Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 25, 2025 is:
anomaly • \uh-NAH-muh-lee\ • noun
Anomaly is a somewhat formal word that refers to something that is remarkable in its deviation from what is usual or expected.
// Last summer’s storm was an anomaly for this area.
// We were unable to explain the anomalies in the test results.
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Examples:
“Magic realism usually makes no attempt to explain or justify the anomaly behind the magical event. Its justification lies in the conceptual possibilities it allows for in the narrative, pleasure it provides, and feeling of strangeness that comes from a familiar world being tweaked.” — Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Not Here, Not Now: Speculative Thought, Impossibility, and the Design Imagination, 2025
Did you know?
You might be familiar with the Greek word homos, which means “same.” It is from this word that we get words like homonym, homogeneous, and homophone, all of which have to do with sameness or similarity. What does this have to do with anomaly? Although it’s not obvious, homos is a part of the etymology of anomaly, too. Anomaly is a descendant—by way of Latin and Middle French—of the Greek word anṓmalos, which means “uneven” or “irregular.” Anṓmalos comes from the prefix a- (meaning “not”) and the word homalόs (meaning “even”)—and homalόs comes from homos.
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brandish
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 24, 2025 is:
brandish • \BRAN-dish\ • verb
To brandish something, such as a weapon, is to wave or swing it in a threatening or excited manner.
// Squeals of laughter erupted as three children brandishing squirt guns rounded the corner of the house.
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Examples:
“The dancers are young men from the neighborhoods dressed in dark robes accented by bright yellow, red and blue accessories and tall, maroon hats called Tkoumbout adorned with silver jewelry. The men’s dances and women’s chants have been passed down through generations. Children participate in the festivities by mimicking the older performers. Boys brandish miniature swords and scarves in their small hands and girls stand with the female drummers.” — Audrey Thibert, The Associated Press, 1 July 2025
Did you know?
The word brandish is often paired with a word for a weapon, such as knife or handgun. The link between brandish and weaponry is present in the word’s etymology: brandish comes ultimately from a Germanic word meaning “sword.” Since the word’s 14th century introduction to the English language (by way of Anglo-French) weapons have commonly been the things brandished, but also extensive is the use of brandish with things that are wielded to defeat in other ways, such as banners and placards used in the war of ideas. One can even brandish something that isn’t physical, such as a law or one’s intellect. In that case, you are figuratively waving the thing in someone’s face so that it cannot be ignored.
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nonpareil
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 23, 2025 is:
nonpareil • \nahn-puh-REL\ • adjective
Nonpareil describes that which has no equal because it is better than any other.
// To this day, the band's debut album is still considered nonpareil, raising the bar for every rock group to follow.
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Examples:
"The Crew's soccer operations have been nonpareil during this latest golden era of their history." — Michael Arace, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, 24 Feb. 2025
Did you know?
Trace nonpareil back to its Middle French origins and you'll find that it comes from a term meaning "not equal." Pareil itself comes from the Latin word par, which means "equal," and non- is a common prefix meaning "not." In addition to its adjectival use, nonpareil also functions as a noun referring to an individual of unequaled excellence (as in "the nonpareil of cellists") as well as to a chocolate candy disk covered with small sugar pellets. A full exploration of the word's history, and its current functions in French, can be found here.
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catch-22
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 22, 2025 is:
catch-22 • \KATCH-twen-tee-TOO\ • noun
Catch-22 typically refers to a difficult situation for which there is no easy or possible solution. In the narrowest use of the term, it refers to a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule.
// I’m in a catch-22: to get the job I need experience, but how do I get experience if I can’t get the job?
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Examples:
“… Liverpool is famed for its nightlife, but I’m getting the impression it could do with some help. … In December 2023, the ECHO spoke to people in Liverpool’s late-night economy, and the prevailing view was it had become a struggle. … Prices don’t help—drinks and tickets are more expensive than they’ve ever been, but venues are stuck in a Catch-22 situation, caught between having to cover huge operating costs and wanting to get people through the doors.” — Dan Haygarth, The Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, England), 23 Aug. 2025
Did you know?
Catch-22 originated as the title of a 1961 novel by Joseph Heller. (Heller had originally planned to title his novel Catch-18, but the publication of Leon Uris’s Mila 18 persuaded him to change the number.) The catch-22 in Catch-22 involves a mysterious Army Air Forces regulation which asserts that a man is considered mentally unsound if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions but that if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. Catch-22 soon entered the language as a label for any irrational, circular, and impossible situation.
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lugubrious
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 21, 2025 is:
lugubrious • \loo-GOO-bree-us\ • adjective
Lugubrious is a formal word used chiefly to describe something that is very sad especially in an exaggerated or insincere way. The word can also describe something that shows or expresses gloom.
// The movie’s stunning cinematography could not make up for the lugubrious and plodding plot.
// The lugubrious mood of the room shifted when the voices of children playing erupted outside the window.
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Examples:
“On opening night, the audience at St. Petersburg’s Alexandrinsky Theatre were mystified by The Seagull’s neither wholly comic nor wholly tragic tone, hissing and heckling throughout, with Chekhov fleeing from the gallery after the second act. It was only two years later, when Konstantin Stanislavski staged a more lugubrious take on The Seagull at Moscow Art Theatre, that it came to be recognized as a work of pure genius.” — Hayley Maitland, Vogue, 12 Feb. 2025
Did you know?
Everybody hurts, as the classic R.E.M. song goes, and when your day is long and the night is yours alone, lugubrious is a perfect word for describing such sorrowful feelings, or that which inspires them (a lugubrious song, perhaps). That said, if lugubrious strikes you as a tad unusual, no, no, no, you’re not alone. Lugubrious is the sole surviving English offspring of the Latin verb lugēre, meaning “to mourn.” Its closest kin, luctual, an adjective meaning “sad” or “sorrowful,” was laid to rest centuries ago.
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