countermand

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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🗓️ 25 May 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 25, 2024 is:

countermand • \KOUNT-er-mand\ • verb

To countermand an order is to revoke it, especially by giving a new order.

// Orders to blow up the bridge were countermanded by local officials.

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Examples:

"He [rugby player Lewis Jones] almost missed his 1950 Welsh debut as he was about to board an aircraft carrier for Hong Kong before the orders were countermanded." — The Daily Telegraph (London), 9 Mar. 2024

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In the military, one's mandate is to follow the commands (and sometimes the countermands) of the officers. Doing their bidding is not particularly commendable—it's simply mandatory. The Latin verb mandare, meaning "to entrust" or "to order," is the authority behind countermand. It's also behind the words mandate, command, demand, commend (which can mean "to entrust" as well as "to praise"), and mandatory. Countermand came to English via Anglo French, where the prefix cuntre- ("against") was combined with the verb mander ("to command"). It has been a part of English since the 1400s.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Merion Webster's word of the day for May 25th.
0:07.0	Today's word of the day for May 25th.
0:11.0	Today's word is countermand, spound, spound, spound, spound, spous
0:14.0	O u n t e r m a n d, countermand is a verb. To countermand an order is to revoke it, especially by giving a new order.
0:27.0	Here's the word used in a sentence from the Daily Telegraph.
0:31.0	He almost missed his 1950 Welsh debut as he was about to board an aircraft carrier for Hong Kong before the orders were countermanded.
0:40.0	In the military, one's mandate is to follow the commands and sometimes the counter-mans of the officers.
0:48.0	Doing their bidding is not particularly commendable, it's simply mandatory. The Latin verb mandare, meaning to entrust or to order, is the authority
0:59.0	behind the word countermand. It's also behind the words mandate command, demand,
1:04.3	command, which can mean to entrust as well as to praise and mandatory.
1:09.3	Countermand came to English via Anglo-French, where the prefix
1:14.4	contre meaning against was combined with the verb monde meaning to command.
1:20.4	It's been part of the English language since the 1400s.
1:24.0	With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
1:27.0	Visit Marion Webster.com today, for definitions, word play, and trending word lookups.

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