Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 4, 2026 is:





fulsome • \FULL-sum\ • adjective

Fulsome describes someone or something that is generous in amount, extent, or spirit.

// They were fulsome in their praise of her efforts to raise money for the new wing of the children’s hospital.

// A day after offering a weak non-apology for instigating a bases-clearing brawl, the pitcher expressed more fulsome regrets at a press conference, taking full responsibility.

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Examples:

“... her archive, now kept at Yale University, forms the basis of this lusty, vibrant and fittingly multi-textured bio-doc that pays fulsome tribute to [Barbara] Hammer’s shapeshifting, once undervalued but now increasingly revered talent.” — Leslie Felperin The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Sept. 2026





Did you know?

In the 19th century, fulsome was mostly a literary term used disapprovingly to describe excessive, insincere praise and flattery. This meaning is still current, but since the early 20th century fulsome has been increasingly used with far more positive meanings, among them “abundant, copious” (as in “wrote in fulsome detail”) and “full and well developed” (as in “a fulsome voice”). The result is some amount of confusion: a phrase like “fulsome praise” used today without clarifying context may rightly be understood to mean either “abundant praise” or “excessive and obsequious praise.” While some critics object to the pleasanter meanings of fulsome, they are in fact true to the word’s origins: when it was first used in the 14th century, fulsome meant “abundant, copious.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 3, 2026 is:





candidate • \KAN-duh-dayt\ • noun

A candidate is someone who aspires to or is nominated or qualified for an office, membership, or award. Candidate may also refer to someone likely or suited to undergo or be chosen for something specified (as in "a candidate for surgery"), or to a student in the process of meeting final requirements for a degree (as in "a PhD candidate").

// The hiring team will select the best candidate for the job.

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Examples:

"Voters can choose up to three of the candidates on their ballot." — Mary Ramsey, The Charlotte (North Carolina) Observer, 14 Feb. 2026





Did you know?

When a man running for public office in ancient Rome greeted voters in the Forum, the center of judicial and public business, he wore a toga that had been whitened with chalk. As a result, the Latin word for someone seeking office came to be candidātus, meaning literally "clothed in white." Candidātus, in turn, comes from the adjective candidus, meaning "white." Candidātus was adopted into English as candidate, and since the 17th century that word has had an uncontested seat in the language.

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





satiate • \SAY-shee-ayt\ • verb

To satiate a need, desire, etc., is to satisfy it fully.

// The new restaurant’s menu promises to satiate diners’ cravings for comfort food, offering fresh spins on classic, time-honored fare.

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Examples:

“Powell was one of scores of Taylor Swift fans and inquisitive passersby who braved the New York City heat Thursday to satiate their curiosity about what many are calling the wedding of the century and the American equivalent of royal nuptials.” — Kaitlyn Huamani and Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press, 3 July 2026





Did you know?

The time has come at last to share the “sad” history of satiate, by which we mean that the two words—sad and satiate—are etymologically connected, not that the details will have you reaching for the tissue box. Both satiate and sad are related to the Latin satis, meaning “enough.” When we say our desire, thirst, curiosity, etc. has been satiated, we mean it has been fully satisfied (satisfy being another satis descendant)—in other words, we’ve had enough. Satiate and sate (believed to be an alteration and shortening of satiate) sometimes imply simple contentment, but often suggest that having enough has dulled interest or desire for more, as in “Years of globe-trotting satiated their interest in travel.”

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





Pyrrhic • \PEER-ik\ • adjective

The adjective Pyrrhic describes something that is achieved at an excessive cost. It is usually used to describe a victory, a Pyrrhic victory being one that is not worth winning because so much is lost to achieve it.

// The basketball team’s comeback in the final minutes turned out to be a Pyrrhic victory as the star center injured her ankle.

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Examples:

“… where I work, some of my colleagues have suggested that … universities ought to wean themselves off federal grants and become fully fiscally independent; otherwise, they’ll remain too vulnerable to political pressure. This would be a Pyrrhic victory, however, if you believe that robust government funding of research, and of higher education in general, is vital for scientific and social progress.” — David Pozen, The New York Times, 13 Mar. 2026





Did you know?

In 306 B.C.E., at the age of twelve, a youth named Pyrrhus took the throne of Epirus, a country in northwestern Greece. Pyrrhus grew to be an aggressive and quarrelsome king, given to warring with his neighbors. In 280 B.C.E., he brought 25,000 men (and a number of elephants) to southern Italy and defeated the Romans at Heraclea, but only after losing many of his soldiers. A year later, he again suffered heavy casualties at Roman hands in a battle at Ausculum. According to Plutarch, when he was congratulated on those victories Pyrrhus replied, “Another such victory over the Romans and we are undone.” The bloody battles of Pyrrhus didn’t find their way into English in the phrase “Pyrrhic victory” until the 1800s, but once it was established Pyrrhic quickly found occupation as an adjective even independent of the phrase, in such constructions as a “Pyrrhic achievement” and “Pyrrhic success.”

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





wraith • \RAYTH\ • noun

Wraith refers to the spirit of a dead person, or in other words, a ghost.

// The most frightening scene from the movie featured a vengeful wraith creeping slowly up behind the main characters.

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Examples:

"Nearly every storyteller knew the legend of the ghostly woman dressed in white, forever searching for her husband. ... Like all good desert legends, the facts shifted with the wind, but the ending was always the same: if you wandered too far into the dunes, you just might hear the wraith calling to her lost husband." — Candice McDonald, The Alamogordo (New Mexico) Daily News, 30 July 2026





Did you know?

If you see your own double, you're in trouble, at least if you believe old superstitions. The belief that a ghostly twin's appearance portends death is one common to many cultures. In German folklore, such an apparition is called a Doppelgänger (literally, "double goer"); in Scottish lore, it is a wraith. The exact origin of the word wraith is misty, however, and etymologists can only trace it back to the early 16th century—in particular to a 1513 translation of Virgil's Aeneid by Gavin Douglas (the Scotsman used wraith to name apparitions of both the dead and the living). Today, wraith may refer broadly to ghost or specter, or figuratively to something regarded as ghostly or insubstantial, as when New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane referred to an actor's "wraith of a mustache."