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🗓️ 19 July 2025
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 19, 2025 is:
devise • \dih-VYZE\ • verb
To devise is to invent or plan something that is difficult or complicated in some way.
// The siblings devised a plan to clean the house from top to bottom with hopes of getting their parents to let them go to the concert.
Examples:
“The Timberwolves surprisingly advanced to the Western Conference finals last year before losing to the Mavericks. After a troublesome season, Minnesota returned before being thumped by the top-seeded Thunder. The series wasn't really close, and the Timberwolves ... will have to devise a way to compete in the Western Conference with the Lakers, Nuggets, Clippers, Spurs, Mavericks, and Warriors all chasing them.” — Gary Washburn, The Boston Globe, 1 June 2025
Did you know?
There’s something inventive about devise, a word that stems from Latin dividere, meaning “to divide.” By the time devise was being used in English, its Anglo-French forebear deviser had accumulated an array of senses, including “divide,” “distribute,” “arrange,” “order,” “plan,” “invent,” and “assign by will.” English adopted some of these and added new senses, such as “imagine” and “guess,” that have fallen out of use over time. Today devise is most commonly used as a synonym of invent or plot in situations where the objective is difficult or complicated. Note that devise is often confused with another dividere (and deviser) descendent: device refers to a technique, method, tool, or small machine or gadget. One way to help keep their spellings straight is to remember that ice, usually a noun, is found at the end of the noun device, not the verb devise.
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0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for July 19th. |
0:12.0 | Today's word is devise, spell D-E-V-I-S-E. |
0:16.6 | Devise is a verb. |
0:18.1 | To devise is to invent or plan something that is difficult or complicated in some way. |
0:23.9 | Here's the word used in a sentence from the Boston Globe by Gary Washburn. |
0:28.4 | The Timberwolves surprisingly advanced to the Western Conference finals last year before losing to the Mavericks. |
0:35.9 | After a troublesome season, Minnesota returned before being |
0:39.8 | thumped by the top-seeded thunder. The series wasn't really close, and the Timberwolves will have |
0:45.7 | to devise a way to compete in the Western Conference with the Lakers, Nuggets, Clippers, |
0:51.2 | spurs, Mavericks, and warriors, all chasing them. |
0:56.1 | There's something inventive about devise, a word that stems from the Latin divideri, meaning to divide. |
1:03.9 | By the time Devise was being used in English, its Anglo-French forebeer, de Vise, |
1:09.3 | had accumulated an array of senses, including divide, distribute, arrange, order, plan, invent, and assign by will. |
1:18.7 | English adopted some of these, and added new senses, such as imagine and guess, that have fallen out of use over time. |
1:26.2 | Today, Devise is most commonly used as a synonym of the words invent or plot, |
1:31.3 | in situations where the objective is difficult or complicated. |
1:35.3 | Note that Devise is often confused with another Dividerre and Divise descendant. |
1:41.3 | Device with a C refers to a technique method tool or small machine or gadget. |
1:48.3 | One way to help keep their spellings straight is to remember that ice, usually a noun, is found at the end of the noun device, not the verb, devise. |
1:59.2 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
2:05.1 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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