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.
to distort or take misleading quotations from
Garble means "to distort or take misleading quotations from." It descends from a medieval spice-sorting term, borrowed from Arabic garbala, "to sift," that eventually shifted from separating peppercorns to mixing up messages. Don't get things tangled up!
insignificantly small or sparse
Scrabbly can describe vegetation that's patchy, rough, and thin, like those scruffy tufts of green hanging on for dear life in stony soil. It comes from a Dutch word meaning "scrape." But I bet my fellow word lovers are more interested in knowing whether scrabbly is somehow connected to a certain board game. The answer is yes, but that's a story for another day.
to brag
Bukh is a word for talking big or bragging when you just can't keep the humble in check. It swaggered into English from a Hindi word meaning "talk," picked up during the days of the British Raj. Why brag about your big vocabulary when you can bukh instead?
inclined or eager to fight
Ready to rumble? Pugilistic means "inclined to fight." Fittingly, the word comes from a Latin term for "boxer," and it's been bobbing and weaving through English since the 1700s. Keep your guard up today and land those knockout ideas.
the art or practice of disputation or controversy
Polemics is the art of sparring in spirited debate. The term marches in from a Greek word meaning "warlike," a nod to those who enjoy treating verbal jousting like battle. Polish those points, keep it civil, and let the friendly fire of ideas fly!
