heinous

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 15, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>heinous</strong> &#149; \HAY-nus\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> hatefully or shockingly evil <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abominable">abominable</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>The former dictator will stand trial for the role he played in his government's <em>heinous</em> treatment of political dissidents.</p> <p>"As with garden-variety bullies and toughs, the unearned self-regard of tyrants is eternally vulnerable to being popped, so any opposition to their rule is treated not as a criticism but as a <em>heinous</em> crime." — <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=8-vYCwAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA521&amp;lpg=PA521&amp;dq=%22so+any+opposition+to+their+rule+is+treated+not+as+a+criticism+but+as+a+heinous+crime%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=O7b6x9i6sA&amp;sig=ACfU3U3GIIXZoIUN_MdOxbiwe8zdRWfkYg&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwidhbn21PHvAhWULc0KHStkDwIQ6AEwAHoECAIQAw#v=onepage&amp;q=%22so%20any%20opposition%20to%20their%20rule%20is%20treated%20not%20as%20a%20criticism%20but%20as%20a%20heinous%20crime%22&amp;f=false">Steven Pinker, <em>The Better Angels of Our Nature</em>,2011</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>Humans have contrasted love with hate and good with evil for eons, putting love and good on one side and hate and evil on the other. The etymology of <em>heinous</em> reflects the association of hate with that which is evil or horrible. During the 14th century, English borrowed <em>heinous</em> from the Anglo-French <em>haine</em> (meaning "hate"), a noun derived from <em>hair</em> ("to hate"), a verb of Germanic origin that is related, like the English word <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hate">hate</a></em>, to the Old High German <em>haz</em> ("hate"). Over