Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 2, 2026 is:





highfalutin • \hye-fuh-LOO-tun\ • adjective

Something or someone described as highfalutin seems, or is trying to seem, great or important.

// The authors’ research may have been impressive, but their paper was full of highfalutin jargon that ultimately obscured what they intended to say.

See the entry >





Examples:

“Standing 787 feet tall, the tower was one of the last of the era—when downtown Dallas’ skyline was defined by highfalutin oil execs, bankers, financiers and the architects who used steel, concrete and glass to erect opulent monuments to their economic success.” — Nick Wooten, The Dallas Morning News, 9 Jan. 2026





Did you know?

Highfalutin has a fine purpose: to describe pretentious people or language without making the person using it sound, well, pretentious. Were you to describe the high-flown speech of another using other adjectives available to you (grandiloquent, fustian, orotund) you might well be found guilty of the faux pas yourself. Highfalutin first appeared as American slang in the early 1800s, and like many slang terms it has had a lot of different spellings (hi, high faluting). The word most likely originated as a combination of the adjective high (as used in the phrase “high and mighty”) and the participle fluting. Why fluting? Maybe down-to-earth Americans thought that the overly formal, condescending, and flowery speech of the high and mighty sounded like the shrill and biting high tones of a flute. Whatever the reasoning, highfalutin has remained a staple of down-home American speech ever since.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 1, 2026 is:





spindrift • \SPIN-drift\ • noun

Spindrift refers to spray blown from waves during a gale or to fine wind-borne snow or sand.

// Our whale-watching cruise was a whirlwind of flukes, fins, and clinging to the handrails amid the waves and salty blasts of spindrift.

See the entry >





Examples:

“White-capped waves crash far below the cliffs and sweep out to the horizon, spindrift tosses up mini-rainbows and creamy plumes of sea froth float up and over.” — Amanda Thomson, The Guardian (London), 5 Sept. 2024





Did you know?

Spindrift first set sail in English in the early 19th century, under Scottish command. The Scots had by that point been using speendrift for well over a century; their verb speen means “to rush forcefully along with a strong wind,” so speendrift referred to a drift of salty sea spray during such sailing. In the 1820s, English speakers recruited the word, but signed it up as spindrift. At that time, its sole duty was to refer to the driving sprays at sea. By the mid-20th century, English speakers realized that spindrift had potential to serve on land as well, and the word was sent ashore to be used for wind-borne snow and sand. Today, spindrift still serves the language commendably by land and by sea.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 31, 2026 is:





comely • \KUM-lee\ • adjective

Comely is an adjective with an old-fashioned and literary feel that describes someone or something that has a pleasing appearance, or that is pretty or attractive.

// The newlyweds make quite a comely couple.

See the entry >





Examples:

"One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Berlin 10 years ago was something odd about the pigeons here: Some of them were pretty, far comelier than Manhattan pigeons ..." — Ben Crair, The New York Times, 29 June 2026





Did you know?

Comely—especially when compared to its more common synonyms, including lovely, handsome, and beautiful—has an old-fashioned flair. These days it is used especially by writers of historical fantasy to modify words referring to women, such as maiden and damsel, that also suggest real or imagined days of castles and courts. But comely need not be restricted to such uses, and indeed, it historically was not. Its oldest meaning in English, from the 14th century and still used today, describes things that conform, pleasurably, to notions of good appearance, suitability, or proportion, as when Willa Cather wrote that "they observed that all was neat and comely …" Comely is not etymologically related to the familiar verb come that also forms part of the word come-hither, as in "come-hither glances." It instead traces back to the Old English word cȳmlic, meaning "glorious," which in turn comes from cȳme, meaning "lively" or "fine."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 30, 2026 is:





sultry • \SULL-tree\ • adjective

Sultry means “very hot and humid” when it describes such things as seasons, days, and weather. When it describes things humans do and possess—voices, poses, looks, and the like—it means “exciting or capable of exciting strong sexual desire.”

// The restaurant's rooftop deck is the place to be on sultry summer nights.

See the entry >





Examples:

“It’s a sultry morning in the Maldives and the mechanic is sweating as he tinkers with the sparkling La Marzocco espresso machine. All the while, hopeful guests watch, desperate for a morning hit.” — Belinda Jackson, The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, 15 Nov. 2025





Did you know?

Sultry days and glances both burn hot—one literally, and the other figuratively. Sultry is a late 16th century alteration of the obsolete word sulter, itself an alteration of swelter, which since the 14th century has meant “to suffer, sweat, or be faint from heat” and “to become exceedingly hot.” Sweltering on a sultry day may also bring the word muggy to mind; that word comes from an English dialectical word, mug, meaning “drizzle.” Unlike muggy and swelter, sultry, as we said, applies to both literal and figurative heat, as when a singer’s sultry voice brings a figuratively hot vibe.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 29, 2026 is:





inveigle • \in-VAY-gul\ • verb

To inveigle someone is to persuade them in a clever or deceptive way to do something. Inveigle can also mean “to get something in a clever or deceptive way.”

// According to rumors, the company inveigled employees into signing the agreement.

// Their attempts to inveigle the information from her were, eventually, fruitful.

See the entry >





Examples:

“... his wayward cousin Freddie constantly inveigles him into more serious mischief.” — Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 22 June 2026





Did you know?

It’s true that you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you might find you can inveigle someone else into getting it for you. Inveigle, a word that dates from the 16th century, is used in situations where someone uses clever talk, trickery, or flattery either to persuade somebody to do something or to obtain something. If you have the morning munchies, for example, but get no satisfaction from cold cereal, you might inveigle a bagel (by complimenting a barista, say) or inveigle a barista into giving you a bagel. Failed to plan thoroughly for your camping trip? It’s not inveigling to demand “gimme shelter” or “you gotta move” to someone with a tent you'd like to steal like a thief in the night: inveigling involves subtle acts of persuasion and sometimes outright trickery. The distinction makes sense given that inveigle comes from the Anglo-French verb enveegler, meaning “to hoodwink” (its ultimate source is the Medieval Latin ab oculis, literally, “lacking eyes”). Isn’t etymology a gas, gas, gas?