Wherewithal refers to the means, skills, resources, or money that is needed to get or do something.

// The company does not have the financial wherewithal to expand into other markets at this time.

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"... it is heartening to know that there are people of real influence who have the will and wherewithal to help lift the city out of the doldrums." — Scott Wright, The Herald (Scotland), 15 May 2025

If wherewithal sounds like three words smashed together, that’s because it is—sort of. Wherewithal combines where and withal, an adverb from Middle English that is itself a combination of with and all. In the past, wherewithal was used as a conjunction meaning "with or by means of which" and as a pronoun meaning "that with or by which." Today, however, it is almost always used as a noun to refer to the means or resources a person or entity has at their disposal. It refers especially to financial resources, but other means such as social influence, ability, and emotional capacity may also be termed as "wherewithal."

If you are bemused by something, you are confused or bewildered by it, and often also somewhat amused.

// The contestant seemed somewhat bemused by the question, but gave the correct answer.

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“The duck touched down on the surface of Raymond James Stadium just minutes before the Bucs scored their own touchdown. ... Many of the staff not assigned to work on the field were bemused by the sight of Anchor carrying a duck out of the stadium. They held cellphones and took pictures.” — Rick Stroud, The Tampa Bay (Florida) Times, 1 Jan. 2025

In 1735, British poet Alexander Pope lamented, in rhyme, being besieged by “a parson much bemus’d in beer.” The cleric in question was apparently one of a horde of would-be poets who pestered Pope with requests that he read their verses. Pope meant that the parson had found his muse—his inspiration—in beer. That use of bemused harks back to a 1705 letter in which Pope wrote of “Poets … irrecoverably Be-mus’d.” In both letter and poem, Pope used bemused to allude to being inspired by or devoted to one of the Muses, the Greek sister goddesses of art, music, and literature. The lexicographers who followed him, however, interpreted “bemus’d in beer” as meaning “left confused by beer,” and their confusion gave rise to the “bewilder” sense of bemuse. The newer (and very common) use of bemuse to mean “to cause to have feelings of wry or tolerant amusement” is a topic of some dispute, as discussed here.

A litmus test is something (such as an opinion about a political or moral issue) that is used to make a judgment about whether someone or something is acceptable.

// At our family’s Thanksgiving dinner, the litmus test for good mac and cheese is whether or not it is baked.

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“The audience in a Broadway show can be intoxicating, and it’s like a litmus test. If a joke doesn’t land one night, you tell it differently the next night. It’s terrifying, on set, to have no idea if something is working.” — Erika Henningsen, quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, 1 May 2025

It was in the 14th century that scientists discovered that litmus, a mixture of colored organic compounds obtained from lichen, turns red in acid solutions and blue in alkaline solutions and, thus, can be used as an acid-base indicator. Six centuries later, people began using litmus test figuratively. It can now refer to any single factor that establishes the true character of something or causes something to be assigned to one category or another. Often it refers to something (such as an opinion about a political or moral issue) that can be used to make a judgment about whether someone or something is acceptable or not.

Convivial means "relating to, occupied with, or fond of feasting, drinking, and good company."

// A convivial atmosphere filled the gallery, with good food in abundance, and wine and conversation both flowing freely.

// The guests' convivial chatter filled the hall.

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"For Chrissy Metz, whose childhood upbringing was modest, she says, this house signifies more than just its aesthetic beauty. 'To have a home that I can invite people to and entertain is so important to me,' the actor confides, adding that she always invites people over when she's in town. ... The front sitting room, for example, which doubles as a game room, is the scene of many convivial game nights." — Ariel Foxman, Architectural Digest, 9 Sept. 2024

Convivial is a cheerful word that typically suggests a mood of full-bellied delight in good food, good drink, and good company, which Charles Dickens aptly captures in his novel David Copperfield: "We had a beautiful little dinner. Quite an elegant dish of fish; the kidney-end of a loin of veal, roasted; fried sausage-meat; a partridge, and a pudding. There was wine, and there was strong ale. ... Mr. Micawber was uncommonly convivial. I never saw him such good company. He made his face shine with the punch, so that it looked as if it had been varnished all over. He got cheerfully sentimental about the town, and proposed success to it." Convivial traces back to the Latin word convivium, meaning "banquet," which in turn comes from the verb vivere, meaning "to live." The word is in good company, as vivere has breathed plenty of life into the English language; other common descendants include survive, revive, vivid, and vivacious.

Emancipation refers to the act of freeing someone from the restraint, control, or power of another. It is used especially for the act of freeing someone from slavery.

// Jomo Kenyatta played a key role in the emancipation of Kenya from European rule in the 1960s and became the first president of the newly independent nation.

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“Rappahannock County’s calming beauty and rolling hills hold stories from the Civil War era waiting to be told. Howard Lambert, a Culpeper native and the first African American president of the Brandy Station Foundation, has worked tirelessly to bring these stories to life, especially those of Black Civil War soldiers. ... He also has a personal connection to the Civil War. His great-great-uncle, Fielding Turner, served in the 20th United States Colored Troops (USCT) Infantry Regiment, fighting in pivotal battles and helping to announce emancipation in Texas now commemorated as Juneteenth.” — Ayana SummerlinRosa, The Culpeper (Virginia) Star-Exponent, 11 Mar. 2025

To emancipate someone (including oneself) is to free them from restraint, control, or the power of another, and especially to free them from bondage or enslavement. It follows that the noun emancipation refers to the act or practice of emancipating. The Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, for example, ordered that enslaved people living in the Confederate states be released from the bonds of ownership and made free people. It took more than two years for news of the proclamation to reach the enslaved communities in the distant state of Texas. The arrival of the news on June 19 (of 1865) is now celebrated as a national holiday—Juneteenth or Emancipation Day.

To jeopardize something or someone is to put them at risk or in danger.

// The wrong decision could seriously jeopardize the success of the project.

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“To keep the cub from forming bonds with people that could jeopardize his return to the wild, staff members charged with his care are dressing up in bear costumes, including a mask, fur coat and leather gloves.” — Summer Lin, The Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2025

Imagine you’re a contestant on a game show, and your task is to provide a question as a response to this statement from the host: “This word was once controversial, and in 1870 a grammarian called it ‘a foolish and intolerable word,’ a view shared by many 19th-century critics.” If you answered, “What is jeopardize?,” you might be going home with some money! The preferred word back then was jeopard, which first appeared in print in the 14th century. The upstart jeopardize didn’t arrive until the late 16th century, and took a while to catch on. In 1828, Noah Webster himself declared jeopardize to be “a modern word, used by respectable writers in America, but synonymous with jeopard, and therefore useless.” Unfortunately for the champions of jeopard, increased usage of jeopardize ultimately put the former word in jeopardy. Jeopard is now only rarely heard.

An apologia is a defense especially of one's opinions, position, or actions.

// The opinion piece reads like an apologia for the industry's reckless behavior.

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"Yes, Barbie is a polarizing toy ... but [Greta] Gerwig leaped right to what else Barbie is: a potent, complicated, contradictory symbol that stands near the center of a decades-long and still-running argument about how to be a woman. ... The movie is a celebration of Barbie and a subterranean apologia for Barbie." — Willa Paskin, The New York Times, 11 July 2023

As you might expect, apologia is a close relative of apology. Both words come from Late Latin; apologia came to English as a direct borrowing while apology traveled through Middle French. The Latin apologia can be traced back to the Greek verb apologeîsthai, meaning "to speak in defense; defend oneself." In their earliest English uses, apologia and apology meant basically the same thing: a formal defense or justification of one's actions or opinions. Nowadays, however, the two are distinct. The modern apology generally involves an admission of wrongdoing and an expression of regret for past actions, while an apologia typically focuses on explaining, justifying, or making clear the grounds for some course of action, belief, or position.

Someone described as garrulous is very talkative. When garrulous is used to describe a piece of language (such as a speech), it means “containing many and often too many words; wordy.”

// One of the dinner party guests was a garrulous poet whose stories kept most of us in stitches.

// We tried our best to stay awake during the principal’s garrulous speech.

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“Verbosity [in Academy Awards acceptance speeches] became more of a problem with the advent of television coverage in the 1950s. As millions of viewers watched from around the world, actors and directors—also cinematographers, sound editors and costume designers—often lingered in the spotlight. The academy eventually instituted a 45-second time limit and directed the orchestra to play garrulous winners off stage.” — David Wharton, The Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2024

We all know someone who blabs, gabs, or even confabs a little longer than necessary. You might refer to such a person as a chatty Cathy, but “garrulous Gary” would also make a perfectly apt nom de guerre. Garrulous, after all, is a 17th century Latin borrowing that has its origin in garrīre, meaning “to chatter, talk rapidly.” That Latin root is probably imitative in origin—that is, it was coined to imitate what it refers to. English has a number of words that are imitative in origin, among them several others that can describe the actions of that one friend who does all the talking, such as babble and chatter.

Progeny refers to the child or descendant of a particular parent or family. Progeny can also refer to the offspring of an animal or plant, or broadly to something that is the product of something else. The plural of progeny is progeny.

// Many Americans are the progeny of immigrants.

// The champion thoroughbred passed on his speed, endurance, and calm temperament to his progeny, many of whom became successful racehorses themselves.

// This landmark study is the progeny of many earlier efforts to explore the phenomenon.

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“‘I am (We are) our ancestors’ wildest dreams.’ The phrase originated from New Orleans visual artist, activist, and filmmaker Brandan Odums, and was popularized by influential Black figures like Ava Duvernay, who used the phrase in tribute to the ancestors of First Lady Michelle Obama. Melvinia Shields, who was born a slave in 1844, would be survived by five generations of progeny, ultimately leading to her great-great-great granddaughter—Michelle Obama ...” — Christopher J. Schell, “Hope for the Wild in Afrofuturism,” 2024

Progeny is the progeny of the Latin verb prōgignere, meaning “to beget.” That Latin word is itself an offspring of the prefix prō-, meaning “forth,” and gignere, which can mean “to beget” or “to bring forth.” Gignere has produced a large family of English descendants, including benign, engine, genius, germ, indigenous, and genuine. Gignere even paired up with prō- again to produce a close relative of progeny: the noun progenitor can mean “an ancestor in the direct line,” “a biologically ancestral form,” or “a precursor or originator.”

Vexillology is the study of flags.

// An expert in vexillology, Cynthia has an impressive collection of flags displayed in her home.

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"... flags should have simple elements, a limited number of colors, and no words. One of the tenets of vexillology is that the elements of the flag should be simple enough to be easily drawn by a child." — The Toledo (Ohio) Blade, 9 Jan. 2025

"The flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of history." Woodrow Wilson was speaking of the U.S. flag when he made that statement in an address in June of 1915, but those who engage in vexillology—that is, vexillologists—would likely find the comment applicable to any national banner. Vexillologists undertake scholarly investigations of flags, producing papers with titles such as "A Review of the Changing Proportions of Rectangular Flags since Medieval Times, and Some Suggestions for the Future." In the late 1950s, they coined vexillology as a name for their field of research, basing it on vexillum, the Latin term for a square flag or banner of the ancient Roman cavalry. The adjectives vexillologic and vexillological and the noun vexillologist followed soon thereafter.