Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 6, 2026 is:





flamboyant • \flam-BOY-ant\ • adjective

Someone or something described as flamboyant has a very noticeable quality that attracts a lot of attention. Such a person or thing is often strikingly elaborate or colorful in their behavior or display.

// Reality television attracts millions of viewers for its depictions of flamboyant, larger-than-life personalities living equally flamboyant lifestyles.

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Examples:

“[Helen] McCrory’s flamboyant and perfectly drawn portrayal of Polly was the show’s real treasure, a steel-willed matriarch unusually attuned to the mysticism of the Shelby family’s Romani roots who also served as a ruthlessly pragmatic consigliere. ... McCrory’s Polly was so electric that the show remained totally riveting any time she was onscreen.” — Jack Hamilton, Slate, 20 Mar. 2026





Did you know?

Associate the word flamboyant with bananas flambé and the word’s fiery etymology will be seared in your mind. Flamboyant, which was borrowed into English from French in the 19th century, can be traced back to the Old French word flambe, meaning “flame.” In its earliest uses flamboyant referred to an ornate style of Gothic architecture popular in France and Spain, which featured waving curves suggestive of flames. Eventually, the word developed a more general second sense for anything eye-catching or showy. And of course, flambe is also the origin of the English adjective flambé, which describes food flamboyantly dressed or served with flaming liquor.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 5, 2026 is:





augur • \AW-gur\ • verb

To augur is to show or suggest, especially from omens, that something might happen in the future. Used most often in formal speech or writing, augur is often followed by an adverb, such as well.

// The downturn augurs badly for the success of the business.

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Examples:

"Last March, almost exactly two decades after his ghost church appeared at the Whitney, [Banks] Violette put another destroyed structure on display: the canopy of an abandoned gas station split in half. ... This wreckage could only augur doom." — Rachel Wetzler, Artforum, 1 Feb. 2026





Did you know?

In ancient Rome, augurs were official diviners whose function it was to divine whether the gods approved of a proposed undertaking, such as a military move. They did so by various means, among them observing the behavior of birds and examining the entrails of sacrificed animals. We doubt the Romans predicted that their verb augurāre, meaning "to foretell by augury," would evolve into an English verb meaning "presage or foretell," but in retrospect, augur's path must have been in the stars.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 4, 2026 is:





scrupulous • \SKROO-pyuh-lus\ • adjective

Scrupulous describes someone who is very careful about doing something correctly, or something marked by such carefulness. Scrupulous can also describe someone who is careful about doing what is honest and morally right.

// She was always scrupulous about her work.

// Being an editor requires scrupulous attention to detail.

// Less scrupulous companies find ways to evade the law.

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Examples:

“Scrupulous directors make sure that the sound of their movies is grossly efficient, so that the dramatic meaning of a scene is apparent even in the worst theatre or home system in the country …” — David Denby, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2026





Did you know?

People described as scrupulous might feel discomfort if their work is not executed with a sharp attention to detail. Such discomfort might present itself as a nagging feeling, much as a sharp pebble in a shoe might nag a walker intent on getting somewhere. And we are getting somewhere. The origin of scrupulous is founded in just such a pebble. Scrupulous and its close relative scruple (“a feeling that prevents you from doing something that you think is wrong”) both come from the Latin noun scrupulus, “a small sharp stone,” the diminutive of scrupus, “a sharp stone.” Scrupus has a metaphorical meaning too: “a source of anxiety or uneasiness.” When the adjective scrupulous entered the English language in the 15th century, it described someone careful about preserving their moral integrity, but it now is also commonly used for someone who is careful in how they execute tasks.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 3, 2026 is:





métier • \MET-yay\ • noun

Métier, sometimes styled metier, is a formal word that refers to something that a person does very well.

// After trying several careers, she found her true métier in computer science.

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Examples:

“Turning from his father’s trade of corset-making, [Thomas] Paine tried his hand at business, met and impressed Benjamin Franklin in London, sailed to America, and there found his true metier as a pamphleteer and radical.” — Matthew Redmond, The Conversation, 9 Oct. 2025





Did you know?

Over the centuries, English has borrowed several French words related in some way to work or working, among them oeuvre (“a substantial body of work of a writer, an artist, or a composer”) and travail (“work of a laborious nature, toil”). Métier (pronounced /MET-yay/) is another. It is sometimes translated from its original French as “job” or “career” but in that language it more accurately refers to the trade or profession in which one works (it traces back to the Old French mistier, meaning “duty, craft, profession”). In English we tend toward a narrower meaning for métier, referring either to a job for which one is perfectly suited or a particular field in which one is extremely skilled. This makes it a synonym of another French borrowing, forte.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 2, 2026 is:





exasperate • \ig-ZASS-puh-rayt\ • verb

To exasperate someone is to cause them irritation or annoyance, or to make them angry.

// We were all exasperated by the delays.

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Examples:

"My tendency to throw remote historical observations into a conversation exasperates my wife and often results in chuckles and eye rolls from friends." — Angus Scott, The Niagara Falls (Ontario) Review, 28 Mar. 2026





Did you know?

Exasperate is frequently confused with exacerbate, and with good reason. Not only do these words resemble one another in spelling and pronunciation, they also at one time held exceedingly similar meanings. Exasperate is today most commonly used as a synonym of annoy, but for several hundred years it also had the meanings "to make more grievous" and "to make harsh or harsher." Exacerbate is now the more common choice when one seeks to indicate that something is becoming increasingly bitter, violent, or unpleasant. It comes in part from the Latin word acer, meaning "sharp," whereas exasperate is from asper, the Latin word for "rough." The latter is also the source of the English asperity, which can refer to the roughness of a surface or the roughness of someone's temper.