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🗓️ 8 July 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 8, 2025 is:
exemplary • \ig-ZEM-pluh-ree\ • adjective
Something described as exemplary is extremely good and deserves to be admired and copied.
// Our research team was awarded for our exemplary work on the project.
Examples:
“[Director, Oliver] Hermanus again shows highly polished craftsmanship, adding the subtlest hint of sepia tones to evoke the period in the early sections, but never to the point where the characters compete with the settings. His direction of the actors is exemplary, even with characters seen only briefly ...” — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 May 2025
Did you know?
It’s usually not a good thing if someone wants to make an example of you, unless, of course, it’s because you happen to be exemplary. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, someone or something may be deemed exemplary if they, by their example, are worthy of imitation. Like a few other English words beginning with ex—such as exceptional and extraordinary—exemplary describes that which is a cut above the rest. But though exemplary, which comes from the Latin noun exemplum (“example”), describes something “excellent,” it almost always carries the further suggestion that the thing described is an excellent model to follow.
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0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for July 8th. |
0:12.0 | Today's word is exemplary, spelled E-X-E-M-P-L-A-R-Y. |
0:18.0 | Exemplary is an adjective. |
0:20.0 | Something described as exemplary is extremely good and deserves to be |
0:24.3 | admired and copied. Here's the word used in a sentence from the Hollywood reporter. Director |
0:30.3 | Oliver Hermanus again shows highly polished craftsmanship, adding the subtlest hint of sepia |
0:37.3 | tones to evoke the period |
0:39.3 | in the early sections, but never to the point where the characters compete with the settings. |
0:44.3 | His direction of the actors is exemplary, even with characters seen only briefly. |
0:49.3 | It's usually not a good thing if someone wants to make an example of you, unless, of course, |
0:55.4 | it's because you happen to be exemplary. |
0:58.3 | Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, someone or something may be deemed exemplary |
1:03.5 | if they, by their example, are worthy of imitation. |
1:06.6 | Like a few other English words beginning with E.X, such as exceptional and extraordinary, exemplary describes that which is a cut above the rest. |
1:16.2 | But though exemplary, which comes from the Latin noun exemplum, meaning example, describes something that is excellent. |
1:23.4 | It almost always carries the further suggestion that the thing described is an excellent model to follow. |
1:29.6 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
1:37.4 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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