Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

ecstatic


Listen Later

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 9, 2025 is:

ecstatic • \ek-STAT-ik\  • adjective

Someone described as ecstatic is very happy or excited; the person feels or shows ecstasy—that is, rapturous delight.

// Greta and Sam were ecstatic when their daughter called to tell them that they were soon going to be grandparents.

See the entry >

Examples:

“... through reading, through reporting, I begin to comprehend a truth. That moment of comprehension is ecstatic. Writing and rewriting is the attempt to communicate not just a truth but the ecstasy of a truth. It is not enough for me to convince the reader of my argument; I want them to feel that same private joy that I feel alone.” — Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Message, 2024

Did you know?

If you feel like “a hot air balloon that could go to space” or, perhaps, “like a room without a roof,” you might—with all due respect to Pharrell Williams—be not just happy but ecstatic. In other words: euphoric, over the moon, positively brimming with joy or excitement. Ecstatic has been used in English since the late 1500s, arriving (via Medieval Latin) from the Greek adjective ekstatikós meaning, among other things “out of one’s senses.” Ekstatikós, in turn, was formed in part from eksta-, the stem of such verbs as existánai, “to displace or confound,” and exístasthai “to be astonished or lose consciousness.” That seems an appropriate history for a word that can describe someone who is nearly out of their mind with intense emotion. Eksta-, it should be noted, also contributed to the Greek noun ékstasis, meaning “astonishment” or “trance,” which led to ecstasy (the English word, of course, not the universal feeling).



...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Merriam-Webster's Word of the DayBy Merriam-Webster

  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5
  • 4.5

4.5

1,160 ratings


More shows like Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

View all
Speak English with ESLPod.com - Learn English Fast by ESLPod.com

Speak English with ESLPod.com - Learn English Fast

2,511 Listeners

TED Talks Daily by TED

TED Talks Daily

11,418 Listeners

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by QuickAndDirtyTips.com

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

2,831 Listeners

Science Quickly by Scientific American

Science Quickly

1,367 Listeners

Learn English | EnglishClass101.com by EnglishClass101.com

Learn English | EnglishClass101.com

857 Listeners

RealLife English: Learn and Speak Confident, Natural English by RealLife English

RealLife English: Learn and Speak Confident, Natural English

508 Listeners

All Ears English Podcast by Lindsay McMahon and Michelle Kaplan

All Ears English Podcast

2,277 Listeners

Round Table China by China Plus

Round Table China

150 Listeners

Daily Easy English Expression Podcast by Coach Shane

Daily Easy English Expression Podcast

840 Listeners

IELTS Energy English 7+ by Lindsay McMahon, Jessica Beck, Aubrey Carter

IELTS Energy English 7+

430 Listeners

Real English Conversations Podcast - Learn to Speak & Understand Real English with Confidence! by Real English Conversations: Amy Whitney & Curtis Davies - English Podcast

Real English Conversations Podcast - Learn to Speak & Understand Real English with Confidence!

412 Listeners

Life Kit by NPR

Life Kit

4,323 Listeners

The InFluency Podcast by Hadar Shemesh

The InFluency Podcast

357 Listeners

Confident Business English by Anna Connelly

Confident Business English

143 Listeners

Business English from All Ears English by Lindsay McMahon

Business English from All Ears English

72 Listeners