nugatory

11/17/22 • 2 min

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 17, 2022 is:

nugatory \NOO-guh-tor-ee\ adjective

Something described as nugatory is of little or no consequence. Nugatory is also used especially in legal contexts to describe something without operative legal effect.

// Most of the criticism of the film in the weeks since its release has been nugatory nonsense.

// The law was unenforced and thus rendered nugatory.

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Examples:

“Elsewhere [on Death Cab for Cutie’s latest album], [Ben Gibbard] ... continues his apparent affinity for writing songs about driving on ‘Wheat Like Waves’ and the gorgeously golden ‘Rand McNally,’ named after the now nugatory road atlas books.” — Madeline Roth, The Daily Beast, 27 Aug. 2022

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Just because nugatory isn’t the most common word in the English language doesn’t mean it’s trifling. Rather, nugatory is literally trifling because the two words are synonymous, as in “comments too nugatory to merit attention.” Nugatory first appeared in English in the 17th century; it comes from the Latin adjective nugatorius, which can mean not only “trifling” or “frivolous” but also "futile.” This sense carried over into English as well, and so in some contexts nugatory means “ineffective” or “having no force,” as when Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson invoked “the nugatory value of the contemporary penny.” Nugatory may mean little to some, but we think it’s worth a pretty penny.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 17, 2022 is:

nugatory \NOO-guh-tor-ee\ adjective

Something described as nugatory is of little or no consequence. Nugatory is also used especially in legal contexts to describe something without operative legal effect.

// Most of the criticism of the film in the weeks since its release has been nugatory nonsense.

// The law was unenforced and thus rendered nugatory.

See the entry >

Examples:

Did you know?

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hummock

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 16, 2022 is:

hummock \HUM-uk\ noun

A hummock is a small round hill or mound.

// He stood in awe, admiring the thick forest, and beyond that, the grassy hummocks he had traversed to reach the top of the mountain.

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Examples:

“...Yellowlegs nest on the ground, often at the base of a small tree or mossy hummock, so I watched my feet carefully. The nest is a small cup in the moss, typically lined with little dead leaves, lichens, and sedges.” — Mary F. Wilson, The Juneau (Alaska) Empire, 14 June 2022

Did you know?

Having trouble telling a hummock from a hammock from a hillock? Not to worry: all three words refer to a small hill or earthen mound. Hummock, in fact, is an alteration of hammock; this 16th century pair share an ancestor with the Middle Low German words hummel (“small height”) and hump (“bump”), the latter of which is also a distant relative of our English word hump. As for the 14th-century vintage hillock, a version of the suffix -ock has been attached to nouns to designate a small one of whatever since the days of Old English. Note that the hilly hammock mentioned here is not related to the hammock offering a swaying repose between supports. That hammock comes from the Spanish hamaca, and ultimately from Taino, a language spoken by the original inhabitants of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas.

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farce

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 18, 2022 is:

farce \FAHRSS\ noun

A farce is a ridiculous act, proceeding, or situation. Farce can also refer to a light dramatic work marked by satirical comedy and improbable plot, or the broad humor characteristic of such. The word can also refer to a savory stuffing.

// "The company's guarantee is a farce," she complained. "The replacement they sent broke even more quickly than the original."

// The award-winning actor has a talent for farce.

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Examples:

"It seems absurd that [Manchester United manager Erik] Ten Hag, after only a matter of weeks in charge, could be under such scrutiny despite being parachuted into a situation not of his making, but many fans would argue that the club has long since descended into farce." — Rob Dawson, ESPN.com, 18 Aug. 2022

Did you know?

From Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, many of us are familiar with farce in its dramatic sense. However, when farce first appeared in English, it had to do with cookery, not comedy. In the 14th century, English adopted farce from Middle French with its original meaning of "forcemeat"—that is, a highly seasoned, minced meat or fish often served as a stuffing. In the 16th century, English imported the word again, this time to refer to a kind of knockabout comedy already popular in France. French farce had its origins in the 13th-century practice of "stuffing" Latin church texts with explanatory phrases. By the 15th century, a similar practice of inserting unscripted buffoonery into religious plays had arisen. Such farces—which included clowning, acrobatics, reversal of social roles, and indecency—soon developed into a distinct dramatic genre and spread rapidly in various forms throughout Europe.