eminently
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 7 January 2026
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 7, 2026 is:
eminently • \EM-uh-nunt-lee\ • adverb
Eminently is used as a synonym of very and means "to a high degree."
// Our team came up with an eminently sensible plan to reduce waste.
Examples:
"This was jazz of the highest order—challenging, yet accessible, eminently entertaining and arrestingly beautiful. Goosebumps were felt." — T'Cha Dunlevy, The Gazette (Montreal, Canada), 8 July 2025
Did you know?
When British physician Tobias Venner wrote in 1620 of houses "somewhat eminently situated," he meant that the houses were located at an elevated site—they were literally in a high place. That use has since slipped into obsolescence, as has the word's use to mean "conspicuously"—a sense that reflects its Latin root, ēminēre, which means "to stick out" or "protrude." All three meanings date to the 17th century, but today's figurative sense of "notably" or "very" is the only one now regularly encountered.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the word of the day for January 7th. |
| 0:12.0 | Today's word is eminently, spelled E-M-I-N-E-N-T-L-Y. |
| 0:19.0 | Eminently is an adverb. It's used as a synonym of very and means to a high degree. |
| 0:25.6 | Here's the word used. And a sentence from the Gazette of Montreal. This was jazz of the highest order, challenging, yet accessible, eminently entertaining, and arrestingly beautiful, goosebumps were felt. |
| 0:38.6 | When British physician Tobias Vener wrote in 1620 of houses somewhat eminently situated, |
| 0:46.6 | he meant that the houses were located at an elevated site. |
| 0:50.4 | They were literally in a high place. |
| 0:53.1 | That use has since slipped into obsolescence, as has the |
| 0:56.9 | words used to mean conspicuously, a sense that reflects its Latin root, eminere, which means |
| 1:03.1 | to stick out or to protrude. All three meanings date to the 17th century, but today's |
| 1:09.2 | figurative sense of notably or vary is the only one |
| 1:13.0 | now regularly encountered. With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:22.2 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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