untoward

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 21, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>untoward</strong> &#149; \un-TOH-erd\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><em>Untoward</em> means "unruly, unfavorable, or improper."</p> <p>// The rules specify that <em>untoward</em> behavior will not be tolerated.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/untoward">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"At 82, Judy Collins retains the crystalline tone that made her an icon of the early 1960s folk music movement, sounding so youthful … it's hard not to ask her whether she's made an <em>untoward</em> bargain with the devil." — Andrew Gilbert, <em>The San Francisco Chronicle</em>, 17 Sept. 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>For centuries, <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toward#h2">toward</a></em> was used for "forward-moving" youngsters, the kind who showed promise and were open to listening to their elders. The adjective then came to mean "obliging." The opposite of this <em>toward</em> is <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/froward">froward</a></em>, meaning "disobedient." <em>Froward</em> has fallen out of common use, and the cooperative sense of <em>toward</em> is obsolete, but <em>untoward</em> is still moving forward.</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>