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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

fervid

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Literature, Language Courses, Education

4.31.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2023

⏱️ 2 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 28, 2023 is:

fervid • \FER-vid\  • adjective

Fervid is a somewhat formal word describing people or things that express, or are expressive of, strong feelings.

// Many of the movie franchise’s most fervid fans camped outside of theaters for days leading up to the new installment’s opening night.

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Examples:

“Unabashed pop groups with fervid teenage followings tend to get trivialized, at least in the media. They’re dismissed as being slick and calculated and superficial. But there’s a story in ‘Wham!,’ the new Netflix documentary about the quintessential pop duo of the 1980s, that testifies to what a chancy and audacious artist George Michael was even back in his teen-idol days.” — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 8 July 2023

Did you know?

If you’ve ever felt as if your emotions were going to boil over, whether you were overly bubbly or, less happily, you needed to simmer down over something, you should have no trouble understanding the roots of fervid. Fervid comes from the Latin verb fervēre, meaning “to boil” or “to glow,” as well as, by extension, “to seethe” or “to be roused.” In English, this root gave us not only fervid but the similar-sounding and practically synonymous word fervent. But while fervid usually suggests warm emotion that is expressed in a spontaneous or feverish manner (as in “fervid basketball fans”), fervent is reserved for a kind of emotional warmth that is steady and sincere (as in “a fervent belief in human kindness”). Fervid fans of kimchi or sauerkraut (or fervent followers of anything fermented), may appreciate that fervēre is also the root of ferment.



Transcript

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0:00.0

It's Merriam Webster's Word of the Day for September 28th.

0:11.3

Today's word is Fervid, spelled F-E-R-V-I-D. Fervid is an adjective. Fervid is a somewhat

0:19.0

formal word describing people or things that express or are expressive of strong feelings.

0:25.3

Here's the word used in a sentence from Variety by Owen Gleberman.

0:30.2

Unabashed pop groups with fervid teenage followings tend to get trivialized, at least in the media.

0:36.6

They're dismissed as being slick and calculated and superficial. But there's a story in WAM,

0:42.7

the new Netflix documentary about the quintessential pop duo of the 1980s that testifies

0:48.8

to what a chancy and audacious artist George Michael was even back in his teen idol days.

0:56.0

If you've ever felt as if your emotions were going to boil over, whether you were overly bubbly or,

1:02.3

less happily, you needed to simmer down over something, you should have no trouble understanding

1:08.4

the roots of the word Fervid. Fervid comes from the Latin verb Fervere, meaning to boil or to glow,

1:15.4

as well as by extension to see or to be roused. In English, this root gave us not only Fervid,

1:21.8

but the similar sounding and practically synonymous word Fervid. But while Fervid usually suggests

1:28.7

warm emotion that is expressed in a spontaneous or feverish manner, as in Fervid basketball fans,

1:35.8

Fervid is reserved for a kind of emotional warmth that is steady and sincere, as in a Fervid

1:42.8

belief in human kindness. Fervid fans of kimchi or sauerkraut or fervent followers of anything

1:50.9

fermented may appreciate that Fervere is also the root of the word ferment. With your word of the day,

1:57.7

I'm Peter Sankolowski. Visit marionwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word

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