duress
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 9 October 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 9, 2025 is:
duress • \dur-RESS\ • noun
Duress, which is typically used with under, refers to force or threats meant to make someone do something. It is used especially of unlawful coercion.
// The defense asserts that the defendant’s confession was made under duress.
Examples:
“Did you know that Toni [Morrison] also edited poetry? (What couldn’t she do!) Despite inexperience with the medium, Morrison was an early champion of the poet June Jordan. She published one of her earliest collections, Things I Do in the Dark, in 1977. In a 1975 letter, Morrison told Jordan that Random House would publish her work, but only under duress. ‘The answer they gave was “we would prefer her prose—will do poetry if we must,”’ she wrote. ‘Now I would tell them to shove it if that were me…’” — Brittany Allen, LitHub.com, 24 Apr. 2025
Did you know?
Duress is most often paired with the word under to refer to force or threats meant to make someone do something. For example, someone forced to sign a document signs it “under duress,” and a person held “under duress” is not free to leave but is being constrained, usually unlawfully. (Do not confuse being “under duress” with being “under stress,” which is a much more common occurrence.) Duress comes ultimately from the Latin adjective durus, meaning “hard,” source too of durable and endure.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the word of the day for October 9th. |
| 0:10.6 | Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.combe.uk. |
| 0:16.5 | That's audible.combe.uk slash wondering. That's audible.co.com.uk slash Wondery. |
| 0:23.5 | Today's word is duress, spelled D-U-R-E-S-S. DureS. Dress is a noun. It typically is used with |
| 0:31.2 | under, as an under duress, and refers to force or threats meant to make someone do something. |
| 0:38.1 | It's used especially of unlawful coercion. |
| 0:41.0 | Here's the word used in a sentence from lithub.com. |
| 0:44.6 | Did you know that Tony Morrison also edited poetry? |
| 0:47.9 | What couldn't she do? |
| 0:49.3 | Despite inexperience with the medium, |
| 0:51.8 | Morrison was an early champion of the poet June Jordan. She published |
| 0:56.2 | one of her earliest collections, Things I Do in the Dark, in 1977. In a 1975 letter, Morrison told |
| 1:03.9 | Jordan that Random House would publish her work, but only under duress. The answer they gave was, |
| 1:10.1 | we would prefer her prose, we'll do poetry if we |
| 1:13.3 | must, she wrote. Now I would tell them to shove it if that were me. Durese is most often |
| 1:19.4 | paired with the word under, to refer to force or threats meant to make someone do something. For example, |
| 1:25.7 | someone forced to sign a document, signs it under duress, |
| 1:29.7 | and a person held under duress is not free to leave but is being constrained, usually unlawfully. |
| 1:36.8 | Do not confuse being under duress with being under stress, which is a much more common occurrence. |
| 1:42.8 | duress comes ultimately from the Latin adjective, Durus, meaning hard. |
| 1:47.9 | Source two of the words durable and endure. |
| 1:50.9 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
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