Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 12, 2019 is: plaintive  \PLAYN-tiv\ adjective  
: expressive of suffering or woe : [melancholy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melancholy)  
  
Examples:
  
"Dean Nicholson was pedaling up a hill in Bosnia … when he heard a plaintive meow. He looked over his shoulder. In the lambent December light, he saw a gray-and-white kitten chasing him up the incline." — [Isaac Stanley-Becker, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 4 Apr. 2019](https://www.inquirer.com/things-to-do/travel/hes-biking-around-world-with-cat-his-back-shoulder-his-handlebars-20190405.html)

"[Stevie] Wonder did perform a plaintive cover of the John Lennon classic 'Imagine' for his penultimate number—a statement piece that he's incorporated on his tours since the 1990s, and which he noted as being 'still relevant,' despite originally coming out in 1971." — [Mara Reinstein, Billboard.com, 25 June 2019](https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/concerts/8517514/stevie-wonder-red-rocks-concert)  
  
Did you know?  
   
Like its relative [plangent](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plangent), plaintive is often used to describe sad sounds. "A plaintive wail," for example, is a common use. Plaintive and plangent (along with relatives [plaintiff](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plaintiff) and [complain](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/complain)) ultimately derive from the Latin verb plangere, meaning "to strike," "to beat one's breast," or "to lament." This Latin verb led to plaint, an Anglo-French word (and now also an English word) meaning "lamentation." Plaint is the root of Middle English plaintif (meaning "lamenting" or "complaining"), which gave rise to plaintive as well as the noun plaintiff.

plaintive

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 30, 2024 is: demagogue  \DEM-uh-gahg\ noun  
A demagogue is a political leader who tries to get support by making use of popular prejudices, as well as by making false claims and promises and using arguments based on emotion rather than reason.

// His opponent called him a bigoted demagogue for demonizing those who don't intend to vote for him.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demagogue)  
  
Examples:
  
“You need an internal guidance system for making decisions. Without one, your choices become heavily influenced by external forces such as peers, television, and demagogues.” — Tom Muha, The Capital (Annapolis, Maryland), 2 Oct. 2021  
  
Did you know?  
   
When the ancient Greeks used dēmagōgós (from dêmos, meaning “people,” and -agōgos, “leading”) they meant someone good—a leader who used outstanding oratorical skills to further the interests of the common people. The first known use of demagogue in English comes from the introduction to [Thomas Hobbes’s](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Hobbes) 1629 translation of a text by the ancient Greek historian [Thucydides](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thucydides-Greek-historian): “It need not be doubted, but from such a master Thucydides was sufficiently qualified, to have become a great demagogue, and of great authority with the people.” Alas, the word quickly took a negative turn; within decades it was being used to refer to someone who uses powers of persuasion to sway and mislead.

demagogue

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 29, 2024 is: inviolable  \in-VYE-uh-luh-bul\ adjective  
Inviolable is a formal term that is used to describe something too important to be ignored or treated with disrespect.

// She considers herself a person with inviolable moral standards.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inviolable)
  
  
Examples:
  
"Under international law, humans possess an inviolable right to freedom of thought. As part of this, governments have a duty to create an environment where people can think freely." — Simon McCarthy-Jones, The Conversation, 27 Sept. 2023
  
  
Did you know?  
   
Inviolable is a [venerable](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venerable) word that has been with us since the 15th century. Its opposite, [violable](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/violable) ("capable of being or likely to be violated"), appeared in the following century. The 17th century English playwright Shackerley Marmion made good use of violable in A Fine Companion, writing, "Alas, my heart is Tender and violable with the least weapon Sorrow can dart at me." But English speakers have never warmed up to that word the way we have to inviolable, and it continues to be used much less frequently. Both terms descend from the Latin verb violare, which both shares the meaning with, and is an ancestor of, the English word violate.

inviolable

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 28, 2024 is: ken  \KEN\ noun  
Ken refers to someone’s range of perception, knowledge, or understanding, and is most often used in phrases like “beyond/outside/within one’s ken.” 

// The author advised the aspiring writers in the crowd to develop an authoritative voice by sticking to subjects within their ken.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ken)
  
  
Examples:
  
“… I’m still pretty much an amateur when it comes to gardening. Creating showy displays of florals along a pathway or verdant plots of perennials in shady backyard nooks—well, much of that is still beyond my ken. I don’t know my [spurges](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spurge) from my [woodruffs](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/woodruff).” — Larry Cornies, The London (Ontario) Free Press, 3 June 2023  
  
Did you know?  
   
Need a word that can encompass all that one perceives, understands, or knows? It’s just ken. Of course, whether someone is a [president](https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/issa-rae-insecure-word-icons), writer, physicist, diplomat, journalist, or even a stereotypical [Barbie](https://bit.ly/4331LSi), everyone has their own personal ken. So when someone says something is “beyond” it, they’re not admitting to being a [gosling](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gosling), only that the topic or question at hand is beyond their particular range of knowledge or expertise. Ken appeared on the English horizon in the 16th century referring to the distance bounding the range of ordinary vision at sea (about 20 miles), and would thus have been familiar to [skippers](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skipper) in particular. Its meaning soon broadened, however, to mean “range of vision” or “sight” on land or sea. Today ken rarely suggests literal sight, but rather the extent of what one can metaphorically “see.” And that, as they say, is enough.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 27, 2024 is: assail  \uh-SAIL\ verb  
Assail has a number of meanings relating to violent or powerful confrontations. It can be a straightforward synonym of [assault]( https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assault), as in "assailed by armed robbers," or it can mean "to oppose, challenge, or criticize harshly and forcefully," as in "citizens assailing the proposed changes." It can also mean "to trouble or afflict in a way that threatens to overwhelm," as in "assailed by fears." Assail can also apply to powerful perceptions: a smell that assails you, for example, is strongly noticeable and usually unpleasant. Occasionally, assail is used to mean "to encounter, undertake, or confront energetically," as in "with a deadline fast approaching, we assailed the project with renewed vigor."

// Most worthwhile achievements require that one persevere even when assailed by doubts.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assail)  
  
Examples:
  
"What does it even mean to be good in a world as complex as ours, when great inequity remains unaddressed and often seems too daunting to assail, and when seemingly benign choices—which shoes to buy, which fruit to eat—can come with the moral baggage of large carbon footprints or the undercompensated labor of migrant workers?" — Nancy Kaffer, The Detroit (Michigan) Free Press, 9 Jan. 2020  
  
Did you know?  
   
If you're assailed by doubts about the word assail, allow us to set your mind at ease by providing some [surety](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surety). Assail comes, by way of Anglo-French, from the Latin verb assilire ("to leap upon"), which in turn comes from the Latin verb salire, meaning "to leap." (Salire is the root of a number of English words related to jumping and leaping, such as [somersault](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/somersault) and [sally](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sally), as well as [assault](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assault), a synonym of assail.) When assail was first used in the 13th century, it meant "to make a violent physical attack upon." By the early 15th century, English speakers were using the term to mean "to attack with words or arguments." Now the verb can apply to any kind of aggressive encounter, even if it is not necessarily violent or quarrelsome, as in "Upon entering the room, we were assailed by a horrible odor."

assail

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 26, 2024 is: homage  \AH-mij\ noun  
An homage is something that is done to honor someone or something. It is often used with the word pay (as in “pay homage”) to mean “to respect or honor.”

// Her latest book is an homage to her favorite city.

// The paintings in the new art gallery pay homage to women artists of the past.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homage)
  
  
Examples:
  
“The series also pays homage to Detroit with its brutal winters, chicken spots and fur-draped residents. It’s a city grounded in Black culture, which is only now beginning to reemerge after years of negligence.” — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 21 Mar. 2024  
  
Did you know?  
   
In medieval times, a person could officially become a [vassal](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vassal) of a king or lord by publicly announcing allegiance to him in a formal ceremony. In that ritual, known as homage (from the Latin root homo-, meaning “man”), the subject (who was usually but not always a man) knelt and placed his hands between those of his lord, symbolically surrendering himself and putting himself at the lord’s disposal and under his jurisdiction. A bond was thus forged between the two; the vassal’s part was to revere and serve his lord, and the lord’s role was to protect and provide for the vassal and his family. The symbolism attached to the word proved irresistible, and homage quickly broadened to apply with the meaning “respect or honor” in a variety of contexts. Today, a singer can pay homage to someone who influenced their career, and a recipe can be an homage to a chef’s hometown.

plaintive

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