Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 8, 2023 is: redound \rih-DOWND\ verb

Redound is a formal word that when paired with to means “to have a particular result.” It is often used in one of two idioms: [“It redounds to someone's credit/honor”](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redound%20to%20someone%27s%20credit%2Fhonor) is used to say that a person deserves credit/respect for having done something. [“Redound to the advantage of”](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redound%20to%20the%20advantage%20of) means “to benefit (someone or something).” Redound is also sometimes used as a synonym of [accrue](/dictionary/accrue) and [reflect](/dictionary/reflect).

// It redounds to his credit that he worked so hard to prevent this crisis.

// We need to be aware that this new policy may redound to the advantage of our competitors.

[See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redound)

Examples:

“Making mass transit more affordable and better utilized reduces hardship and its attendant costly ills while boosting air quality and public health. This investment in the health and well-being of those with the least resources in our county will redound to everyone's benefit.” — Dawn Plummer, The Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Post-Gazette, 12 Apr. 2022

Did you know?

A rising tide, as they say, lifts all boats. Or to be redundant: a redounding tide undulates such that the surrounding water elevates every pontoon. This latter sentence—in addition to featuring five words with some relationship to the Latin word for “wave,” unda ([redundant](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redundant), redound, [undulate](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/undulate), [surround](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/surround), and [water](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/water))—highlights the earliest and now-archaic meaning of redound, “to swell or overflow,” which entered English in the 14th century. Since then, additional uses of redound have abounded ([abound](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abound) being another unda relation), all containing ripples, however faint, of the original [aqueous](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aqueous) meaning. When an action or accomplishment redounds to someone’s credit or honor, for example, it reflects positively back on them the way a wave produced by someone jumping into a pool bounces back to the jumper. And when something redounds to someone’s advantage, one might say that it helps by [accruing](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accrue) like, well, a rising tide.