Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 18, 2026 is:





hiatus • \hye-AY-tus\ • noun

In general contexts, hiatus usually refers to a period of time when something, such as an activity or program, is suspended. In biology, hiatus describes a gap or passage in an anatomical part or organ, and in linguistics, it refers to the occurrence of two vowel sounds without pause or intervening consonantal sound.

// The actor, who’s been on hiatus for several years, will be starring in a new film.

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Examples:

“Following its return in 2025 after a nearly three-year hiatus, the 52nd American Music Awards are heading back to Las Vegas to be broadcast live from a new venue, the MGM Grand Garden Arena.” — Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 10 Mar. 2026





Did you know?

This brief hiatus in your day is brought to you by, well, hiatus. While the word now most often refers to a temporary pause, hiatus originally referred to a physical opening in something, such as the mouth of a cave, or, as the 18th century British novelist Laurence Sterne would have it, a sartorial gap: in the wildly experimental novel Tristram Shandy, Sterne wrote of “the hiatus in Phutatorius’s breeches.” Hiatus comes from the Latin verb hiare, meaning “to yawn,” which makes it a distant relation of both yawn and chasm. And that’s all we have for now—you may resume your regular activities.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 17, 2026 is:





postulate • \PAHSS-chuh-layt\ • verb

Postulate is a formal word used to mean “to suggest something, such as an idea or theory, especially in order to start or continue a discussion.”

// Scientists have postulated the existence of water on the planet’s largest moon.

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Examples:

“Based on their findings, researchers postulate that Homo sapiens reacted better to lead exposure evolutionarily than Neanderthals, a species that were close relatives to Homo sapiens and that went extinct around 40,000 years ago.” — Mason Leath, ABC News, 16 Oct. 2025





Did you know?

When you postulate an idea or theory you suggest that it is true especially for the purposes of an argument or discussion. The word postulate is mostly at home in formal and academic contexts, but don’t let that stop you from postulating, for example, that takeout for dinner makes sense given the cook’s delayed return home from work, or that a thunderstorm is imminent given the cumulonimbus building on the horizon. This “hypothesize” sense of postulate emerged in the early 18th century, but the verb first appeared in English centuries earlier in ecclesiastical contexts, as recorded in our Unabridged dictionary. To postulate someone, according to this sense of the word, was to request that a higher authority in the church sanction their promotion even though they would otherwise be disqualified by church rules or regulations.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 16, 2026 is:





brazen • \BRAY-zun\ • adjective

Brazen describes someone who is acting, or something that is done, in a very open and shocking way without shame or embarrassment.

// The opposition party’s campaign has not been shy in assailing the brazen corruption of the incumbent for funneling public funds into private coffers.

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Examples:

“There are no coyotes on Block Island. However, they have a presence in all of Rhode Island’s other communities. ... This all makes sense, because Rhode Island, for the most part, is a heavily wooded area. Furthermore, rabbits, berries, mice and voles are in plentiful supply; add to this a burgeoning population, eventually food may become an issue. This is where the clever coyote is perhaps becoming more brazen and bold while hunting for food in certain neighborhoods.” — J. V. Houlihan, The Block Island (Rhode Island) Times, 30 Jan. 2026





Did you know?

The oldest meaning of brazen, which traces back to the Old English word for “brass,” bræs, is a literal one: “made of brass” (you might on occasion encounter “brazen cups” or “brazen doors” in something you’re reading). Over the centuries, brazen picked up a number of figurative senses stemming from the physical properties of brass, from its strength to its sound to its color, as when poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote of “The glory that the wood receives, / At sunset, in its brazen leaves.” But it’s the hardness of brass that led eventually to the now common “shameless” meaning of brazen. Consider this passage written by the minister Thomas Doolittle in the late 1600s: “... though thinkest it no shame, or if thou dost, thou has a face of brass ... and blushest not ...” A face of brass, or a “brazen face” (a phrase recorded in writing as early as the late 1500s) is one that is more or less immobile, betraying no sign of shame of wrongdoing. Today, brazen is used not just for people who are openly shameless or disrespectful, but for openly shameless or disrespectful behavior, as in “a brazen disregard for the rules.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 15, 2026 is:





mayhem • \MAY-hem\ • noun

Mayhem refers to needless or willful damage or violence, and especially to a scene or situation that involves a lot of violence. In figurative use, it may refer to any instance of excited activity.

// The director's newest thriller is brimming with murder and mayhem.

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Examples:

"The storage space is a veritable Fort Knox safe from tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and all manner of mischief and mayhem, where the 68-degree temperature and 45% humidity are ideal for preserving paper and film." — Lisa Gutierrez, The Kansas City Star, 3 Mar. 2026





Did you know?

Legally speaking, mayhem refers to the gruesome crime of deliberately causing an injury that permanently disfigures another. The word comes via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb maheimer ("to maim") and is probably of Germanic origin; the English verb maim comes from the same ancestor. The "disfigurement" sense of mayhem first appeared in English in the 15th century. Centuries later, the word came to refer to any kind of violent behavior. Nowadays, mayhem is frequently used to suggest any kind of chaos or disorder, even in far less fraught circumstances, as in "there was mayhem on the field after the winning goal was scored."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 14, 2026 is:





enjoin • \in-JOIN\ • verb

Enjoining is about requiring or prohibiting. To enjoin a person is to direct or order them to do something. To enjoin an act or practice is to prohibit it; in legal contexts, that prohibition is by way of a judicial order.

// Our guide enjoined us to take great care as we began our journey.

// The court has enjoined the ban.

// We were enjoined from speaking on the tour.

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Examples:

“Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit Thursday ... to put a landlord accused of providing unsuitable living conditions to his renters out of business. ... The lawsuit seeks restitution for impacted tenants and to ‘enjoin the defendants from doing business in the District.’” — Gary Fields, The Associated Press, 13 Feb. 2026





Did you know?

Enjoin has the Latin verb jungere, meaning “to join,” at its root, but the kind of joining expressed by enjoin is quite particular: it is about linking someone to an action or activity by either requiring or prohibiting it. When it’s the former at hand—that is, when enjoin is used to mean “to direct or order someone to do something”—the preposition to is typically employed, as in “they enjoined us to secrecy.” When prohibition is involved, from is common, as in “attendees were enjoined from photographing the event.” In legal contexts, enjoining involves prohibition by judicial order, through means of an injunction, as in “the judge enjoined the sale of the property.”