Renege is a verb that means to go back on a promise or commitment.

Derived from Medieval Latin, our word of the day was once used as a synonym of ‘denial,’ but more recently, it means to reverse field on a commitment previously made. For example: The mayor promised to support the football team when they first arrived in town. But after three awful seasons he reneged on that promise.

Exiguous is an adjective that means inadequate or scarce.

Our word of the day comes from the Latin word exiguus (ecks ay GOOSE) which has the same basic meaning as exiguous. It is used to describe something that is not in adequate supply.

The exiguous resources in our small town was a serious problem for business. It’s hard to run a business when the things you need are in short supply.

Mete is a verb that means to measure or dole out.

Our word of the day comes from an Old English word that means ‘to allot’ or ‘measure.’ You could think of meting something out as giving each person their allotment. But typically the word refers to giving out punishment or some kind of harsh treatment. For example: When it comes time to sentence the guilty parties, we’re certain that the judge will mete out the punishment fairly. We predict each person will get a year in prison.

Irksome is an adjective that means annoying.

To irk someone is to annoy or irritate them. When we combine this word of Middle English origin with the suffix S-O-M-E, which means ‘tending to cause,’ we get a word for a person or thing that tends to annoy or irritate.

Don’t get me wrong, Craig is a great co-worker to have. But his habit of singing in his cubicle non-stop can get a bit irksome after several hours.

Subterfuge is a noun that refers to deception.

Our word of the day combines the Latin prefix S-U-B-T-E-R, meaning ‘secretly’ with F-U-G-E from the Latin verb for ‘to flee.’ The words together give us a word to describe someone secretly escaping the truth.

We went to the retreat thinking we were participating in a camping trip, but soon discovered that the trip was just subterfuge for their true purpose: a high-level financial scam.

Ignominy is a noun that refers to deep humiliation or disgrace.

The root Latin word of ignominy is nomen (NO men) which means ‘name’ or ‘repute.’ When a person’s name has been disgraced they have suffered great harm to their name or reputation. Our word of the day is used to capture this sense of humiliation. For example: Becoming class valedictorian was a great source of pride for Thomas. But when he was discovered cheating on his finals exams, that pride was replaced by ignominy.

Intransigent is an adjective that means uncompromising.

The Latin word transigere (tran SEE jare ay) means ‘to come to an agreement.’ As this word evolved into intransigent, it added the prefix I-N to mean ‘not’ and became a word to mean ‘unable to come to an agreement.’

Everyone else in the family wanted to watch a horror movie last night, but I was intransigent on the issue. I wanted to watch an old John Wayne western and I refused to settle for anything else.

Puissant is an adjective that means powerful.

Our word of the day comes from the Latin word posse (POSS ay) which means ‘to be able.’ A puissant person or group who is able to do quite a lot because of their power.

If we wanted to accomplish our goals, we needed the help of a puissant advocate of worker’s rights. Without some powerful people assisting us, we had no hope.

Conflagration is a noun that refers to a large, disastrous fire.

Our word of the day comes almost directly from the Latin word conflagare (con flah GAR ay) which simply means ‘fire.’ But a conflagration isn’t just a fire — it’s an out-of-control blaze that causes unintended damage. In other words, you wouldn’t use it to describe a bonfire or the small blaze in your fireplace.

It saddened me to see all the damage caused by the conflagration at the museum. There’s something dejecting about seeing all that beauty destroyed by one giant fire.

Lilliputian is an adjective that means small or petty.

Our word of the day comes from the Jonathan Swift novel Gulliver’s Travels as a reference to a tiny group of people roughly six inches tall. More recently the word may be used as a noun to refer to a small, petty thing or as an adjective. For example: I lost my nail clipper as we were climbing the mountain. But in the midst of such a monumental occurrence, we had no time for such lilliputian concerns.