exhilarate

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 13, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>exhilarate</strong> &#149; \ig-ZIL-uh-rayt\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> to make (someone) very happy and excited or elated</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"To be working, to be making a film for the cinema, at a time when so many people were wondering if that would ever be possible again, was <em>exhilarating</em>. We proved to ourselves the heady fact that we can still work, even under this pandemic, it does not need to rob us of everything we cherish." — <a href="https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/movies/2021/03/10/tilda-swinton-pedro-almodovar-movies-human-voice-interview/4575233001/">Tilda Swinton, quoted in <em>The Asbury Park (New Jersey) Press</em>, 10 Mar. 2021</a></p> <p>"Maxey's flashes have <em>exhilarated</em>, but his small stature, inefficient shooting, and defensive shortcomings loom large. If the Sixers truly want to compete, he's the kind of long-term project you might exchange for a win-now piece." — <a href="https://thesixersense.com/2021/03/20/sixers-3-predictions-trade-deadline/">Christopher Kline, <em>The Sixer Sense</em> (thesixersense.com), 20 Mar. 2021</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>Many people find <em>exhilarate</em> a difficult word to spell. It's easy to forget that silent "h" in there, and is it an "er" or "ar" after the "l"? It may be easier to remember the spelling if you know that <em>exhilarate</em> ultimately derives from the Latin adjective <em>hilarus</em>, meaning "cheerful." (This also explains why the earliest meaning of <em>exhilarate</em> is "to make cheerful.") <em>Exhilarate</em> comes from <em>exhilaratus</em>, the past participle of <em>exhilarare</em>, which is formed by combining <em>ex-</em> and <em>hilarare</em>, a verb that derives from <em>hilarus</em> and means "t