Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 30, 2025 is:
protocol • \PROH-tuh-kawl\ • noun
Protocol most often refers to a system of rules explaining the correct conduct and procedures to be followed in a formal situation; in computer programming a protocol is a set of rules used in formatting data. Protocol can also refer to a plan for a scientific experiment or medical treatment, or to a document that describes the details of a diplomatic treaty.
// What is the proper protocol for declining a job offer?
// My doctor recommended a simplified treatment protocol for my condition.
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Examples:
"Back in the UK, it's still unclear what kind of royal life, if any, lies ahead for Archie and Lilibet. While they hold their princely and princess titles, bestowed upon them following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, their day-to-day lives in Montecito are a world away from palace protocol." — Faye James, Hello Magazine, 15 July 2025
Did you know?
In Late Greek, the word prōtokollon referred to the first sheet of a papyrus roll bearing the date of its manufacture. In some instances, it consisted of a flyleaf that was glued to the outside of a manuscript's case and provided a description of its contents. Coming from the Greek prefix prōt- ("first") and the verb kollan ("to glue together"), prōtokollon gave us our word protocol. In its earliest uses in the 15th century, the word referred to a record of a document or transaction. By the turn of the 18th century it was being used for the original record or minutes of a diplomatic negotiation, and still later for the etiquette observed by heads of state in ceremonies and relations with other dignitaries. This sense has since extended in meaning to cover any code of proper conduct.
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incisive
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 29, 2025 is:
incisive • \in-SYE-siv\ • adjective
Incisive means "impressively direct and decisive." It is generally applied to either something communicated in a way that is very clear and direct, or to a person who is able to explain difficult ideas clearly and confidently.
// The columnist is known for her incisive commentary on local politics.
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Examples:
"'Death Becomes Her' might be a combination of an uproarious camp sensibility and the grotesquely macabre, but it also contains incisive social critiques—of impossible beauty standards for women, the difficulties of aging, and the lengths people will go to maintain their youthful looks." — Christopher Wallenberg, The Boston Globe, 1 June 2025
Did you know?
An incisive person doesn’t hem and haw—they get straight to the point. The original meaning of incisive, from around 1600, was "having a cutting edge or piercing point"; the modern meaning of "impressively direct and decisive" has been part of English since the mid-1800s. Incisive is a close relative of incisor, which refers to a front tooth typically adapted for cutting, so it's no surprise that incisive has a specific meaning in dentistry, describing that which is of, relating to, or situated near the incisors. Both incisive and incisor come from the Latin verb caedere, meaning "to cut." English is rich in cuttings from the fruitful stem of caedere: some examples to sink your teeth into are scissors, chisel, incise ("to cut into or engrave"), excise ("to remove by cutting"), incision ("cut" or "gash"), precise ("minutely exact"), and concise ("brief").
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diminution
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 28, 2025 is:
diminution • \dim-uh-NOO-shun\ • noun
Diminution is a formal word that refers to the act or process of becoming less.
// The company is committed to seeing that efforts to scale up production do not result in a diminution of quality.
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Examples:
“A sense of abasement hovers over the performer of the Super Bowl halftime show. It is slight, but it is there. ... The gig—a live gig—is essentially done for free. It ends, the performer is spirited away, and the multi-million-dollar commercials and multi-million-dollar game resume. It’s popular music as the doula to football. The next morning, everyone makes big talk about history and legend-making; the feeling of diminution lingers.” — Doreen St. Félix, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
Did you know?
In his late 14th century tragic poem Troilus and Criseyde, Geoffrey Chaucer employed the word diminution, contrasting the verb encrece (“increase”) with the phrase “maken dyminucion” (“make diminution”). Like many words Chaucer used, diminution came to English from Anglo-French, and ultimately from the Latin word deminuere, meaning “to diminish,” which is also an ancestor of the English verb diminish. That word entered the language in the 15th century, and the related noun diminishment, a synonym of diminution, was adopted in the 16th century.
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nebulous
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 27, 2025 is:
nebulous • \NEB-yuh-lus\ • adjective
Nebulous is a formal word used to describe something that is difficult to see, understand, or describe—in other words, something indistinct or vague.
// A lot of philosophical concepts can seem nebulous at first, but a good instructor can cut through the jargon and help students see how they apply to day-to-day life.
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Examples:
“[Rob] Harvilla began to notice the blurred lines of late-Nineties genres as he produced his podcast 60 Songs That Explain the ‘90s and while writing its corresponding book. ‘The late Nineties were a weird, transitional wasteland,’ he says. All of these genres that had such stark lines in the Nineties have now become a more nebulous concept, blending into one supergenre of just ‘Nineties music.’” — Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 21 July 2025
Did you know?
Nebulous may sound otherworldly—after all, it’s related to nebula, which refers to an interstellar cloud of gas or dust—but its mysteriousness is rooted in more earthly unknowns. Both words ultimately come from Latin nebula, meaning “mist, cloud,” and as far back as the 14th century nebulous could mean simply “cloudy” or “foggy.” Nebulous has since the late 17th century been the adjective correlating to nebula (as in “nebulous gas”), but the word is more familiar in its figurative use, where it describes things that are indistinct or vague, as when Teju Cole wrote of an avant-garde photographer who viewed photography as existing “neither in the camera nor in the printed photograph, but in a more nebulous zone.”
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trepidation
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 26, 2025 is:
trepidation • \trep-uh-DAY-shun\ • noun
Trepidation refers to a feeling of fear that causes someone to hesitate because they think that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen.
// The students felt a sense of trepidation upon being summoned to the principal's office.
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Examples:
"Met by some with cautious optimism, others with trepidation, and others with doomsday predictions, there is no doubt that AI is here to stay and changing work in ways yet to be fully revealed." — Laurel Donnellan, Forbes, 28 May 2025
Did you know?
If you've ever trembled with fright, you know something of both the sensation and etymology of trepidation. The word comes from the Latin verb trepidare, which means "to tremble." (Trepidare also gave English the verb trepidate, meaning "to feel nervous or apprehensive," but that word is now considered archaic.) Early meanings of trepidation, such as "tremulous motion" or "tremor," reflect its "shaky" origins. Over time, however, those senses gave way to our modern meaning referring to fearful hesitancy.
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