diligent

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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🗓️ 3 January 2024

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 3, 2024 is:

diligent • \DIL-uh-junt\ • adjective

Someone or something described as diligent is characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort.

// After many hours of diligent research, the students were ready to compile their results.

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Examples:

“Scott had a reputation for being diligent and hardworking, maybe a tad arrogant, but not the type to make rousing speeches in the locker room at halftime.” — Robert Samuels, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2023

Did you know?

You’re more likely to be diligent about something if you love doing it. The etymology of diligent reflects the fact that devotion can lead to energetic effort. The word, which entered English in the 14th century by way of Anglo-French, comes from the Latin verb diligere, meaning “to value or esteem highly” or “to love.” Diligere was formed by combining the di- prefix (from dis-, meaning “apart”) with the verb legere, meaning “to gather, select” or “to read.” Legere has itself proved to be a diligent contributor to English; its offspring include collect, lecture, legend, intelligent, and legume.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for January 3rd.
0:11.0	Today's word is diligent, spelled I L I G E N T.
0:17.0	Diligent is an adjective.
0:18.0	Someone or something described as diligent is characterized by steady earnest and energetic effort.
0:25.0	Here's the word used in a sentence from the New Yorker by Robert Samuels.
0:28.9	Scott had a reputation for being diligent and hardworking, may be a tad arrogant but not the type to
0:35.3	make rousing speeches in the locker room at halftime. You're more likely to be
0:40.6	diligent about something if you love doing it. The etymology of
0:44.3	diligent reflects the fact that devotion can lead to energetic effort. The word
0:49.9	which entered English in the 14th century by way of Anglo-French comes from the Latin verb
0:55.0	de Ligaree meaning to value or esteem highly or to love.
1:00.1	D. Ligaree was formed by combining the D, D, I, prefix from D.S. meaning a part,
1:06.9	with the verb Leggere meaning to gather, select, or to read.
1:12.0	Legare has itself proved to be a diligent contributor to English.
1:16.0	Its offspring includes collect, lecture, legend, intelligent, and legume. With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
1:27.0	Visit Merriam-Webster.
1:31.0	com today, for definitions, word play, and trending word lookups.

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