magniloquent

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 13, 2023 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>magniloquent</strong> &#149; \mag-NIL-uh-kwunt\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><em>Magniloquent</em> describes language that is intended to sound very impressive and important, or a person who uses such language.</p> <p>// The <em>magniloquent</em> sportscaster sometimes got so carried away with his monologues that he would forget to describe the action on the field.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/magniloquent">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"[Matt Damon's] star power is based on brains and brawn; he can recite <em>magniloquent</em> phrases while also giving the impression that he could fillet an enemy ... armed with only a Bic pen." — Jody Rosen, <em>The New York Times</em>, 2 Feb. 2022</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Magnus</em> means "great" in Latin; <em>loqui</em> is a Latin verb meaning "to speak." Combine the two and you get <em>magniloquus</em>, the Latin predecessor of <em>magniloquent</em>. English-speakers started using <em>magniloquent</em> in the 1600s, despite having had its synonym <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grandiloquent">grandiloquent</a></em> since the 1500s. (<em>Grandiloquent</em> comes from Latin <em>grandiloquus</em>, which combines <em>loqui</em> and <em>grandis</em>, another word for "great" in Latin.) Today, these synonyms continue to exist side by side and to be used interchangeably, though <em>grandiloquent</em> is the more common of the two.</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>