population of English speakers and standardized to kerfuffle, referring to a more figurative feather-ruffling. There is some kerfuffle among language historians over how the altered spelling came to be favored. One theory holds that it might have been influenced by onomatopoeic words like kerplunk that imitate the sound of a falling object hitting a surface.
obliterate (verb|uh-BLIT-uh-rayt)
To obliterate something is to destroy it completely so that nothing is left, to destroy utterly all trace, indication, or significance of it. It can also mean "to remove utterly from recognition or memory."
// The wave completely obliterated our sandcastles.
// The October snowstorm obliterated our hopes for a mild autumn.
Obliterate has been preserved in our language for centuries, and that's not nothing! The earliest evidence in our files traces obliterate back to the mid-16th century as a word for removing something from memory. Soon after, English speakers began to use it for the specific act of blotting out or obscuring anything written, and eventually its meaning was generalized to removing anything from existence. In the meantime, physicians began using obliterate for the surgical act of filling or closing up a vessel, cavity, or passage with tissue, which would then cause the bodily part to collapse or disappear. Today obliterate thrives in the English lexicon with the various senses it has acquired over the years, including its final stamp on the language: "to cancel (something, especially a postage stamp)."
September 30, 2025
impetuous (adjective|im-PECH-uh-wus)
Impetuous is a synonym of impulsive that describes a person who is acting without thought, or an action that is done without thought.
// That impetuous decision could've cost us everything we worked so hard for.
Impetuous types make impetuous decisions: they leap before they look, put carts before horses, count their chickens before even the tiniest of cracks appear on the eggs. In other words, they’re impulsive. The etymology of impetuous is also impulsive but in a literal way: it traces back to the Latin word impetus, meaning “impulse, driving force,” as well as “assault.” English impetus, also meaning “impulse, driving force” (among other things), has the same source.
preternatural (adjective|pree-ter-NATCH-uh-rul)
Preternatural is a formal adjective used to describe things that are very unusual in a way that does not seem natural.
// He has a preternatural knack for imitating birdcalls.
// There was an eerie, preternatural quiet in the house.
Preternatural comes from the Latin phrase praeter naturam, meaning "beyond nature." Medieval Latin scholars rendered this as praeternaturalis, and that form inspired the modern English word. Things beyond nature—i.e., very unusual things—can be alarming, and in its earliest documented uses in the late 1500s, preternatural was applied to strange, ominous, or abnormal phenomena, from works of God to signs of illness and disease. But by the 1800s things were looking up for preternatural, with the word describing remarkable abilities of exceptional humans, as it most often does today.
atone (verb|uh-TOHN)
To atone for something is to make amends for it—that is, to do something good as a way of showing that you are sorry about, or have remorse for, a mistake, bad behavior, etc.
// The novel opens with an act of cruelty and then traces the thoughts and actions of those responsible as they try to atone for it.
Atone has its roots in the idea of reconciliation and harmony. It grew out of the Middle English phrase at on meaning “in harmony,” a phrase echoed in current expressions like “feeling at one with nature.” When atone joined modern English in the 16th century, it meant “to reconcile,” and suggested the restoration of a peaceful and harmonious state between people or groups. Today, atone specifically implies addressing the damage—or disharmony—caused by one’s own behavior.
gibbous (adjective|JIB-us)
Gibbous is most often used to describe the moon or a planet when it is seen with more than half but not all of the apparent disk illuminated.
// The waxing gibbous moon provided the perfect lighting for a night of spooky storytelling around the campfire.
The adjective gibbous has its origins in the Latin noun gibbus, meaning “hump.” It was adopted into Middle English to describe rounded, convex things. While it has been used to describe the rounded body parts of humans and animals (such as the back of a camel) and to describe the shape of certain flowers (such as snapdragons), the term is most often used to describe the moon: a gibbous moon is one that is between half full and full.
repertoire (noun|REP-er-twahr)
Repertoire typically refers to a list or supply of plays, songs, dances, etc. that a company or person is prepared to perform,. Repertoire may also refer to a supply of skills or devices, or more broadly to an amount or supply.
// The band's repertoire includes both classic and modern jazz.
// The couple enrolled in a cooking class to expand their culinary repertoire.
// His fashion repertoire includes a rotation of vibrant floral tops.