inroad

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 29, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>inroad</strong> &#149; \IN-rohd\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> an advance or penetration often at the expense of someone or something — usually used in plural</p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> a sudden hostile incursion <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raid">raid</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"'These are no longer cars,' said Marc Rogers, the principal security researcher at the cybersecurity firm CloudFlare. 'These are data centers on wheels. Any part of the car that talks to the outside world is a potential <em>inroad</em> for attackers.'" — <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/07/technology/why-car-companies-are-hiring-computer-security-experts.html">Nicole Perlroth, <em>The New York Times</em>, 7 June 2017</a></p> <p>"Swatch Group on Thursday reported its first annual loss since the early days of the Swiss watchmaker almost 40 years ago as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered shops and smartwatches made <em>inroads</em> into the market." — <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-swatch-results-idUSKBN29X0MU">John Revill, Reuters, 28 Jan. 2021</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Inroad</em> is a combination of <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in#h3">in</a></em> and <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/road">road</a></em>, both of which are pretty mundane, as far as words go. But the first-and-oldest-meaning of <em>inroad</em> hints at a meaning of <em>road</em> other than the "way for traveling" one. Beginning back in the days of Old English, <em>road</em> referred to an armed hostile incursion made on horseback. (<em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raid">Raid</a></em> comes from this use of <em>road</em> and also for