nefarious
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 29 December 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 29, 2025 is:
nefarious • \nih-FAIR-ee-us\ • adjective
Nefarious is a formal word that describes something as evil or immoral.
// Authorities suspect that the recovered materials were going to be used for nefarious purposes.
Examples:
“Introducing characters like Gorilla Grodd on DC Crime would help familiarize audiences with these figures before they potentially receive an expanded role in another project. Perhaps each season could focus on a different villain, highlighting their nefarious actions.” — Chris Agar, comicbook.com, 16 Nov. 2025
Did you know?
If you need a fancy word to describe someone who’s up to no good, nefarious has got you (and them) covered. It’s also handy for characterizing the “no good” such a dastardly devil gets up to, as in “a nefarious business/plot/deed.” Nefarious is most often used for someone or something that is flagrantly wicked or corrupt—it’s more applicable to the mustache-twirling supervillain than the morally gray antihero. In other words, there’s no question that a nefarious scheme, or schemer, is not right. Etymologically, this makes perfect sense: nefarious can be traced back to the Latin noun nefas, meaning “crime,” which in turn combines ne- (“not”) and fas, meaning “right” or “divine law.” It is one of very few English words with this root, accompanied only by the likes of nefariousness and the thoroughly obscure nefast (“wicked”).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Merriam Webster's Word of the Day for December 29th. |
| 0:12.0 | Today's word is nefarious, spelled N-E-F-A-R-I-O-U-S. Nefarious is an adjective. It's a formal word that describes something as evil or |
| 0:22.9 | immoral. Here's the word used in a sentence from comicbook.com. Introducing characters like |
| 0:29.8 | Gorilla Grod on DC Crime would help familiarize audiences with these figures before they potentially |
| 0:36.4 | receive an expanded role in another project. |
| 0:40.2 | Perhaps each season could focus on a different villain highlighting their nefarious actions. |
| 0:47.0 | If you need a fancy word to describe someone who's up to no good, nefarious has got you and them |
| 0:52.8 | covered. It's also handy for characterizing the |
| 0:56.3 | no good such a dastardly devil gets up to as in a nefarious business or plot or deed. Nefarious |
| 1:04.2 | is most often used for someone or something that is flagrantly wicked or corrupt. It's more |
| 1:09.9 | applicable to the mustache twirling supervill villain than the morally gray anti-hero. |
| 1:15.2 | In other words, there's no question that a nefarious scheme or schemer is not right. |
| 1:21.3 | Etymologically, this makes perfect sense. |
| 1:23.7 | Nefarious can be traced back to the Latin noun, nephas, meaning crime, which in term combines ne, |
| 1:30.5 | meaning not, and phas, meaning right, or divine law. |
| 1:34.5 | It is one of very few English words with this route, accompanied only by the likes of nefariousness, |
| 1:40.9 | and the thoroughly obscure word nefast, meaning wicked. |
| 1:45.4 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:52.2 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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