acquiesce

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 7, 2023 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>acquiesce</strong> &#149; \ak-wee-ESS\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p>To <em>acquiesce</em> is to accept, agree, or allow something to happen by staying silent or by not arguing. The word is somewhat formal, and is often used with <em>in</em> or <em>to</em>.</p> <p>// Eventually, the professor <em>acquiesced</em> to the students' request to have the seminar's final class be a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/potluck">potluck</a> lunch.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acquiesce">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"The light, then, was fading, but Morocco did not <em>acquiesce</em>. Deep into injury time, all hope almost extinguished, it carved out not one, not two, but three golden opportunities to score ... to bring its fans—old and new, here and there—one last cause for celebration." — Rory Smith, <em>New York Times</em>, 14 Dec. 2022</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>If you’re looking to give your speech a gentle, formal flair, don't give <em>acquiesce</em> the silent treatment. Essentially meaning "to comply quietly," <em>acquiesce</em> has as its ultimate source the Latin verb <em>quiēscere</em>, "to be quiet." (<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quiet#word-history"><em>Quiet</em></a> itself is also a close relation.) <em>Quiēscere</em> can also mean "to repose," "to fall asleep," or "to rest," and when <em>acquiesce</em> arrived in English via French in the early 1600s, it did so with two senses: the familiar "to agree or comply" and the now-obsolete "to rest satisfied." Herman Melville employed the former in <em>Moby-Dick</em>, when Ahab orders the "<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confounded">confounded</a>" crew to change the Pequod's cours