Word of the Day
Learn a new word every day! The Dictionary.com team of language experts carefully selects each Word of the Day to add some panache to your vocabulary.
verb
to get or achieve something by guile, trickery, or manipulation.
Explanation
- Finagle is an Americanism that was first recorded in 1925–30.
- Finagle comes from a variant of fainaigue, which means "to shirk" or "to break a rule when playing cards."
- The -le ending on a verb means it refers to a frequent repeated action, also used in dazzle or twinkle.
- With his charming smile and persuasive words, he was able to finagle a raise from his boss.
- She managed to finagle her way into the VIP section of the concert, despite not having a ticket.
adjective
(of speech, writing, etc.) high-sounding; high-flown; pretentious.
Explanation
- Bombastic was first recorded in 1695–1705.
- Bombastic comes from the noun bombast, which means "pompous speech; pretentious words."
- Bombast came into English from Middle French around 1560.
- Bombast originally referred to a type of padding from the bombax family of trees, to which the silk-cotton tree genus belongs.
- The politician's bombastic claims fell flat in the face of evidence to the contrary.
- The professor's bombastic language in class left their students feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from the material.
noun
a brown seaweed of coastal Japan, Korea, and other areas, usually dried for use in soups, salads, and side dishes.
Explanation
- Wakame was first recorded in English in 1950–55.
- Wakame comes from the Japanese word, wakame.
- Wakame, in Japanese, is composed of the elements waka, meaning “young,” and me, a kind of edible seaweed.
- The miso soup was enhanced with a sprinkle of dried wakame, adding a delightful oceanic flavor to the dish.
- The seaweed salad was adorned with strips of savory wakame, giving it a vibrant and refreshing taste.
noun
green vegetation, especially grass or herbage.
Explanation
- Verdure entered English around 1250–1300.
- Verdure comes via Middle English from the Middle French word verd, which means "green."
- Related words with the same root include verdant, "green with vegetation," and verdurous, "rich in verdure; freshly green."
- The painter captured the essence of summer by depicting a field of verdure in his masterpiece.
- Walking through the park, I couldn't help but admire the lush verdure that adorned every corner.
adjective
of huge size; gigantic; tremendous.
Explanation
- Brobdingnagian was first recorded in 1725–30.
- Brobdingnagian comes from the name Brobdingnag, a fictional place from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
- In Brobdingnag, everything was of enormous size.
- Its opposite in the book was Lilliput, where everything was tiny. Something Lilliputian is extremely small.
- As we hiked through the forest, we came across a Brobdingnagian oak tree that towered above all others.
- The construction of the skyscraper required a Brobdingnagian crane to lift and place each massive steel beam.
